To soothe investors and Donald Trump, Apple has the App Store. On Thursday it announced that developers reaped $20bn in 2016 from the sale of digital goods here, 40 per cent higher than in 2015.

This rapid growth is supposed to be balm to shareholders worried about static revenues in other categories, notably the iPhone. Apple would also like it to mollify Mr Trump. The president-elect has told Apple it should be manufacturing iPhones in the US rather than in Asia. Such a shift would crush profits. Instead, Apple points to the more than 1m US jobs that it reckons have been created by its digital universe.

More credit is indeed due on both counts. Shares in Apple were flat after the announcement. They had risen a reasonable 10 per cent in 2016 but have an undistinguished multiple of less than 13 times forward earnings. Mr Trump, meanwhile, appears to value manufacturing employment over tech jobs, like so many politicians.