🧠 Biden era ends up 55% since 2021, as Trump admin takes over

🏛️ Financial News

• Biden Economy 🏛️ The Biden economy: Just how good was it? Here are the highs and lows for the 46th president. – MarketWatch: Jobs and GDP surged under Biden, but high inflation foiled the Democratic bid to keep the White House.

• Biden Market 🏛️ A final look at how the US stock market performed under Joe Biden – MarketWatch: The S&P 500 closed up 1% on the week to end Joe Biden’s era as the 46th US president on a high note, and 55% overall to since he took office on Jan. 20, 2021.

• Biden Admin 🏛️ Biden warns of dangers of oligarchy taking shape in US – BBC: Outgoing US President Joe Biden delivered his farewell address and brought a decades-long career in politics to an end, and warned of the dangers of an oligarchy gaining "extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom".

• Social Media 🤳 US Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok – TheVerge: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law in a 9-0 decision to ban the Chinese parent company ByteDance social media platform in the US – used by half of all Americans – on national security grounds.

• Consumer Price Index 🏛️ Core inflation rate slows to 3.2% in December, less than expected – BBC: CPI increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% on the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.9%, in line with forecasts.

📈 Stocks

• $JPM , $WFC 🏦 Bank earnings: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs post beats, and Citi swings to a profit – MarketWatch: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Citi kicked off earnings season on Wednesday with their December-quarter results.

• $META , $SNAP 🤳 Social-media stocks slide after Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban – MarketWatch: The price of bitcoin topped $100k again as a pumped up cryptocurrency industry expects early action by Donald Trump when he's sworn in as president next week.

• $GOOG 🔍 Google raises the price of Workspace plans, includes its AI features for free – TechCrunch: Google announced that all AI features in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet are now available to Workspace customers at no extra charge, though the plan will see a $2 per month increase per user.

• $MSFT 👨‍💻 Microsoft bundles Office AI features into Microsoft 365 and raises prices – TheVerge: Google announced that all AI features in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet are now available to Workspace customers at no extra charge, though the plan will see a $2 per month increase per user.

• $WBA 🤳 Walgreens stock sinks after DOJ sues over illegal-prescription accusations – MarketWatch: The US Justice Department says The pharmacy ‘allowed millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Walgreens stores’.

• $SBUX ☕ Starbucks to trim jobs as part of turnaround strategy, says CEO – CNBC: As part of the coffee giant’s ongoing turnaround efforts, new Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the company will cut jobs to optimize its support teams . The details will be announced by early March, will not affect in-store teams or the investments it makes in store hours.

Fortune Favors The Bold

Ever wish you could turn back time and invest in Amazon's early days? Well, buckle up because the AI revolution is offering a second chance.

In The Motley Fool's latest report, dive into the world of AI-powered innovation. Discover why experts are calling it "the rocket fuel of AI" and predicting a market cap 41 times larger than Amazon's.

Don't let past regrets hold you back. Take charge of your future and capitalize on the AI wave with The Motley Fool's exclusive report.

Whether it's AI or Amazon, fortune favors the bold.

Don't miss out. Dive into the report today.

📊 Exchange Traded Funds

• $MSCI 🐍 China’s fourth-quarter GDP grows at 5.4%, beating market expectations as stimulus measures kick in – CNBC: China’s economy expanded by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, exceeding the market’s expectation, as a flurry of stimulus measures powered the economy to meet Beijing’s growth target.

• Ideas 💡 ETFs to Consider as India's Growth Takes a Breather in 2025 – Yahoo! Finance: A strong US dollar and rising oil prices fanned fears of a slowdown in India, one of the fastest-growing major global economies. After gaining about 20% from early June to late September last year, Nifty 50, which represents the 50 largest Indian companies, has falling 13%.

💱 Crypto Currencies

• $BTC 🤳 Bitcoin Spikes to 2025 High Price Near $105K Ahead of Trump Inauguration – Decrypt: The price of bitcoin topped $100k to its highest point in nearly a month as a pumped up cryptocurrency industry expects early action on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

• $USDC 🤳 Trump's Treasury Pick Scott Bessent Pours Cold Water on US Digital Dollar Initiative – Decrypt: Scott Bessent told the Senate he saw 'no reason' for the U.S. to pursue a central bank digital currency, aligning with Trump's past comments.

• $DOGE 🤳 Traders bag millions as Trump team confirms launch of Solana memecoin – CoinTelegraph: US President-elect Donald Trump’s Solana-based memecoin, TRUMP, attracted billions of dollars' worth of trading volume as the coin vaulted into the top 40 cryptocurrencies by market cap. But other major meme coins appear to be falling in price as traders sell to ape into TRUMP instead.

• $XRP 🤳 Ripple says it’s ‘actively’ hunting for acquisitions as XRP price soars – DL News: With the XRP token soaring in price, Ripple is aggressively ramping up its deal-making efforts. According to its latest financial attestation, the crypto firm holds more than $143 billion in XRP in an escrow account.

🏖️ Retirement

• Target Date Funds 💴 Vanguard to pay more than $100M to SEC over violations involving target date retirement funds – CNBC: The alleged violations stem from a 2020 change where Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset managers, lowered the minimum investment requirement for its institutional target date funds.

• Gen Z 🙃 Gen Z’s surprising 2025 strategy aims to rewrite the playbook for young investors – MarketWatch: An eToro global survey of 10,000 retail investors across 12 countries (only 1,000 being US based) found that Gen Z intends to invest in cash assets and bonds more than older generations.

• Boomers 🏖️ Opinion: Boomers are good for business: The ‘longevity economy’ is the new gold rush – MarketWatch: ​Today’s aging population completely defies the stereotypes of yesteryear. Baby boomers have accumulated more savings than their predecessors, they are more heterogeneous, and they have a multitude of visions for how they would like to live.

US markets will be closed this Monday, 1/20th due to the MLK federal holiday, but it is also President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. We will be back next Saturday morning to recap the week’s financial news.

Thanks to UseFidelity and The Motley Fool for sponsoring.

Happy Unprompting!

Rawee
[email protected]

_{PortfolioGPT may earn commission or revenue on some items through the affiliate links in this newsletter.}