🧠 First week, Trump targets Europe, Canada & Mexico with tariffs, Big Tech commits $500B to AI

🌐 Financial Markets

• Tariffs (European Union) 🛢️ Trump tells Davos he will demand lower interest rates, oil prices – Reuters: President Donald Trump demanded OPEC lower oil prices and the world drop interest rates in a speech to global business and political leaders and warned them they will face tariffs if they make their products anywhere but the U.S.

• Tariffs (North America) 🌎 The US spends $900B annually on goods from Mexico and Canada. Tariffs could affect these prices the most. – MarketWatch: Americans buy $900B a year in food, cars, TVs, toys, appliances and others from Mexico and Canada. The cost of these products could rise if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to apply 25% tariffs, as the US seeks better trade terms with its neighbors to the north and south.

• Artificial Intelligence 🤖 Oracle, Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks jump as Trump rolls out $500B Stargate AI initiative  – Morningstar: President Trump announces major AI infrastructure investment promising that it’ll create more than 100,000 American jobs, and signaling a willingness to work alongside large tech companies.

• US Debt 💸 Goldman CEO Says U.S. Needs To Get 'Debt Levels Under Control,' As He Flags Risk – Bezinga via Yahoo! Finance: David Solomon cautioned that mounting US government debt requires immediate attention, pointing to a recent surge in Treasury yields as a signal of market concerns over federal borrowing.

• Europe 🏰 European markets reach a new high following Trump’s remarks in Davos – euronews: European stock markets extended a multi-session winning streak following President Trump’s speech in Davos. While the banking sector led broad gains, energy stocks remained under pressure..

📈 Stocks

• $NFLX ▶️ Netflix reports record-breaking Q4 results as shares soar – CNBC: The streaming giant benefited from its live sports programming, such as the match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson and NFL Christmas games, to drive record-breaking user registrations – including 19M new subscribers to bringing its global users to 302M.

• $GOOG 🔍 Alphabet shares close above $200 for first time on split-adjusted basis – CNBC: Costco shareholders voted strongly against a proposal requesting a report on the risks of maintaining its diversity and inclusion initiatives, sending a message running counter to the intense scrutiny many such corporate policies face.

• $META 👤 Meta to test ads on Threads in US and Japan – Reuters: Meta Platforms will begin test launching ads on its social media platform Threads with a few brands in the U.S. and Japan, as the app hits over 300M monthly active users.

• $TSLA 🔌 Tesla launches refreshed Model Y in bid to boost sales in US, globally – euronews: The EV-maker’s updated version of the Model Y in the US and Europe will start at $59,990, with deliveries beginning in March, bringing some new excitement to its product portfolio.

• $COST 🛒 Costco shareholders reject call for review of diversity programs – CNBC: Costco shareholders voted strongly against a proposal requesting a report on the risks of maintaining its diversity and inclusion initiatives, sending a message running counter to the intense scrutiny many such corporate policies face.

📊 Exchange Traded Funds

• $VOO 📊 Vanguard’s S&P 500 Fund Is About to Become World’s Largest ETF – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: Nearly $18B has flowed into Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF in the opening days of 2025. After breaking the annual inflows record with a $116B haul in 2024, assets under management have ballooned to $626B, putting it in position to eclipse State Street’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF ($SPY) $637B fund, as the world’s largest ETF.

• $QQQ ⚡ Which ETF strategies have been working best in 2025? – MarketWatch: How sidestepping Big Tech has paid off lately in these stock ETFs Big Tech ETF is down in January.

💱 Crypto Currencies

• Executive Orders 🏛️ As Bitcoin stirs, institutions hedge with ETFs and options – Cryptoslate: President Trump’s first week in office included executive orders, rule changes and pardons that pleased the crypto industry. However, the Trump family’s various meme coins elicited skepticism and sparked concern among industry executives and investors.

• Bankers 🏦 Jamie Dimon and the crypto world agree 'debanking' needs to be fixed — but for different reasons – Yahoo! Finance: JPMorgan Chase ceo Jamie Dimon agrees that "debanking" happens, however, he disagrees with the claim that big banks have closed accounts held by certain political or business customers.

• $DOGE 🐕 Bitwise eyes first Dogecoin ETF amid rising crypto ETF interest – Cryptoslate: Bitwise's Dogecoin filing sparks interest amid a 5% drop in DOGE value and $11M in liquidations.

🏖️ Retirement

• Home Ownership 🏡  3 out of 4 view homeownership as part of the American Dream – Realtor.com: The US homeownership rate hovered at 65.6%, in Q3-2024. According to a November survey of 2,200 adults, 59% had bullish feelings about the feasibility of personally becoming a homeowner, while, 20% "somewhat" or "strongly" disagreed with the notion that it was "achievable."

We’ll 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]

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