📈Good Intentions, Bad Incentives: Trump wants to cap US credit card interest rates at 10% for a year to stop banks from “ripping people off”. Sounds great, until you ask Jamie Dimon. His point is simple, credit cards are a safety net for many Americans. If banks can’t charge enough interest to cover lending risks, they’ll stop lending. Dimon estimates that if this policy was to be enforced, it’ll cut credit access to 80% of Americans.

📈Intel Stock Slide: Despite Intel stock more than doubling over the past six months, shares dropped 17% post earnings when it was announced that the chipmaker misjudged demand, and now finds itself short on inventory just as data center demand is heating up.

📈The $5Bn Grudge: Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion from JPMorgan Chase, accusing the bank of “debanking” him for political reasons. The complaint alleges that the bank succumbed to “woke” ideology when it closed his account following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. This follows a March 2025 lawsuit against Capital One and public criticism of Bank of America at Davos.

📈Wall Street Wants Gamblers: Susquehanna (SIG) is hiring for sports trader roles that sounds perfect: get paid to watch sports all day while betting on games through prediction markets. Caveat being, a USD$90,000 starting salary (peanuts by Wall Street standards). The low offer reflects that big finance is still testing the waters, leading many skilled gamblers to conclude they could make far more betting from home.

🌎Peace, Inc.: Trump has formally established a “Board of Peace” at the 56th World Economic Forum in Davos this year. The organization was created to shore up Gaza’s fragile ceasfire and is backed by the UN Security Council. Trump has claimed his board “might” replace the UN. As of now, 19 foreign nations of the ~62 invited have signed on.

🌎Liberal/National Coalition Collapses: Tensions over the post-Bondi massacre hate speech laws exploded during an early parliamentary recall this week. The Nationals broke ranks to vote against the Liberals, signaling the end of the partnership. By morning, the split was official: the Nationals withdrew from the Coalition, refusing to support Sussan Ley’s leadership.

🌎Putin Lends a Helping Hand: Russian President, Vladimir Putin has had an about-face when he announced he would commit some $5 Bn in assets, frozen in the US, to rebuilding Ukraine following the conclusion of a peace treaty.

🌎TACO TUNA ✅: Or, “Trump Usually Negates Announcements” is doing the rounds online after Trump backed away from tariffing Europe and said he wouldn’t put soldiers on Greenland. Following this change of stance, Trump mentioned he had reached the “framework of a deal” regarding Greenland with NATO’s Secretary-General.

👔Monkey Business: Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is turning a spat with the world’s richest man into a masterclass in trolling. After Musk called him a “special needs chimp” for rejecting Starlink on Ryanair flights due to alleged added fuel costs, O’Leary fired back by branding Musk an “idiot” whilst also launching an “Idiot Sale” on >100,000 flights. The spat might be unfair to chimps, but it sure is good for business — Ryanair bookings are up 3%.

👔TikTok’s US Joint-Venture Debut: Following Trump’s executive order in September 2025 the race had been on to find a US partner to take over the TikTok algorithm. As of Friday that officially happened, alongside the creation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a bit of a mouthful. See the full press release here.

👔Apple’s AI Wearable: In the newest edition to the AI race, Apple and OpenAI are both planning (separately) to make a wearable with a microphone, camera and speakers. Roughly the size of an AirTag, the Apple Pin as it’s being called could be the next big thing … or a gimmick, but only time will tell.

👔Smoke ‘N Mirrors: De Beers has slashed diamond prices for the first time in over a year due to a “perfect storm” of crumbling Chinese demand, cheap lab-grown rivals, and Trump’s 50% tariffs on India (largest exporter of diamonds). This is a massive shift for the company, which historically relies on “shadow discounts” (off-market price reductions to certain clients) to protect the myth of diamond scarcity and value.

🤪Unusual Series of Shark Attacks: Four shark attacks have been reported in 48 hours along Australia’s east coast, of those attacked, one was a 12-year-old boy who later died from his injuries. Experts say record-breaking January rainfall likely flushed freshwater and nutrients into coastal waters, attracting baitfish and creating ideal conditions for bull sharks, which are believed to be responsible for the attacks.

🤪I Don’t Want Peace, I Want Problems: President Trump has said in a letter to the Norwegian government that he is no longer obliged to think of peace after he wasn’t (officially) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He also insisted the US needed complete and total control of Greenland.

🤪China’s Population is Shrinking: Government data released by China on Monday showed the country’s lowest birthrate, ever. With approximately 6 people per 1,000 being born and 8 people per 1,000 dying each year, the UN forecasts China’s population will halve in size to 700 million by 2100.

🤪Amazon Goes Old School: Amazon is doing the unlikely and inserting itself into brick & mortar stores — in a big way. Just outside of Chicago, Amazon plans to build a 230,000 square feet warehouse/store mashup. This will be Amazon’s largest ever store and it will be able to fit an entire Costco inside (with room to spare).