Turns out inflation isn’t done messing with us. U.S. January CPI¹ jumped to 3%, up from 2.9%, marking its highest level in six months. Wall Street wasn’t thrilled, and neither was the Fed, which now has even less reason to cut rates anytime soon.

The biggest culprit? Eggs. No, seriously. Prices spiked 15.2% in just one month and are now up 53% over the past year, thanks to an avian flu outbreak that’s turned your morning omelet into a financial decision. But it wasn’t just breakfast getting pricier—car insurance, airfare, and medicine also saw notable hikes, while rents continued their slow but steady climb (+4.4% YoY).

Core inflation² also ticked up to 0.4% month-over-month, its fastest pace since March. That’s bad news for anyone hoping the Fed would ease up on rates soon. Before the report, markets had expected at least two cuts this year—now, many analysts aren’t even counting on one.

In the latest episode of AI Hunger Games, Meta laid off 3,600 employees, citing “low performance.” The purge, which kicked off in the U.S., will roll through Europe, Asia, and Africa until Feb. 18—skipping Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands (because…laws!).

In Singapore, employees woke up to deactivated logins, with entire teams across engineering, business ops, and partnerships getting axed. Apparently, some workers who returned from medical or parental leave also got the chop too—because performance issues? Legal experts say this isn’t illegal, but Meta might be playing reputation roulette.

Interestingly, Meta is currently ramping up the hiring of machine-learning engineers, claiming to backfill³ those axed roles by the end of this year. This suggests that this isn’t about cost-cutting—Zuckerberg may actually be acting on his claim that AI will replace mid-level engineers by 2025.

And it’s not just Meta—Workday, Salesforce, and Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos’s space company) are also slashing headcounts at a similar pace.

So, if you’re still in Big Tech, it might be time to cozy up to ‘em machines. You never know when you’ll need a robot reference letter.

Trump is back with another round of tariff escalation, reinstating and expanding 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports—this time with zero country-specific exemptions. Previously negotiated deals with Canada, Mexico, the EU, South Korea, Japan, and others? Gone. If you’re exporting steel to the U.S., you’re paying full price. The new tariffs are part of Trump’s broader push to shield U.S. industries from what he called “foreign dumping⁴”.

It doesn’t stop there—U.S. steel and aluminum producers can now request additional products to be taxed, provided they have a grounded argument on how it can affect national security.

Markets have reacted accordingly—foreign steel and aluminum stocks slumped, while U.S. producers saw a boost as investors bet on domestic protectionism. Meanwhile, other global players, like India, are already adjusting strategy, with PM Modi planning tariff concessions⁵.

BYD is making a bold move in China’s cutthroat EV market, its God’s Eye driver-assistance system will now come standard on all models priced above 100,000 yuan ($13,785) at no extra cost. The goal? Outgun Tesla and domestic rivals by making smart driving just as essential as seatbelts and airbags.

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu declared 2025 “the first year of intelligent driving,” predicting that driver-assist tech will be a must-have within the next two to three years. Furthermore, BYD also plans to integrate DeepSeek’s cutting-edge AI model, though a rollout timeline remains unclear.

With BYD targeting a nearly 50% jump in sales year-on-year and pumping 100 billion yuan (USD$ 13.79 billion) into intelligent tech, investors are taking notice. The company’s stock surged nearly 30% in the past month as excitement builds around its tech-driven strategy.

Apple’s been real quiet about AI in China—until now. Since the IPhone 16’s launch, Apple Intelligence has been unavailable in China, now, the company is teaming up with Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to Chinese iPhones. This looks to be an attempt at stopping anymore of its lunch money from being stolen by Huawei and Vivo in China as Greater China was the only region where Apple’s YoY sales declined (11%).

Alibaba Chairman Joe Tsai spilled the beans at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, confirming that Apple talked to multiple Chinese firms but ultimately chose Alibaba.

Why Alibaba? China’s AI regulations are tight, and Apple can’t just roll out its U.S. AI features without jumping through hoops. Partnering with Alibaba helps Apple navigate those tricky laws while leveraging Alibaba’s own AI models.

Apple’s stock got a small boost, and Alibaba shares hit their highest level since 2022 before cooling off. But whether this partnership is a game-changer or just a desperate "Please love us again, China" move remains to be seen.

• A $97.4 billon bid to purchase OpenAI led by Elon Musk was straight out rejected by Sam Altman, with OpenAI’s founder’s humorous response published on X.

• DOGE’s cost-cutting rampage continues with $900 million being cut from the Department of Education.

• Robinhood smashes Q4 2024 revenue estimates with roughly 1 billion made in revenue. The online brokerage is up 115% YoY, and news of its Q4 earnings sparked a 14% rise yesterday.

• Jack the Ripper’s identity was finally uncovered, according to one British researcher, with an apparent 100% DNA match to Aaron Kosminski (Please DO NOT let Kanye see his last name).

• The Israel/Hamas ceasefire seems shaky as both sides are not fully upholding their side of the agreement according to the opposing party.

• Trump freezes enforcement of a law that bans U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials, saying it puts U.S. companies at a disadvantage in global deals.

• Honda and Nissan’s merger talks have fallen apart. The companies do plan on continuing its partnership on EVs, though.

1. CPI: The Consumer Price Index measures the average change in prices over time for everyday goods and services like food, rent, and gas. It is commonly used as a measure of inflation.

2. Core Inflation: Another Inflation measure that considers the change in prices of everyday goods and services much like the CPI, but excludes food and energy as they tend to be more volatile. This gives the measure a clearer picture of long-term/underlying inflation trends.

3. Backfill: Refilling a worker or role that was previously filled.

4. Foreign Dumping: Otherwise known as predatory pricing, occurs when a producer flood the market with one good at a low price until all other producers are out of business - resulting in a monopolistic market.

5. Tariff Concession: When a country reduces or removes import taxes on certain goods to make trade easier or cheaper.

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