Baltic
Dry Index. 1729 +79 Brent Crude 64.25
Spot Gold 4878 Spot Silver 94.41
US 2 Year Yield 3.60 +0.01
US Federal Debt. 38.634 trillion US GDP 31.082 trillion.
“We do not deny any nation's
legitimate interest in security. But protecting the security of one nation by
robbing another of its national independence and national traditions is not
legitimate.
Ronald Reagan, The Quest for Peace.
After one year of Trump 2.0, who would have thought his main accomplishment would have been to unite the rest of the world, friend and foe alike, into a sell America unity?
In Davos, it’s DJT’s big day. His day to attempt to walk on eggshells without breaking any. The global stock casinos and bond and commodity markets will vote over the rest of the week on his success.
Look away from that soaring gold price now.
Gold hits record as Trump’s Greenland tariff
threats rattle Asia markets
Published Tue, Jan 20 2026 6:57 PM EST
Gold jumped to a record high as
Asia-Pacific markets slid Wednesday, with investors seeking safe havens after
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened fresh tariffs on countries resisting the
transfer of Greenland to the United States.
Spot gold prices rose over 1% to an
all-time high of $4,813 per ounce.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.12%
lower, while the mainland’s CSI 300 inched 0.11% higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.28%, while
the Topix declined 1.09%. South Korea’s Kospi was 1.09% lower while the
small-cap Kosdaq fell 2.2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.34%.
Trump said Saturday that exports from
eight European countries would
face tariffs of 10% from Feb. 1, rising to 25% by June 1 if talks fail
to deliver U.S. control of mineral-rich Greenland.
He also threatened to slap 200%
tariffs on French wine and champagne, following reports that President
Emmanuel Macron was unwilling to join his proposed “Board of Peace.” Trump
further criticized the U.K., calling its plan to transfer sovereignty of the
Chagos Islands, which is home to a joint U.K.-U.S. military base, to Mauritius
an “act
of great stupidity,” citing the move as further justification for acquiring
Greenland on national security grounds.
European leaders have labeled President
Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats “unacceptable”
and are reportedly weighing retaliatory measures. France is said to be urging
the European Union to deploy
its strongest economic response tool, the so-called Anti-Coercion
Instrument.
U.S. stock futures rose slightly in early
Asian hours after major averages saw their worst day in three months.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed
870.74 points, or 1.76%, to end the session at 48,488.59. The S&P 500 dipped 2.06% to
settle at 6,796.86. The Nasdaq
Composite slid 2.39%, closing at 22,954.32. It was the worst session
since October for all three major averages. U.S. Treasury yields spiked and
the U.S. dollar declined as Trump’s threat caused a flight from U.S. assets.
Asia-Pacific
markets: Nikkei 225, Kospi, Nifty 50
Trump, sharing leaked texts and AI mock-ups, vows
'no going back' on Greenland
By Trevor Hunnicutt, Michel Rose and Stine Jacobsen January
21, 2026 12:24 AM GMT
WASHINGTON/DAVOS/COPENHAGEN, Jan 20
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there was "no
going back" on his goal to control Greenland, refusing to rule out taking
the Arctic island by force and lashing out at NATO allies as European leaders
struggled to respond.
But later Trump, who is due to join
European leaders at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, told a news
conference that he thought, "We will work something out where NATO is
going to be very happy and where we're going to be very happy."
Trump's ambition - spelled out in social
media posts and mock-up AI images - to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from
fellow NATO member Denmark has threatened
to blow apart the alliance that has underpinned Western security for
decades.
It has also threatened to reignite a trade
war with Europe that rattled markets and companies last year, though Trump's
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed
back against what he called "hysteria" over Greenland.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday after
speaking to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said, "Greenland is
imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back — On
that, everyone agrees!"
To drive home the message, he posted an AI
image of himself in Greenland, holding a U.S. flag. Another showed him speaking
to leaders next to a map showing Canada and Greenland as part of the United
States.
Asked later how far he was willing to go
to acquire Greenland, Trump told reporters at the White House: "You'll
find out."
But Trump said he had a lot of meetings
scheduled on Greenland in Switzerland and added: "I think things are going
to work out pretty well."
Separately, Trump leaked
messages including from French President Emmanuel Macron, who
questioned what Trump was "doing on Greenland". Trump had earlier
threatened to hammer French wines and champagnes with a 200% tariff.
DANISH PM STRIKES DEFIANT TONE ON
GREENLAND
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen
said she would not yield to Trump's demands and abandon Greenland.
"The American president has
unfortunately not ruled out the use of military force. And therefore the rest
of us cannot rule it out either," she told reporters.
An agreement on sharing responsibility for
the security of the Arctic and the North Atlantic could offer a way out of the
stand-off, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told
Reuters at the WEF in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
European leaders took to the stage in
Davos attempting to project the continent's strength, though it was not
immediately clear how the European Union will eventually respond.
More
Trump,
sharing leaked texts and AI mock-ups, vows 'no going back' on Greenland |
Reuters
CNBC Daily Open: Trump’s intensifying pressure on
Greenland prompts investors to ‘sell America’
Published Tue, Jan 20 2026 8:22 PM EST
Markets on Tuesday flashed the classic
signs of a “sell
America” trade, as investors recoiled from escalating risks tied to
Washington’s foreign policy.
Major U.S. indexes tumbled in their worst
day since October, pushing the S&P
500 and Nasdaq
Composite into negative territory for 2026. Volatility jumped, with
the VIX index, Wall
Street’s “fear gauge,” spiking to a high of 20.99. Meanwhile, bond yields
jumped, the U.S. Dollar Index fell
and gold prices hit
new records.
Those moves reflected concerns raised by
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, who warned that mounting tensions
could spill into capital markets.
Dalio said Tuesday that U.S. President
Donald Trump’s aggressive moves toward annexing Greenland could prompt foreign
governments and investors to reconsider their appetite
for U.S. assets.
“On the other side of trade deficits and
trade wars, there are capital and capital wars,” Dalio told CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
One early signal emerged from Denmark.
Pension fund AkademikerPension said
it will sell
roughly $100 million in U.S. Treasurys.
The decision was driven by concerns over
“poor [U.S.] government finances” and “not directly related to the ongoing rift
between the [U.S.] and Europe,” said Anders Schelde, the fund’s investing
chief, though he added that recent tensions between the U.S. and Europe “didn’t
make it more difficult to take the decision.”
U.S. officials, for their part, struck a
defiant tone. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC at Davos that “the
U.S. is back, and this is what U.S. leadership looks like.” Bessent made
those comments before markets closed Tuesday.
International reaction to Trump’s moves
has been far less receptive. Greenlanders are “bewildered”
by the U.S. president, the arctic island’s business minister told CNBC on
Tuesday, while French President Emmanuel Macron hit
out at “bullies” and “brutality” — without giving specifics — as he
called for U.S. tariffs on Europe to be abolished.
But, amid the furor in recent days, Trump
doesn’t appear to be backing down.
“I’m leaving tonight, as you know,
Davos, and we have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland,” Trump said
Tuesday. “I think things are going to work out pretty well.”
Trump may be right. The more immediate
question rattling markets is: work out pretty well for whom?
CNBC
Daily Open: Trump's intensifying pressure on Greenland prompts investors to
'sell America'
Trump’s Greenland, Tariff Threats Revive ‘Sell
America’ Trade
January 20, 2026 at 11:15 PM GMT
US markets woke
up from the extended Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend to an
overnight bond implosion in Japan and fresh threats by Donald Trump, including
tariff hikes and more allusions to attacking American allies.
Japan’s 40-year
bond yield hit a record amid heightened concern that a snap election
called by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi might pave the way for
policies that exacerbate the nation’s finances. Dealers said it was the most
chaotic session in recent memory, with yields
making their biggest move since Trump announced his trade war on April
2.
Then there was American chaos to consider.
Like something out of a dystopian thriller, the leader of Greenland on
Tuesday warned his people to prepare
for a US invasion. And having reportedly conceded that he wants to
annex the massive island in part for “psychological”
reasons (a 1951 treaty already gives the US free rein there militarily), the
79-year-old US president further stoked outrage with a middle-of-the-night
social media post alluding to his supposed desire to annex Canada, too.
Throw in a fresh
round of US tariff threats against European nations (and a sprinkling
of social media insults, some in capital
letters) and “Sell America” returned to markets Tuesday with
a vengeance. Treasuries tumbled and the dollar slid while the
S&P 500 dropped more than 2%, erasing all of this year’s gains in the
steepest decline in more than three months. The VIX Index, a measure
of expected stock swings, hit the highest level since November. Gold spiked to
a new record of
over $4,700 an ounce. Not unlike the experience of Japanese dealers
earlier, it was the worst day in US markets since Trump’s so-called
liberation day.
As for what happens next, some in Europe
appear ready to move on entirely. As in, move on from America. The Danish
pension fund AkademikerPension said it will exit US Treasuries by the end of
the month, a once-unthinkable prospect ascribed to—among other things—Trump’s
policies and the massive credit risk posed by the US itself.
“You
cannot put the genie back into the bottle,” said Anders Schelde, the fund’s
chief investment officer. “Things might get better and more calm a few months
down the road, and Trump, he can’t be reelected, and the next president might
be somewhat different,” he said. “But what comes then in five, six, 10
years?” —David
E. Rovella
Trump
Greenland Threats, Tariff Chaos Brings Back ‘Sell America’ - Bloomberg
In other news.
Canada's Carney aims to lead new global trading
order less reliant on US
By Promit Mukherjee, Andrew Mills and Federico Maccioni
January 20, 2026 6:02 AM GMT
OTTAWA/DOHA/DUBAI, Jan 20 (Reuters) -
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is trying to foster a new global trading
order by working more closely with China and inking smaller trade deals, but
faces constraints from Canada's still overwhelming economic dependency on the
United States.
Last week, Carney took his trade
diversification push further than his allies in Europe by signing a deal with China, and aims to
project Canada as a potential leader in a new global trading order after U.S.
President Donald Trump's
tariffs upended
long-standing relationships.
Forging new alliances and trading
partnerships has taken on new urgency for countries like Canada as Trump's
foreign policy grows more aggressive and unpredictable. Trump has intensified
his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow
NATO member Denmark, prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with
its own measures.
Carney, the former head of both the Bank
of England and the Bank of Canada, won an election last year promising to
create new economic
alliances to
help Canada survive Trump's tariffs and threats to annex Canada.
Before arriving at an annual gathering of
the global elite in Davos on Monday, he circled the world and visited countries
previously overlooked by Canada.
"A number of the multilateral
relationships, institutions, rules-based systems, are being eroded by various
decisions of various countries, the United States included," Carney said
in Doha on Sunday, where he pledged more cooperation on defense and security
and said progress had been made on an investment promotion agreement.
"Where there is progress, and where
Canada and like-minded countries are looking to make progress, is through
plurilateral deals," Carney said, advocating for agreements between a
smaller number of countries.
Carney said Canada was already advocating
to be a bridge between the European Union and Pacific Rim nations.
"In this moment of volatility, Canada
will step up and lead. We will make sure that we are bringing countries to the
table who will assist in this role," Foreign Minister Anita Anand told
Reuters in an interview in Doha.
U.S. TRADE DEPENDENCY
The European Union is also intensifying
its trade diversification efforts - signing a deal with South American trade
bloc Mercosur after 25 years of talks, concluding a deal with Indonesia in September
and updating agreements with Mexico. The EU has
resumed trade agreement negotiations with Malaysia, the Philippines, the United
Arab Emirates and India.
But while the EU relies on the U.S. for
just over 20% of goods exports, Canada still sends close to 70% of its exports
south of the border.
For Canada to reduce merchandise exports
to the U.S. by 10%, it would have to double its exports to China, Germany,
France, Mexico, Italy and India or find similar countries of that size, said
Prince Owusu, senior economist with Export Development Canada.
Carney has pledged to double Canada's
non-U.S. exports over the next decade. Trade experts and economists say to
achieve this, Canada has to heavily rely on China, currently its No. 2 trade
partner.
"We have to be very cautious...
Moving too quickly and integrating too quickly with China also creates some
issues around long-term stability for the economy," said William Pellerin,
partner and co-head for international trade at law firm McMillan.
Chinese manufacturers have the ability to
flood the Canadian market overnight in just about every category of goods, he
said.
China's shipments to the U.S. fell last
year but rose sharply to the rest of the world.
Canada's share of exports to the U.S.
fell to their lowest ever level outside the COVID-19 pandemic years in October,
according to official data. But the U.S. still accounted for 67.3% of all
exports. While the government hopes to sell more oil to Asia, 90% of Canadian
crude goes to the U.S.
Economists say the U.S. share of Canadian
exports is unlikely to decline much more anytime soon, with many companies awaiting the
outcome of negotiations over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement this year.
More
Canada's Carney
aims to lead new global trading order less reliant on US | Reuters
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,
inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Thousands more jobs lost as UK businesses hold off
hiring
Tuesday 20 January 2026 7:21 am
Thousands more jobs have been lost across
the UK, official data has shown, while wage growth also slowed down in further
signs of a struggling labour market.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS)
has said that the number of employees on the payroll fell by 33,000 in November
while an estimate for December said there were 43,000 fewer jobs.
Fresh data points to struggles endured by
workers across the UK economy, with several business surveys pointing to
further declines in jobs numbers over the coming months.
“The number of employees on payroll has
fallen again, with reductions over the last year concentrated in retail and
hospitality, and reflecting ongoing weak hiring activity,” said Liz McKeown,
director of economic statistics at the ONS.
The unemployment rate came in at 5.1
per cent, unchanged from the previous month. The unemployment rate stood at 4.4
per cent when Labour came into power in July 2024.
Vacancy numbers have been “broadly flat”
over the last few months, with the three-month period showing a marginal
increase after several quarters of decline.
Wage growth showed signs of slowing
down.
Excluding bonuses, earnings growth in the
three months to November was 4.5 per cent. Including bonuses, the reading was
4.7 per cent.
---- Bank of England interest rates warning
The new figures could rally Bank of
England rate-setters hoping to lower borrowing costs at a faster pace.
Bank
of England officials voted
to lower interest rates to 3.75 per cent in the last meeting of 2025, with
debates now taking place on how many more cuts could take place this
year.
Most economists believe that cooling wage
growth could prompt Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members to back another cut
in the first half of this year.
James Smith, UK economist at ING, said in
a note on Monday that “rapidly” falling wage growth and rising unemployment
would limit consumer spending, potentially weakening demand and letting
inflation fall back to the Bank’s 2 per cent target at a faster rate.
Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK
said the new set of ONS data “strengthens the case” for a gradual approach to
cutting interest rates.
“While the labour market continues to
weaken, the more hawkish MPC members are likely to argue that there is no
immediate sign of a significant deterioration in the labour market to warrant a
faster pace of cuts,” Selfin said.
“However, with the labour market likely to
weaken further, it should create room for interest rate cuts in subsequent
meetings.”
The ONS will publish fresh inflation
numbers tomorrow morning.
More
Thousands more
jobs lost as UK businesses hold off hiring
US tariffs war could ‘trigger UK recession’
Monday 19 January 2026 12:00
pm | Updated: Monday 19 January 2026
12:01 pm
President Trump’s latest tariff package
could plunge the UK economy into a recession, top economists have warned,
upping the stakes for Keir Starmer as he responds to threats against
Greenland.
The US president warned leading European
nations, including the UK, he would slap additional 10 per cent tariffs on
goods imports if a deal for Greenland’s annexation was not agreed.
Analysts at Capital
Economics have
warned that the new tariffs could trigger a recession for the UK economy if the
impact is felt “all at once”.
The tariff hit could amount to up to 0.75
per cent of UK
GDP,
equivalent to around £22bn.
“With the UK economy currently growing by
0.2 to 0.3 per cent a quarter, if this hit came all at once it could trigger a
recession,” Capital Economics chief UK economist Paul Dales said.
Recession warning issued by City
Economists suggested that there could be
an immediate growth spurt in January as firms rushed to boost exports before
the 1 February deadline in the same way manufactures kicked into gear ahead of
last April’s tariff deadline.
But it remains unclear whether Trump’s new
tariffs would ‘stack’ on top of existing ones or whether they applied to all
products and undermine the US-UK trade deal.
Dales added there were questions over
whether tariffs were legal pending a US Supreme Court decision on trade, which
could be revealed as soon as Tuesday.
The UK’s response to tariffs would also be
crucial in calculations around the economic impacts, he said.
“Any attempt by the US to seize Greenland would drive
a wedge through transatlantic relations and inflict potentially irreparable
damage on NATO.
“In that scenario, it’s hard to imagine
the UK not siding with the EU. Arguably, then, the latest tariffs could nudge
the UK closer to the EU and further away from the US.”
On Monday, Starmer urged allies
to engage in “calm discussion” on trade and diplomatic approaches to Greenland,
suggesting risks to the UK were “more direct now than at any time we can
remember”.
Market analysts are weighing up the
impacts of Trump’s new geopolitical threats, with eToro’s Lale Akoner
suggesting that his threats could deepen “policy unpredictability” and
contribute to lowered investment levels.
“For investors, this episode is less about
Greenland and more about a geopolitical risk premium being repriced across
currencies, equities and cross-border capital flows in the days ahead,” Akoner
said.
US tariffs war
could ‘trigger UK recession’
“Tax increases don’t eliminate
deficits they increase govt. spending.”
Ronald
Reagan, The Reagan Diaries.
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported.
This upcoming Android phone claims to last a whole week with its
10,001mAh battery
The
realme P4 Power is real, and it has a wild 10,001mAh battery.
20 January 2026
For quite some time now, 5,000mAh has
been the standard for smartphone batteries, often leaving users to carry
battery banks or use a low-power mode. Now, realme is changing things by
launching a smartphone with a huge 10,001 mAh battery, rather than just showing off a concept or a lab
prototype.
The main feature here is realme’s Titan
battery, a 10,001mAh cell that the company says can last a week. The number
stands out, but what’s more impressive is how fast realme turned the idea into
a real product. After showing a 10,000mAh concept phone last
year, the company has now started mass-producing the 10,001mAh battery.
Realme isn’t just offering a big battery
for bragging rights alone. The phone includes advanced safety features and
smart technology to maintain consistent performance and slow wear over time.
According to the company, the Titan Battery is built to work well even in tough
conditions and to deliver steady power throughout its life.
All this new battery technology will
debut in the upcoming realme P4 Power, the first phone to use the 10,001mAh
Titan battery. Realme hasn’t revealed all the specs yet, but it’s clear the
phone is designed for long battery life, with the battery as the main focus.
More details about availability, regions, and hardware are coming soon.
The company’s head of product marketing,
Francis Wong, also shared what looks like the realme P4 Power’s battery usage
screen on X, showing off how long the phone lasts
in balanced mode.
Realme isn’t the only company moving
into five-digit battery sizes. HONOR just launched the HONOR Power 2, which has
a slightly bigger 10,080mAh battery, a MediaTek Dimensity 8500-series chip, and fast charging. This shows that these large batteries are now
practical in real products, not just in demos.
realme goes all-in on battery life with a 10,001mAh phone - Android
Authority
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
“As government expands, liberty contracts.”
Ronald Reagan
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