Good afternoon! Las Vegas’ giant glowing Sphere is planning a DC field trip. Sphere Entertainment wants to build a smaller “mini-Sphere” in National Harbor, Maryland, about 15 minutes south of Washington, giving the capital its own high-tech entertainment orb.
It’ll seat 6,000 (about one-third the size of Vegas) but still comes with the full sensory overload package: massive high-res screen, immersive sound, 4D effects, and haptic seating, plus an exterior that can display ads and artwork. The project will cost over $1B, with ~$200M coming from incentives (some requiring public votes), and Sphere says it’ll generate 2,500 construction jobs, 4,750 permanent jobs, and over $1B in annual economic impact.
MARKETS
Markets looked like Greenland today: cold, bleak, and aggressively not green. President Trump’s latest Greenland escalation triggered a risk-off wave that erased 2026 gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, while the VIX jumped above 20 for the first time since November.
Investors sprinted to safety: gold and silver ripped higher, crypto got clipped, and all Mag 7 names sold off as money rotated into defensive corners (consumer staples was one of the only spots that held up). Adding fuel, a new report showed Americans absorbed 96% of tariff costs, which is exactly the kind of headline that makes traders hit “sell” first.
STOCKS
Winners & Losers
What’s up 📈
Corvus Pharmaceuticals exploded 166.09% after posting encouraging early-stage eczema drug data $CRVS
RAPT Therapeutics surged 64.02% after GSK agreed to buy the company for $2.2B $RAPT
IAMGOLD jumped 15.39% as gold hit a fresh record and miners caught a major bid $IAG
Sandisk rallied 9.55% after Citi nearly doubled its 12-month price target to $490 $SNDK
AngloGold Ashanti rose 7.89% on the gold breakout $AU
Gold Fields climbed 7.04% as the gold trade stayed red hot $GFI
Expand Energy gained 4.88% as natural gas prices spiked 25% during the cold snap $EXE
Intel advanced 3.41% after dual upgrades from HSBC and Seaport $INTC
Coterra Energy popped 1.98% on reports it’s in merger talks with Devon $CTRA
Devon Energy edged up 0.28% amid the same merger chatter $DVN
What’s down 📉
NetApp sank 9.37% after Morgan Stanley turned cautious on IT hardware $NTAP
Roblox dropped 9.71% after Deutsche Bank cut its price target $RBLX
3M slid 6.96% after issuing softer-than-expected 2026 guidance, with tariff worries adding pressure $MMM
Lululemon fell 6.49% after pulling a workout line following complaints about fit and transparency $LULU
Hewlett Packard Enterprise dipped 4.90% after Morgan Stanley got more cautious on the hardware space $HPE
Nvidia eased 4.38% as jitters around the AI boom picked up again $NVDA
Logitech slipped 4.49% on the same Morgan Stanley hardware caution $LOGI
Norfolk Southern fell 3.52% after regulators rejected its merger filing as incomplete $NSC
Union Pacific dropped 3.40% after the same ruling hit rail merger momentum $UNP
MACRO
Trump’s Greenland Gamble Reignites the “Sell America” Trade
It’s only Tuesday, and somehow markets have already lived through a full week’s worth of geopolitical whiplash.
World leaders are in Davos right now doing the annual “serious faces in expensive suits” routine. But the real conversation isn’t panels or policy. It’s President Trump’s Greenland takeover threats, plus a fresh round of tariff warnings aimed at any country that gets in the way. And Wall Street is reacting the same way it always does when uncertainty spikes: sell first, ask questions later.
Davos Is Talking. Markets Are Screaming.
The result today was a full-blown risk-off cocktail.
Stocks dropped hard, Treasuries sold off (yields jumped), and the dollar slid while the euro strengthened. In other words, the “Sell America” trade is back on the menu, because traders are suddenly pricing in a world where geopolitics becomes the main macro driver, not earnings or rate cuts.
Even the panic indicators are stacking up fast:
Ray Dalio is warning about a “capital war” scenario where global money starts fleeing US assets
A Danish pension fund has already said it plans to exit US Treasuries
Trump keeps firing off tariff threats faster than analysts can model them
Gold Is Doing What Gold Does
If you were looking for the one asset that loves chaos, congrats, you found it.
Gold ripped higher again, jumping about 3.6% on the day and hitting yet another record. That makes it roughly its 57th record high in the past 12 months, which is an absurd number and also a pretty loud signal about investor anxiety.
But quick reality check: gold is not a one-way trade. If the dollar rebounds, tariffs cool off, or Trump walks things back (as he often does), gold can lose its shine just as fast as it gained it.
Europe’s “Trade Bazooka” Is the Real Nightmare
The bigger risk here is not a few headlines.
It’s escalation.
One Wall Street fear is the EU reaching for what’s informally called the “trade bazooka,” the Anti-Coercion Instrument, created to punish countries that use economic pressure as a weapon. Strategists like Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson warned that if Europe goes full ACI, the hit could be broad and ugly: tariffs, investment restrictions, and even targeting US services.
And if you’re wondering which part of the market would feel it first, the answer is simple: Big Tech. That’s where Europe has the most leverage.
So What Should Investors Do With This?
First, breathe.
This is peak headline volatility, and headline volatility is designed to mess with your positioning. There’s still a very real chance this ends the same way many Trump trade threats do: loud headlines, followed by negotiations, followed by some form of compromise.
But until that happens, the market’s message is clear: investors are no longer fully shrugging off geopolitical risk. The “TACO trade” (buying dips assuming Trump always backs off) is getting tested, and volatility is back in control.
Bottom line: Greenland and tariffs just reintroduced geopolitical uncertainty as a first-order market driver. Stocks slipped, yields jumped, the dollar fell, and gold went full safe-haven mode again. Welcome back to the 2026 macro circus.
NEWS
Market Movements
🧠 Dan Ives Says Greenland Tariff Panic Is a Buy-the-Dip Moment for 2026 AI Winners: Wedbush’s Dan Ives says the tariff overhang is dominating Davos chatter, but he expects the bark to be worse than the bite once negotiations cool things down. He called the AI selloff an opportunity and flagged Nvidia $NVDA, Microsoft $MSFT, Palantir $PLTR, CrowdStrike $CRWD, Nebius $NBIS, Palo Alto Networks $PANW, Google $GOOGL, and Tesla $TSLA as names to buy on weakness.
📈 Tesla Restarts Dojo as Musk Says AI5 Chip Is “In Good Shape”: Tesla $TSLA is restarting its Dojo supercomputer effort after pausing it in August, with Musk saying the AI5 chip design is in good shape. The move hints Tesla wants at least some training back in-house after leaning more on Nvidia $NVDA and AMD $AMD.
🎬 Netflix Makes an All Cash Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery: Netflix $NFLX converted its Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD bid into an all-cash offer, keeping the $82.7B value but boosting perceived certainty. Prediction markets swung further toward Netflix as Paramount Skydance $PSKY odds fell to 14%, and Netflix says shareholders vote in April.
🚨 AppLovin Craters After Report Alleges Money Laundering Ties: AppLovin $APP dropped after CapitalWatch accused the company of acting as a laundering pipeline tied to illicit crypto flows, a headline that forces risk managers to sell first and sort facts later. The claims land on top of prior short reports and reported regulator scrutiny, but this one trades like a criminal narrative, not a business model debate.
🧬 ImmunityBio Rips Again as FDA Signals Possible ANKTIVA Expansion Without New Trials: ImmunityBio $IBRX surged again after the FDA asked for more information on ANKTIVA for a broader bladder cancer use case, and the company says it can respond within 30 days without new trials. After nearly 200% in six sessions and massive volume, this is behaving like a squeeze-driven momentum loop.
🛒 Amazon CEO Says Tariffs Are Creeping Into Prices: Amazon $AMZN CEO Andy Jassy said tariffs are starting to show up in pricing as sellers pass higher costs to consumers. He also said shoppers are trading down and hesitating on higher-priced discretionary items, which is usually the first visible crack in consumer confidence.
📡 POET Technologies Jumps After Optical Chip Product Wins Innovation Award: POET Technologies $POET climbed toward a multiyear high after its Teralight optical interconnect won an innovation award, adding fuel to the “AI data flow bottleneck” narrative. Call volume also ran hot, with contracts traded already above the normal full-session average as traders leaned into momentum.
₿ Bitcoin One Year After Trump’s Second Inauguration: Bitcoin $BTC is lower versus inauguration day, falling from an intraday high of $109,114 on January 20, 2025 to around $90,500 on January 20, 2026 as tariff fears and risk-off flows triggered large liquidations. The piece frames 2025 as “buy the rumor, sell the news,” with some analysts still bullish on 2026 but warning that politics is not a guaranteed price catalyst.
📺 YouTube Still Leads as Streaming Hits a Record 47.5% of TV Time: Nielsen data shows streaming reached 47.5% of TV watching in December, a new record, with YouTube $GOOGL still the top platform by time spent. Netflix $NFLX gained a bit of share and got a viewership boost from Stranger Things, showing it can still pull massive attention with a true blockbuster.
💊 Pharma Holds Up as Greenland Tariffs Shake Markets: While Trump’s tariff threats hit broader markets, pharma held up better as drugmakers lean on tariff “immunity” deals negotiated in late 2025 tied to US investment and pricing commitments. Executives like Novartis $NVS suggest they are either excluded or rapidly shifting manufacturing to reduce tariff exposure.
💥 Ethereum Gives Up Its 2026 Gains as Crypto Turns Risk Off: Ethereum $ETH dropped about 7% in 24 hours, wiping out its 2026 gains and falling harder than major peers like Bitcoin $BTC. Even so, BitMine Immersion Technologies $BMNR kept buying and staking, and the staking entry queue is much longer than the exit line, tightening supply in the background.
MEDIA
Netflix Makes All-Cash Offer for Warner Bros. Discovery in Bidding War
Netflix $NFLX just hit the “stop playing with me” button in its battle for Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD.
On Tuesday, Netflix amended its bid into an all-cash offer, tightening the screws on rival bidder Paramount Skydance $PSKY. The headline price didn’t change (still $82.7B), but the structure did, and in M&A land that can be the difference between a deal happening… and a deal getting dragged into the graveyard.
Because one word changes everything: cash.
Cash Talks (Stock Walks)
Netflix’s offer used to be a mix of cash and stock. Now it’s pure cash at $27.75 per share, which instantly makes this deal feel more real. No stock volatility. No valuation debates. No “we’ll see where the market is in three months.” Just money on the table.
Translation: Netflix didn’t raise the price, it raised the certainty. And that is often the real flex.
Cable Is the Messy Ex
The Warner Bros. Discovery situation still has one giant problem hanging over it: cable.
WBD disclosed a massive valuation range for its planned cable spinoff “Discovery Global,” putting it somewhere between $1.33 and $6.86 per share. That is a wild spread, and it highlights the real fight behind the headlines: what is cable even worth in 2026?
Paramount’s stance has basically been: cable is cooked. WBD’s stance is: cable is ugly, but not worthless. Investors are stuck watching two sides argue over a shrinking business like it’s still 2008.
Netflix Becomes the Frontrunner
Prediction markets immediately reacted. Odds shifted further toward Netflix, while Paramount’s chances dropped hard, now even trailing the “none of the above” outcome.
The next key date: shareholder votes, expected around spring, with Netflix aiming to accelerate the process. This is no longer just a bidding war, it’s a race to the finish line.
Bottom line: Netflix didn’t increase its bid for WBD, but it made the offer cleaner, faster, and harder to ignore, which is exactly how you win deals when everyone else is trying to play chess with checkers.
CALENDAR
On The Horizon
Tomorrow
Tomorrow’s calendar is doing the thing where it looks quiet… until you realize it absolutely isn’t. We’ll get the delayed October construction spending report plus December pending home sales, giving us a late read on how the housing and building backdrop really ended the year.
On the earnings front, it’s a packed slate with Johnson & Johnson $JNJ, Charles Schwab $SCHW, Disco $LAW, Halliburton $HAL, Kinder Morgan $KMI, and The Travelers Companies $TRV all reporting. And for the political-institutional drama enjoyers: the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the government’s case involving Fed Governor Lisa Cook, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell expected to show up in support.
Meanwhile in Davos, President Trump is expected to deliver a headline-friendly special address at the World Economic Forum, with housing reform rumored to be the main theme.
RESOURCES
The Federal Reserve Resource
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