Mike Bloomberg: Let Jerome Powell and the Fed Do Their Jobs (Bloomberg Opinion)
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"The White House’s latest escalation of pressure on the Federal Reserve is a new and dangerous overreach. For the country’s sake – and, by the way, to avoid the collapse in popular support that would likely follow a severe financial-market backlash – the administration needs to think again,"  Mike Bloomberg writes in an op-ed that published this morning.

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"The case for central-bank independence really shouldn’t need restating," he writes.

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"Once investors think that monetary policy is set according to short-term political calculations, they’ll expect lower interest rates and therefore, after a delay, higher inflation. That prospect in turn will raise longer-term rates (which the central bank can’t directly control), increase the cost of credit, discourage private investment and make public debt (which in the US is already rising unsustainably) harder to service."

"An independent Fed shields the government of the day from pressure to do the wrong thing – which helps the economy and, except in the very short term, serves the government’s political interests as well," Mike writes. 

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"The White House is understandably preoccupied with “affordability,” and trying to show it will do anything and everything to get households’ costs under control. But a frontal assault on Fed independence only serves to undermine that agenda."

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"When the administration interferes with monetary policy, it’s harder for the central bank to deliver what the White House wants – a lower cost of finance. This is a formula for financial panic and economic disaster. The president needs to change course: He should blame over-zealous officials for this latest development, declare a cease-fire, and say he has no intention of running monetary policy out of the White House," Mike writes. 

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"The administration should then commit to letting Powell and his colleagues do their jobs. Persisting with this campaign of intimidation is a decision everyone involved will come to regret."

Read Mike's full op-ed here. 

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US Travel Restrictions

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US Will Halt Issuing Immigrant Visas for Dozens of Countries (Bloomberg)

The US State Department will pause issuing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries including Brazil, Somalia and Iran, targeting specifically foreigners who they say could require public assistance while living in the US.

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The move applies only to people seeking to live and work permanently in the US, not tourists or temporary workers. The administration has already imposed stricter vetting rules for foreigners and would-be residents over the past year, layering new restrictions onto a visa-screening system long considered among the most stringent in the world.

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The visa pause, which will begin Jan. 21, is expected to hit family-based immigration hardest, affecting spouses, children and other immediate relatives of primarily US citizens who would otherwise be eligible for permanent residency.

View the full list of countries affected by the pause here. 

Two Tests of Protest

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Trump Supports the Protesters, Except Those Protesting Him (New York Times)

President Trump had a ringing message of solidarity on Tuesday for demonstrators in the streets. “KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” he wrote on social media. He decried “the senseless killing of protesters,” and added that those pulling the triggers “will pay a big price,” the New York Times reported. 
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He meant the protesters in Tehran, not Minneapolis. By contrast, the people in the streets of Minnesota, he wrote just 63 minutes earlier, were “anarchists and professional agitators” trying to cover up a fraud scandal. He vowed that “THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
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The eruption of protests on opposite sides of the planet at this moment in history has brought Trump’s views of democracy and popular dissent into stark relief. The situations in Iran and Minnesota, of course, are different and complicated, but the president’s rule of thumb seems simple enough: Those who take to the streets supporting a cause he favors are laudable heroes. Those who take to the streets to oppose him are illegitimate radicals.

“He frames each protest movement in terms of himself,” said Amy Hawthorne, a former State Department official and longtime scholar of democracy issues in the Middle East. “He justifies state violence against protesters who challenge him or his policies, and promises protection when he thinks demonstrators can hurt his adversaries.”

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What I'm Reading

Breaking: Man Shot by US Officer in Minneapolis Amid Escalating Tensions (Bloomberg)

A federal officer shot a man in the leg on Wednesday night in Minneapolis. The shooting followed a targeted traffic stop shortly before 7 p.m. Central Time, when the man fled in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car, according to Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. He fled on foot, she added, but the officer caught up with him moments later and tried to make an arrest.

Red Lines in the Arctic: Denmark-US Rift Persists as NATO Nations Deploy to Greenland (Bloomberg)

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Denmark said a “fundamental disagreement” remained after a high-stakes meeting with the US over Greenland as several countries including Germany said they’d send military personnel to the Arctic island.
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Foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, agreeing to establish a working group that’s set to gather within weeks to plot the way forward, while the US refrained from backing down on its demands.

Today, Germany’s “exploration mission” will arrive in Nuuk as European nations begin to work out how to ensure security in the region.

This Week in China: Canada’s Carney Lands in Beijing as China Urges Removing Tariffs (Bloomberg)

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Prime Minister Mark Carney landed in Beijing on Wednesday for the first state visit from a Canadian leader in eight years, as Chinese state media called on Ottawa to lift tariffs on the nation’s exports.

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Carney met with Premier Li Qiang today and is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping on Friday to discuss topics including trade, energy and international security. Beijing will propose easing some restrictions on Canadian rapeseed products if levies are relaxed on Chinese-made electric vehicles, Bloomberg reported.

Ceasefire Watch: Gaza Deal’s Second Phase to Begin With Truce Under Strain (Bloomberg)
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The US announced the “launch” of the second phase of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in an attempt to advance a fragile truce that has been challenged by Hamas militants refusing to disarm.

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A key part of the second phase involves a team of technocrats being appointed to help run Gaza as part of US efforts to rebuild after more than two years of conflict with Israel. Diplomats hope the technocrats can help restore day-to-day governance and public services under the broader oversight of a so-called Board of Peace chaired by Trump and other world leaders that has yet to be announced.
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Yet with Hamas still in control of almost half of Gaza and refusing to disarm, the prospect of a durable peace is uncertain.

Wall Street Win: Goldman Equity Traders Smash Through Wall Street Revenue Record (Bloomberg)

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Goldman Sachs blew through expectations for equities-trading revenue, netting an all-time Wall Street record of $4.31 billion in the final three months of last year.

Debt Surge: Morgan Stanley Crushes Investment-Banking Estimates on Debt Haul (Bloomberg)

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Morgan Stanley’s debt bankers increased revenue 93% in the fourth quarter, by far the biggest jump on Wall Street and capping a record year for that business.

Goldman and Morgan Stanley are the last of the biggest US banks to report fourth-quarter results, after JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. earlier this week.

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Press Protections Tested: FBI Executes Search Warrant at Washington Post Reporter’s Home (Washington Post)
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The FBI executed a search warrant Wednesday morning at a Washington Post reporter’s home as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.

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The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at her home in Virginia at the time of the search. Federal agents searched her home and her devices, seizing her phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch. One of the laptops was her personal computer, the other a Washington Post-issued laptop. Investigators told Natanson that she is not the focus of the probe.

The warrant said that law enforcement was investigating Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has a top-secret security clearance and has been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports that were found in his lunchbox and his basement, according to an FBI affidavit.

It is exceptionally rare for law enforcement officials to conduct searches at reporters’ homes. Federal regulations intended to protect a free press are designed to make it difficult to use aggressive law enforcement tactics against reporters to obtain the identities of their sources or information.

Today in the Oval Office: Trump to Meet Venezuelan Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado at the White House (BBC)

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🎙️ Now Live! Dive into the latest episode of the Daily Read Podcast—your smart, AI-driven breakdown of the day’s biggest headlines. Get richer context, sharper insights, and thoughtful analysis that takes you beyond the text. Catch the newest episode on Spotify or  Apple Podcasts today.

The Future of Wearables: Smart Glasses Market Will Be Worth $200 Billion by 2040, HSBC Says (Bloomberg)

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The rapid growth of the market for smart glasses is set to accelerate further, providing a boost for prime beneficiary EssilorLuxottica SA, HSBC Holdings Plc analysts said.
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Analysts including Anne-Laure Bismuth increased their estimate of the industry’s size by a third to $200 billion by 2040, reflecting the early success of glasses made by EssilorLuxottica in collaboration with Facebook parent Meta.

They foresee a more than 1,800% jump in smart glasses users to 289 million by the end of the next decade, up from 15 million in 2025.

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2026 Dining Guide: The 20 Most Exciting Restaurants Openings Across the US (Bloomberg Pursuits)
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Get ready to step up to the counter for some of the year’s more anticipated cooking, as pedigreed chefs reinvent the concept of walk-up counters, tasting menus and amped-up comfort food across the US in Bloomberg Pursuits' 20 most exciting openings coming in 2026.
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In Chicago, Fatback will be a combination sandwich shop, butcher counter and specialty market, while Gingie will highlight nontraditional hand rolls and American wagyu in a vast River North restaurant; in Los Angeles, star chef Nancy Silverton’s Lapaba will be a Korean-accented pasta bar in Koreatown with a snaking, semicircular dining counter.
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New York’s skyline of openings includes three new concepts in a 15,000-square-foot space at 550 Madison: Sushi Yoshitake; Chimera, which will operate as a lunch-and-dinner restaurant with an under-wraps food concept and three drink-focused bars; and a second Cote location, where executive chef David Shim will serve Cote classics like Butcher’s Feast and the build-your-own caviar and sea urchin gimbap rice roll.

Best of Late Night

On Trump's plan to send 1,000 more immigration officers to Minnesota:

“Has anyone told him that they don’t have oil? Because the best he’s going to get is 50 million barrels of cream of mushroom soup.”
-- Stephen Colbert

“And now, the North Star State is joining up with Illinois to sue the Trump administration over their ICE deployments, saying they violated state sovereignty under the 10th amendment. I believe the 10th amendment is the one that says if you use the first nine amendments, you get a free sub.”
-- Stephen Colbert

“Trump heard about these lawsuits and went completely nut-nut, posting a long rant starting with: 'Do the people of Minnesota really want to live in a community in which there are thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts?’ How dare you, sir. It’s called the Mall of America.”
-- Stephen Colbert

And from Late Night with Seth Meyers: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds an impromptu press briefing to answer burning questions, like "What does Trump eat when he wants a light snack?" Click the photo below to watch.

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