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Tech Surge: Apple Sales Crush Estimates After iPhone Fuels Record Quarter (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc.’s revenue in the holiday quarter trounced Wall Street estimates, driven by strong demand for the new iPhone 17, growth in services and a rebound in China.
Revenue jumped 16% to $143.8 billion in the period that ended Dec. 27, setting a record, the company said in a statement Thursday. Analysts had estimated $138.4 billion on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple’s own projections were for an increase 10% to 12%.
“IPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in the statement.
Tariff Train Wreck: US Trade Gap Widens From Smallest Since 2009 as Imports Rise (Bloomberg)
The US trade deficit widened in November from the lowest level since 2009 as imports rebounded and exports fell, highlighting wide monthly swings in response to the Trump administration’s vacillations on tariffs.
North America Escalation: Trump Threatens Canada With More Tariffs on Private Jet Snag (Bloomberg)
President Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on aircraft from Canada sold in the US and decertify all new planes made there, jeopardizing Bombardier Inc.’s access to its biggest market for private jets.
Market Sugar High: Wall Street Bonanza Won’t Save NYC’s Finances, Mayor Mamdani Warns (Bloomberg)
Wall Street’s booming year will not be enough to stave off a financial crisis that NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani says is worse than the Great Recession nearly two decades ago.
“Wall Street’s announcement is something that is very encouraging and frankly will be helpful in dealing with a $12 billion fiscal deficit,” Mamdani said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power on Thursday.
AI Market Race: OpenAI Plans Fourth-Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market (Wall Street Journal)
OpenAI is preparing for a public listing in the fourth quarter of this year, holding informal talks with Wall Street banks. The company is seeking to raise over $100 billion in a pre-IPO funding round, potentially valuing the startup at $830 billion.
Rival Anthropic is also considering an IPO by year-end, with projections to break even by 2028. The startup’s sales are soaring, thanks largely to the popularity of its viral coding agent Claude Code, and it is in the process of raising a funding round that will likely exceed an initial $10 billion target, people familiar with the matter said.
Whichever company lists first probably would benefit from a large group of public-market investors—including individual investors—who want exposure to the new wave of generative-AI companies.
Valuation Fade: Oracle’s Value Is Cut In Half From 2025 Peak as AI Caution Rises (Bloomberg)
Oracle Corp. shares have fallen more than 50% from last year’s all-time high as investors concerned about the artificial intelligence trade and the company’s links to OpenAI flee the stock.
The stock’s decline has erased about $463 billion in market value from a record high on Sept. 10 after the company reported an impressive outlook for its cloud business that pointed to soaring demand for AI. The rally brought Oracle’s valuation to more than $933 billion, making it the 10th most valuable publicly-listed US company at the time.
Rules of Play: CFTC to Craft New Prediction Market Rules, Chairman Says (Bloomberg)
Wall Street’s main derivatives regulator will write new rules for the multi-billion-dollar prediction markets industry, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Thursday.
Prediction
market platforms
like Polymarket and Kalshi Inc. allow customers to buy yes-or-no positions on a wide range of future events, from whether the US government will shut down on Saturday to which movie will win the Oscar for best picture. Trading activity on prediction market platforms has surged, despite opposition from some state gaming regulators.
Bet on Fintech: US Weighs Tapping Robinhood for ‘Trump Accounts’ for Children (Bloomberg)
The US federal government is considering handing fintech Robinhood Markets Inc. a key role in overseeing the new “Trump accounts” it’s creating for millions of children.
Robinhood has begun internally preparing in case it’s selected to become a trustee for the project. Meanwhile, some of the country’s largest brokerages, including Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group Inc., have so far not been on the list of candidates considered for the initial rollout or solicited about it.
Venezuela Latest: Trump Orders Venezuela Airspace Reopened After Rodriguez Call (Bloomberg)
President Trump said he was ordering the reopening of airspace over Venezuela after a call Thursday with the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, part of an effort to resume ties following the raid to capture Nicolas Maduro.
“We’re going to be opening up
all commercial airspace over Venezuela,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “American citizens will be — very shortly — able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe.”
Private Fortunes: How the Son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Built a Global Property Empire (Bloomberg - Big Take)
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second-eldest son of Iran’s Supreme Leader, has amassed sprawling international investments, while economic hardship at home has sparked Iran’s deadliest protests in decades.
A
year-long Bloomberg News investigation reveals
how the family’s financial reach has expanded beyond the borders of the Islamic Republic, stretching from Tehran to London, Dubai and Frankfurt. His financial power has embraced everything from Persian Gulf shipping to Swiss bank accounts and British luxury property worth in excess of £100 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
Together, the web of firms has helped Khamenei to channel funds — by some estimates in the billions of dollars — into Western markets, despite US sanctions imposed on him in 2019.
The story illustrates how weaknesses in the global financial system, from lax beneficial ownership registries to limited sanctions enforcement, can allow clandestine networks to thrive.
Snooze Fest: Trump Says He Only Appeared to Nod Off in Last Cabinet Meeting Because It Was ‘Boring’ (New York Times)
President Trump said on Thursday that he had appeared to be fighting sleep during a cabinet meeting last month because “it got pretty boring, no offense.”
Trump, at the start of his first cabinet meeting of 2026, maintained that he had not actually fallen asleep at December’s meeting, but that he had closed his eyes “because I wanted to get the hell out of there.”
Talk of Hollywood: Amazon’s Promotion of ‘Melania’ Has Critics Questioning Its Motives (New York Times)
Amazon paid Melania Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney. The fee includes a related docuseries that is scheduled to air later this year.
The budget for “Melania” is unknown, but documentaries that follow a subject for a limited amount of time usually cost less than $5 million to produce. The $35 million for marketing is 10 times what some other high-profile documentaries have received.
All of which has a lot of Hollywood questioning whether Amazon’s push is anything more than the company’s attempt to ingratiate itself with President Trump.
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Maxim Naumov: He Lost His Parents in a Plane Crash. Next Week He’ll Skate at the Olympics. (New York Times)
After his parents died in the midair collision
over Washington, D.C., a year ago, Maxim Naumov struggled to put on his skates. Now he will compete for the United States at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Coming Up in California: NFL Super Bowl Ticket Prices Are Second-Highest Ever at $8,230 Each (Bloomberg)
UK Weekend Planner: Winter Light Festivals, After-Hours Galleries, and Hot Drink Giveaways (Time Out - London)
London is giving January a proper send-off with a packed weekend of free things to do across the city. Highlights include the Winter Lights festival at Canary Wharf, where large-scale light installations take over the docks after sunset through Saturday, free hot chocolate giveaways at Battersea Power Station on Saturday for National Hot Chocolate Day, and Friday lates at galleries like Tate Modern and the Science Gallery, featuring after-hours access to exhibitions alongside live performances, talks, and workshops.
Tune in Monday: Will Staten Island Chuck Keep His Groundhog Day Accuracy Streak in 2026? (SI Live)
The Staten Island Zoo’s most famous resident is more than 85% accurate when it comes to predicting the arrival of spring. And given the recent biting cold in New York City, eager eyes will surely peek from beneath hoods and over warm scarves to get a hopeful glance at Staten Island Chuck.
The Staten Island Zoo plans to reveal his most current accuracy record on Feb. 2, when the furry prognosticator emerges from a wooden hollow into his clear enclosure to look for his shadow.
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