By Marc Jones
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) –
By Marc Jones, global markets correspondent
The news overload since the start of the year shows no sign of letting up, with markets starting to search for the motion sickness tablets.
Donald’s Trump’s pledge to Iranian protestors that “help is on its way” has sent gold and silver to new highs. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court could rule on Trump’s tariffs today, another trio of Wall Street banks is reporting earnings, and currency markets are back on yen-intervention watch as the prospect of a snap election next month turbocharges the so-called “Takaichi trade”.
Finally, U.S. retail sales arrive just as Saks Fifth Avenue’s owner files for bankruptcy.
I’ll get into all that and more below.
But first check out Mike Dolan’s latest column on some of the contradictions in the Trump administration’s plans to make buying a house more affordable.
Today’s Market Minute
* High-end department store conglomerate Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection late on Tuesday in one of the largest retail collapses since the pandemic.
* Tehran has warned U.S. allies in the Middle East it will strike U.S. bases on their soil if Washington attacks Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday.
* China posted a record trade surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion in 2025 amid soaring exports to non-U.S. markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
* President Donald Trump’s bid to ignite American industry with cheap oil and gas is a high‑stakes gamble that, win or lose, will leave China the world’s leading low‑carbon technology powerhouse, argues ROI Energy Columnist Ron Bousso.
* Meta’s 2025 acquisition of Manus, a Chinese-founded AI startup, challenges the widespread narrative of US-China tech decoupling and could signal a new modus operandi in AI’s future focused on talent acquisition, writes Fidelity International’s Taosha Wang.
SHOP TILL YOU DROP
The myriad of geopolitical tensions has propelled silver to $90 per ounce for the first time – the metal has surged nearly 30% in the first nine trading days of the year. Gold prices have also climbed to yet another record, with $5,000 an ounce the next obvious target for traders to fixate on.
In addition to concern over the next steps in Iran, there are talks later in the day involving the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark and U.S. Vice President JD Vance alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff plan to travel to Moscow soon to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to reports.
For Wall Street, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are all reporting earnings. S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow futures prices are fractionally lower right now, and it has been a bit of a tough run for financials this week. Trump’s proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% has sent plenty of share prices lower, while the biggest of the big guns, JPMorgan, suffered a more than 4% tumble on Tuesday as its investment banking fees caused disappointment.
Elsewhere, investors have mostly looked past China reporting a record trade surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion in 2025, led by booming exports to non-U.S. markets.
Focus has been heavily on the yen instead, with Japan’s finance minister sending another explicit intervention warning after the currency hit an 18-month low as a weak bond sale compounded the pressure of the snap election.
And to round things off, there’s a packed schedule of Federal Reserve speakers later, including Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson, Trump appointee Stephen Miran, Minneapolis Fed’s Neel Kashkari, Atlanta Fed’s Raphael Bostic and the New York Fed’s John Williams. That could all make very interesting viewing after this week’s move by the Trump administration to investigate Fed chief Jerome Powell over the costly refurbishment of the central bank’s headquarters.
Chart of the day
High-end department store conglomerate Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection late on Tuesday in one of the largest retail collapses since the Covid-19 pandemic – and barely a year after a deal that brought Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus under one debt-laden roof.
While Saks – which opened its doors in 1867 – may have once been a favourite of the rich and famous, from Gary Cooper to Grace Kelly, the internet age has seen sales at U.S. department stores roughly halve over the last 25 years.
Today’s events to watch
Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
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(By Marc Jones; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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