10. Sports: Australian Open Tennis Tournament Finals this weekend. And five episodes into Netflix's Six Nations: Full Contact there has been NO mention of rugby national teams in the Southern Hemisphere. Bias?
9. Money Club: Microsoft has joined Apple with a market cap over 3 trillion USD, the only two companies in the world able to make this boast.
8. Democracy: India elections coming in April and May seem to have a predictable outcome, but the South Africa voting date has not been made official and the ANC is under pressure. U.S citizens appear set for a rematch of Biden and Trump in November.
7. Layoffs: Around 1,900 employees of Activision Blizzard and Xbox, both owned by Microsoft, will have their jobs eliminated. Microsoft spent about 68.7 billion USD to acquire Activision Blizzard - a deal that was finalized in October of 2023.
6. Nervous: Bitcoin still battling the 40,000.00 USD ratio. Binance Coin has fallen below 300.00 USD, BNB/USD traded near 200.00 USD in the middle of October.
5. Behavioral Sentiment: Gold remains near 2020.00 USD, U.S Treasury yields are in sight of three month lows, but energy prices have ticked upwards this week with WTI Crude Oil near 77.00 USD.
4. Forex Caution Sign: Day traders should be braced for price velocity today. Is the USD going to become weaker going into the weekend?
3. U.S Federal Reserve: FOMC Statement will be on the 31st of January. Yesterday's GDP numbers came in stronger than anticipated, fueled by robust consumer spending. However the GDP Price Index results were well below their expectations. Some folks may be dreaming about a rate cut in March, but there is still plenty of data ahead.
2. Stock Indices: The S&P 500, Dow Jones 30 and Nasdaq 100 are within record heights. Japan's Nikkei 225 is challenging values not traversed since early 1990. The values of these indices may be dizzying, but the trend has been hard to bet against.
1. Inflation: Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index reading is anticipating a 0.2% gain today. Last month's outcome was 0.1%. The U.S Federal Reserve monitors this particular report closely. Financial institutions will react and any surprises will become a catalyst in the broad markets.