rip-rl4-86-45

Despite pressure from President Trump, the Federal Reserve voted to keep its key lending rates unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%. The Fed’s statement was quite positive on the state of the US economy, saying activity has been “expanding at a solid pace” and that while new jobs have “remained low”, “the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilisation.”

On Friday, Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace the outgoing Jerome Powell as the new Fed Chair. Warsh worked as a Fed governor from 2006 and 2011. He’s been an open critic of the Fed in recent years…

The year started not with a whimper, but with a bang. On 3 January, Donald Trump ordered and successfully carried out a military strike in Venezuela, resulting in the ‘extraction’ of its President, Nicolás Maduro. The action has many layers and, while it’s too early to gauge the full impact on markets, the initial reaction has been muted…

Markets started the week poorly after President Trump threatened eight European Nato allies with new tariffs in his push for the US to take “ownership” of Greenland. On Tuesday, US markets had their worst day since October with the S&P 500 finishing down 2.1% and the Nasdaq falling 2.4%.

They steadied on Wednesday after Trump told the audience at Davos that he “won’t use force” to take Greenland…

Equity markets finished the year on a strong note with most regions delivering double digit returns over the period and hitting all-time highs. This was achieved despite several potential headwinds including Trump’s tariff hikes, growing concerns about technology valuations and recent concerns of a potential Chinese slowdown.
Looking at December, the UK was a strong performer, returning +2.3%, bolstered by strong corporate earnings and the hope for further rate cuts, and finished the quarter as the best performing equity market…

As President Trump steps up his campaign to take “ownership” of Greenland, he took to Truth Social on Saturday to outline new tariffs that he is planning to impose on eight NATO allies, including the UK. Starting from 1 February 2026, Trump said he will put a 10% tariff on “any goods sent to the United States of America” by the eight countries. He threatened to increase the tariff rate to 25% if the US is not allowed to “purchase” Greenland by 1 June 2026…

On Wednesday, the Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that the US will control Venezuelan oil sales “indefinitely”. The next day, President Trump held a roundtable press conference with more than a dozen senior oil executives. While they acknowledged that Venezuela represented an enticing opportunity, the consensus was that significant changes would be needed before they can start investing. Exxon’s Chief Executive, Darren Woods, went as far as to label Venezuela “uninvestable” in its current state…