Stock Indexes Sink, Bond Yields Surge After Trump Threatens New Tariffs Over Greenland; Gold, Silver Hit Fresh All-Time Highs

Netflix Is Set to Report Earnings After the Closing Bell. Here’s What You Need to Know

FROM 5 minutes ago

Investors are about to get some fresh financial results from one of the streaming industry’s biggest players.

Netflix (NFLX) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes today, with analysts expecting growing revenue and profits. The streaming giant’s revenue is projected to come in at $11.97 billion for the quarter, up 17% year-over-year. Earnings per share are expected to rise to $0.55 from $0.43 a year ago, per estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Earlier in the day, Netflix announced an agreement to convert its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to an all-cash offer rather than a mix of cash and stock. Netflix said that the new deal, which could help fend off rival bidder Paramount Skydance (PSKY), “provides enhanced certainty around the value WBD stockholders will receive at closing,” and that Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders are expected to vote on the deal as soon as April.

Read the full article here.

–Aaron McDade

The $50 Loss That Ended Buffett’s Betting Habit

FROM 29 minutes ago

Warren Buffett lost $50 at the racetrack as a teenager, and it permanently changed how he thinks about risk.

In a recent CNBC special on his life, Buffett focused on the number like it still stings: “When I went home, I was $50 poorer, which was all I’d taken with me. That was equivalent to delivering 5,000 papers.”​

He lost the first race, then “did the dumbest thing you can imagine” by betting every race to get even. He blew through his entire stake. Afterward, eating at a Howard Johnson’s, he did the math on how long it would take to earn that money back. His verdict: “That was the end of my racing.”

Read the full article here.

–Dara-Abasi Ita

Gold, Silver Prices Soar to Records as Trump’s New Tariff Threats Revive ‘Sell America’ Trade

FROM 42 minutes ago

Financial markets were on edge Tuesday after President Donald Trump ratcheted up his efforts to force Denmark to cede Greenland to the U.S. 

President Trump on Saturday morning threatened to impose a 10% tariff on select European countries starting February 1 if they did not agree to give the U.S. control of the semiautonomous Danish territory. The tariffs would increase to 25% on June 1, and stay in place “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

The president’s newest tariff threats sent safe haven assets sharply higher on Tuesday. Gold futures jumped to an all-time high of $4,755 a troy ounce, bringing the precious metal’s one-year return to nearly 75%. Gold prices have risen 9% since the start of the year, compared with the benchmark S&P 500 stock index, which saw its small year-to-date gains erased on Tuesday morning. Silver prices also soared to an all-time high on Tuesday, adding to big gains this year and putting the metal’s 12-month return at 200%.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

3 Underrated Tips for Paying Off Debt in 2026, According to Experts

FROM 58 minutes ago

If you’re looking to pay off debt in 2026, you’ve probably already heard all the classic advice.

You’ve probably heard that you should pay off high-interest debt first. But that ignores taxes, transfer fees, and whether your debt bought something whose value is going up or down.

Here are some under-the-radar tips from financial planners that may help you pay down what you owe this year.

Read the full article here.

–Trina Paul

What It Would Really Take to Make Housing Affordable in 2026

FROM 1 hr 21 min ago

Seeking to lower borrowing costs, create more housing supply and make it easier for homebuyers to enter the market, President Donald Trump is expected to soon announce a series of housing reforms. It’s not clear that his plans will bring affordability back to the housing market.

Economists and housing market officials say a lot depends on whether his policies can get more workers building more houses.

“The bottom line is we have to create more housing,” said Ed Brady, CEO of the Home Builders Institute (HBI).

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

As Prediction Markets Grow in Popularity, Some Fear ‘Insider Trading.’ What’s Next?

FROM 2 hr 5 min ago

Someone profited handsomely after winning an unlikely short-term bet on Nicolás Maduro’s fate. The win kicked off a round of intense scrutiny of prediction markets.

How, the questions went, could they have known what would happen in Venezuela with such confidence? If they did know, did that amount to market manipulation? And if it did, how many more winners were trading on confidential information for their own gain?

That paranoia—or, more charitably, the curiosity—appears to be percolating. On social media, skeptics routinely peruse wagers and wonder aloud whether they might constitute something like “insider trading,” a term generally used for the illegal practice of buying or selling securities using privileged information. Legislators have also expressed interest in learning more.

So is something amiss on prediction markets, one of the fastest-growing segments of trader enthusiasm and activity? If it is, what should be done? The short answer: It’s complicated.

Read the full article here.

–Crystal Kim

America’s Biggest Tech Stocks Lead Tuesday’s Selloff as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Rattles Markets

FROM 2 hr 26 min ago

The Magnificent Seven aren’t looking so magnificent to start the week.

All seven of the tech giants—Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA)—saw their stocks slide to start the holiday-shortened trading week as rising geopolitical concerns fueled a broad market sell-off, with the shares down 1% to 2% each.

Stocks fell in early trading Tuesday after President Donald Trump over the weekend threatened higher tariffs on a number of European countries unless the U.S. is allowed to acquire Greenland.

“Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said in a Saturday morning social media post.

Read the full article here.

–Aaron McDade

Average Time Americans Spent Saving for a Home Down Payment in 2025 Revealed

FROM 3 hr 14 min ago

For most Americans, saving enough for a down payment takes years. But today’s buyers are reaching that goal faster than they have in recent memory.

In 2025, the typical American needed seven years to save for a median home down payment, according to Realtor.com—down sharply from 12 years in 2022. Even so, that timeline is still nearly double what it was before the pandemic, when surging home prices put ownership further out of reach for many would-be buyers.

“Although conditions have improved since 2022, today’s timeline shows that saving for a home takes meaningfully longer than it did before the pandemic, especially in high-cost markets,” Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said in a release.

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

Spotify Is the Latest Streamer to Hike Prices. Why You Should Watch Out for ‘Subscription Creep’

FROM 3 hr 39 min ago

Listening to music could be about to get a little bit more expensive for millions of people.

Spotify (SPOT) said last week that it plans to raise the prices of its paid subscription offerings in the U.S. by $1 to $2 starting next month. That will bring the cost of an individual plan up to $12.99 per month, $18.99 for a plan that includes two accounts, $21.99 for a family plan of up to six accounts, and $6.99 for eligible student accounts, Spotify said.

It’s also not the only streaming company that’s raised prices recently. If you haven’t checked your subscriptions in a while, it could be a good time to see whether “subscription creep” may have pushed costs higher than you’d want, after a series of price hikes across the industry.

Read the full article here.

–Aaron McDade

What ‘Agentic Commerce’ Means—And How a Walmart Exec Thinks AI Could Help You Shop

FROM 3 hr 58 min ago

Some AI tools beg the question: Who asked for this?

In the rush to capitalize on artificial intelligence, companies have released a myriad of “agentic commerce” tools that aim to revolutionize shopping. (Agentic commerce refers to AI agents performing tasks, such as comparing prices or making purchases, on behalf of consumers.) More than a few lack consumer appeal, according to Daniel Danker, Walmart’s (WMT) executive vice president of AI acceleration, project and design. 

“We’ve all been playing with the technology to understand it better,” Danker said at a conference earlier this week, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense. “A lot of things have been built that won’t necessarily work. A lot of things have been built that don’t necessarily reflect exactly what the customer wants.”

Read the full article here.

–Sarina Trangle

Fastenal Stock Drops After Q4 Sales, Operating Income Margin Slightly Miss Estimates

FROM 4 hr 41 min ago

Shares of Fastenal (FAST) sank 6.5% in premarket trading after the industrial distributor reported fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter net sales and operating income margin that narrowly missed analysts’ estimates.

The Winona, Minn.-based firm, which bills itself as “a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies,” posted net sales that rose 11% year-over-year to just below $2.03 billion and operating margin of 19.0%. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected just above $2.03 billion and 19.4%, respectively.

Fastenal’s profit of $0.26 per share matched consensus expectations.

The company said that “broader market conditions remain mixed, with ongoing challenges in industrial production.” 

Fastenal shares entered Tuesday having risen about 15% over the past year.

Trump Is Set to Unveil Big Plans Addressing Housing Affordability This Week. Here’s What We Know

FROM 5 hr 25 min ago

Housing affordability has been a problem for the U.S. economy in recent years, and President Donald Trump is set to roll out what he describes as a series of “aggressive” reforms for the housing market this week.

Trump has said he will use his Wednesday speech at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to lay out his ideas for the housing market. Trump and his advisors have signaled that the plans could have big implications for mortgages and how Americans buy homes.

Here’s what we know about the plan so far.

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

RAPT Therapeutics Stock Skyrockets as GSK Buys Biopharmaceutical Firm for $2.2B 

FROM 5 hr 44 min ago

Tuesday is looking like it’ll be a rough day for stocks. That does not appear to be the case for RAPT Therapeutics (RAPT) shareholders.

RAPT Therapeutics shares added nearly two-thirds of their value in premarket trading after drug giant GSK (GSK) said it had agreed to purchase the California-based biopharmaceutical firm for roughly $2.2 billion in stock.

GSK will pay RAPT Therapeutics shareholders $58.00 per share at closing—a 65% premium to Friday’s closing price of $35.10—and said its upfront investment is about $1.9 billion.

The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, would give GSK global rights to experimental food-allergy drug ozureprubart, excluding mainland China, Macau, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“Food allergies cause severe health impacts to patients with existing treatment requiring injections as frequently as every 2 weeks,” GSK Chief Scientific Officer Tony Wood said. “Ozureprubart offers the opportunity to bring sustained protection to patients with dosing every 12 weeks, and is consistent with our approach to acquire assets that address validated targets and where there is clear unmet medical need.”

RAPT Therapeutics shares entered Tuesday up roughly 265% over the past year.

Stock Futures Dive After Trump Threatens New Tariffs Over Greenland

FROM 6 hr 31 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed down 1.3%.

S&P 500 futures pointed down 1.6%.

Nasdaq 100 futures sank 1.9%.