The U.S. economy started 2026 in a state of excellent balance: strong growth, a solid job market and subdued inflation. Just don't look too closely.
The big picture: The key headline numbers in recent days — on jobs and inflation— appear as good as they have been in some time. Still, there are also warnings in the data that the story is not quite as rosy as headline numbers might suggest.
It's the Goldilocks economy — neither too hot nor too cold, so long as you don't focus on the details.
Casey Wasserman, the veteran Hollywood talent agent who also chairs the LA28 Olympic committee, is selling his agency amid a growing controversy over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Why it matters: Wasserman has seen a few high-profile celebrity clients exit in response to revelations about suggestive emails he sent to Maxwell that were revealed as part of the Epstein files.
Elon Musk took a victory lap Friday as a Department of Government Efficiency team released a huge trove of Medicaid spending data he said the public could use to look for fraud themselves.
Why it matters: The Trump administration often cites waste, fraud and abuse as justification for deep program cuts — including the nearly $1 trillion in reductions to federal Medicaid spending in last year's Republican budget bill.
The Walt Disney Company on Friday sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging the Chinese tech giant has been infringing on its works to train and develop an AI video generation model without compensation, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: It's the most serious action a Hollywood studio has taken so far against ByteDance since it launched Seedance 2.0 on Thursday.
Journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges stemming from his reporting at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church, multipleoutletsreported.
Why it matters: President Trump's Department of Justice brought the case against the former CNN anchor, sparking backlash over First Amendment concerns.
The four major hyperscalers have lost a combined $1 trillion in market cap following their latest quarter earnings releases.
The big picture: Investors are rotating out of tech as rising AI spend is fueling fears of an overbuild.
Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect the combined loss of $1 trillion in market cap was from their latest quarter earnings (not fourth quarter earnings).
Inflation has fallen back to near where it stood before the "Liberation Day" surge. Yet the sour mood that helped define the spike lingers in checkout lines and household budgets across the country.
Why it matters: This highlights an important disconnect in the key inflation indicators. Friday's big Consumer Price Index cooldown is a relief for financial markets and Federal Reserve officials.
Yet a slowdown in prices in the aggregate is likely little comfort to consumers, who are frustrated that high prices have persisted over the last five years and are still creeping higher.
New valuation datafrom PitchBook suggests that more than one-quarter of VC-backed "unicorns" have lost their horns, even if still being marked at more than $1 billion by their venture capitalists.
Why it matters: Most limited partners aren't able to access top-decile firms. If they conclude that there are better investments elsewhere — such as passive indexes without high fees or illiquidity risk — that's where they'll go.
The White House's gutting of thelegal foundation of climate regs will spill into U.S. elections, global diplomacy, C-suites, and litigation that's on a collision course with the Supreme Court.
Catch up quick: On the off-off chance you missed it, EPA on Thursday repealed the "endangerment finding" — the formal 2009 conclusion that greenhouse gases threaten humans.
Here is a love note from the global commodities market: Roses are red, violets are blue; cocoa prices are still crashing, but no chocolate bargains for you.
Why it matters: Few commodities have plummeted in price more than cocoa this year. The plunge extends a months-long drop from record high prices, a fall that is wreaking havoc on big cocoa exporters in West Africa.
Goldman Sachs' top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler resigned Thursday night after her name appeared in Epstein files documents the Department of Justice recently released.
The big picture: The ex-White House counsel to former President Obama and co-chair of Goldman's reputational risk committee is the latest high-profile figure to resign or be ousted following the DOJ's Jan. 30 release of 3 million documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
