Good morning.

It’s Tuesday, January 20. Another week, another inbox, same January energy.

On this day was born David Lynch (1946–2025) — director, artist, and a professional reminder that reality is optional. The mind behind Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, and Mulholland Drive. Proof that confusion can be art, silence can scream, and nothing has to make sense to be iconic. Honestly, a mood for January.

Wishing you a productive week, sharp focus, and fewer unnecessary meetings. Bundle up. Drink something hot. Let’s do this.

Today’s stories:

• Sri Lanka unveils record-breaking purple star sapphire

• College enrollment hits decade high; community leads

• Manhattan housing shrugs, luxury buyers keep buying

• Brooklyn gets two massive Hollywood-scale studios

• Stan Kroenke now America’s biggest land baron

• Walmart and Google automate shopping via AI

• AI fetal ultrasound software clears FDA review

• Saks bankruptcy leaves luxury brands unpaid

• Trump eyes 401(k)s for home down payments

• ChatGPT starts showing ads to free users

• Solar storm could drag auroras far south

• HBO bets Thrones sequel on Arya

  and more…

Stock futures slid Monday night as markets braced for another Trump-driven curveball — this time involving Greenland, tariffs, and a lot of raised eyebrows.

Futures tied to the Dow pointed to a 378-point drop at Tuesday’s open. S&P 500 futures were down about 0.9%, while Nasdaq 100 futures led the retreat, off roughly 1.1%.

The catalyst: President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric over Greenland, threatening fresh tariffs on countries that oppose a U.S. purchase of the Danish territory. In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump said imports from eight NATO countries would face escalating tariffs “until a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” The plan starts with 10% tariffs on Feb. 1, climbing to 25% by June 1.

Europe did not love that. Leaders called the proposal “unacceptable,” European automakers and luxury stocks slid Monday, and defense names quietly rallied — because nothing says geopolitical tension like higher defense budgets.

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Trump Wants Your 401(k) to Buy a House

The Trump administration wants to let Americans use their 401(k) money for a home down payment. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett says the plan is coming soon, with details expected next week. He claims they’re figuring out a “simple” way to do this without wrecking retirement savings. Confidence is high. Specifics are not. The timing makes sense. Housing is still expensive, mortgage rates are still rude, and buyers are still stuck watching Zillow like it’s a reality show they’re not cast in. Trump has floated other ideas too: banning big investors from buying single-family homes, pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in bonds, and repeatedly asking the Federal Reserve to lower rates. Inflation data says housing costs are still climbing. Economists say the real issue is supply, not creativity. Lower rates without more homes usually just push prices higher. So yes, this might help people buy sooner. It might also mean retiring later. Choose your adventure.

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Stan Kroenke owns America. Literally. Bill Gates is not even close to America’s biggest private landowner. Not second. Not top ten energy. He’s 44th. The real winner is Stan Kroenke — billionaire, real estate hoarder, and owner of sports teams including the Los Angeles Rams and Arsenal Football Club. According to The Land Report, Kroenke owns 2.7 million acres of land in the U.S. That’s bigger than Yosemite National Park. He jumped to No. 1 after buying 937,000 acres of ranchland in December. Largest U.S. land deal in over a decade. Normal billionaire behavior. His empire started with shopping centers, many built around Walmart. Also helped by marrying a Walmart heiress. Strategic life choices. Other billionaires didn’t disappear. John Malone is No. 2. Ted Turner is No. 3. The Emmerson family owns forests for fun. And Bill Gates owns 275,000 acres of farmland, mostly to grow potatoes for McDonald’s fries. Yes, really. The trend is clear: rich people are buying farmland like it’s the new gold. It hedges inflation. It doesn’t panic. And someone else farms it for you.

Brooklyn is becoming Hollywood. Two massive movie studios are coming to Brooklyn. The project is called Echelon Studios, backed by New York City Economic Development Corporation and Bungalow Studios. Price tag: $552 million. Because small projects are boring. Each studio will be 600,000 square feet. One at 176 Dikeman Street in Red Hook, one at 242 Seigel Street in Bushwick. The city says the project will create 2,400 jobs and pump serious money into NYC’s film and TV economy. Translation: more crews, more trucks, more people blocking bike lanes. City officials are calling it a “global production hub.” Sustainability, workforce development, community impact — all the right words were said. Everyone nodded. Mind you, this also comes right after Netflix announced a studio in New Jersey. 

Manhattan real estate is still fine. Manhattan real estate refuses to flinch. According to Sotheby’s International Realty, buyers are still buying, especially anything move-in ready. Q3 2025 saw over 3,200 sales totaling $6.6 billion. Prices went up. Luxury went up more. Supply stayed tight. Buyers are selective but active. They want turnkey, good locations, and zero construction trauma. Mortgage rates eased a bit. Confidence followed. Rentals are tighter, rents are higher, and some $15–$20M buyers are renting while waiting for something acceptable to exist. Scarcity behavior, but expensive. Upper East Side and downtown are winning. New developments and polished historic homes move fast. City Hall changed. The market didn’t care. New York remains New York.

Saks owes luxury brands a lot of money. Saks Global filed for Chapter 11, and the receipts are ugly. Court filings show it owes more than $700 million to its top 30 unsecured creditors. Luxury was not immune. Big names are waiting in line. Chanel is owed about $136 million. Kering is out roughly $60 million. Capri Holdings is owed $33 million. Valentino’s owner Mayhoola is owed about the same. Ermenegildo Zegna is owed around $26 million. In bankruptcy, unsecured creditors get paid last. That’s bad news, especially for smaller designers who depend on Saks for 40–50% of their business. Pain is spreading unevenly. Saks says it will pay for future shipments while restructuring. Brands will likely keep selling anyway. They need the distribution. Saks owns Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman. Alternatives are limited.

ChatGPT Is Getting Ads

OpenAI is testing ads inside ChatGPT. Yes, there too. Ads will show up in clearly labeled boxes under answers. Ask for a NYC trip plan, get advice, then a hotel ad slides in like it was always invited. OpenAI promises ads won’t affect answers. Pinky swear. Ads are for logged-in free users and the $8 Go plan in the US. Plus, Pro, and Enterprise users stay ad-free. Money still talks. OpenAI says it won’t sell your data or let advertisers read your chats. Advertisers only get boring group stats like views and clicks. Ads will be matched to conversation topics. Some personalization data may be used, but you can turn that off. Allegedly. You can also clear ad data anytime. Because nothing says control like clearing things after they’ve already happened.

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The sky might glow tonight. A strong solar storm is heading toward Earth, and it might drag the northern lights way south. As far as Alabama and northern California. According to NOAA and the Met Office, a coronal mass ejection from the sun is expected to hit Earth within 24 hours. The storm could reach G3 or G4 levels, which means brighter auroras and slightly stressed infrastructure. Power grids may need adjustments. Satellites may get cranky. GPS could have a moment. Auroras happen when solar particles hit Earth’s atmosphere and make it glow. Visibility depends on timing, magnetic alignment, and whether clouds ruin everything. Best viewing window is late night, ideally somewhere dark and far from city lights. 

An AI startup just got FDA approval for fetal ultrasounds. BioticsAI just got FDA clearance for its AI-powered fetal ultrasound software. Startup hype, now with government paperwork. The software helps detect fetal abnormalities by improving ultrasound quality, checking anatomical completeness, and automating reports. Less guessing. Fewer missed details. Founder and CEO Robhy Bustami grew up around obstetricians and hospitals, learned to code, studied computer science at University of California, Irvine, and built the company with a team of engineers and doctors. This was not a random pivot. Bustami says the hardest part wasn’t training the AI, but making sure it worked reliably in real hospitals, across high-risk groups. Especially important in a country with bad prenatal outcomes and glaring disparities. The FDA process took just under three years. Painful, slow, unavoidable. Now the focus is scaling across U.S. health systems and adding more fetal and reproductive health features.

Google and Walmart team up on AI shopping. Walmart and Google are teaming up so shoppers can use Google’s AI assistant Gemini to find and buy stuff from Walmart and Sam’s Club. The announcement came from incoming Walmart CEO John Furner and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage in NYC. Launch date unknown. Money details missing. Confidence intact. This is Walmart admitting people now start shopping inside chatbots instead of apps. It already works with OpenAI and ChatGPT for “Instant Checkout,” letting users buy without leaving the chat. Other brands are already in. Resistance was brief. Walmart also has its own AI assistant called Sparky. Yellow. Smiley. Very eager. Executives say AI will “rewrite retail” and close the gap between wanting something and owning it. Translation: fewer clicks, less thinking, more boxes at your door. AI is now part of how America shops. Retail therapy just got automated.

HBO Is Betting Westeros on Arya Stark

HBO is officially going west. Like, really west. According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO is in early development on a Game of Thrones sequel focused on Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams. This happens right after the Jon Snow spinoff quietly died. Turns out HBO and Kit Harington couldn’t agree on a version that wasn’t aggressively sad. Unlike House of the Dragon, this would be the first real sequel. Arya’s ending was wide open, so now HBO wants boats, maps, monsters, and fewer throne rooms.

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College enrollment hits a 10-year high. College enrollment hit a 10-year high. 19.4 million students, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The collapse narrative did not age well. This is year three of growth, powered almost entirely by community colleges. Cheap, fast, practical. Enrollment there jumped 3%. Public four-year schools barely moved. Private colleges and international students fell off. Students are picking certificates, short programs, and dual enrollment. High schoolers are already getting credits. Adults want speed, not vibes. Enrollment rose among Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. White enrollment dipped. Low-income students showed stronger gains than high-income ones. College didn’t disappear. It downsized the dream and kept the receipt.

Sri Lanka just flexed a $300 million rock. Sri Lanka just unveiled a massive purple star sapphire and casually claimed it’s the biggest of its kind. Weight: 3,563 carats. Value: at least $300 million. The gem is called Star of Pure Land and was revealed in Colombo. According to consultant gemologist Ashan Amarasinghe, it’s the largest documented natural purple star sapphire on Earth. The stone was found in 2023 near Rathnapura, also known as the “city of gems,” because of course it is. The owners bought it with other stones, forgot about it for two years, then realized they were sitting on a gemstone worth more than most IPOs. It’s now polished, certified by two labs, and owned by a group staying anonymous for security reasons.

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