Good morning.

It’s Wednesday, January 14. The holidays are a distant memory, the tree is gone, the lights are dead, and winter has fully chosen violence. This is the part of January where motivation runs on vibes, caffeine, and pure denial.

Everyone said “new year, new me” twelve days ago. Now we’re back to powering through, wearing the same coat every day, and calling it character building. Growth, apparently.

We’re genuinely happy you’re still here with us. Still reading. Still opening the email. Still pretending winter is temporary (it is, but not emotionally).

Wishing you a solid week, low chaos, and a good read. Let’s survive this season together.

Today’s stories:

Stocks slipped Tuesday as traders digested fresh Trump-era policy noise and punished JPMorgan anyway. The S&P 500 dipped 0.2%, the Dow slid nearly 400 points (-0.8%), and the Nasdaq edged 0.1% lower.

JPMorgan fell 4.2% despite beating earnings expectations. Trading revenue climbed, but weaker-than-expected investment banking fees spooked investors — proving once again that “beat estimates” only counts if Wall Street likes which estimates you beat.

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Mortgage rates just dipped below 6% for the first time in years. The average 30-year mortgage hit 5.99% after Donald Trump told the government to start buying $200 billion in mortgage bonds. Loud post. Immediate reaction. Rates don’t usually move like this. They crawl. This time, they jumped. A full drop overnight. The 15-year fell to 5.55%. Markets listened. Homebuyers refreshed their calculators. Will this fix housing long term? Experts say probably not. But for a brief moment, mortgages stopped feeling completely unhinged.

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Saks might go bankrupt. Saks Global could file for bankruptcy as soon as Tuesday. The brands are famous. The situation is messy. The company behind Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman is trying to lock in over $1 billion just to keep the lights on. Possible saviors include PIMCO and a few hedge funds with very calm faces. The twist: Saks’ iconic real estate — including the Fifth Avenue flagship — may be untouchable in bankruptcy. It’s parked in a “bankruptcy-remote” structure. Translation: creditors want the buildings. The buildings say no. To make it spicier, Authentic Brands Group owns most of the brand names and gets an even bigger slice if bankruptcy happens. So what’s left for lenders? Inventory. Fixtures. Vibes. CEO Richard Baker may also lose control once papers are filed. Luxury retail drama, but make it financial.

Trump floated a 10% credit card rate cap. Donald Trump floated a plan to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for one year. Current average: almost 24%. Some people pay up to 36%. So yes, this would be a shock to the system. The idea even got rare praise from Elizabeth Warren. Consumers could save around $100 billion a year in interest. Sounds great. The downside: banks may stop lending to people with low credit scores. Or quietly kill rewards, raise annual fees, and make points basically decorative. The banking industry is not thrilled. Cards are insanely profitable, though. Issuers like Visa, Mastercard, and Capital One make money in plenty of other ways. Translation: someone will still pay. Just maybe not who you expect.

America is grocery shopping on a budget. Aldi is going on a shopping spree. The discount grocer plans to open more than 180 new U.S. stores this year as Americans across income levels hunt for cheaper groceries. Aldi is now the third-largest grocer in the U.S. by store count, right behind Walmart and Kroger. Last year alone, Aldi opened nearly 200 locations. Minimal stores. Mostly private labels. No vibes. Just savings. They’re also entering Maine, launching a new website, and adding distribution centers. Translation: Aldi isn’t slowing down, and fancy grocery stores are officially on notice. Shoppers aren’t looking for chandeliers and 40 types of mustard. They want cheaper food, fast trips, and fewer decisions.

Apple Card is getting a new bank. Apple announced that JPMorgan Chase will become the new issuer of Apple Card. The switch won’t happen fast. Think ~24 months. Plenty of time to forget this news and rediscover it later. For users, nothing changes for now. Same cash back. Same clean app. Same feeling of being financially responsible while buying AirPods. You still get up to 3% Daily Cash, spending tools that judge you silently, Apple Card Family, and access to the high-yield savings account. Mastercard stays as the network, so the card will still work everywhere you already overspend.

Alphabet hit $4 trillion. Alphabet briefly crossed a $4 trillion valuation. Investors suddenly believe again. The reason: AI focus, fewer doubts, louder confidence. Even better optics: Apple will base its next-gen AI models on Google’s Gemini. Yes, that Google. The rivalry just got awkward. Alphabet stock jumped, hit a record, then chilled. Still, the message landed. Samsung Electronics is also doubling down on Gemini-powered devices this year. Momentum loves company. Alphabet even passed Apple in market value, something it hadn’t done since 2019. The stock is up about 65% in 2025. Wall Street noticed. So did Berkshire Hathaway. When Warren Buffett shows up, people listen.

NASA just set a date to send humans back toward the Moon. Artemis II is targeting February 6. Yes, really. The last time this happened, it was 1972 and people smoked on airplanes. Artemis II will carry four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day loop around the Moon. No landing. Just a flyby. Think of it as a very expensive test drive. Launch dates depend on moon math, rocket vibes, and Florida weather. Backup dates are locked. If February flakes, March and April are on standby. This will be the first human mission in 53 years to go beyond low Earth orbit. Long break. Big comeback. Let’s hope nothing gets delayed by clouds.

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AI just joined the healthcare system. Anthropic just dropped Claude for Healthcare, right after OpenAI showed off ChatGPT Health. Very “oh you’re doing that? cool, same” energy. Claude for Healthcare lets doctors, insurers, and patients connect health data from phones and wearables. Anthropic says the data won’t train the model. Pinky promise. The big pitch: less paperwork, more patients. Claude can plug into medical databases like CMS, ICD-10, and PubMed to help with things doctors hate most — prior authorizations and admin work. Basically, fewer forms. More time pretending the system isn’t broken. Yes, people worry about AI hallucinating medical advice. Fair. Anthropic says its “agent skills” are smarter and more controlled. Also yes, everyone still says “talk to a real doctor.” Just now with an AI assistant hovering nearby.

The Metaverse ran out of budget. Meta is shutting down three VR studios and laying off over 1,000 people from Reality Labs. The metaverse division. Remember that? Meta says it’s refocusing on wearables instead. Translation: smart glasses good, virtual worlds expensive. CTO Andrew Bosworth confirmed the pivot. Less VR. More mobile. More things people actually use. Reality Labs has burned over $70 billion since 2021. Yes, billion. Mark Zuckerberg renamed Facebook for this vision. The vision did not show up. VR isn’t dead, but it’s on a diet. 

Car safety finally updated. For decades, car safety tests used male bodies. Women just got the memo. Very late. Regulators unveiled THOR-05F, the first crash test dummy actually based on a female body. Not a shrunken man. An actual woman. Revolutionary, apparently. Women are more likely to be seriously injured or killed in crashes, and the old dummies missed where women get hurt most. This new one has triple the sensors and more realistic movement. Data, finally doing its job. The rollout was pushed through by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with support from Donald Trump and Sean P. Duffy. Adoption will still take years. Because of course it will.

One dollar to confirm existence. There’s a new hit app called Are You Dead? and yes, the name is doing most of the marketing. It’s now the top paid app on Apple App Store in China, and it’s climbing in the U.S. too. The idea is painfully simple. You tap a green button once a day to confirm you’re alive. Miss two days, and the app emails your emergency contact. Casual. The app costs about $1 and is built for people who live alone. Which, turns out, is a lot of people. China is heading toward tens of millions of solo households, thanks to aging, urban life, and families spread far apart.

One subscription to rule your content. Apple just dropped a new bundle called Creator Studio. The pitch: everything creators need, one subscription, $13 a month. Very “we noticed you’re tired of paying separately.” The bundle includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage, and Freeform. Video, audio, graphics, vibes. All in. Students get it for $3 a month, which is basically charity by Apple standards. It launches Jan. 28 with a one-month free trial. Enough time to feel productive before canceling. 

Tom Brady just picked up another title. Chief Wellness Officer. Because retirement was clearly too quiet. He’s joining eMed Population Health, a Miami-based digital health company focused on clinically supervised weight-loss treatments, including GLP-1 and GIP therapies. The company says the move is about credibility, adherence, and real financial results for employers covering expensive weight-loss drugs. Brady’s role is to raise awareness, promote medically guided care, and help eMed stand out in the increasingly crowded telehealth world.

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Awards season has entered the chat. Awards season is officially back. The Golden Globe Awards kicked things off Sunday night in Los Angeles, and a few projects absolutely cleaned up. One Battle After Another took Best Picture, Musical or Comedy. Yes, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Prestige confirmed. Hamnet won Best Picture, Drama, plus another trophy. Sad, beautiful, award-friendly. Checks out. On TV, Adolescence dominated with four wins, including Best Limited Series and acting awards. Basically untouchable. Hosting duties went (again) to Nikki Glaser. New category unlocked: podcasts. First-ever podcast Globe went to Good Hang With Amy Poehler. 

White Lotus went full French. Season 4 of The White Lotus finally picked a destination. Bags are heading to Château de La Messardière in Saint-Tropez. For the first time ever, the show is skipping the Four Seasons. Shocking. Growth. The season is still written by Mike White, who also happens to be juggling Survivor. Multitasking king. The hotel is part of the Airelles Collection, connected to Banijay Group. Hollywood loves a convenient circle. Rooms start around $1,500 a night. The big suite goes for over $24,000. That includes spa access, private beach, and Rolls-Royce transfers.

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