Stocks

On January 15, the China Securities Regulatory Commission outlined steps to curb speculation and, last week, lifted margin funding requirements on all mainland exchanges to 100% from 80%, with the change effective on Monday. The adjustment covers only new contracts and follows early‑2026 gains led by AI and space themes, with mainland tech shares trading about 40% above Nasdaq 100 peers.

On 19 January 2026, at 09:31, Washington's CLARITY Act stalled, a development some analysts frame as a constructive pause. Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe argues the draft risked locking in restrictive rules. Coinbase withdrew support, and CEO Brian Armstrong flagged tokenized equities, yield-bearing stablecoins, and DeFi user data access as unacceptable provisions.

Vanguard Group has reported, via regulatory filings, an approximately $505 million position in Strategy, a public company whose balance sheet is dominated by Bitcoin. The $12 trillion asset manager issued no formal announcement, opting to access Bitcoin's upside through listed equity rather than direct holdings.

At 01:45 market open, Bitcoin dropped nearly $4,000 in one hour to $92,000 amid a $500 million liquidation of leveraged longs. Gold surged to a record $4,660 per ounce and silver reached $94 as traders sought havens. A 10% tariff on eight EU countries begins February 1 and rises to 25% in June.

Vanguard Group, overseeing about $12 trillion in assets, disclosed via routine filings a new position of roughly $505 million in shares of Strategy. The move offers indirect Bitcoin exposure through a public equity and marks Vanguard's first known allocation to a Bitcoin treasury company as of January 18, 2026.

Ripple received preliminary approval for an EMI license in Luxembourg after a recent UK authorization. SHIB formed a short-term bullish crossover with a potential 22% path to $0.00001054. XRP saw $45.8 million weekly inflows, up 428%, while Strategy bought 13,627 BTC for about $1.25 billion.

On January 18, 2026, Kevin Hassett said on Fox News' The Sunday Briefing that he is comfortable remaining in the White House, effectively taking himself out of consideration to lead the Federal Reserve. Trump had publicly told him last week he preferred he stay in the West Wing, while the shortlist now centers on Christopher Waller, Kevin Warsh, and Rick Rieder.

Market analyst Michaël van de Poppe views the CLARITY bill’s failure to advance in Congress as positive for crypto markets. Coinbase withdrew support on Wednesday, while CEO Brian Armstrong flagged tokenized stocks and yield-bearing stablecoin concerns and later denied reported White House tensions on Saturday. Negotiations to refine the bill are continuing.

Software stocks have dropped 15% since the start of January 2026, marking their weakest year-opening performance since 2022. A new AI product from Anthropic unveiled on January 12 triggered renewed concern over disruption, hitting names like Intuit, Adobe, Salesforce and widening the gap with surging chipmakers that are forecast to deliver far stronger profit growth.

Scott Bessent told NBC that Europe is too weak to secure itself, arguing this is why President Donald Trump, now in his second term, is pushing for U.S. control of Greenland and will not back down. He said Trump is using emergency powers to impose new tariffs on eight European countries starting February 1, which could rise in June if no Greenland-linked deal is reached, and added that the Supreme Court is unlikely to block this approach while he also called for more oversight of the Federal Reserve.