Weekly Market Update – January 12, 2026

Taylor Champion
2 days ago
2 min read

Price Return Last Week

S&P 500 +1.6% S&P Mid Cap +3.3% Russell 2000 +4.6%

MSCI EAFE +1.4% MSCI EM +1.6%

10 Yr US Treasury Rate – fell from 4.19% to 4.17%

Source: Refinitiv Eikon

Recent News

Justice Department Investigates Fed – The Federal Reserve received grand jury subpoenas from the Justice Department on Friday that could lead to a criminal indictment. Fed Chair Jerome Powell responded with a video on Sunday calling the investigation a pretext to pressure the Fed to lowering interest rates. Powell stated, “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.” President Trump denied any advanced knowledge of the investigation. Stock futures and the dollar fell while gold prices increased.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan Fallout – President Trump told reporters last week “what we want to do is fix up the oil, fix up the country, bring the country back, and then have elections,” giving some insight into future plans for the South American country. He announced that Venezuela would ship 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S. to be sold at market price for an estimated $1.9 billion. He stated the money would then be used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.

Source: Thomson Reuters ,The Wall Street Journal

Credit Card Rate Cap – President Trump called for a temporary 10% cap on credit card interest rates. It is not clear how this would be implemented as most believe that a cap would have to be legislated by Congress. However, there are supporters of a cap in both parties and federal credit unions already abide by an 18% cap by law. Most credit card issuers stocks were down on the news.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Jobs Report – Dec: 50k (Reuters Poll est. 60k) Nov: 56k

Jobs gains in December were roughly the same as the previous month and in-line with analyst expectations. Over the course of 2025, total payroll employment rose by 584,000 jobs, adding 49,000 jobs per month.

Source: Refinitiv Eikon, The Wall Street Journal

Any Given Sunday – After falling down 18 points in a playoff game versus the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears rallied, scoring 25 points in the 4^th quarter beat the Packers and advance to the second round of the playoffs. It was the fourth-largest comeback in any Bears game and the largest in a Bears playoff game. The last time the Bears beat the Packers in a playoff game was December 14, 1941, just seven days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Source: Fox Sports

Upcoming Events

1/13 – CPI, Notable Earnings Reports: Bank of New York, JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Lines

1/14 – PPI, Retail Sales, Notable Earnings Reports: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup

1/15 – Notable Earnings Reports: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock

1/16 – Notable Earnings Reports: State Street, PNC

Source: Refinitiv Eikon