Wall Street’s Holiday Hangover: Your Saturday US Briefing

Shiyin Chen
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Congratulations on making it through the first week of the new year.

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After ending 2023 on a high, Wall Street’s holiday rally came to a screeching halt in the first few days of the 2024. Bullish investors were smacked with old worries, among them fresh doubts about the path of Federal Reserve policy. The result: a cross-asset drubbing that surpassed any to start a year in at least two decades.

The new year marks fresh efforts by the leading presidential candidates to make their case to voters ahead of the November elections. On the eve of the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the US Capitol, Joe Biden offered some of his sharpest warnings yet about the threat Donald Trump poses to the country. The former president mocked and vilified his rival in Iowa Friday, where in a little more than a week the Republican Party will hold its first contest in the 2024 race.

Meanwhile, mark your calendars for Feb. 8. That’s when the Supreme Court justices will hear the case on whether Colorado can bar Trump from the presidential ballot, taking up a landmark constitutional and political clash. The former president’s removal from primary ballots in Colorado — and Maine — marked a win for two activist groups funded largely by liberal donors that have worked methodically to transform a scholarly thought experiment about the 14th Amendment into a real-world legal strategy.

The first potent winter storm in more than a year is unfolding across New York and the Northeast, bringing mostly rain to Manhattan but possibly dumping a foot of snow on Boston. A smattering of flights have already been grounded and some trains halted.

For more than half a century, a natural gas terminal has been a crucial safeguard against blackouts whenever bone-chilling cold hits the US Northeast. In less than five months, it’s slated to shut forever, underscoring the challenges facing America’s grid as the transition to cleaner energy accelerates and climate change triggers wilder weather.

Some Alaska Airlines travellers had a scary start to the year after a fuselage section in the rear part of a brand-new jet blew out shortly after takeoff. The carrier said it will ground its entire fleet of the Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft, marking the most severe response to an incident since all of its Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service in 2019 following two deadly crashes.

Looking for a new job in the new year? If you’re in your 20s and digitally savvy, becoming a real estate agent might have seemed like a no-brainer during the pandemic-era asset boom. But many Gen Z agents are now confronting unsettling early career turbulence, as the market gets walloped by surging mortgage rates, prompting layoffs at brokerages.

Finally, 2024 is poised to set records for travel, says Bloomberg Businessweek. Here’s their list of the 24 most exciting places to visit this year, ranging from lush islands where you can get pampered in between epic snorkeling trips, castle-filled countrysides for intrepid roaming, and charming old-world towns with spectacular modern museums.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow for a look-ahead to the coming week.

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