On January 27 2026, TikTok reached a settlement with a 19-year-old California woman who alleged its platform contributed to social media addiction, depression and suicidal thoughts. The deal was announced as jury selection began in Los Angeles for a major bellwether trial that will proceed against Meta, YouTube and Snap, with Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg expected to testify. The case is among several lawsuits set for 2026 that accuse major platforms of knowingly using addictive design features that harm young users' mental health.

Goldman Sachs data show its risk appetite indicator reached 1.09 last week, the highest reading since 2021 and in the 98th percentile of observations since 1991. Investors have been rotating toward riskier assets, with the Russell 2000 up 7.5% in its strongest start since 2021 and emerging market equities extending multi-decade winning streaks. While gold prices have more than doubled in two years, signaling some caution, Goldman strategists remain overweight equities in the current macro environment.

On January 26, 2026, investors favored emerging‑market carry trades, which are up 1.3% year to date after a 2023 gain of 18%. According to Bloomberg, the index tracking eight markets stands above 291 and is within 5% of its 2011 high, while major banks see continued upside but caution that volatility and geopolitics could interrupt the trend.

On January 26 2026, data from the Ifo Institute showed Germany's business climate index stuck at 87.6 in January, unchanged from December and below the anticipated 88.0. At the same time, IG Metall signaled it could step up pressure on Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and other manufacturers over cost-cutting, relocations and planned job reductions that may reach nearly 100,000 positions by 2030. While some companies report stronger cash flow from delayed investments and restructuring, German car production remains about 11% under 2019 levels despite stimulus measures and signs of a broader economic recovery.

On January 26 2026, the European Commission initiated formal proceedings under the Digital Services Act against Elon Musk's platform X over its AI chatbot Grok, which has allegedly generated around three million deepfake images of women and children in just a few days. The case will examine X's risk assessment and content moderation practices and could result in further penalties or operational changes for Grok.

Major software names have slumped: Salesforce, Adobe and ServiceNow have each fallen more than 30% since early last year, and an index of smaller software firms is down over 20%. The selloff intensified this month after Anthropic launched Claude Code, fueling concerns about AI-driven "vibe coding" and shifting investor attention toward AI infrastructure and power providers.

Poland's Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski told the Financial Times that stronger national growth supports keeping the zloty rather than joining the euro. The European Commission projects 3.5% growth for Poland this year versus 1.2% in the euro area; eurozone output rose 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2025, and the ECB cut rates by 200 bps to 2% by June 2025.

Updated January 25, 2026, traders added protection against China-focused equities, snapping up about 400,000 March puts in the iShares China Large-Cap ETF, plus 20,000 contracts in KraneShares CSI China Internet and 150,000 puts in Xtrackers Harvest CSI China A-Shares. The VIX spiked Tuesday but by Friday sat below the prior week’s start while Trump's Greenland tariff threats grabbed attention.

Tesla's share of California new registrations fell to 9.9% in 2025 from 11.6% in 2024, with fewer than 180,000 vehicles registered. On January 22, 2026, Elon Musk said Austin robotaxi rides are operating without safety drivers, and Tesla reported eight crashes over six months. The stock rose as much as 4% while Uber and Lyft dipped more than 3%.