Your morning briefing. All the news you need to start your day.

On today's podcast:

(1) President Donald Trump offered a strident defense of his administration and economic record, declaring the nation is “bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before” in a State of the Union address that contained few new policy announcements.

(2) HSBC reported better-than-estimated earnings for 2025 as Europe’s largest bank closed out a year in which its market value broke through £200 billion ($270 billion) for the first time in its history.

(3) A few weeks ago, analysts at UBS Group AG laid out a worst-case scenario for defaults in the private credit sector. Their outlook is even more grim now.

(4) Money manager Danny Moses, immortalized in The Big Short, said private credit and private equity firms’ push into retail products reminds him of the years preceding the subprime mortgage crisis.

(5) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc will deliver on its €90 billion ($106 billion) loan package to Ukraine “one way or another” as the war-battered nation is set to run out of funds in a matter of weeks.

(6) Lawyers acting for Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to Washington who was linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said his arrest at home was prompted by a “baseless” suggestion that he was about to flee the country.

(7) Spain is the euro zone’s fastest-growing major economy since 2022, but construction hasn't kept up and now its housing crisis is reaching a boiling point.

Podcast Conversation: MAGA Meets Europe: Trump’s Envoys Rip Up Diplomatic Playbook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing. All the news you need to start your day.

On today's podcast:

(1) Donald Trump’s new 10% global tariffs went into effect on Tuesday, kicking off a White House effort to preserve the president’s trade agenda after the Supreme Court struck down his original sweeping duties.

(2) The artificial intelligence “scare trade” erupted again on Monday as growing concerns about the disruptive power of AI dragged down shares of delivery, payments and software companies, and sent International Business Machines Corp. to its worst plunge in 25 years.

(3) JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, asked about fierce competition across the financial industry, said he’s starting to see parallels to the era before the 2008 financial crisis, when a rush to make loans ended disastrously.

(4) UK police arrested Labour Party grandee Peter Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office after the US Department of Justice released emails allegedly showing him forwarding government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

(5) President Donald Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are stalling with peace talks deadlocked and the fighting largely at a stalemate after four years of war.

(6) Progress towards gender equality at the top of British businesses is 'achingly slow'. That's according to the CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, which has released its latest report.

(7) Meta and its partner EssilorLuxottica are at an early lead in the market for smart glasses, but are finding they come from two very different corporate traditions, with distinct priorities.

Podcast Conversation: As Trump’s Takeover Threats Wane, Greenland Refocuses on Tourism

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing. All the news you need to start your day

On today's podcast:

(1) Senior US officials said President Donald Trump’s tariff defeat at the Supreme Court won’t unravel deals negotiated with US partners as they sought to defend the administration’s assertive trade policies.

(2) The European Parliament’s trade chief will propose freezing the ratification process of the European Union’s trade deal with the US until they’ve received details from President Donald Trump’s administration on its trade policy.

(3) After boasting for months about its preferential trade deal with US President Donald Trump, the UK is at risk of becoming the biggest loser in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down his global tariffs.

(4) Oil fell as investors weighed the odds of a nuclear deal between the US and Iran, with more negotiations on the issue expected later this week as American forces mass in the Middle East.

(5) Hungary plans to block every European Union decision concerning Ukraine, including a new sanctions package against Russia and key loans, until oil starts flowing again through the Druzhba pipeline in western Ukraine.

(6) Berlin dentists entrusted €2.2 billion ($2.6 billion) in retirement savings to a group of colleagues with more experience filling cavities than managing money. Now half of it is gone.

Podcast Conversation: The New Economics of Going Out Have Transformed Clubbing

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.