On The Know For The Weekend

The Federal Reserve building in Washington as construction work continues. REUTERS/Nathan Howard News by Reuters President Donald Trump is expected to name a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell today after a White House meeting with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, who has said the US central bank needs "regime change" to regain lost credibility. Trump endorsed a spending deal negotiated by US Senate Republicans and Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, although he acknowledged one could still occur, while lawmakers continued negotiating guardrails to rein in immigration agents. Student organizers have called for walkouts and protests across the United States to demand that federal immigration agents withdraw from Minnesota, after two fatal shootings of US citizens generated public outrage. Trump said it was dangerous for Britain to be getting into business with Beijing, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer lauded the economic benefits of resetting relations with China during a visit there. We look at how Starmer's trip shows the drawbacks of a 'China pivot'. The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led group the Syrian Democratic Forces said they had agreed to a comprehensive ceasefire and a phased integration of military and administrative bodies into the Syrian state under a broad deal. Trump said he planned to speak with Iran, even as the US dispatched another warship to the Middle East. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sat down with the Reuters World News podcast to talk about US foreign policy. The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a personal request from Trump to halt strikes on Kyiv until February 1 to create "favourable conditions" for peace talks.

Business & Markets   A countdown clock displaying a photo of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members in Cape Canaveral. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo SpaceX is exploring deals with other companies helmed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, leaving investors working through permutations between space, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence to analyze which combination makes the most sense. China has given its top AI startup DeepSeek approval to buyNvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips with regulatory conditions that are still being finalized, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Apple forecast higher-than-expected revenue growth of up to 16% for the March quarter, powered by strong demand for its iPhones and a sharp rebound in China and accelerating demand in India. Amazon is in talks to invest dozens of billions in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and the figure could be as high as $50 billion, a source told Reuters. Trump said the US was decertifying Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatened 50% import tariffs on all aircraft made in Canada until the country's regulator certified a number of planes produced by US rival Gulfstream. Panama's Supreme Court has annulled key port contracts held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, leaving the future ownership of some Panama Canal operations unclear.