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Luke Kawa

Credit card and bank stocks stumble after President Trump calls for 10% interest rate cap

Shares of banks and US financial services companies are under pressure on Monday morning after US President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose a hard limit on how much money they can make off credit cards.

In a Truth Social post on Friday evening, Trump announced that he would be calling for a one-year cap of 10% on credit card interest rates. Over the weekend, the president said that card issuers with a rate above that as of January 20 would be “in violation of the law.”

As of this point, these statements do not appear to carry the force of law.

“While the president has announced his support for a cap, this cannot be done through an executive order," writes George Pollack, senior US policy analyst at Signum Global Advisors. “Instead, this would require an act of Congress.”

Nevertheless, traders are selling first and asking logistical questions later. Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard are lower in premarket trading, as are other financial services companies with a significant footprint in this space. The news is also casting a pall over this week’s bank earnings, with JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo all well in the red.

“President Donald Trump's call for a 10%, one-year cap on credit card interest rates, if enacted, would severely hurt the revenue and profit of Capital One, Synchrony Financial and Bread Financial, with a smaller impact on American Express,” write Bloomberg Intelligence consumer finance analysts Ben Elliott and Edward Najarian. “The companies would likely react by raising fees and rapidly reducing credit availability, especially for below-prime customers.”

Financial services companies that offer “buy now, pay later” options, such as Affirm and Klarna, are rising in premarket trading. If Trump’s proposal is realized, this may result in a pullback in credit provided to lower income and less creditworthy Americans, and BNPL firms could see a resultant uptick in activity. Klarna, for its part, applauded the president’s call in a post on X.

Independent (left-leaning) Senator Bernie Sanders as well Republican Senator Josh Hawley have introduced a bill that would cap credit card rates at 10% for five years, while Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna have introduced similar legislation in the House.

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Tom Jones

Walmart rises after announcing new AI partnership with Google’s Gemini, as it’s set to join the Nasdaq-100 Index

Walmart is a rare winner in a sea of red this morning, up around 3.5% in premarket trading as of 5:50 a.m. ET, after the retailer yesterday announced a new partnership with Google that will allow customers to browse and buy Walmart and Sam’s Club products directly through the chatbot.

In the statement, Walmart said that shoppers will be able to access the features through Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) — a “new open standard for agentic commerce and AI tools” that the tech giant co-developed with a range of retailers and launched on Sunday.

The partnership news follows another welcome event for Walmart shareholders, after Nasdaq revealed that the retailer would be joining the Nasdaq-100 Index, prior to market open on January 20th.

Ask me anything

When the ever-growing cohort of Gemini users ask the chatbot for shopping advice, they’ll now automatically be served product recommendations from the world’s largest retailer. Per the statement, users who choose to link their Walmart and Gemini accounts will also be able to use any membership benefits they may have and also get served recommendations based on previous purchases.

The new Gemini partnership builds on the deal that Walmart announced with OpenAI back in October, which has allowed ChatGPT users to browse and purchase the company’s products on the web and app platform.

In an interview around the announcement, David Guggina, Walmart’s chief e-commerce officer, said that the world is “moving past the era of the search bar.” Guggina added that the retailer is no longer just meeting people where they shop, but “anticipating how they live” — increasingly, that appears to mean via AI chatbots.

Walmart and Google Turn AI Discovery Into Effortless Shopping Experiences

Walmart and Google Turn AI Discovery Into Effortless Shopping Experiences

In the statement, Walmart said that shoppers will be able to access the features through Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) — a “new open standard for agentic commerce and AI tools” that the tech giant co-developed with a range of retailers and launched on Sunday.

The partnership news follows another welcome event for Walmart shareholders, after Nasdaq revealed that the retailer would be joining the Nasdaq-100 Index, prior to market open on January 20th.

Ask me anything

When the ever-growing cohort of Gemini users ask the chatbot for shopping advice, they’ll now automatically be served product recommendations from the world’s largest retailer. Per the statement, users who choose to link their Walmart and Gemini accounts will also be able to use any membership benefits they may have and also get served recommendations based on previous purchases.

The new Gemini partnership builds on the deal that Walmart announced with OpenAI back in October, which has allowed ChatGPT users to browse and purchase the company’s products on the web and app platform.

In an interview around the announcement, David Guggina, Walmart’s chief e-commerce officer, said that the world is “moving past the era of the search bar.” Guggina added that the retailer is no longer just meeting people where they shop, but “anticipating how they live” — increasingly, that appears to mean via AI chatbots.

FED Hearing July 10

Gold and silver spike to record highs after Powell says DOJ subpoenas are latest Trump attempt to influence monetary policy

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” said Powell.

Luke Kawa3h
Tasha Matsumoto
1/9/26
S&P 500 climbs to a new record high after mixed jobs report

Employers added fewer jobs than expected last month, but the unemployment rate ticked down.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 02: Isaac Okoro #35 of the Chicago Bulls dunks the ball during the second half against the Orlando Magic at the United Center on January 2, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.
markets
Matt Phillips

Sandisk rides Wall Street price target hikes toward new record

Sandisk leapt Friday, riding a resurgent wave of AI-related market exuberance as well as two price target hikes from Wall Street analysts.

Goldman Sachs lifted its target for the stock to $320 from $280, while keeping a “buy” rating on the stock. Mizhuho lifted its target to a Street high of $410 from its previous target of $250, while maintaining an “outperform” rating on the shares.

Long considered a maker of commodity data storage products, Sandisk was spun off by Western Digital in an IPO in February.

When it dawned on the market sometime in the fall that the AI boom would mean an explosion in demand for data storage, Sandisk shares went parabolic.

Its more than 350% run-up between the ends of August and December led to Sandisk’s inclusion in the S&P 500. And its 560% gain for the year made it the index’s top performer.

markets
Luke Kawa

It looks like the stock market was expecting some tariff relief

The S&P 500 briefly dipped into negative territory and tariff-sensitive stocks swung from big gains to big losses after the Supreme Court declined to give a ruling on tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump under the IEEPA.

A basket of “Trump Tariff Losers” stocks compiled by UBS, which includes Under Armour, American Eagle, Yeti, Mattel, and Deckers Outdoor, was up as much as 1.5% in early trading before falling as much as 1.7% after news of the lack of news surfaced.

The good news is that for the market as a whole (and even this group in particular), the pain seems to have been short-lived, with both bouncing back to erase losses.

It’s a decent little snapshot or case study to show that, yes, as prediction markets imply, the stock market is pricing in tariff relief.

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