Reuters World News - Trump at Davos, Netflix and Lisa Cook

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

The global elite brace for U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos. Netflix beats revenue estimates, but its shares take a tumble. The Supreme Court weighs Trump’s firing of the Fed’s Lisa Cook.��And the U.S. Justice Department subpoenas Minnesota Democrats.   Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Wednesday, January 21st. Today, the Davos elite brace for Trump's arrival, as he says there's no going back on Greenland. Netflix beats revenue estimates, but its shares take a tumble as it remains locked in a fierce bidding war. And the Supreme Court weighs Trump's firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front of the lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. U.S. President Donald Trump is in Davos today for the World Economic Forum, but he might not receive the warmest of welcomes, with him now refusing to rule out using force to take over

Greenland. How far are you willing to go to acquire Greenland? You'll find out. Trump says he's got a lot of meetings scheduled in Davos. Those meetings could be uncomfortable, as most European nations are furious at the American leader, both for his continued Greenland talk and for threatening tariffs on some European allies if they don't let him buy the Danish territory. And his spat with French President Emmanuel Macron has ramped up.

Steve Holland, who's traveling with the president, explains. Trump did a breach of diplomatic protocol by releasing a text statement that he got from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in which Macron said, why don't you come to Paris after the Davos meeting and we'll have a G7 meeting and discuss various issues. And Trump basically dismissed that plan and said he would go his own way on this issue. But NATO leaders are in an uproar about this. There are threats that it could upend the transatlantic alliance that has formed the security protocol for the last. 60, 70 years. So we're at kind of a breaking point here, potentially.

And according to sources on both sides of the pond, that shift is already underway. The U.S. plans to cut around 200 NATO positions at key command centers that oversee and plan the alliance's military and intel operations. Trump has also released an AI-generated image of himself planting the U.S. flag in Greenland. McCann, for his part, says Europe would not. not given to bullies or be intimidated. We need more growth, we need more stability in this world. But we do prefer respect to bullies.

Belgian Prime Minister, Barty Wiva, going even further. So many red lines are being crossed that you have the choice between your self-respect. Being a happy vessel is wanting. Being a miserable slave is something else. Trump is set to give a keynote speech in Davos later today. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett tried to urge calm. I tell everyone, sit back, take a deep breath, do not retaliate, do not retaliate. Which apparently isn't working.

President Donald Trump's tariff threats over Greenland have triggered a massive sell-off on the global markets. For more, here's morning bids, Mike Dolan. Yeah, that's right. A big sell-up on Wall Street last night, 2% on stocks, the dollar fell again. and, crucially, U.S. Treasury yields are rising. The sell America trade, as some people are calling it, maybe back on the agenda, but things have calmed down today to some degree

because we're waiting to see what Trump says in Davos. His keynote speech to the World Economic Forum happens just before Wall Street reopens. And really, people are wondering what happens next. If push comes to shove and those tariffs go ahead on February 1, Europe seems committed at this point at least, least to retaliate. And if it does retaliate, we're back in a situation that we were for the early part of last year of tensions, brinkmanship, negotiations, potentially, and uncertainty most

of all. Thanks, Mike. You can catch morning bid wherever you get your podcasts. The Wall Street sell-off reached Netflix as well. The streamers stock dropped after its earnings call. But the big picture, it says, is much rosier. The streamer has blown past three. 325 million subscribers, helping Netflix get in ahead of Wall Street's revenue expectations for the fourth quarter, bringing in over $12 billion. But the big thing on investors' minds? Netflix's updated all-cash-offer to buy Warner Bros. In a bid to shut the door on Paramount. Business of Entertainment correspondent, Dawn Chimalesky, has more.

The company also saw some pretty spectacular gains from a really, heavy, a really popular release late at the end of the year. Stranger Things was a global phenomenon. Nielsen, the measurement company actually said Netflix's monthly viewership rose 10% in the month of December as people binge that sci-fi series, Stranger Things. It generated 15 billion minutes of viewing. So Netflix was a major beneficiary of that. It also had two NFL football games on Christmas Day, and it had the third film and the Knives Out Murder Mystery film series. So it was a strong quarter from a content perspective. But that's not the whole story. As we mentioned, Netflix's stock fell after it reported its results. This appears to have some correlation to the ongoing

bidding war for Warner Brothers. For the first time, Netflix talked about how much money it had to borrow to carry out the transaction, taking on another $8 billion in debt in order to complete its most recent all-cash offer to acquire the Warner Bros. Studio and some other assets. The legal fight over the immigration crackdown in the U.S. is heating up. The Justice Department has served grand jury subpoenas to Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, the state's Attorney General, and the mayor of Minneapolis, investigating whether their opposition to the immigration surge amounts to a crime. The subpoenas demand documents on their cooperation or lack of it and come after weeks of highly visible, sometimes violent enforcement

operations in Minneapolis that have sparked protests. One ended with a federal agent fatally shooting an American woman. Minnesota officials say the investigation is a partisan effort to intimidate them. The Trump administration's pressure on the Federal Reserve will be tested today at the Supreme court, as justices hear arguments in the case against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Trump announced he was firing Cook after the Department of Housing and Urban Development opened an investigation into her, claiming she lied on a mortgage document before she was Fed Governor. Fed reporter Howard Schneider says the court's decision on this case could have a lasting

impact on the central bank. In the 100-year history of this Federal Reserve, this idea that governors can only be removed for cause, not on the basis of what they say about monetary policy, has never been defined or tested in a court. The Supreme Court could provide that standard and say, what you need to do is prove X, Y, and Z. They could say Article 2, presidential authority, if he says it's cause, it's cause, she's fired. I haven't spoken to many people who feel they're going to do that because there just was no process here at all leading up to this. The court, have allowed the removal of FTC, former FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, and in that decision,

they had a big footnote, which a lot of the Fed watchers have sort of hung on, saying that this does not have any implication for the Federal Reserve. The Fed has obligations under aspects of monitoring and guarding the money supply that are part of congressional authority. It's not a purely executive branch body. It's not a purely legislative branch body. It's its own kind of thing. A lot of people read that to say that the Supreme Court does intend to provide some sort of carve-out. They've sided with the executive branch with Trump in removing people from other independent agencies, quote-unquote. Keep in mind, they could just kick this all back to the district court. That's probably as good as losing for Trump because you've now got Lisa Cook on the board of governors for however

months or years it takes for that process to sort of work its way up through. A shift in tone now from President Trump on Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Karina Machado. We're talking to her and maybe we can get her involved in some way I'd love to be able to do that. Maria is maybe we can do that. Saying he's considering involving her without elaborating on what role she could play. His comments coming after she gave him her Nobel medal last week. He's previously questioned her popularity and ability to lead Venezuela. US Vice President Jady Vance and his wife Usha have said they'll welcome their fourth child,

a boy in July. Ushah Vance announced the news on the second lady's ex-account, where the pair said she and the baby were doing well. There's been another train accident in Spain just days after a deadly high-speed collision. This time, a commuter train is derailed after a containment wall fell on the track, due to heavy rain near Barcelona. The driver was killed and several passengers injured. And for today's recommended read,

how a winter blast has swept across Asia, burying Russia's far east in its heaviest snow in 60 years and disrupting transport in Japan and China. You can read more by following the link in the description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week.

We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.