- The Peel
- Posts
- Brussels Raises the Bill
Brussels Raises the Bill
The EU is eyeing a massive €93B tax on U.S. goods as trade threats escalate.
Ankit Sinha
January 19, 2026
Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity
📬 Delivered to 150,000+ ambitious readers
Silver banana goes to…
Get a Top Job Offer, Guaranteed (or tuition is free) | Apply Here
🎯 In this issue:
Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter
Market Summary: The market reacts negatively to Trump’s succession drama
What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks
Technical Trip: Interview Question with Two Sigma
Lesson from the Library: Go beyond basics — learn deferred taxes, NOLs, stock-compensation, and complex accounting used in real-world models.
Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions
The Daily Poll: See how you stack up
📉 Banana Bits
The EU is eyeing a massive €93B tax on U.S. goods as trade threats escalate.
South Korea and Taiwan are leading the rally in emerging-market stocks.
Japanese bonds slipped after a food tax cut stirred election risks.
China hit its 5% GDP growth target despite a broader economic slowdown.
Momentum is building behind Rick Rieder’s bid to join the Fed, backed by BlackRock.
Market News
Market Reacts Negatively to Trump’s Succession Drama
Investors' hopes for a Friday rally were deflated after Trump swerved for a more dovish Fed, with Kevin Hassett seen as a top contender for Powell’s succession. This adds fuel to investors' concerns about this year’s rate-cut path.
Treasuries dropped across the board as traders expect fewer rate cuts for this year. The S&P 500 struggled to retain its rally despite gains in giant chipmakers. While investors trim their big-cap assets, the Russell 2000 continues to shine, with the small-cap index rallying for its 11th consecutive session.
As we approach earnings season, banks have gained an edge from the resilient U.S. economy.
Wall Street’s six biggest banks generated a record $593 billion in revenue, with underlying profits rising 8% from the fourth quarter of 2024 to $157 billion.
The blowout numbers lifted LSEG’s forecast for financial-sector earnings growth to 9%, from a prior estimate of 6.8%, with the collective earnings for the broader S&P 500 now likely to rise by around 9% to around $602 billion.
The earnings season is also expected to bring fresh volatility to the market as the 4th-quarter earnings season unfolds.
What's Ripe
ImmunityBio Inc. (IBRX) 39.8%
IBRX surged 40% after spiking 31% in Thursday’s session. The biotech company expects full-year revenue from its bladder cancer drug Anktiva to surge 700% year over year to $113 million.
Earlier this week, ImmunityBio said the Saudi Food and Drug Authority had approved Anktiva for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
GE Vernova Inc. (GEV) 6.1%
GEV surged 6.1%. The Trump administration is pushing PJM, the nation’s largest electricity grid operator, to hold a special auction to supply data centers.
Trump on Friday signed an agreement with several governors from states in the mid-Atlantic region to encourage the construction of power plants.
What's Rotten
State Street Corp. (STT) 6.1%
STT declined 6.1%. The bank posted lower revenue in the fourth quarter, despite achieving “record revenue” of nearly $3.7 billion.
Net income fell to $747 million from $783 million last year. Earnings came in at $2.42 a share, below the $2.79 analysts had expected.
Mosaic Co.(MOS) 4.5%
MOS tumbled 4.5%. In an earnings pre-announcement, the chemical company said fourth-quarter fertilizer demand had fallen well beyond normal seasonal softness.
MOS expects phosphate sales volumes of 1.3 million tons and potash sales volumes of 2.2 million tons.
🧠 Technical Trip
Interview Q&A from Two Sigma
👉 Want 1-on-1 recruiting help from Two Sigma bankers & 2,000+ top mentors? Apply to WSO Academy
📚 Lesson from the Library
🎥 Advanced Accounting: Mastering the Real Numbers
Go beyond basics — learn deferred taxes, NOLs, stock-compensation, and complex accounting used in real-world models.
🦈 Deal Dispatch
M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions
Sequoia is investing in Anthropic, breaking the usual VC rule against backing rivals.
Capital A wrapped up its aviation business sale to AirAsia X.
Mediawan is in talks to buy Peter Chernin’s North Road.
Defense startup York Space Systems is targeting $544M in a US IPO.
Power-sector firm Solv Energy filed for a U.S. IPO.
Mitsubishi agreed to buy Aethon’s U.S. gas assets for $5.2B.
📊The Daily Poll
If the EU moves ahead with a €93B tax on U.S. goods, what happens next? |
Previous Poll:
This U.S.–Taiwan agreement is best read as a move toward:
Chip supply chains: 44.1% // Tech investment: 23.7% // Trade stability: 16.9% // Politics: 15.3%
Banana Brain Teaser
Previous
During a trip, Francine traveled x percent of the total distance at an average speed of 40 miles per hour and the rest of the distance at an average speed of 60 miles per hour. In terms of x, what was Francine’s average speed for the entire trip?
Answer: 12,000/[200 + x]
Today
In the first week of the year, Nancy saved $1. In each of the next 51 weeks, she saved $1 more than she had saved in the previous week. What was the total amount that Nancy saved during the 52 weeks?
Real innovation is hard to copy because the competition doesn’t understand why it works.
How Would You Rate Today's Peel?
Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Fernanda, & Patrick