Episode summary
Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - January 23rd, 2026 | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec
Summary
The weekend edition centered on how President Donald Trump’s return to Davos and his renewed tariff threats are shaping markets, politics, and the debate over whether his style is strategic or chaotic. A Nobel laureate in economics argued that the pattern is less random than it looks: the goal, he said, is to centralize power, weaken checks and norms, and leave a stronger executive presidency. He also warned that markets are not a sufficient guardrail against that shift.
The show then turned to investing and macro themes. The guest from Ark Invest argued that deregulation, lower taxes, and faster depreciation rules could lift U.S. returns, accelerate AI-related capital spending, and support a broader technology revolution across robotics, AI, energy storage, blockchain, and life sciences. The guest also said Tesla’s value will increasingly come from robo-taxis and humanoid robots.
Later, Charles Schwab’s CEO said the firm had a record quarter but remained skeptical of prediction markets, which he largely equated with sports gambling. The second hour shifted to the real economy, with Barnes & Noble’s chief describing a revival in physical bookstores and Fullspeed Automotive’s CEO saying consumers are frugal, keeping cars longer, and demanding faster, more transparent service.
Key takeaways
- A Nobel laureate argued Trump is using disruption to weaken institutions and concentrate executive power, not simply flooding the zone.
- The guest from Ark Invest expects U.S. tax and depreciation changes to push effective corporate taxes toward roughly 10% and support an AI-driven capex boom.
- Ark Invest’s 2026 thesis calls for 1.4 trillion dollars of data-center spending within five years and sustained productivity growth of 4% to 6%.
- Charles Schwab’s CEO said prediction markets are low on client demand and that most of the volume is really sports gambling.
- Fullspeed Automotive’s CEO said drivers are stretching oil-change intervals to about 5 to 6 months as consumers stay cautious and keep cars longer.
Notable quotes
“all of these actions are aimed at centralizing power in the hands of an executive presidency with fewer and weaker checks”
“the stock market is not the fifth branch of government”
“our earnings grew 50% year-over-year. Our revenue was up 22% year-over-year”
“They want value. They want efficiency. They don't want to be there”
How the episode opens
This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. Bloomberg Business Week Daily with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
Hi everyone, welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. This week, the spotlight was on the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and a keynote given by US President Donald Trump. — It's great to be back in beautiful Davos, Switzerland, and to address so many respected business leaders, so many friends, few enemies. As you've learned, when the United States goes up, you follow. I want I want Europe to do great. I want UK to do great. We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones.
All right, that of course was President Trump uh at Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. Got to say, the president, Tim, grabbing a lot of global attention leading up to and at and after the meeting uh there in Davos because of renewed tariff threats on Europe and really reviving that idea of a US takeover of Greenland. the outcome and I got to say there were a lot of twists and turns in this.
No new tariffs on Europe markets like that and then a framework of a future deal that includes mineral rights we think in Greenland. It does still feel like a lot of details yet unknown and to be worked out. So stay tuned.
Check out the Bloomberg and Bloomberg.com for the latest on this.
So just to reiterate, a lot coming from the president flooding the zone as others have described. That's what Steve Bannon said during the first term is sort of the strategy when it comes to communications.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- global technology
- business news
- politics
- economics
- finance
Watch the episode
Watch “Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - January 23rd, 2026 | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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