Business

GasBuddy projects the 2026 annual average U.S. gasoline price at $2.97 per gallon, down from $3.10 in 2025; it also forecasts average household gas spending of $2,083 for the year.

Trump publicly endorsed Delcy Rodríguez and she was sworn in as acting president; U.S. officials said they will monitor her actions and referenced using an oil blockade as leverage.

ING Construction and Development announced a fortified project management structure to handle increasing residential renovations, additions, and ADU projects across Greater Los Angeles, while preserving a boutique, owner-led approach; the change adds clearer phases, checkpoints, and communication channels.

Senior Israeli and Syrian officials met in Paris under U.S. mediation, and the three governments said the sides agreed to create a joint communication cell to coordinate security and diplomacy.

The Buck Foundation announced a Bitcoin Dollar savings token that pays 7% annual rewards accruing by the minute and is tradable 24/7. The token’s treasury is funded in part by STRC, Strategy’s Bitcoin-backed perpetual preferred stock, and rewards are subject to governance and issuer approvals.

The Justice Department told a federal judge that more than 2 million documents potentially related to Jeffrey Epstein are still under review, and it has so far released about 12,285 documents (roughly 125,575 pages); the DOJ did not provide a new timeline for completing the review.

The Met Office warns disruptive snow, wind and rain will affect parts of England this week, with amber and yellow weather warnings in place and UK Health Security Agency cold-health alerts active until Friday.

Residents in Caracas and La Guaira recorded pre-dawn cellphone videos of strikes, and Venezuelan officials said the strikes targeted naval infrastructure and medical warehouses.

Shipping data shows Chevron was the only company loading crude for export from Venezuela on Jan. 6, while PDVSA's operations to load cargoes for Chinese buyers were paused for a fifth day.

Ski patrollers in Western U.S. resort towns have struck or unionized to press for higher wages as local housing costs rose sharply; the Telluride strike on Dec. 27 closed the resort during the holiday season.

Governor McKee and state lawmakers are debating a proposed surtax on second homes valued over $1 million as Rhode Island faces budget pressure from federal funding changes and delays to an offshore wind project.

Neumora reported that its oral drug NMRA-511 reduced agitation on the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory in a Phase Ib trial, with larger effects in a subgroup with elevated anxiety; the company plans further studies including a multiple ascending dose extension in 2026.

A Purdue analysis of NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs found that virtual REUs produced similar or stronger learning outcomes while reducing costs and allowing more students to participate.

A surge in new apartment construction has increased rental supply and pushed asking rents down year-over-year in seven U.S. metros, led by Austin with a 6.6% decline; other named cities include Jacksonville, Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami, and San Diego.

Nvidia announced that its BlueField-4 data processor will power the Nvidia Inference Context Memory Storage Platform, described as a new class of AI-native storage infrastructure. CEO Jensen Huang said this move reflects a broader shift in how storage fits into AI computing.

Morgan Stanley filed paperwork for a Bitcoin trust and a Solana trust that would hold the respective cryptocurrencies and be sponsored by Morgan Stanley Investment Management; the Solana product would allocate a portion of assets for staking.

Tesla's EV sales declined and BYD overtook it, while investors remain focused on the company's autonomy, AI and robotics promises despite limited detailed disclosure.

Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said policy faces a delicate balance between rising unemployment and still-high inflation, and he noted last year’s 75 basis points of easing has put interest rates near estimates of the neutral rate.

AIG said Eric Andersen will join as president and CEO‑elect on Feb. 16 and will become CEO after June 1, while Peter Zaffino will step down as chief executive midyear and move to the role of executive chair.

The East London coroner warned that automated Jubilee Line operators were not paying sufficient attention after 72-year-old Brian Mitchell was struck and later died at Stratford station, and has issued a report with recommendations to the Mayor, Transport for London and the Department for Transport.

Wegmans says it collects facial recognition and other biometric data in a small number of stores for security, and a New York county legislator has requested a substantive written response within 30 days.

Aldi's U.S. expansion has drawn long lines at new openings and the chain reported about $29 billion in U.S. sales in 2024; Aldi US plans to operate more than 3,000 locations by the end of 2028.

A poll of nearly 20,000 people finds most British voters say Brexit has hurt the economy, reduced control over national affairs, and not improved border control, while many European respondents say they would welcome the UK rejoining the EU.

Thailand recorded 32.9 million foreign arrivals in 2025, a 7.2% decline from 2024, and officials attribute the fall to several reported incidents and natural events.

The article says US fiscal pressures make higher taxes likely, and it argues that current proposals—tariffs, wealth levies and abrupt surtaxes—are creating economic distortions rather than raising revenue efficiently.

Around 600 tourists are stranded on Yemen's Socotra after the UAE withdrew troops amid a public rift with Saudi Arabia, and the island's main airport is closed while control shifts.

Secure 2.0 requires Roth-only catch-up contributions this year for certain higher-income workers in workplace plans, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised the SALT deduction cap to $40,000.

Nvidia has released Alpamayo, an open-source 10-billion-parameter vision-language-action model, and the company has announced partnerships with firms such as Uber and Lucid. The move could broaden access to advanced self-driving technology that has so far relied in part on large fleets of real-world driving data.

A Teaching Regulation Agency panel found Patrick Lawler guilty of professional misconduct and banned him indefinitely; the panel said he distributed material intolerant of others' faiths and made inappropriate remarks in class.

Semiconductor stocks climbed early in 2026 led by memory chip makers as AI-related demand and DRAM shortages drove price gains, and Counterpoint Research forecasts memory prices to rise about 40% through the second quarter of 2026.