Trump Moves to Revive American Dream With Ban on Investors Buying Homes

Trump moves to block firms from buying homes

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health

Texas A&M bans Plato excerpt

Trump said the move is a response to the growing difficulty for younger Americans to buy homes, calling it “a reward for working hard” that has become increasingly out of reach.

The ban would target Wall Street firms like Blackstone and American Homes 4 Rent, which have purchased thousands of homes since the 2008 financial crisis and have been blamed by some for driving up rents.

Market reaction was immediate: Blackstone shares fell to a one-month low ($147.52) and American Homes 4 Rent dropped to a three-year low ($28.84).

Trump said he would call on Congress to codify the ban and will discuss the issue further at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

National housing data shows affordability challenges persist: the median U.S. home price in November 2025 was $433,214, while homeownership rates for Gen Z and millennials remain largely flat.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump announced that Venezuela will use proceeds from its U.S.-brokered oil sales—initially 30 million to 50 million barrels—to exclusively purchase American-made products. (CNBC)

U.S. companies announced the fewest job cuts since July in December, with 35,553 planned layoffs and nearly 10,500 new hires—the highest December hiring intentions since 2022. (BBG)

BEA will release delayed Oct.-Nov. inflation and spending data on Jan. 22, followed by an initial Q4 GDP estimate on Feb. 20, to catch up after the government shutdown. (WSJ)

Citi Wealth's Ken Peng forecasts U.S. economic resilience in 2026, driven by Fed rate cuts in 2025 and continued momentum from AI investments. (CNBC)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Morningstar rated Palo Alto Networks as undervalued by 17% with a $225 fair value estimate, positioning the cybersecurity leader as a strong buy for 2026. (MS)

Pharmaceutical stocks are drawing renewed investor focus, driven by advances in obesity drugs, with BMO highlighting Eli Lilly, Gilead Sciences, and Disc Medicine as top picks. (BBG)

Wall Street analysts remain bullish on healthcare stocks, with Bank of America and Guggenheim reiterating Buy ratings on Bristol-Myers Squibb and Citi maintaining a Buy on Bio-Techne. (TR)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Warner Bros. Discovery rejected the latest hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, citing financing uncertainties and substantial termination fees. (NYP)

JPMorgan Chase will acquire the Apple Card program from Goldman Sachs, taking over roughly $20 billion in card balances at a discount exceeding $1 billion. (RTS)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced it will cease operations on May 3, citing over $350 million in losses over two decades. (PPG)

Google co-founder Larry Page acquired two Miami estates for a combined $173.4 million, amid California's proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on those with over $1 billion in net worth. (WSJ)

Samsung unveiled the world's largest television, a 130-inch R95H model, at its First Look event ahead of CES 2026. (IE)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: U.S. forces seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic after a weeks-long pursuit and naval standoff. (OP)

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. will indefinitely control Venezuelan oil exports, directing proceeds to Treasury accounts for the benefit of American and Venezuelan people. (BBG)

U.S. oil executives seek financial guarantees from the Trump administration before committing billions to revive Venezuela's oil production. (FT)

Chevron is negotiating with the U.S. government to expand its Venezuela operating license, allowing increased crude exports to its own refineries. (RTS)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Wyoming launched the Frontier Stable Token, the first U.S. state-issued dollar-pegged stablecoin, natively on Solana. (TB)

Zcash's entire developer team resigned en masse amid a governance dispute with oversight nonprofit Bootstrap, with CEO Josh Swihart planning a new entity to continue privacy-focused development. (YEL)

Polymarket struck an exclusive deal with Dow Jones to supply its prediction market data for integration into the Wall Street Journal and other outlets. (YF)

Rumble launched a non-custodial crypto wallet integrated into its platform, enabling users to tip creators with bitcoin. (FBN)

Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial applied for a national trust bank charter to enable in-house custody of its USD1 stablecoin. (CT)

40 million people already use ChatGPT daily for health and medical guidance.

ChatGPT Health keeps medical data separate from other chats and allows users to view or delete their health-related “memories.”

The tool helps synthesize large amounts of personal health information, offering context across medical history and connected apps.

OpenAI emphasizes the AI does not replace medical care, but provides guidance and context to navigate the healthcare system.

Privacy safeguards include optional temporary chats, and OpenAI says health data won’t be used to train models. However, information could be accessed through legal processes such as subpoenas.

“ChatGPT Health is another step toward turning ChatGPT into a personal super-assistant that can support you with information and tools to achieve your goals across any part of your life,” Fidji Simo, CEO of applications at OpenAI, said.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: China plans to approve imports of Nvidia's H200 AI chips for select commercial uses, while barring government and state-owned entities due to security concerns. (BBG)

China launched an investigation into Meta's $2 billion acquisition of Singapore-based AI startup Manus—originally rooted in China—for potential violations of technology export controls. (CNBC)

Utah launched a first-of-its-kind U.S. pilot program allowing AI from health-tech startup Doctronic to autonomously renew prescriptions for chronic-condition medications without physician involvement. (POL)

Ford unveiled an AI-powered voice assistant launching via mobile apps later this year and in vehicles in 2027. (VER)

Sorbonne researchers and artists created an AI-generated play in Molière's style titled "The Astrologer, or False Omens," with an excerpt set for performance in Paris this weekend. (NYT)

Microsoft is reshuffling teams and moving engineers to GitHub to strengthen the platform amid intensifying competition in AI coding agents. (BI)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Marc Lore's Wonder is deploying advanced kitchen automation to operate dozens of virtual restaurant brands from compact fulfillment centers. (BBG)

Arm launched a Physical AI division as part of a reorganization into three units—Cloud and AI, Edge, and Physical AI—to target the fast-growing robotics market. (RTS)

Hexagon Robotics partnered with Microsoft to develop humanoid robots, combining its AEON platform and sensors with Azure for tasks in automotive, aerospace and manufacturing. (ENG)

Nosh, an AI-powered robotic chef unveiled at CES 2026, automates preparation of over 500 recipes, primarily sauce-based dishes like pastas and soups. (EGT)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump proposed a record $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027—a 50% increase over current levels—to fund ambitious projects like the Golden Dome air-defense system. (MT)

Trump demanded that major defense contractors halt stock buybacks and dividends until they boost investments in production and research. (BBG)

NASA is evaluating an early return for the four Crew-11 astronauts from the International Space Station due to a medical issue affecting one unnamed crew member. (SP)

Ukraine deployed its domestically developed Zmiy Droid 12.7 armored robot on the frontline, equipped with a machine gun and AI-assisted targeting for reconnaissance missions. (NGD)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Anthropic is raising $10 billion in new funding at a $350 billion pre-money valuation, nearly doubling from $183 billion four months ago. (WSJ)

Lux Capital raised $1.5 billion for its oversubscribed ninth fund—the largest in its history—to invest in frontier technologies spanning physical, computational, and life sciences. (BBG)

E-commerce operating startup Swap raised $100 million in a Series C round co-led by Iconiq and DST Global. (TEU)

Babylon, a decentralized Bitcoin staking protocol that enables owners to collateralize holdings without intermediaries, raised $15 million in a round led by a16z crypto. (FOR)

Professor Martin Peterson said his “Contemporary Moral Issues” syllabus was flagged under a new Board of Regents directive requiring review of material touching on race, gender ideology, or sexual orientation.

The disputed material included standard philosophy texts and passages from Plato that discuss love, identity, and human nature.

Peterson was given a choice by his department chair: remove the content or be reassigned to a different course.

He agreed to revise the syllabus after consulting a lawyer, replacing the censored material with lectures on free speech and academic freedom.

Peterson emphasized that his course does not promote any ideology but teaches students how to analyze and evaluate arguments.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression criticized the policy, warning it hands administrators broad veto power over academic content and invites censorship.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump signed a memorandum directing the U.S. to withdraw from 66 international organizations, calling them wasteful and contrary to American interests under an “America First” agenda. (FOX)

Germany's cabinet-approved Political Advertising Transparency Act empowers the regulator to conduct warrantless inspections of media offices and platforms. (RTN)

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins will bar federal grant dollars from being used on DEI efforts as a condition of new award agreements. (MFN)

America First Legal filed a 165-page federal civil rights complaint accusing Washington University in St. Louis of pervasive, unlawful race and sex-based DEI practices. (AFL)