“Trade what’s happening… not what you think is gonna happen.“ — Doug Gregory

1. U.S. Enlists Mexico, EU and Japan in Its Minerals Race With China — The U.S. has agreed to work with Japan, Mexico and the European Union on the development of critical minerals used in industries such as defense, the Trump administration said on Wednesday.
The move builds on President Trump’s efforts to combat China’s dominance in the sector. Under the proposed agreements, the nations will work together to identify critical minerals necessary for certain industries and develop policies to encourage their mining and processing into products like rare earth magnets, U.S. officials said. Such minerals are used in components critical for the production of high-end military technologies and consumer products such as cars.
2. Bitcoin Drops Below $70,000 as ‘Forced Deleveraging’ Accelerates — Bitcoin tumbled well below $70,000 as the unwinding of leveraged bets and broader market turbulence deepened a selloff that’s hammered cryptocurrencies over the past three weeks. The downturn has also erased all of Bitcoin’s gains since the election of President Donald Trump, whose crypto-friendly stance had fueled the token’s meteoric rise last year. But the market started cracking this month as rising geopolitical tensions sent tremors across global financial markets and curbed risk taking. That sparked Bitcoin’s precipitous decline from mid-January and set off a self-reinforcing cycle of selling as funds liquidated assets to meet redemptions and unwind leveraged bets.
3. Job Openings Sink to a Post Pandemic Low — The number of job openings in December fell to the lowest level in eight years, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic era, underscoring the fragility of the U.S. labor market in the new year. U.S. job openings dropped by 386,000 in December to 6.5 million, the government said in a report delayed by federal shutdowns. That’s the lowest total since 2017, excluding the 2020-21 time frame. The exceedingly small gap between hires and separations illustrates just how weak the labor market has gotten since last spring. The economy is barely adding net new workers.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

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