Market Beats | Target Confronts Political Turmoil Amid Minneapolis Immigration Crackdown; US Q3 GDP Growth Revised Up to 4.4%; Javier Milei Defends Argentina’s Economic Ties with China in Davos; New York City Braces for a Foot of Snow in First Major Test for Mayor Mamdani; Trump Sues JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 Billion Over Alleged Political “Debanking”; Ex-Goldman Banker Tim Leissner Seeks Presidential Pardon; Tesla to Launch Optimus Robot Sales Next Year

—— Target Confronts Political Turmoil Amid Minneapolis Immigration Crackdown; US Q3 GDP Growth Revised Up to 4.4%; Javier Milei Defends Argentina’s Economic Ties with China in Davos; New York City Braces for a Foot of Snow in First Major Test for Mayor Mamdani; Trump Sues JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 Billion Over Alleged Political “Debanking”; Ex-Goldman Banker Tim Leissner Seeks Presidential Pardon; Tesla to Launch Optimus Robot Sales Next Year

1. Target Confronts Political Turmoil Amid Minneapolis Immigration Crackdown

Target Corp.’s hope for a fresh start under new leadership has been complicated by an immigration enforcement operation in its hometown of Minneapolis, placing the retailer in a familiar political maelstrom. After immigration officials briefly detained two Target employees, both U.S. citizens, at a Richfield store this month, staff at several Twin Cities locations began calling out of work in protest. Meanwhile, headquarters teams have postponed scheduled in-office weeks, and local faith leaders are demanding the company ban federal agents from its properties. Outgoing CEO Brian Cornell is scheduled to meet with these leaders on Thursday to address their demands.

The timing is critical for Target as it struggles to balance operations with polarizing social issues. The company is still recovering from backlash over its diversity initiatives and past controversies involving Pride Month merchandise. Michael Fiddelke, who is set to take over as CEO on February 1, has pledged to focus on revitalizing sales and boosting the retailer’s underperforming shares.

However, the current situation forces the company to navigate a sensitive debate over immigration and law enforcement that threatens to alienate various segments of its customer base and workforce.

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2. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Plans Late-January China Visit to Boost H200 Market Entry

The US economy expanded in the third quarter of 2025 by slightly more than initially reported, bolstered by robust exports and a reduced drag from inventories. According to revised data released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 4.4%, the quickest pace in two years. This report highlights one of the strongest periods of consecutive growth since the post-pandemic recovery in 2021. Companies moderated the pace of goods imports following a surge earlier in the year as they rushed to beat President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Both consumer and business spending remained resilient despite erratic trade policies.

Against a backdrop of robust growth, a steady labor market, and inflation staying above the Federal Reserve’s target, policymakers are widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at their meeting next week. The GDP report indicated that the central bank’s preferred inflation metric—the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy—rose at an unrevised 2.9% in the third quarter.

The BEA is scheduled to release price data for October and November, along with personal income and spending figures, later this morning.

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3. Javier Milei Defends Argentina’s Economic Ties with China in Davos

President Javier Milei issued a robust defense of Argentina’s growing economic ties with China at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, stating that his country has little choice but to pursue trade with Beijing while simultaneously seeking a deal with the United States. In an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, Milei balanced his ideological alignment with US President Donald Trump’s administration against his economic courtship of China, while making a case for global free trade.

The interview took place shortly after Milei appeared at a Davos event alongside Trump as a founding member of the US president’s contentious “Board of Peace.” Milei emphasized that given China’s significant weight in the global economy, trading with the nation is a necessity for Argentina.

Despite his past campaign rhetoric regarding China, Milei has softened his stance as president, attempting to strike a delicate balance between Washington and Beijing. He characterized China as a “great trading partner” that Argentina must engage with to ensure its economic interests.

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4. New York City Braces for a Foot of Snow in First Major Test for Mayor Mamdani

New York City is poised to receive nearly a foot of snow this weekend, presenting a critical challenge for new Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a massive weather system threatens power outages, flight cancellations, and transit disruptions. Forecasters from the US Weather Prediction Center expect Central Park to see up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow starting Sunday morning, marking the heaviest accumulation of the season. The storm, which previously brought ice to Southern states, is moving into the Northeast, with significant snowfall also predicted for Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston. For any New York mayor, the handling of heavy snow—including plowing efficiency and decisions on school and transit closures—serves as a high-stakes test of administrative competence.

In response, NYC’s Department of Sanitation has announced that more than 2,000 workers will operate on 24-hour shifts. Crews began applying liquid salt brine to roadways on Friday morning to prevent ice bonding.

The department has 700 million pounds of salt on hand, and plows are prepared to deploy as soon as snow depths reach two inches.

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5. Trump Sues JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 Billion Over Alleged Political “Debanking”

President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations that the lender terminated banking services for him and his businesses due to political motivations. The complaint, filed in Miami-Dade County court, accuses the bank of trade libel and breach of implied covenant of good faith, while alleging that Dimon violated Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. According to the lawsuit, JPMorgan abruptly closed several accounts linked to Trump in February 2021, shortly after the January 6 Capitol riot, without prior warning or provocation. The filing claims the move was driven by “woke” ideological beliefs and a desire to distance the institution from Trump’s conservative views, effectively placing him and his associates on a “blacklist” shared among regulated banks.

JPMorgan issued a statement dismissing the lawsuit as meritless, asserting that it does not close accounts based on political or religious affiliations. The bank maintained that account closures are handled only when a client poses a legal or regulatory risk, adding that it intends to defend itself against the claims. The legal action follows months of public criticism by Trump regarding “debanking” practices and comes just a day after he met with Wall Street executives, including Dimon, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Since returning to office, Trump’s administration has prioritized curbing the use of “reputational risk” as a justification for denying financial services.

This lawsuit significantly escalates the ongoing tension between the President and the nation’s largest financial institution.

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6. Ex-Goldman Banker Tim Leissner Seeks Presidential Pardon

Tim Leissner, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who admitted his role in the multi-billion dollar 1MDB financial scandal, is seeking a presidential pardon before beginning his federal prison sentence. According to Department of Justice records, Leissner filed his application late last year, following his May 2025 sentencing to two years in prison. Despite acting as the government’s star witness in the conviction of a former colleague, the court emphasized the “brazen and unethical” nature of his role in embezzling funds from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Leissner is currently free on bail while appealing his sentence, joined by other high-profile white-collar figures like Bill Hwang and Elizabeth Holmes in seeking clemency from the White House. President Donald Trump has already issued over 20 pardons in January 2026, targeting what he describes as politically motivated prosecutions within the justice system. Beyond his US legal troubles, Leissner faces a pending extradition request from the Malaysian government, filed in August 2024.

Malaysian authorities are seeking to try him for violations of local capital market laws, which carry a maximum 10-year penalty, as part of continued efforts to recover losses from the $4.5 billion heist.

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7. Tesla to Launch Optimus Robot Sales Next Year

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday that the company plans to sell its Optimus humanoid robots to the public by the end of 2027. During a high-profile interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Musk revealed that Optimus units are already performing basic tasks within Tesla factories, with expectations for them to handle more complex industrial roles by the end of 2026. He stressed that public availability remains contingent on achieving “extremely high reliability, safety, and functionality.”

Musk used the global stage to pitch a future of “sustainable abundance,” predicting that robots will eventually outnumber humans and become ubiquitous in daily life. He framed AI and robotics as the ultimate solution to global poverty and the key to an unprecedented economic explosion. Despite his past criticisms of the Davos forum, Musk’s surprise appearance and bullish forecasts provided a much-needed boost to Tesla’s stock, which has struggled amid declining vehicle deliveries.

The CEO reiterated that Tesla’s future value will be driven primarily by robotics and AI, estimating that Optimus alone could eventually account for 80% of the company’s total valuation.

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