A construction excavator sits parked beside the building site of the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, D.C., on January 12, 2026. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threat to sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell over his management of the building's renovation project. The current situation resembles the finale of a reality TV show—the entire world is waiting to see who will emerge victorious from this "contest." However, this time, the winner will not walk away with a $1 million prize but will instead wield power over the global $112 trillion economy. President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that he would announce his nominee for the new Federal Reserve Chair on Friday morning, Eastern Time. According to data from prediction market Kalshi, former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh is currently the frontrunner; separately, a government source informed CNBC that Warsh was seen at the White House on Thursday. Trump made these remarks during an intermission at the premiere of the "Melania" documentary, while also issuing a warning to the UK, stating that its commercial cooperation with China carries "extremely high risks." This coincides with the visit of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to China; according to sources from Britain's 10 Downing Street, the two nations have already reached multiple cooperation agreements in the areas of customs, visa-free travel, and commercial investment. The markets are currently busy digesting a wide array of news that extends far beyond politics. After Thursday's market close, Apple released its earnings report, revealing a 16% year-over-year surge in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, driven by "persistently strong" iPhone demand, which exceeded market expectations. The company also provided revenue guidance for the current quarter that surpassed Wall Street forecasts. However, investor reaction was muted, with Apple's stock rising only about 0.5% in after-hours trading. This tepid response may be attributed to Apple's perceived lag in artificial intelligence development. In contrast, Meta Platforms, Inc. saw its stock surge over 10%, fueled by widespread investor optimism regarding its AI business prospects. Meanwhile, Microsoft faced a significant sell-off, with its stock plunging 10% due to a massive expenditure plan and slowing growth in its cloud business, erasing $357 billion in market capitalization and marking its largest single-day drop since March 2020. The divergent performance of tech stocks dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which ultimately fell 0.72%. The S&P 500 index edged down 0.13%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend, climbing 0.11%. On Friday, risk-averse sentiment spread further across markets. Precious metals, cryptocurrencies, and U.S. stocks all moved lower in sync: spot gold fell more than 4%, and Bitcoin continued its overnight decline, touching its lowest level in nearly two months.