⚠️ Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson suspect it was a missile that brought down a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran this week, killing 176 on board. It should be easy to tell if that's the case, according to experts. https://bloom.bg/2seuzu6

📈 The rise of the stock market index fund has made BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street the most important players in corporate America. https://bloom.bg/39XG9un

🌮 Looking for a new job? You can now make $100,000 working at fast-food chain Taco Bell. https://bloom.bg/2Nd63AE

✈ A Boeing employee said the grounded 737 Max was "designed by clowns," according to internal messages from the company. https://bloom.bg/35F722X

🇬🇧 Brexit has already cost the U.K. economy £130 billion ($170 billion), with a further £70 billion set to be added by the end of this year, according to Bloomberg Economics research. https://bloom.bg/3067ar2

💸 Life on the run is proving expensive for Carlos Ghosn: His fortune has shrunk by an estimated 40% since he was arrested more than a year ago. https://bloom.bg/2R1Mqg1

💻 In an all-out cyber war, Iran would be a formidable foe. Since 2012, it has carried out dozens of major attacks: https://bloom.bg/3092fpn

🚗 Tesla fanatics are paying $50,000 to hot-rod their electric cars: https://bloom.bg/36HT7uu

🏡 A 45-room mansion is ready to smash London real estate records when it’s sold for more than 200 million pounds ($262 million): https://bloom.bg/2tR8kdV

🇴🇲 The longest-reigning monarch in the Arab world has died.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Omani leader who turned an isolated Middle Eastern country torn by civil war into a stable oil exporter and an ally to both the U.S. and Iran, has passed away aged 79.

His death follows a years-long struggle with an illness and ends almost half a century of rule. Qaboos was just 29 when he overthrew his father in a 1970 palace coup supported by London and aided by Oman’s British-controlled armed forces.

Using bountiful oil revenue, Qaboos transformed the country into an independent nation of 4 million people with a $79 billion economy.

Read his full obituary here: https://bloom.bg/2R4gPdQ

Breaking News: Iran said it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner this week after mistaking it for a hostile target, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

A human error by the country's military led to the shooting down of the plane, Iran's Foreign Minister said. The Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 aboard.

As recent as Friday, Iran denied that it had fired a missile at the plane and accused western governments of “psychological warfare.” https://bloom.bg/2tRNzPe

🗳 Xi Jinping’s goal of bringing Taiwan under his control moved further out of his grasp as the island’s voters re-elected Tsai Ing-wen. She vowed to defend its sovereignty, raising questions about the success of China’s Taiwan strategy. https://bloom.bg/2t01jYv

🇹🇭 “We want a true democratic government, not a dictatorship in disguise.” Thousands joined a rally in Thailand to protest against the military-backed administration. https://bloom.bg/36MHTom

🇮🇶 Elsewhere, Iraq’s government could lose access to its dollar account at the Federal Reserve if the Trump administration imposes sanctions. https://bloom.bg/2QLjMkq

🇮🇷 Details about why Iran air defense forces mistook a Ukrainian airliner for a cruise missile remain murky. But experts say the error, which killed all 176 people aboard, is probably the result of multiple layers of failure. https://bloom.bg/36Rz6By

🚨 A mass evacuation is under way in the Philippines, where an erupting volcano south of Manila has triggered some 75 earthquakes and spewed “ballistic fragments.” Here's the latest: https://bloom.bg/30cCsg8

📈 The world’s most precious metal is leaving everything else in the dust. Rhodium — five times more costly than gold — has surged 32% already this month. https://bloom.bg/30dQPke

💾 India has more than 560 million internet users. They're about to gain unprecedented access to their own data, as the country joins a movement to return control of data to consumers. https://bloom.bg/3a76JRR

📱 The head of one of Canada's biggest food companies blasted the U.S. on Twitter after the family of an employee was killed when Iranian forces mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian jetliner.
https://bloom.bg/36PhEO7

🇨🇳 Publicly, Goldman Sachs has only spoken in broad strokes about its China strategy. But a massive effort is taking shape inside the bank to ramp up ambitiously.
https://bloom.bg/2Rp0yAr

👑 Queen Elizabeth II says Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be allowed “period of transition” in which they will spend time in Canada and the U.K.: https://bloom.bg/35TkYq5

🎥 “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story” were nominated for an Oscar best picture, giving Netflix its best chance yet to win Hollywood’s most coveted prize: https://bloom.bg/2ThnC6B

🐨 Australia’s koala population has taken such an “extraordinary hit” from the wildfires that it could be classified as endangered in some areas: https://bloom.bg/30g2rmO

🇨🇳 China’s total exports expanded in 2019 on stronger global demand while trade with the U.S. dropped almost 11%. The latest data comes in the same week that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is due to sign the first phase of the trade deal with the U.S. in Washington. https://bloom.bg/2QRdf7L

😢 Middle age misery peaks at age 47.2 in the developed world, according to a new economic study. https://bloom.bg/36Swl39

💰 And the end of bonus culture is coming to Wall Street. "The idea that you are responsible for your own destiny has gone. It’s a team sport now,” says the head of UBS’s Strategic Development Lab. With tech platforms center stage, bankers’ compensation will be determined more by the strength of a broader desk or unit. https://bloom.bg/2NkDhhC

💷 The pound is on its longest losing streak in eight months, driven by increased speculation that a Bank of England interest-rate cut is imminent. https://bloom.bg/37YZBoS

💰 More than $29 million in cash was found hidden in the home of a Chinese banker who has been charged with taking bribes in one of China's biggest financial corruption cases. https://bloom.bg/2FPXOGA

📈 European stocks headed higher along with American equity-index futures as investors await the start of U.S. earnings season and officials prepare to sign the China trade deal in Washington. https://bloom.bg/2QRuWEj

💸 The Netherlands decriminalized marijuana in 1976, but risks falling behind as other nations legalize weed. The big area of concern? Producing or selling weed in bulk remains a legal gray zone: https://bloom.bg/2TnEs3z

❌ The world’s fastest growing economy is grinding to a halt. Here’s how India went from boom to bust: https://bloom.bg/3873jNu

🏦 JPMorgan Chase just posted the best year for any U.S. bank…in history: https://bloom.bg/384sTT3

📌 The U.S. will likely keep existing tariffs on billions of dollars in Chinese goods until after the American presidential election in November, sources tell Bloomberg News. Any move to cut those levies will depend on Beijing's compliance with the phase one trade deal. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-14/china-tariffs-to-stay-put-until-after-u-s-election-despite-deal

🚗 An analyst who downgraded Tesla in October — weeks before the electric carmaker posted a shock profit — is expressing regret. But he still doubts it deserves such a rich valuation. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-15/tesla-skeptic-with-downgrader-s-remorse-digs-in-over-valuation

📉 Meanwhile in markets, Asia stocks retreated on signs that U.S.-China tensions remain high just hours before a trade deal is due to be signed Wednesday. Oil declined while the yen and Treasuries steadied. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-14/asian-stock-futures-mixed-u-s-shares-slip-markets-wrap

📝 The U.S. and China signed what they’re billing as the first phase of a broader trade pact amid persistent questions over whether Trump’s efforts to rewrite the economic relationship with Beijing will ever go any further: https://bloom.bg/35SLEY9

🇺🇸 Here are some key topics covered in the U.S.-China phase one trade deal that was signed in Washington: https://bloom.bg/387C59l

📈 U.S. stocks traded near record highs as investors assessed the details of the partial trade deal with China: https://bloom.bg/2u5GYBe

🇨🇳🇺🇸 The $95 billion centerpiece of the U.S.-China trade deal is already in doubt. Traders are skeptical about Beijing's pledge to buy additional American commodities as part of the phase one agreement. https://bloom.bg/2TyZixj

💊 Japan has confirmed the first case of a new SARS-like virus in a traveler who visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak started. The pneumonia-causing virus has hospitalized dozens of people, killing one. https://bloom.bg/30ohdYM

👟 Reports that Nike’s Vaporfly sneakers may be banned from competition by World Athletics might displease athletes, but could be good news for its rivals. The shoes' thick soles incorporate carbon-fiber plates, which are said to give runners more bounce. https://bloom.bg/2RoiGdk

😢 They’ve had an uneasy relationship since 1973, but the European Union is going to miss the U.K. when it’s gone. https://bloom.bg/2QZ7p4m

🇬🇧 London’s battle to remain a global financial hub now rests on a once-obscure process controlled by the EU. https://bloom.bg/36XPssp

💷 Meanwhile, the cost of the U.K.’s productivity crisis is already higher than “even the worst-case Brexit scenario,” according to Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane. https://bloom.bg/2RmktQj

✅ Donald Trump’s impeachment moves to the GOP-controlled Senate. The proceedings will begin formally with a show of pageantry that includes the reading of two impeachment articles and U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts swearing in 100 senators as jurors: https://bloom.bg/35Wtx3K

💰 The White House budget office violated federal law when it withheld about $214 million appropriated by Congress to the Defense Department for aid to Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office said: https://bloom.bg/3afx9kG

📈 The record-setting rally in U.S. stocks accelerated in the wake of Wednesday’s China trade deal, shaking off any concerns about impeachment: https://bloom.bg/2NyOkno

💰 Nobody makes money like Leon Black, the private equity CEO with a fearsome reputation. The ruthless founder of Apollo skates on the edges of other people’s catastrophes and manages to walk away richer. https://bloom.bg/2Tuz4M7

📈 And Alphabet has joined the elite $1 trillion club. A rally in the stock took its valuation above the milestone for the first time on Thursday. Only two other U.S. companies have made it past that threshold — Apple and Microsoft — while the list is topped by Saudi Aramco. https://bloom.bg/3ahbIj9

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the country delivered a "slap to the U.S.'s image as a superpower" in this month's military confrontation. https://bloom.bg/2u7J8jL

America's days as pace-setter for the world economy may be coming to an end. https://bloom.bg/373tpke

Jack Dorsey asked Elon Musk how to fix Twitter. Musk's suggestion: identify the bots. https://bloom.bg/376kAWI

💰 Trump’s tax cut has saved the six biggest U.S. banks $32 billion: https://bloom.bg/2NBJTZj

🚗 European carmakers once dismissed Tesla as a feeble upstart. Now Elon Musk is building a massive factory right in their backyard: https://bloom.bg/2R6Nwsl

👗 A decade ago Forever 21 was a fast fashion empire. Now it's bankrupt and its eccentric owners might have to give up control: https://bloom.bg/3amDx9B