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Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires at the inauguration

    In a grim display of money and power, the world's three richest men lined up in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday to witness Donald Trump's swearing-in as the 47th president.

    The message was clear: With a president in power who wants to be known as a dealmaker, Washington is open for business.

    The three men, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos And Mark Zuckerberg, collectively worth nearly a trillion dollars, sat in front of Trump's Cabinet picks and behind his family, creating a kind of hierarchy of influence. (Sundar Pichaithe billionaire head of Google, stood between Bezos and Musk.)

    The images spoke volumes. In contrast, Trump's inauguration speech, in which he promised to usher in a “golden age of America” ​​and also addressed controversial issues such as gender politics, held few surprises.

    Taking note of the notable invitees could reveal a lot about what we can expect in Trump's second term; The Times' Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, Ryan Mac, Cade Metz, Cecilia Kang and Theodore Schleifer broke it down for DealBook. Also notable was who was relegated to the Siberia section, including Republican governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. (Here's a zoomed-in view of the VIP section.)

    Monday's inauguration was a stark contrast to Trump's first presidential bid, when tech titans (and other industry leaders) largely ignored him and only reluctantly showed up for a summit after he won the White House.

    But since Election Day, a parade of business leaders, mostly from the technology sector, have toasted him, with many traveling to Mar-a-Lago to show support and curry favor.

    Bezos, who clashed with the president during his first term, was one of them. He told Andrew at the DealBook Summit in December that he was optimistic about a second Trump presidency. “What I've seen so far is that he's calmer than the first time — more confident and calmer,” Bezos said.

    Tim Cook, Sam Altman And Sergei Brin praised Trump's victory and pledged money to his inauguration fund. Cook and Brin had prime seats on the stage. Altman, who heads the artificial intelligence juggernaut OpenAI, was bumped to the overflow room.

    And then there was Musk. The entrepreneur, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to get Trump elected and who will likely get an office in the West Wing to lead a government spending task force, sat closest to the president. At a rally of Trump supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington on Monday, Musk issued condemnation for making hand gestures that resembled the Nazi salute.

    Also spotted:

    • Shou chewingthe CEO of TikTok, sat next to the back row Tulsi GabbardTrump's choice for director of national intelligence. (Joe Rogan stood before them.)

    • Bernard Arnaultthe head of LVMH, made the trip together with his daughter, Delphine, and son Alexandre. The luxury goods conglomerate would like to avert Trump's import duties.

    • Dana Whitethe head of UFC and a new board member at Meta, also had a top seat.

    Conspicuously absent was Peter Thiel, one of Trump's earliest backers, who staged a blowout at his Washington mansion this weekend.

    TikTok is officially postponed. President Trump signed an executive order on Monday to delay enforcement of a ban on the popular video app for 75 days, but it is unclear whether that action could overturn a law that took effect this weekend. The move allows TikTok to operate effectively in the United States, but Trump announced a twist when he signed the order: He threatened to impose tariffs on China if Beijing doesn't approve a TikTok deal.

    The European Union hopes to convince Trump to relax restrictions on AI chips. Some European officials plan to push for a lifting of export restrictions imposed by President Joe Biden that have limited the types of computing power that countries like Poland and Portugal can buy, Bloomberg reports.

    Costco workers authorize a strike. A union representing 18,000 workers at the third-largest retailer in the US voted to walk out if it did not win a new contract by January 31. Labor organizing grew during the pandemic and has continued to rise under the Biden administration; but that could be tested under Trump, who favors legislation and deregulation that benefits business.

    President Trump has promised that his return to office will unleash a flood of investment and growth.

    But the first day of the Trump administration — a flurry of executive orders that pardoned hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters, threatened to undermine the constitutional birthright provision and withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization — reminded investors of its volatile effect on the U.S. economy . global markets.

    The latest: S&P 500 futures rose and Treasury yields fell. But the rally lost steam overnight after Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico from February 1. That comment sent the dollar higher.

    It also indicated that the prospect of a Trump trade war, which could hit corporate profits and reignite inflation, was weighing heavily on investors.

    Market winners included:

    • Chinese stocks. Trump did not impose tariffs on Day 1 as he promised. Instead, he called for an investigation that would determine, among other things, whether Beijing had adhered to agreements made during Trump's first term. The move contradicts the hawkish comments on China from Scott Bessent, Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary.

    • Bank shares. Investors are betting that deep deregulation and lower taxes will be good for business, in part by boosting lenders' profits. Shares of major banks, or at least those with little exposure to Mexico and Canada, rose on both sides of the Atlantic this morning.

    • Energy stocks. Oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil were higher in premarket trading after Trump signed executive orders pulling the country out of the Paris climate accords and opening up large swaths of federal land to drilling and mining. But crude oil prices fell on concerns that these policies would significantly increase supply.

    The biggest losers:

    • Crypto. Trading in Bitcoin in particular has been erratic. On Monday, the price reached a high of $110,000 before falling sharply. Notoriously volatile memecoins, including tokens for the president and first lady, plummeted. One culprit: Trump, who has indicated his administration will ease regulations around the sector but made no mention of crypto in his Monday speech.

    • European auto and green energy stocks. Shares in Stellantis, Volkswagen and Mercedes fell on Tuesday, as did those in Orsted, a Danish wind farm developer, after Trump said he would abolish Biden-era regulations aimed at promoting electric vehicles and suspend the approval of would halt new wind farms in federal waters.

    Executives, bankers and even busy Uber drivers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, debated the inauguration on Monday. There seemed to be two reactions to President Trump's return: excitement and fear.

    Crypto executives, tech investors and bankers, all focused on deregulation, are apparently looking forward to a second Trump term. Others expressed concern about a possible trade war and how it could affect European unity if Trump tried to make deals with individual countries.

    There was one development that executives talked about. Trump has not announced any tariffs as part of his wave of executive orders. Some think this could mean that tariffs were a campaign talking point and a negotiating tactic rather than an actual economic policy.

    Many said Davos felt calmer than in years past. That could be due to the inauguration in Washington, the snowstorm in New York, or the fact that more people simply planned to arrive later (or a combination of these). However, the weather in the Swiss ski town is a lot milder than normal, making it easier to move from meeting to meeting.

    Some notable sights:

    • The controversial TikTok, like dozens of other companies, has a promotional post on the Promenade.

    • USA House, organized by With Honor, a nonprofit that supports military veterans, is in Davos for the first time. (The window features a giant bald eagle draped in the American flag.) On Tuesday, the U.S. Ski Team will host Daron Rahlves and Picabo Street.

    • Football icon David Beckham, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto were in town to receive the World Economic Forum's Crystal Awards.

    • The usual demonstrators are also in Davos. Fossil fuel protesters threw paint on Amazon's outpost – and were briefly handcuffed, DealBook hears.

    Although Elon Musk has long been considered the leader of Trump's cost-cutting panel known as the Department of Government Efficiency, he actually had a partner: Vivek Ramaswamy, the investor and right-wing social activist.

    Not anymore.

    Ramaswamy leaves the panel to run for governor of Ohio. But The Times reports that tensions with others in Trump's inner circle, especially Musk, were a factor in his departure.

    It also followed Mr. Ramaswamy's comments in which he blamed an American culture that celebrates “mediocrity over excellence” for top technology companies that often hire foreign-born engineers. People close to Mr. Trump said he was unhappy that Mr. Ramaswamy waded into the online debate over H-1B visas among conservatives, many of whom viewed Mr. Ramaswamy's comments as critical of the U.S. workers considered.

    The apparent clash over skilled worker visas underscores how powerful this issue has been among Trump allies. While immigration hardliners favor limiting the program, the tech cohort led by Musk wants to keep it. So far, Trump appears to be siding with H-1B defenders.

    Politico reported that while Ramaswamy had told others on Saturday that he was still actively involved with the panel, he had not done much work on it since December.

    Offers

    • Andrea Orcel, the acquisitive CEO of Italian lender UniCredit, said he planned to continue his pursuit of an Italian rival, Banco BPM, as well as Germany's Commerzbank. (Bloomberg)

    • Investors including Brookfield and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky have reportedly been invited by Berlin to make a bid for state-owned Uniper. (Reuters)

    Politics and policy

    • President Trump selected Caroline Pham, commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as the agency's acting chair. (Bloomberg)

    • “We're Running Out of Time: The Republican Party Is Already Worried About Trump's Hill Agenda” (Politico)

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