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Week in Review: Macron Throws Shade | Trump TACO | WHO Layoffs | It is the weekend!
Friday, 23 January, 2026
Throwing ShadeFrench President Emmanuel Macron’s indoor aviators at the World Economic Forum in Davos triggered an unexpected “fashion-to-finance” feedback loop this week: shares of iVision Tech, the small Italian eyewear group that owns the French luxury label Maison Henry Jullien, surged after images of Macron wearing Henry Jullien’s Pacific S 01 model went viral. Reports put the one-day jump at roughly +28%, with broader coverage suggesting the run-up reached roughly +60–65% over the week as attention snowballed across markets and social platforms. The exact pair spotlighted is widely identified as Henry Jullien’s Pacific S 01 in the brand’s “Doublé Or” (gold-laminated) line, listed at €659 on the official site. The brand and multiple reports also note a sudden spike in consumer interest—heavy traffic reportedly crashing the website and prompting a temporary dedicated product page—illustrating how political imagery can translate into immediate commercial signal, even for niche, small-cap firms. maison-henry-jullien.frMacron later framed the look as practical rather than performative: he wore the glasses to conceal a subconjunctival haemorrhage (a burst blood vessel), describing it as benign. That did not prevent the meme cycle—“Top Gun”-style edits and action-movie poster swaps—nor commentary from U.S. President Donald Trump, who mocked the look in remarks reported by several outlets. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.WHO layoffs already started Tom Fletcher On the UN We Need (and have) TACO TrumpIs Trump OK with the memes?“TACO Trump” (or the “TACO trade”) is a Wall Street/media shorthand meaning “Trump Always Chickens Out.” It refers to a perceived pattern in which Trump (or his administration) announces maximal tariff or trade threats, markets sell off, and then the threat is delayed, softened, or partially reversed—prompting a rebound that traders try to capture (“buy the dip, sell the rebound”). On whether Trump is “OK with it”: publicly, no. When asked directly about the term, he reacted negatively—calling it a “nasty question” and rejecting the premise, characterizing his shifts as “negotiation,” not “chickening out.”Context worth keeping in mind: the acronym is widely used as market slang, and it’s politically loaded. Some commentary argues the “TACO” framing can be misleading because policy outcomes may still be materially disruptive even if initial threats are moderated; others argue the market has become less able to trade reliably on the pattern as volatility dynamics change. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe
