Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Monday, January 12th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. Our top story so far,

Paramount is making its move on Warner's board. Paramount Skydance says it plans to nominate directors to Warner Brothers

Discovery and has filed suit in Delaware seeking basic information, it says Warner shareholders

need to make an informed decision between its bid and the current deal with Netflix. In a letter

to the Warner Board, Paramount said it would also propose a bylaw amendment requiring WBD shareholder

approval for any separation

of global networks. We do not undertake any of these actions lightly, the letter said. Make no mistake,

our goal remains to have a constructive discussion with WBD's board to reach an agreement that's in

the best interests of WBD shareholders. Adding political pressure, President Donald Trump signaled his disapproval

of Netflix getting control, reposting an opinion piece title, Stop the Netflix Cultural Takeover.

Even so, odds of Netflix acquiring WBD are holding steady on prediction markets. On CalShe,

the chances stand at 54%, while Polly Market puts the odds still at 53%.

Back to the Battle in the Nation's capital, several former economic officials, including

Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, and Janet Yellen, issued a joint statement calling

the investigation into Jerome Powell and the Fed an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine

central bank independence. This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets, with weak

institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and functioning of their economies

more broadly, they said. It has no place in the United States whose greatest strength is the

rule of law, which is at the foundation of our economic success.

And in the world of unintended consequences, the odds of Powell leaving the central bank after his chairmanship ends have tumbled.

Powell's term as Fed share ends in May, but he'll still have two years left as a governor.

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