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Good morning.
Nvidia is in a stop-start-stop situation with selling its chips to China again.
Meanwhile, Hollywood turned into a cage match: Paramount lobbed a $108 billion hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, outbidding Netflix’s $82 billion offer.
And AltIndex has new performance updates on their $60K investing experiment.
Grab your coffee and let’s get to it!
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🔶 AltIndex Experiment Updates
Two and a half months ago, AltIndex launched some investing experiments: they funded six different Robinhood accounts with $10,000 each, chose six different trading strategies, and let their AI model choose the stocks.
How are those accounts doing so far?
Here are the six different experimental accounts/strategies and their performance so far:
Congress Copy: +11.52%
AltIndex Top 5: +10.88%
Reddit Top 10: +3.29%
Altindex 50: +3.66%
WW3 Stocks: ETF -0.83%
Top 5 Robotics: -2.25%
Average performance so far: +4.38%
You can follow the experiment on AltIndex’s Twitter here, and you can get a free 7-day trial of AltIndex here to access the same data sets used for these portfolios.
📰 Market Headlines
Markets fell on Monday as investors looked ahead to the Fed’s final meeting of the year and Powell’s Wednesday press conference.
The Dow slipped 0.5%, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq dipped 0.1%.
Paramount launched a massive $108.4 billion all-cash hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery at $30 per share, topping Netflix's $27.75 cash-and-stock deal from Friday. David Ellison's Paramount vaulted 9% on the news while Warner Bros. climbed 4.4% and Netflix tumbled 3.4%. The WBD board said it's sticking with Netflix for now, but Paramount's tender offer gives shareholders 20 business days to decide.
President Trump cleared Nvidia to sell H200 AI chips to approved customers in China under specific conditions. President Trump's Truth Social post claimed 25% of chip sales revenue would flow to the US government, though the White House hasn't confirmed details. Chinese President Xi Jinping "responded positively" to the proposal, according to President Trump.
Meanwhile, the US uncovered a plot to illegally reroute $160 million in Nvidia chips to the Chinese government. Two Chinese men were detained for allegedly smuggling chips, and “a Houston-based company and its owner have already pleaded guilty to routing” chips, according to CNBC.
CVS shares are up 3% pre-market after the pharmacy healthcare company “projected double-digit earnings growth for 2026,” according to Yahoo Finance.
President Trump has now said the quiet part out loud: support for immediate rate cuts will serve as a “litmus test” for the Fed Chair’s next successor. The fact that rate cuts are the main criteria doesn’t come as a surprise; it’s the fact that he said it straight to the press.
Ondo Finance's ONDO cryptocurrency jumped 6% after the SEC closed its investigation into the real-world asset tokenization platform without charges. The probe centered on whether Ondo's tokenization complied with federal securities laws and whether the ONDO token itself was a security. New SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has touted tokenization as transformative for capital markets.
Gold and silver both slipped as Treasury yields climbed ahead of Wednesday's Fed meeting. Gold dropped 0.1% while silver fell 0.4% despite the metal's stunning 100%+ rally this year. Higher bond yields pressure precious metals since they offer no interest payments, and traders are positioning for what's expected to be a quarter-point rate cut.
😱 Fear & Greed Index
🤖 AI/Future/Tech News
Zuckerberg’s Meta (META) is apparently working on a new frontier AI model to replace Llama; it’s called Avocado.
President Trump announced plans for an executive order to block states from passing their own AI laws, a move facing considerable bipartisan opposition.
Google has been hit with an EU antitrust investigation over the use of online content “for AI purposes,” according to CNBC.
🪙Crypto
Not investment advice. Do your own research.
Bitcoin hovered near $90,000 after erasing small overnight gains.
Bitfinex analysts warned of a “fragile setup” as rising bond yields and weak spot demand left BTC exposed to macro shocks.
BlackRock filed with the SEC for a staked Ethereum ETF, expanding its iShares lineup and reflecting ETH’s price and staking rewards.
Ripple raised $500 million from Citadel and Fortress at a $40 billion valuation, the largest ever for a private crypto firm.
🃏 Alternative Investment: Pokémon Cards
The Pokémon trading card market has evolved into a full-fledged speculative asset class, with rare cards fetching thousands of dollars and resellers treating booster packs like investment-grade commodities. Despite The Pokémon Company printing 10.2 billion cards in a year, scarcity fueled by scalpers, influencers, and grading firms has turned collecting into a volatile market resembling a mini stock exchange.
Adult investors, many nostalgic millennials with disposable income, have driven prices so high that physical store shortages and retail lotteries are now common. Independent shop owners report threats and robberies as demand surges.
❓Market Trivia Corner
What was the best-performing stock in the 1970s?
🎤️ What you said last time
The answer: Broadcom (AVGO), which currently has a market cap of $1.89 trillion (above Meta at $1.68 trillion.)
🧠 The Missing (Market) Links
A 30-year-old turned spoken-word poetry into a $148K side hustle, hosting major shows at the Apollo and Kings Theatre while keeping his ESPN day job.
Airbnb’s most-wishlisted cabin in New York was built for $90K and rented for $700/night. The carpenter behind it earned $2.1 million since 2018 and retired from contracting in 2021.
US hotels could miss out on the World Cup boom as inbound travel fell 6.3% and a new $250 visa fee discouraged fans.
IKEA’s US people chief says cold emails changed her life. She sent them in her 20s, landed a job in Denmark, and built a 32-year global career.
📜 Quote of the Day
The biggest investing errors come not from factors that are informational or analytical, but from those that are psychological.
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⭐️ What did you think of today's edition?
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Cheers,
Brandon & Blake of Invested Inc
The information provided in Stocks & Income is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Stocks & Income is not a registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, or licensed financial planner. Always do your own research and consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. We may hold positions in or receive compensation from the companies or products mentioned. Disclosures will be made where applicable.
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