Nvidia just hit $5T in market cap. Apple crossed $4 trillion for the first time. Microsoft locked in a 27% stake in OpenAI worth $135 billion. And here's the kicker: the S&P 500 just hit 6,900, but 80% of the companies in the index closed in the red yesterday.

Translation: Seven stocks are carrying the entire market on their backs while the rest of the economy watches from the sidelines.

But here's the twist: the S&P 500 hit 6,900, yet 80% of its companies closed in the red. The Magnificent 7 are pulling the entire market up alone. We're living in a two-tier economy where AI mega-caps exist in a different universe from everyone else.

Today the Fed decides rates at 2:00 PM (98% chance of a 25bps cut), and three Magnificent 7 companies report earnings after the bell. Markets are already pricing in the cut, so the real catalyst is whether Powell signals a shift from quantitative tightening to easing. That would mean injecting liquidity back into the system—and likely pushing stocks higher.

With mega-cap tech at $3-5 trillion valuations, predicting the next move is nearly impossible. Which brings us to options trading: the tool that lets you profit whether stocks go up or down. We know it's intimidating, but today we're breaking down the basics so you can decide if it's worth learning.

Let's begin.

In partnership with AltIndex

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The market constantly signals which stocks might pop off next. Will you look in the right places this time?

Markets hit fresh records Tuesday as Nvidia soared 5% to an all-time high, pushing its market cap near the $5 trillion mark.

Nvidia hit a $5 trillion market cap; meanwhile, it’s becoming the foundational infrastructure for EVERY industry. $NVDA has announced partnerships with Eli Lilly (LLY), Uber (UBER), and Palantir (PLTR) in the past 24 hours. At this point, owning Nvidia shares is starting to feel like the new “I bought real estate in the 1970s” brag.

Perspective: the S&P 500 just hit a new record (6,900), but 80% of S&P 500 companies closed in the red. This means that the Magnificent 7 and a few others are pulling the entire economy up on their own. That’s the current state of the market for you: AI mega caps are living in a different world from the “real economy.”

OpenAI is eyeing an IPO. Microsoft and OpenAI finalized their for-profit restructuring deal, giving Microsoft a 27% stake valued at roughly $135 billion. The agreement lets OpenAI move forward with its public benefit corporation plans while Microsoft retains rights to OpenAI's models through 2032. The restructuring also makes it possible for OpenAI to actually IPO if it wants to.

The Fed’s rate decision comes today at 2:00 PM. Polymarket odds put the chances of a 25 bps rate cut at 98%, with a 50 bps cut at 1%, no rate change at 1%, and a rate hike at less than 1% odds. While a 25% rate cut is technically bullish for stocks, we think that it’s already priced in, so we aren’t expecting a ton of movement after this meeting. The real story is whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell pivots from quantitative tightening to quantitative easing (boosting money supply by buying gov. bonds) in his speech to day. If we switch to easing, we’re expecting markets to move upward. This is not financial advice.

Three of the Magnificent 7 report earnings today, which could lead to chaos depending on how the rate decision and quantitative tightening/easing bit go. We’ll see EPS and revenue from Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Meta (META).

Apple crossed the $4 trillion market cap milestone for the first time, joining Nvidia and Microsoft in the exclusive club. The iPhone 17 lineup outsold the iPhone 16 by 14% year-over-year in its first 10 days.

Eli Lilly is buying more than 1,000 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs to power an AI supercomputer for drug discovery. The setup will help Lilly train biomedical models and cut development times, with some models available to third parties through Lilly's TuneLab platform. This deal is part of Lilly's broader $50 billion expansion of its US manufacturing and R&D operations.

Nokia shares rocketed 21% to a decade-high after Nvidia announced a $1 billion investment for a 2.9% stake. The companies will collaborate on AI networking solutions and explore including Nokia's data center products in Nvidia's future infrastructure plans. The deal positions both companies to capitalize on the expected $1.7 trillion in data center spending by 2030.

On Behalf of BioNxt Solutions Inc.

A scientist who lost his lab in Ukraine helped create a new way to deliver medicine.

With tech stocks at $3-5 trillion valuations, it's nearly impossible to predict whether they'll keep climbing or face a sharp correction. Options let you profit in both directions… or hedge your bets when you're uncertain.

We know options sound intimidating. They're not for everyone. But understanding the basics gives you more tools to navigate volatile markets like this one.

Think of options as insurance, not a lottery ticket. You’re not trying to 10x your portfolio here, you’re just gaining the flexibility to adjust your position if the market moves against you. That's why you pay premiums: to maintain the option to take action.

To be clear: You don't need options to be a successful investor. Plenty of traders never touch derivatives and do just fine.

Before risking real money, try paper trading on platforms like TradingView or Thinkorswim. Practice selling covered calls, buying puts as hedges, and seeing how time decay affects option prices. Once you understand the mechanics, you can decide if options fit your strategy.

The key is knowing they exist as a tool—not feeling pressured to use them before you're ready.

We love hearing from you, and we deeply appreciate your feedback.

That’s all for today. Did we miss anything? Smash the reply button to let me know.

Cheers,
Brandon & Blake of Invested Inc