Good morning.
Greenland talks went nowhere, except to establish that Trump probably won’t defend Europe anymore. And inflation is back in focus: wholesale prices came in hotter than expected and core inflation hit its fastest pace since March.
Rate cut projections keep sliding further out, and stocks felt it. But rate cuts aren’t everything: today, we’re sharing a free guide to trading the tech ETF QQQ with you.
In today’s edition:
Elon Musk’s right-hand man just publicly released the top 10 tickers on X
Trump’s protection of Europe “cannot be taken for granted anymore”
Inflation stays hot, rate cut hopes fade fast
Oil snaps back after Trump signals restraint on Iran
Let’s get to it.
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📰 Market Headlines
Stocks retreated on Wednesday as tech sold off and bank stocks slid despite solid earnings.
Nasdaq slid over 1%, the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, and the Dow closed nearly flat, continuing a pullback from record highs.
Nikita Bier, head of product at X, just posted the top 10 most popular tickers on Twitter. AltIndex has been tracking this kind of data for months, and the fact that someone like Nikita is tuned in to the social pulse like this is affirming. Social data is a powerful way to trade. See the top 10 Twitter stocks here →
No resolution was reached during Greenland-US-Denmark talks yesterday, but the group of officials plans to continue the conversation. What we do know is that the US is not resorting to military force to get Greenland (at least not yet). But we also saw that Trump’s military support of European nations is in question:
Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Bruegel: “If the U.S. president says he can only defend what he owns, well what he is basically saying is he cannot defend Europe under any circumstances because he doesn’t own Europe, right? And so, that means Article 5 of NATO, the support of the U.S. president for European security, cannot be taken for granted anymore.”
Inflation data showed wholesale prices rose 3% year-over-year in November, higher than the 2.7% expected. Core prices climbed 3.5%, the biggest jump since March 2025. Consumer inflation also remained sticky in December at 2.6%, cementing expectations for no rate cuts from the Fed in the near term.
Big banks posted mixed results as Bank of America and Wells Fargo reported profit surges powered by trading activity. But shares of both banks fell more than 5%, dragged down by policy concerns over Trump's credit card rate cap proposal and questions about Fed independence. Wells Fargo missed profit estimates after spending $612 million on severance amid a 5,600-person headcount reduction.
NVIDIA shares dipped over 1% after reports emerged that Chinese customs authorities are blocking imports of the chipmaker's H200 AI chips. The ban comes just one day after the US formally approved H200 exports to China, complicating Nvidia's path into what CEO Jensen Huang has called a $50 billion market.
OpenAI announced it will purchase up to 750 megawatts of computing power over three years from chipmaker Cerebras in a deal worth more than $10 billion. The ChatGPT maker plans to use the systems to power faster AI responses, with capacity coming online through 2028.
Oil whipsawed after Trump said he'd been told killings of protesters in Iran had stopped, reversing earlier gains. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $60.20, while Brent dropped 1.4% to $64.54 after climbing above $66 earlier in the session on fears of US military action.
😱 Fear & Greed Index
🤖 AI/Future/Tech News
Salesforce’s (CRM) founder apparently started the company after having a vision while swimming with a pod of 100 dolphins.
Google launched Personal Intelligence, a beta feature letting Gemini reason across your Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube history.
Mobile app downloads fell for the fifth straight year to 106.9 billion in 2025, but consumer spending soared 21.6% to $155.8 billion.
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🪙 Crypto
Ethereum added 393,000 new wallets in one day, pushing average daily wallet creation to an all-time high.
Former SEC Chairman Paul Atkins signaled XRP regulatory clarity is approaching as Congress advances digital asset legislation defining jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC.
📊 IPOs and Earnings
Infosys reported Q3 revenue of $5.1 billion, up 3.2% year-over-year, with EPS climbing to $0.21 from $0.19; the revenue beat estimates by 0.33%, but shares dipped 1.4% over the past month.
Citigroup missed Q4 earnings expectations with EPS of $1.19 versus the $1.65 estimate, primarily due to a $1.2 billion loss tied to its planned sale of assets in Russia. Excluding that charge, EPS would have been $1.81, but the stock still plunged 3.7% as the miss snapped a seven-quarter winning streak.
🚚 Market Movers
Saks Global Enterprises filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling to find a footing in a cooling luxury market.
Trip.com plunged nearly 17% after China's State Administration for Market Regulation launched an antitrust probe into the travel company over potential monopolistic behavior.
Tesla shares fell 2.5% after Elon Musk announced the company will stop selling its Full Self-Driving system outright on February 14, shifting to a $99 monthly subscription model only.
Politico cut about 3% of its 750-person staff while announcing plans for a new paid subscription product targeting finance professionals.
❓ Market Trivia Corner
🎤️ What you said last time
🧠 The Missing (Market) Links
Just 43% of Americans plan to job search in 2026, down from 93% last year. Two-thirds are picking up side hustles instead as inflation bites and openings dry up.
This 29-year-old American left Atlanta for Bahrain and now makes $140,000 working East Coast hours from a three-bedroom home with a pool. Her rent? $2,200 a month.
Kim Greene quit a policy career in Afghanistan to launch a business breeding $175,000 protection dogs for wealthy families. Her Montana ranch brought in $2.97 million last year, training up to 46 canines at a time.
📜 Quote of the Day
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Cheers,
Brandon & Blake of Invested Inc
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