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Warm-Up
- Shutdown..... AVERTED
- Mergers - Auto Industry big move
- Lots of Trump Talk
- Deli Stock Scheme - Update
- Holiday Tidings!

- Markets
- S&P 500 Equal weight down 6% MTD, Small Caps down 8%
- The New favs? Quantum Computing Stocks - Santa Like them.....
- Index inclusion has become a thing

Checking out the early CTP Cup Standings

EVERYONE IS IN! - 7 Contestants....

Fed Meeting Dec 18th
- Fed freaked out markets
- All of a sudden they are projecting that inflation is not going to come down to their 2% level into 2026
- DJIA was donw 1000 points and it was an ugly day overall.
- Onc day later, PCE comes out not too far aay from assumptions and market takes off
- Just goes to show that

DJIA - Records?
- Follow up - it was 10 days and the last time that happened was 1974

Meanwhile - XMAS Rally
- Once big day down, then a test and BOUNCE
- Most of the Fed Day losses have been wipe out - still much damage in December
--- Once again - Mega cap holding things up
---- EVEN though 10Yr >4.6%  - this is an important price point... Failed  couple of times before.

Quantum Computing Stocks
- Ever since Alphabet (Google) announced that they made progress, been some crazy moves on a few names - with YTD returns
-- D-Wave Quantum Inc  QBTS  (825%)
-- Rigetti Computing Inc   RGTI  (1,050%)
-- Quantum Computing Inc   QUBT  (1,900%)
-- Defiance Quantum ETF   QTUM (51%)
-- IONQ Inc    IONQ   (240%)
---(none seem to be making any money  - actually losing a ton)

More Quantum
- Willow's speed is almost incomprehensible — according to Google, it's able to perform a computation in under five minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to solve. Ten septillion is 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.
- Concern has turned to the potential for this technology to break down crypto (or other) cryptography.
--- It may take years - but this could be something we need to watch as a byproduct, the need for better security from quantum hacks

Auto Merger
- Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda on Monday announced they had entered into official talks to merge and create the world's third-largest automaker by sales.
- The deal would aim to share intelligence and resources and deliver economies of scale and synergies while protecting both brands
- Nissan's strategic partner Mitsubishi has been offered the chance to join the new group and will take a decision by the end of January 2025.
- Lots of things to iron out before this deal gets done

Index Traders - Hang on...
- Huge moves to reset these days
- Companies are competing to get to NASDAQ and NYSE to gain inclusion as they know share prices will potentially pop
- Palatntir is banking on that as they said in their recent announcement and one reason was to get inclusion in the NASDAQ 100
- These kind of index changes has buig impacts on stocks
- - ALSO, there should be some movement over the next month as there will be re-balancing going on as 2024 big run for markets/stocks

Trump Talk/Plans
- Trump said he will not let the canal fall into the 'wrong hands'
- Trump accused Panama of charging excessive fees to use the canal
- Panama's President Mulino defends canal's independence and fees
- US handed over control of the canal in 1999
- Talk that we could take it back
- Twitter: "Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue belonging (to Panama)," Mulino said in his statement, which was released on X.
--------Trump then responded to Mulino: "We'll see about that!"

More Talk
- "I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
- Who did he tell exactly?
-- Where does he come up up with this stuff?
- According to U.S. figures, the country's goods and services trade deficit with the European Union was $131.3 billion in 2022. The U.S. was the biggest recipient of EU goods in 2023, accounting for 19.7% of its exports. (Maybe we should make something that people want to buy?)

Greenland - Again?
- “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.

Fraud?
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday sued the operator of the Zelle payments network and the three U.S. banks that dominant transactions on it, alleging that the firms failed to properly investigate fraud complaints or give victims reimbursements.
- "The nation's largest banks felt threatened by competing payment apps, so they rushed to put out Zelle," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. "By their failing to put in place proper safeguards, Zelle became a gold mine for fraudsters, while often leaving victims to fend for themselves."

Govy Shutdown
- President Joe Biden signed a bill into law Saturday that averts a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline and refused President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands in the package.
- Even though there is a desire for cutting costs by the Trump team, President-Elect Trump wanted to raise or suspend the debt ceiling in the latest bill.
- US Governtment debt is $36 Billion Now...123% Debt to GDP

Debt to GDP

What is with the drones?
- The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday temporarily banned drone flights over 22 areas across New Jersey amid complaints of strange and often bright drones in the night sky.
- "At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure," the FAA said in a statement to CNBC.
- The TFRs will last until Jan. 17 and cover large parts of central and northern New Jersey, including Elizabeth, Camden and Jersey City, the second most populous city in the Garden State.

Deli Duo
- Father, son plead guilty in $100 million New Jersey deli stock scheme
- The Cokers and Patten each admitted their roles in the scheme to artificially boost the stock price of Hometown, whose only real business asset was the Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, as well as the shares of a shell company then known as E-Waste.
- Hometown's stock price rose by more than 900% as a result of the scheme. The price of E-Waste rose by nearly 20,000%.
- The scam, which ran from 2014 through September 2022, involved coordinated trading of the stocks of both companies, creating a false impression of demand for their shares, which traded on OTC Marketplace.
- The defendants during the conspiracy gained control of the companies' management and shares, with the aim of using them as vehicles for reverse mergers with privately held companies. Both companies ended up being merged in such deals with private firms.

Lilly - Another Benefit of Zepbound
- The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly's blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound for treating patients with the most common sleep-related breathing disorder, the drugmaker announced Friday, expanding its use and possibly its insurance coverage in the U.S.
- The weekly injection is now cleared for patients with obesity and moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, which refers to breathing interrupted during sleep due to narrowed or blocked airways.
- An estimated 80 million patients in the U.S. experience the disease, according to Eli Lilly. Roughly 20 million of those people have moderate-to-severe forms of the disease, but 85% of cases go undiagnosed, the company told CNBC earlier this year.

TEMU Competition
- Two weeks before Black Friday, Amazon quietly added a new section to the top of its mobile app. Called Haul, it's a mobile-only area for ultra-low-price items, primarily shipped directly from China.
- Haul is Amazon's answer to the booming popularity of apps such as PDD Holdings' Temu and fast-fashion retailer Shein. Amazon told CNBC that Haul has had millions of unique customer visits since it launched in November.
- Like Temu, Haul offers items at bargain prices, such as sneakers for $9.98, kitchenware for $5.99 and phone cases for $2.99.
--- H&C Clients own Akazon as well as PDD - TEMU Owner

Pepsi
- Multi-Year lows
- Frito-Lay segment not doing well- packaged foods not doing well
- Interesting chart

Pepsi Chart

Bankruptcy
- The Container store filed for reorg
- The Container Store said this doesn't mark the end of the retailer. The company said it filed for voluntary protection under Chapter 11 in the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Texas as it plans to "implement a recapitalization transaction to bolster its financial position, fuel growth initiatives, and drive enhanced long-term profitability."
- Need to stop this practice as it breeds poor management.
---- If bankrupt, management is out and no pre-bancrupcy bonuses

2025 predictions?
- Stock market
- Bond Yields?
- Bitcoin?
- Gold?

Next week  - we have a great show lined up - by our good friend Ryan Rediske -

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS