December 8th Market Overview

Happy Monday

Markets pulling back ahead of Wednesday's Fed meeting.

Paramount launched a feisty bid war for Warner Bros to kill the Netflix deal, Trump's already flagging antitrust. Bond yields keep climbing despite rate cut expectations signaling inflation concerns about this weeks cut.

Quick question to you:

Let’s dig in...

Today's Big Picture

Paramount Goes Hostile 
Paramount Skydance launched an all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD at $30 per share, trying to blow up last week's Netflix $NFLX deal. Ellison went straight to shareholders with $54 billion in debt financing. Trump called the Netflix deal an antitrust problem and the odds of it closing just collapsed from 60 to 23.

Weight Loss Pill Breakthrough 
Structure Therapeutics $GPCR doubled after its obesity pill cut weight by double digits over 36 weeks in trials. This puts them in direct competition with Eli Lilly $LLY, whose pill launches next year. Analysts see $2-4 billion in annual sales if Phase 3 works.

Markets Pause Before Fed 
S&P slipped ahead of Wednesday's rate decision. Everyone knows the Fed cuts this week what matters is whether Powell signals a pause for early 2026. Bond yields climbing despite the expected cut tells you inflation fear is here.

Market Overview

Index Performance

Stock Spotlight

IBM $IBM ( ▲ 0.4% ) 
is acquiring Confluent $CFLT for $11 billion. Deal closes mid-2026.

Broadcom $AVGO ( ▲ 2.78% ) 
rallied after reports that Microsoft $MSFT is moving its custom chips business from Marvell $MRVL. Marvell sold off hard.

Oracle $ORCL ( ▲ 1.34% ) 
climbed ahead of Wednesday's earnings despite Barclays cutting their price target to $330 from $400.

CoreWeave $CRWV ( ▼ 2.15% ) 
fell after announcing plans to raise $2 billion via convertible notes.

Big Name Updates

Tesla $TSLA ( ▼ 3.82% ) 
dropped after Morgan Stanley downgraded to Equal Weight. At 30x 2030 EBITDA, they see better entry points ahead.

Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 0.71% ) 
got a target bump to $350 at Wedbush. They expect a Google Gemini partnership in early 2026 that could add $75-100 per share in AI monetization.

Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B ( ▼ 1.41% ) 
announced Todd Combs is leaving Geico to join JPMorgan $JPM. Nancy Pierce takes over at Geico. CFO Marc Hamburg retires next June.

Carvana $CVNA ( ▲ 12.06% ) 
jumped after S&P announced it joins the S&P 500 on December 22. CRH $CRH and Comfort Systems $FIX also joining.

Other Notable Company News

NextEra Energy $NEE ( ▼ 3.19% ) 
partnered with Google Cloud $GOOGL on multi-gigawatt data center campuses and signed 2.5 GW of solar deals with Meta $META.

Micron $MU ( ▲ 4.03% ) 
price target raised to $250 from $180 at BofA on AI server memory content running roughly 2x traditional enterprise servers.

Boeing $BA ( ▲ 2.11% ) 
completed its Spirit AeroSystems acquisition.

KB Home $KBH ( ▼ 1.8% ) 
upgraded to Overweight at Barclays, price target $71 from $49 on expected ROE recovery into 2027.

Sector Watch

Bond Market

The 10-year yield hit 4.18 despite Wednesday's expected rate cut. Yields rising into a cut means bond traders don't buy the inflation story. Watch Powell's language Wednesday.

Policy Watch

Fed 
Quarter-point cut is baked in. What matters is whether Powell signals a pause for 2026. If cuts get pushed out, stocks take heat in the first half of next year.

Fiscal & Trade 
Congress passed a $901 billion defense bill—$8 billion above Trump's request. Hits China with tighter investment screening and Pentagon supply chain bans.

November tax collections jumped 11 as tariff revenue tripled. Corporate tax revenue fell.

Trump announced $12 billion in aid for farmers hit by tariffs.

International 
China's trade surplus topped $1 trillion. U.S. exports to China collapsed but Europe keeps buying.

Tech 
Trump signs an executive order this week blocking state AI laws. "One Rulebook" for a uniform AI legal framework nationwide.

Today’s Sponsor

$1K Could’ve Made $2.5M

In 1999, $1K in Nvidia’s IPO would be worth $2.5M today. Now another early-stage AI tech startup is breaking through—and it’s still early.

RAD Intel’s award-winning AI platform helps Fortune 1000 brands predict ad performance before they spend.

The company’s valuation has surged 4900% in four years* with over $50M raised.

Already trusted by a who’s-who roster of Fortune 1000 brands and leading global agencies. Recurring seven-figure partnerships in place and their Nasdaq ticker is reserved: $RADI.

👉 Lock in Your Shares

_{This is a paid advertisement for RAD Intel made pursuant to Regulation A+ offering and involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The valuation is set by the Company and there is currently no public market for the Company's Common Stock. Nasdaq ticker “RADI” has been reserved by RAD Intel and any potential listing is subject to future regulatory approval and market conditions. Investor references reflect factual individual or institutional participation and do not imply endorsement or sponsorship by the referenced companies. Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.radintel.ai.}

What To Watch

Fed Decision Wednesday
The cut is priced in. Listen for Powell's language on 2026. Any hint of a pause sends stocks lower.

Broadcom Earnings Thursday 
Consensus expects $5.7 billion in data center sales. Watch for commentary on Google Gemini demand and custom chip adoption at OpenAI, Apple, and Microsoft.

Oracle Earnings Wednesday
Shares climbed ahead of results despite Barclays cutting their target. Cloud growth numbers are what matter.

Costco Earnings Thursday
Reports same day Trump's team is looking at beef prices. Timing is interesting.

SpaceX Valuation Jump 
WSJ reports insider shares trading at $800 billion valuation, double the $400 billion from July. Company targeting late 2026 IPO.

Thanks for reading 🙂

- John

Today’s Sponsor

Turn AI Into Extra Income

You don’t need to be a coder to make AI work for you. Subscribe to Mindstream and get 200+ proven ideas showing how real people are using ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other tools to earn on the side.

From small wins to full-on ventures, this guide helps you turn AI skills into real results, without the overwhelm.

Get Your Free Guide