Strong spending and markets defy gloomy forecasts
Dear Friend,
So apparently chip stocks are just “resting,” not crashing—kind of like when I lie face down on the floor and call it yoga.
Wall Street’s worried the charts look tired, but the last two times this happened, tech stocks sprinted like they were late for earnings season.
Meanwhile, Google just bought a power company because their AI is so hungry it needs its own grid—move over solar panels, the future is nuclear… and slightly terrifying.
Keep reading this edition of the Insider Report to see why this all might just be the warm-up lap before 2026 goes full beast mode.
Jeremy Blossom
Editor in Chief, Everlasting Wealth
MARKETS
MARKET HEADLINES
📉 Trading volumes hit a yearly low in a sleepy post-holiday market, but silver stole the spotlight by breaking records amid investor distrust in global economic stability.
🇬🇧 The FTSE 100 outpaced the S&P 500 in 2025, driven by profits and dividends rather than tech hype, with analysts seeing continued upside into 2026.
🔧 Copper has quietly entered a secular bull market and may soon outperform gold and silver, with multiple mining stocks poised to benefit from surging demand.
⚖️ Sable Offshore stock plunged after a lawsuit challenged its pipeline restart in California, reviving environmental concerns from a 2015 oil spill.
📱 Apple shares ticked up on strong iPhone import growth in China and a temporary legal win over Apple Watch patent claims, despite lagging megacap peers in 2025.
🛍️ Discounters, resale platforms, and dollar stores led retail in a resilient holiday season, as budget-conscious shoppers boosted foot and web traffic.
🎯 Despite being priced for perfection, the stock market could still shine in 2026—if earnings deliver and the AI boom doesn’t falter.
🧲 Copper futures soared to record highs, fueling mining stock rallies and marking the metal’s best year since 2009 amid tight supply and AI-driven demand.
🚗 Tesla stock dipped amid safety concerns and missed out on the Santa Claus rally, as investors watch for its robo-taxi promise to materialize.
💥 Two major energy IPOs—Venture Global and Fermi—flopped in 2025, raising doubts about investor confidence heading into 2026’s power-hungry market.
Chip Stocks: Taking a Power Nap Before the Next Moonshot?
So apparently the big brains on Wall Street think chip stocks aren’t crashing—they’re just “resting.”
Yeah, because when I’m exhausted, I too hit record highs.
The charts are throwing up what they call a “bearish technical divergence,” which sounds scary until you realize it’s often the market’s version of catching its breath before sprinting again.
The SOX index, which is basically the all-star team of semiconductor companies, crushed it this year—up nearly 45%, stomping the S&P’s 18%.
Sure, the momentum indicators (aka RSI) are looking a little winded, but that happened in 2021 and 1999 too… right before massive rallies.
The 50-day moving average is way above the 200-day (which has only happened a few times in 30 years), and guess what followed each time?
Big rallies—until the dot-com bust, but let’s not ruin the story.
The tech bulls may just be carb-loading for 2026.
But hey, let’s all act surprised when AI chips go turbo again and CNN blames “unexpected investor enthusiasm.”
STOCKS 2 WATCH
↗️ Dynavax: Shares surged over 30% in premarket trading after Sanofi announced a $2.2 billion all-cash acquisition, aiming to strengthen its vaccine pipeline following recent clinical trial hurdles.
🔎 BP: The British energy giant is offloading a majority stake in its Castrol lubricants arm to private equity firm Stonepeak, valuing the entire business at $8 billion.
↗️ UiPath: The automation software company climbed more than 8% ahead of the market open, following news it will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 index starting January 2.
↗️ Nike: Stock rose 2% in early trading after a regulatory filing revealed Apple CEO and Nike board member Tim Cook purchased approximately $2.9 million worth of shares, shortly after the company’s lackluster earnings report.
Fact of the Week
The New York Stock Exchange traces its origin to a surprisingly casual moment in 1792 when a small group of brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street—basically turning a sidewalk meet-up into the marketplace that would eventually become the world’s most famous stock exchange.
ECONOMY
Economy’s Still Kicking, Despite the Left’s Apocalypse Forecasts
So remember how all the “experts” said Trump’s tariffs and immigration crackdown were gonna kill the economy?
Yeah… about that. Turns out, the U.S. economy is still chugging along like a freight train, thanks to good ol’ American spending—mostly from the folks who actually have money (shocker).
The top 10% are dropping cash like it’s hot, especially with the stock market booming and AI infrastructure eating up billions.
Even though the media keeps crying “recession,” GDP is up, stores are full, and people are still flying first class to Europe.
Sure, there’s griping about high prices and a weakening job market, but somehow Americans are still out here Christmas shopping like it’s their patriotic duty.
And get this—those same consumers say they’re miserable about the economy… while standing in line at Burberry.
Maybe if Biden had pulled this off, the New York Times would’ve already canonized him.
But since it’s under Trump’s second term? Crickets.
Economic Headlines
🇨🇳 China’s 2025 stock rally may hinge on U.S. economic strength and AI momentum, as Beijing grapples with a sluggish old economy and aims to boost domestic consumption.
🇺🇸 The U.S. remains the dominant global market due to tech innovation and institutional depth, but rising debt and political risks may test investor faith in 2026.
🚫 China sanctioned Boeing and other U.S. defense firms over arms sales to Taiwan, though the largely symbolic move is unlikely to impact stock performance.
🏦 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is shaping the next Fed chair pick to align with lower-rate, pro-Treasury policies that could redefine central bank independence.
📈 U.S. GDP surprised with 4.3% growth in Q3, driven by AI and capital investment, prompting economists to question if their models still reflect economic reality.
🧁 Small businesses are struggling this holiday season as high costs, tariffs, and price-sensitive shoppers drive consumers to cheaper big-box alternatives.
💸 Inflation is expected to rise again in 2026 due to tariff impacts, tax refunds, and stimulus proposals—despite recent misleading CPI data.
🎅 The S&P 500 hit a record ahead of a potential Santa Claus rally, though thin holiday trading and inflation risks could bring volatility instead of cheer.
🤖 AI investment fueled 37% of U.S. GDP growth in the first nine months of 2025, underscoring its massive economic impact—even as data collection delays cloud Q3 figures.
🕵️♂️ The SEC charged fake crypto platforms and investment clubs with stealing $14 million in a confidence scam involving phony AI tips and nonexistent token offerings.
Trivia
Which U.S. stock index is market-cap weighted—so one mega-cap company’s bad day can drag the whole index down—even if most stocks in the index actually finished up?
A. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
B. Russell 2000
C. S&P 500
D. S&P 500 Equal Weight Index
E. Value Line Arithmetic Index
Scroll for the answer
BUSINESS
Google Buys More Power—Literally—to Feed Its AI Addiction
So Google just dropped a casual $4.75 billion in cash to buy Intersect—because apparently their AI dreams are so energy-hungry, they now need their own power plants.
The deal includes a boatload of data center projects, gigawatts of juice, and the whole Intersect team.
I mean, forget “Don’t be evil”—we’re in “Don’t run out of electricity” territory now.
The kicker?
This isn’t just about expansion—it’s survival in the AI arms race with Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, all of whom are guzzling electricity like frat boys at a tailgate.
Google already had a slice of Intersect, but I guess partial ownership didn’t cut it when Gemini (their AI chatbot) needs to outsmart ChatGPT by 2026.
Funny how the same crowd panicking over climate change is now hoarding power for digital mind-reading machines.
But sure, lecture the rest of us about turning off the lights.
Answer
Which U.S. stock index is market-cap weighted—so one mega-cap company’s bad day can drag the whole index down—even if most stocks in the index actually finished up?
C. S&P 500
The S&P 500 is market-cap weighted, meaning each company’s influence is proportional to its total market value, so a handful of giant firms can dominate index moves and create days where the “headline market” falls despite broad participation underneath—an effect that gets stronger as market leadership concentrates into fewer, larger companies.
