Above the Fold
Financial Markets this Week
Hey there - just a special announcement before we get started
Over the past year or so, many people touched base with me on Linkedin and asked about resources regarding training for quant and trading. We have a new tab now called Resources, and you can check out everythin’ we use on the Street - to keep our skills in shape. These are all the resources I personally use to make buy/sell decisions each day
I’ll add to it as I think of more - but leverage it as you wish
A pulse of what happened in the financial markets this week - all worthy of a headline, above the fold
Uncle Sam Takes A Cut : President Trump allows NVDA to sell H200 chips to approved customers in China. Uncle Sam takes a 25% cut from those sales in a revenue share agreement. The cut is truly new ground, as far as I can remember this hasn’t happened before
Crypto Founder Sentenced : The Southern District of New York sentenced Do Kwon, (TerraUSD and Luna Coins founder) for 15 years, for his role in the crypto fraud. He is one of the OGs for #cryptobro
Putin Visits New Delhi : India imports a third of its oil from Russia. DC imposes a 50% tariff on many of the imports from India due to New Delhi purchasing crude oil from Russia. Vladimir Putin visited New Delhi earlier in December, and both leaders are in a delicate triangle of diplomacy, where they play nice with each other, and with Washington DC
Disney and Open AI : Disney announced it is going to invest $ 1B in Open AI and license its characters to be used in Sora and Open AI. This news comes at the heels of Disney sending a cease and desist letter to Google, for using Disney products to train its AI, without permission
Anti-Trust Alert : NFLX wants to buy Warner Brothers. It makes sense that a streaming powerhouse wants to buy an ol’ school Hollywood Studio. Warner Brothers have a treasure chest of IPs and they know how to produce great movies way more than NFLX does. NFLX has the platform to distribute and monetize it worldwide. Its a vertical integration play
There are significant concerns about - if Netflix will steamroll us watching movies on the big screen and expedite everything to our television screens ? We do not know how that would play out. Tom Cruise held Top Gun Maverick for two years during COVID, so that we have a chance to see it on the silver screen. That was one of the most brilliant decisions he ever made - and he saved the movie industry with that decision. People who love movies, yours truly included, deeply appreciate him for that
Is that going to happen if Netflix is at the helm ? profit maximization and quarterly earnings over creative vision and conviction, isn’t it ? Artists and creators from LA have legitimate concerns - and I see all of that. Big tech acts like big tech - and we shouldn’t be surprised by it when that happens. Pay attention to this because this shapes the landscape of how we watch movies, going forward
PS : Paramount Skydance wants to buy Warner Brothers too
Interest Rates : Reserve Bank of Australia makes no change to the current interest rate of 3.6%, and indicates that there are no more cuts planned in the immediate future. In contrast, by Wednesday evening, the Fed (FOMC) cut interest rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) and rates stand between 3.5% and 3.75% currently. Inflation (as measured by the Fed’s preferred index, PCE) is ~ 2.8% (YoY basis, on 09/2025). The Fed target for inflation is 2%
President Trump announced today that he is potentially going to choose between Kevin Warsh (former Fed governor) and Kevin Hasset (NEC Director) to lead the Federal Reserve next year. He however, has made it very clear that he wants a bigger say in interest rates - in what we can only presume is a subtle shot at Jay Powell. Powell for the most part, made decisions based on the founding principles of macroeconomics during his tenure
Reclassification of Marijuana : Friday morning, we learned of the administration’s plan to reclassify pot as a less dangerous drug. Such easing of restrictions and less tax burdens led to surge in cannabis stocks
Have a great week end
Sources : WSJ, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Barron’s and Trade the News