Hey there weekday warriors,

You might have noticed that I’ve been building out the TWC blog over the past few weeks. Welp, I’ve spoken to the board (my 3-year-old and my dog) and we plan to take the blog to the moon in 2024.

So, if you can blog (bloggers, NOT journalists) about investing, business news and/or personal finance, I want to hear from you.

Fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

PS, it was me, not you. There were no newsletters in the past two days. Had some family health stuff pop up (kids, amirite?). But all good now. Back to the grind.

+ US stocks rose again “as the post-Fed rally continued to push stocks higher even as some express concern that the recent run higher has been too much, too fast." (Investing.com)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield “fell to their lowest levels in months on Thursday as investors digested guidance issued by the Federal Reserve about the outlook for interest rates as its final policy meeting of the year concluded Wednesday." (CNBC)

+ Oil "rose 3% on Thursday, extending the previous session's gains, boosted by a weaker dollar and as the International Energy Agency (IEA) lifted its oil demand forecast for next year." (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin hovered around $43k for most of the day.

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Tesla +4.91% 2) Visa -1.39% 3) Nvidia +0.54%.

Back on my bullsh*t

Listen, you guys, it probably wasn’t a coincidence that it was a bull and not a bear running on the NJ Transit tracks in Newark yesterday…

Markets had themselves a day on Thursday. The Dow hit a new high score, a day after breaking 37k for the first time ever. And the S&P 500 and Nasdaq continued to move up and to the right.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury fell below 4% for the first time since August.

So what has investors fully torqued?

Wednesday’s Fed meeting (spoiler: it had nothing to do with the Fed leaving rates unchanged).

It was those three glorious rate cuts (at least) that the Fed has penciled in for 2024. Sure, markets are expecting more than that, but it’s the most dovish the Fed has been since ‘rona boi had its way with the human race and the government started slinging Publisher’s Clearing House checks.

American consumers didn’t hear no bell

It probably didn’t hurt that Americans continue to spend without regard for human life.

Retail sales in November rose 0.3%. That’s well above the 0.1% decrease analysts expected. Oh, and in case you were wondering, sales outpaced inflation, which was up 0.1% last month.

Why’s that music to investors’ ears? It screams “soft landing.”

+ Shohei Ohtani — deferring $680 million of his contract for 10 years — may face some financial risks, advisors say (Read)

+ The 62 New Books That Top Business Leaders Say Are Must-Reads (Read)

+ How Americans Spend Their Money, Broken Out By Generation (Read)

+ ICYMI yesterday... Harvard career expert shares the 3 red flags of ‘highly insecure’ people at work—and how to deal with them (Read)

+ Reason #69,420 that Nvidia’s shares are up 230% year to date, and Intel’s are up just 70%…

Intel revealed its most powerful AI chip yesterday… which is kinda like saying Bing just released its most capable search engine to date. The Gaudi3 (apparently Intel’s chip naming division is as pathetic as the rest of the company) will directly compete with Nvidia’s H100.

That would be great news for Intel investors… if Nvidia’s AI chip didn’t begin shipping in early 2023 (which helped it Hoover up more than 80% market share). Intel won’t ship until “next year” (Intel was pretty, pretty vague about dates).

Over on the fabrication front (friendly reminder: Intel is one of the few chipmakers that designs and manufactures its chips) CEO Pat Gelsinger is not afraid to sling the 7-nanometers he’s packing. The company is implementing its long-delayed 7nm tech in its new Core Ultra chips.

You might remember that back in 2020 Intel next-level botched the rollout of their 7nm capabilities. (Read)

+ GM’s driverless taxi division Cruise f*cked around, and now it’s finding out…

Mary Barra is making a blood sacrifice at the startup that’s majority-owned by GM… after one of its robotaxis came thisss close to making a blood sacrifice of its own. More than 900 employees will be laid off. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s ~25% of the company’s workforce.

And, well, it kinda makes sense. You can probably run a pretty lean shop when all trips have been suspended. The company made the decision after a Cruise taxi dragged some poor b*stard 20 feet after they were hit by another vehicle. To be fair, they won’t be poor for long once that settlement from GM hits the bank account. (Read)

+ Trian Management made it official yesterday: it’ll nominate Nelson Peltz to Disney’s board. Because, duh. The activist investor’s second nominee? Former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. This proxy fight really is the gift that keeps on giving. (Read)

+ Today in “you can’t make this sh*t up”: Costco sold over $100M in gold bars in the most recent quarter.

Costco did what it does best when it dropped earnings this afternoon: beat on the top and bottom lines. Oh, and it declared a special cash dividend of $15 per share… which means the only people more insufferable on the internet than crypto bros are dividend investors.

Despite the good news, shares rose just 1.3% after hours. Of course, shares are trading at an all-time high… (Read)

Here's what I'm keeping an eye on today...

+ Darden Restaurants reports

+ Utz Brands holds its investor day

+ Happy triple witching day (options, index futures, and index options expire) to those who celebrate

Earlier this week, I asked What should I get my wife for her birthday?

Lots of “jewelry, spa, dinner etc.” All A+ ideas. But the best answer came from one of the TWC OGs (highlighted the two cheat codes that I would have never thought of):

Make the birthday just about her by investing in an experience more so than a physical good. Dinner/show, spa day, quick trip. They're all cliché because they're awesome. But the reason so many people brick when they try this stuff is they don't take care of the little odds and ends that make the gift truly special. Get in touch with her HR department and supervisor about her coming in late on a Monday without her knowing. Arrange the babysitter in secret. Pick out an outfit for her. If it's overnight, do a little shopping day at the destination so she doesn't need to pack. And if that doesn't work, try two years of TWCPrimePlus+.

Here’s today’s question…

In honor of Costco’s gold bars and the $250k autographed Mickey Mantle rookie card…

What’s the best thing you’ve ever seen for sale at Costco?

Reply directly to this email. I’ll share the best answers tomorrow.

Oh, and one more thing…

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?

No, it’s the face of a God-fearing family man with sh*t-for-brains. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.