Hey there weekday warriors,

Don’t freak out, but Dead & Co. is getting back together… for a residency at the Sphere in Vegas.

Here’s what else we’re getting into today…

• A PGA investment that’s made in the USA

• The Fed does nothing

• Paramount bidding war heats up

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 12 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks “tumbled on the last trading day in January after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady while dashing hopes for interest rate cut as soon as March.” (Reuters)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield finished at its lowest level “in at least two weeks on Wednesday, even after Federal Reserve officials signaled that they need more time before they are confident about cutting interest rates." (MarketWatch)

+ Oil prices “settled lower on Wednesday, pressured by low economic activity in leading crude importer China and a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories as producers ramped up output following frigid weather this month.” (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin fell “below $43,000 as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's hawkish comments cooled hopes about an imminent rate cut.” (Coindesk)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) AMD -2.54% 2) Nvidia -1.99% 3) C3.ai -2.94%.

The market moves you need to know about…

– Hard to feel bad for the company that decided it’s going to sell its remaining Yeezy’s instead of writing off the inventory. Shares of Adidas fell 9.4% yesterday after reporting piss-poor 2023 earnings… and sharing that 2024 isn’t looking much better.

– Google fell 7.3% after Tuesday’s earnings came in hot… but ad sales growth came in just shy of expectations.

– Remember when Donny Politics could move markets with a Tweet? Bring me back. US Steel dropped 2.3% after Donald Trump had this to say about Nippon Steel’s acquisition of the most American company not named Black Rifle Coffee: “I would block it instantaneously. Absolutely.”

Fore play

A group of filthy rich red, white, and blue-blooded Americans have potentially cucked Mohammed bin Salman… and if I were them, I’d probably lie low for a while…

A billionaire boys club led by Fenway Sports Group’s John Henry is investing $3B in the PGA Tour. They’ll cut a check for $1.5B upfront.

And in case the PGA didn’t have a diversity problem before… Henry was joined by a who’s who of other sports owners. Like Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons), Steve Cohen (New York Mets), and Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics).

As part of the deal, the Tour will give equity to PGA players, which, for the record, will still likely pale in comparison to the bags that LIV players secured.

Speaking of LIV…

The PGA is reportedly still in negotiations with the Saudi-backed league…

The two sides missed an initial cutoff date of December 31st. But according to both sides, they’re still engaged in some heavy petting (you know, some over-the-pants stuff), but have yet to make it official.

This fresh cash might be exactly what the PGA-LIV deal needs to get over the finish line, though. Hear me out…

It could reassure US lawmakers that MbS won’t be buying the PGA. Strategic Sports Group already agreed to rubber stamp any deal with LIV.

+ A Look Inside Boston’s Priciest Neighborhood (Read)

+ Financial Blogger Says $230,000 A Year Isn't Enough Money For His Family Of Four — 'Desire Is The Cause Of All Suffering.' (Read)

+ Seeking at Least 9% Dividend Yields? Deutsche Bank Suggests 2 Dividend Stocks to Buy (Read)

> ICYMI... Six cities registered new all-time high real estate prices in November (Read)

+ J-Poww be like “You’ll get nothing and like it.”

Sure, the writing was on the wall (see: the Fed penciling in 3 rate cuts this year… and markets expecting 6). But, not unlike finding out your parents never really loved you, the truth hurts. The Fed made it very clear that there are no plans to cut rates any time soon in its FOMC meeting statement.

On the bright side, it’s become abundantly clear that the Central Bank is done hiking. So we’ve got that going for us.

Markets didn’t love that J-Poww went all “best I can do is pausing rate hikes…,” though. All three major indices fell. (Read)

+ Byron Allen literally only wants one thing, and it’s f*cking disgusting. That thing? Paramount. Yesterday, Allen made his second offer in less than a year for the network/studio/streamer. And he knows how to push a hard bargain. His first offer was for $18.5B. His latest is $14.3B.

The offer, which Allen allegedly texted to Paramount board members, like he’s Kendall Roy or something, could spark a bidding war. David Ellison has shown interest as well. No surprise here, but shares of Paramount were up ~7% on the day. (Read)

+ Regional bank crises are so 2023. But that hasn’t stopped New York Community Bancorp from doing its best Silicon Valley Bank impression. Shares of the bank plummeted more than 30% after it reported earnings.

And, interestingly enough, it’s Signature Bank’s fault. At least partially. You see, NYCB bought up some of Signature Bank’s assets after it collapsed last year. That increase in assets pushed NYCB above the $100B asset threshold. That means it is now subject to stricter regulations and capital requirements. Read: it got a seat at the big boy’s table.

Then yesterday, the bank unveiled a series of moves made during the most recent quarter that had a massive impact on the bottom line and spooked investors. The most alarming was boosting the cash it set aside for loan loss provisions by half a billion dollars. Slashing its dividend probably didn’t help.

Shares fell 37% on the day. (Read)

+ Walmart CEO Doug McMillon just went all “After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I keep expanding our brick-and-mortar footprint?” On the heels of a 3-for-1 stock split, with shares trading near an all-time high, Walmart said it plans to add 150 large format stores over the next 5 years. Before yesterday’s announcement, WMT had pumped the brakes on growth over the past two years. Shares were down slightly on the day. (Read)

What else?

+ Despite the green text gangs’ best efforts, Qualcomm put up a big quarter. The smartphone chipmaker beat on the top and bottom line despite Android’s “year of correction” (Qualcomm CEO’s polite way of saying no one is buying the Samsung Galaxy).

Shares were relatively unchanged, partially because Qualcomm hitched its wagon to phones and VR headsets (lol) and not AI, and mostly because its projected earnings for the current quarter came in a bit light. (Read)

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

+ Merck, Honeywell, Altria, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Royal Caribbean, Peloton, and Canada Goose report

> Crystal ballin’… Don’t freak out, but… markets could overreact to the New York Community Bank news. On the plus side, it’s not dealing with the same type of sh*tstorm that took down SVB and Signature.

Yesterday, I asked How is everybody doing?

Overall, the vibes seem to be pretty high.

For those of you who asked… I’ve never been better. Appreciate you checking in.

Here’s today’s question…

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 an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. 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