Good afternoon! The tech world is touching down in Las Vegas as the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off its annual gadget marathon. Executives, engineers, and product teams are flooding the Strip to show off what they think will define the next year in tech, from AI hardware to consumer devices.
The show floor opens tomorrow, but the headline moments start today. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su are both set to deliver keynote addresses, giving the market an early read on where chips, AI, and computing power are headed before CES wraps up on Friday.
MARKETS
Welcome to the first full trading week of the year, and markets didn’t waste time setting records. The Dow briefly cracked 49,000 for the first time ever before pulling back, but still closed at a fresh all-time high as stocks pushed higher across the board.
Energy stocks led the charge as US Venezuela tensions lifted oil prices, helping investors shrug off geopolitical noise. Bonds caught a bid after data showed US manufacturing activity shrank sharply in December, while Bitcoin kicked off 2026 strong as risk hedging and macro uncertainty kept crypto in focus.
STOCKS
Winners & Losers
What’s up 📈
Centrus Energy surged 10.27% after receiving a $900 million US government award to support next-generation nuclear fuel production $LEU
Coinbase rallied 7.77% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy, calling the recent pullback an attractive entry point $COIN
Novo Nordisk advanced 5.17% after launching the first GLP-1 pill for obesity in the US $NVO
Duolingo jumped 4.91% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to Buy, citing long-term growth and engagement upside $DUOL
Lucid Group climbed 4.84% on reports that 2025 vehicle deliveries increased 55% year over year, easing near-term scale concerns $LCID
Tesla rebounded 3.11%, snapping a losing streak after recent selloffs tied to weak Q4 deliveries and rising competition from BYD $TSLA
Foxconn rose 1.95% after reporting Q4 revenue jumped 22% year over year, driven by strong demand for AI servers $FXCNF
Qualcomm gained 1.93% after unveiling a new PC chip at CES and outlining plans to expand into humanoid robotics $QCOM
What’s down 📉
Zenas BioPharma plunged 51.86% after disclosing it is ineligible for milestone payments tied to its INDIGO trial $ZBIO
Versant Media Group dropped 13.03% in its trading debut following its spinoff from Comcast $VSNT
Viking Therapeutics fell 9.26% as Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 pill launch pressured competitors developing oral obesity drugs $VKTX
Eli Lilly slipped 3.60% amid similar concerns around intensifying GLP-1 competition $LLY
Domino’s Pizza slid 3.25% after a downgrade citing weakening demand in the pizza delivery market $DPZ
MARKETS
US Capture of Venezuela’s Maduro Sends Energy and Defense Stocks Higher
2026 wasted no time getting messy. Over the weekend, the US captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, sending shockwaves through geopolitics but barely denting markets. Stocks mostly shrugged it off, leaning on history that shows major geopolitical events tend to cause brief jitters, not lasting damage.
Investors also took comfort in softer messaging from the administration after early talk that the US would “run” Venezuela. For now, the assumption is escalation stays contained and markets move on.
Oil reacts, but doesn’t panic
Crude prices wobbled instead of spiking. Geopolitical risk usually pushes oil higher, but traders are also weighing the possibility that US-backed production in Venezuela could eventually add supply. With Venezuela accounting for about 1% of global output and infrastructure still running, the oil market is firmly in wait-and-see mode.
Energy stocks, however, didn’t hesitate. Chevron jumped as investors bet it could expand production, while refiners like Valero and Marathon Petroleum rallied on expectations of increased Venezuelan crude flows. Oilfield services names also caught a bid on the idea that rebuilding aging infrastructure could mean years of work.
A few paragraphs later, another familiar trade kicked in.
Defense stocks do what they always do
US defense names moved higher as investors priced in rising geopolitical risk, and the rally spilled overseas. European and Asian defense contractors climbed as markets gamed out a world where hard power matters more again.
The oddest winner was Nike, after images of Maduro in custody wearing a Nike tech fleece sent search interest soaring and the tracksuit selling out. Even geopolitics can turn into a viral moment.
The long road ahead
Big picture, rebuilding Venezuela’s oil sector is far from simple. Analysts estimate it would take tens of billions of dollars just to maintain current production, and far more to restore output anywhere near its former peak. Political stability, legal certainty, and long-term guarantees would all be required before US oil majors fully commit.
For markets, the message is straightforward. The drama is real, but investors are treating it as noise, not a regime shift. Venezuela is back on the radar, energy and defense are the first trades, and geopolitics is once again a headline risk investors can’t ignore.
NEWS
Market Movements
🚗 Tesla Rallies on Musk–Trump Optics: Tesla moved higher after Elon Musk posted about a friendly dinner with President Trump, signaling a visible thaw in their relationship. Investors appear to be prioritizing political alignment over weak China shipments and declining global deliveries. $TSLA $BYDDY
💾 Micron Extends AI Hardware Momentum: Micron gained and then fell back down as strong signals from Foxconn and memory suppliers reinforced sustained AI-driven demand. Investors continue favoring AI infrastructure over software, with memory seen as one of the tightest bottlenecks. $MU
₿ Bitcoin Opens 2026 With a Winning Streak: Bitcoin has finished higher every session so far this year, lifting miners, exchanges, and crypto treasury stocks. The rally has been steady rather than explosive, keeping momentum traders engaged. $BTC $COIN $MSTR $MARA $RIOT
🇳🇴 Norway Goes Almost Fully Electric: Electric vehicles made up nearly all new car sales in Norway last year as buyers rushed ahead of incentive rollbacks. Tesla stood out as a rare European bright spot despite losing the global EV crown. $TSLA $BYDDY
📺 Comcast Spins Off Cable, Stock Slides: Comcast fell after completing its cable spinoff into Versant Media, separating legacy TV from growth businesses. Investors appear skeptical that streaming and parks can fully replace cable cash flows. $CMCSA $VSNT
🚕 Tesla Pushes Cybercab Testing Forward: Tesla expanded public-road testing of its purpose-built Cybercab vehicles even as its robotaxi timeline slips. Safety drivers remain in place, signaling progress on hardware but distance from full autonomy. $TSLA
🎬 James Cameron Delivers Another $1B Hit: Avatar: Fire and Ash crossed $1 billion globally in under three weeks, extending Cameron’s unmatched box-office streak. The franchise continues to prove its reliability as a Hollywood money machine.
🏭 Intel Rallies on Foundry Optimism: Intel rose after an upgrade tied to confidence it could land a major customer for its 14A manufacturing process. Securing a top-tier partner would materially change Intel’s long-term outlook. $INTC $NVDA $AAPL
🧠 Amazon Brings Alexa to the Web: Amazon launched Alexa.com, giving its AI assistant a browser-based home with persistent context across devices. The move strengthens Amazon’s ecosystem by tying AI directly into commerce and services. $AMZN
🧩 Duolingo Reframed as Entertainment: Duolingo jumped after an upgrade arguing the app should be valued more like a mobile game than an education platform. Gamification and new products could support a longer growth runway. $DUOL
✈️ Airlines Climb Despite Rising Oil: Airline stocks moved higher as investors looked past near-term fuel costs toward potential long-term oil supply relief from Venezuela. Travel disruptions over the weekend eased quickly. $DAL $AAL $UAL
⚛️ Nuclear Stocks Surge on Energy Security Fears: Nuclear fuel and small-reactor stocks rallied as geopolitics reignited concerns around energy independence. AI-driven power demand is reinforcing the long-term bull case. $SMR $OKLO $LEU $UUUU
🤖 Nvidia Confirms Rubin Chips Are Live: Nvidia reassured investors after Jensen Huang confirmed its next-generation Rubin chips are already in full production. The update reinforces confidence in Nvidia’s execution and roadmap. $NVDA
CRYPTO
BitMine Slows Ethereum Buying as Its Treasury Tops 4 Million ETH
BitMine Immersion Technologies $BMNR ( ▼ 5.51% ) is still the biggest ethereum buyer in the room, even if it just took a smaller bite. The company bought 32,977 ETH last week worth about $105 million, its slowest weekly pace since launching its ETH treasury strategy, but it still pushed total holdings to roughly 4.14 million ETH.
That stash equals about 3.43% of ethereum’s total supply, and BitMine says it is still working toward a 5% target. Translation: this was not a pivot, it was a pause.
A $14 billion crypto vault
This is not just an ETH story anymore, it is a balance sheet story. BitMine said its crypto and cash holdings now total about $14.2 billion, including roughly $915 million in cash, 192 bitcoin, and a $25 million stake in Eightco Holdings $ORBS.
Even after the smaller weekly purchase, BitMine’s ETH pile is still bigger than the next ten ethereum treasury firms combined, with names like SharpLink Gaming $SBET and Bit Digital $BTBT sitting far behind.
A big reason investors keep watching is the yield angle.
Turning ETH into a cash engine
BitMine has already staked 659,219 ETH, about $2.1 billion worth, and it plans to ramp that number with its in-house validator called the Made in America Validator Network, or MAVAN, expected to go live in early 2026.
Chairman Tom Lee says that once the company is fully staked across MAVAN and its partners, staking revenue could reach roughly $374 million per year at current rates, which is more than $1 million per day. That is the core pitch: this is not just accumulation, it is an income strategy.
The “keep it affordable” share plan
Lee is also pushing a separate move that has nothing to do with crypto prices and everything to do with stock optics. He asked shareholders to approve expanding BitMine’s authorized share count to 50 billion, up from 500 million, mainly to enable future stock splits if $BMNR tracks a major ETH rally.
He framed it as a structural change, not an immediate issuance. Critics are calling it a dilution risk anyway. Shareholders have until January 14 to vote.
Lee’s math is dramatic. He said if ETH hits $22,000, $BMNR could trade around $500, and in his more extreme scenario where bitcoin hits $1 million and ETH hits $250,000, he argues BitMine stock could imply a price near $5,000, forcing something like a 100 for 1 split to keep shares accessible.
ETH is rising and the plumbing is improving
Ethereum is up to start 2026, rising about 8.8% over the past week, even though it is still roughly 35% below its prior peak near $5,000. On the institutional side, Grayscale said its ethereum staking ETF distributed staking rewards to shareholders for the first time, a small headline but a meaningful signal that staking yield is moving into mainstream wrappers.
The takeaway: BitMine bought less last week, but the strategy is getting louder, not quieter. The company is building a massive ETH position, trying to convert it into daily yield, and restructuring its stock to stay tradable for retail if crypto rips higher again.
CALENDAR
On The Horizon
Tomorrow
The out-of-office replies are gone, the inbox is overflowing, and suddenly everyone wants to pick up exactly where they left off last year. The good news is the market calendar is easing us back in. As we mentioned above, earnings season is still a week away, which means fewer headlines and less noise before the big banks reopen the books.
The data slate is also thin. Tomorrow’s main macro moment is a check-in from Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin, who could offer an early hint at how policymakers are framing 2026.
Outside of markets, the spotlight shifts to Las Vegas. As we mentioned above, CES kicks off this week, bringing a flood of product demos, bold tech promises, and keynote appearances from Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and AMD’s Lisa Su.
RESOURCES
The Federal Reserve Resource
Join our options subreddit ⚡️: https://www.reddit.com/r/optionstrading/
Join our discord community 💠: https://discord.gg/optionality
Wall Street Reads 💎 (Best Books):
Check out our latest issues 🎯: 0ptionality.com