Good afternoon! Waymo’s robotaxis hit the brakes in San Francisco after a widespread power outage knocked out traffic lights and left its autonomous cars unsure how to proceed.
With signals down, several vehicles appeared to freeze in place, clogging streets and spawning viral clips, prompting Waymo to pause service and retrieve cars until power returned Sunday.
The blackout reignited questions about robotaxi readiness. An MIT researcher called the outage “entirely predictable,” arguing it exposed how fragile autonomy still is when basic infrastructure fails.
Elon Musk piled on by saying Tesla’s vehicles were unaffected, though Tesla’s local ride service still requires human drivers, a key distinction in the robotaxi debate.
MARKETS
Stocks extended their rally for a third straight session, officially erasing December’s losses as most sectors climbed. Consumer staples were the lone laggard, while gold and silver pushed to fresh record highs.
AI optimism drove sentiment, with Micron’s strong earnings and OpenAI valuation buzz lifting risk appetite. A holiday-shortened week kept trading volumes light despite the rally. Bitcoin briefly topped $90,000, and geopolitical tensions sent more money into metals.
STOCKS
Winners & Losers
What’s up 📈
UniFirst jumped 16.12% after Cintas proposed acquiring the uniform rental company for $275 per share in cash $UNF
Rocket Lab surged 9.97% after winning an $816 million contract to build a missile-defense satellite constellation for the US Space Development Agency $RKLB
Clearwater Analytics climbed 8.18% after agreeing to an $8.4 billion take-private deal led by Permira and Warburg Pincus $CWAN
First Solar rose 6.6% after Alphabet agreed to acquire Intersect, a key solar-module customer, for $4.75 billion $FSLR
Paramount Skydance gained 4.29% after billionaire Larry Ellison agreed to personally guarantee $40.4 billion of equity financing for its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery $PSKY
Warner Bros. Discovery jumped 3.53% as the strengthened Paramount offer raised confidence the deal is financeable $WBD
Stanley Black & Decker added 3.48% after agreeing to sell its aerospace manufacturing unit to Howmet Aerospace for $1.8 billion, with proceeds aimed at debt reduction $SWK
What’s down 📉
Trump Media & Technology Group plunged 10.44% amid ethics concerns tied to its proposed $6 billion merger with TAE Technologies $DJT
Dominion Energy fell 3.7% after the Trump administration halted the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project $D
AI
Alphabet Buys Intersect for $4.75B to Lock Down Power for AI Data Centers
Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.77% ) just made a very Google move. The company announced it will acquire data center and energy infrastructure builder Intersect for $4.75 billion in cash, taking full control of a partner it was already closely tied to as the AI power crunch gets real.
Alphabet already owned a minority stake in Intersect, but this deal pulls a critical supplier fully in house. Shares edged higher as investors digested what is really being bought here: speed, power, and fewer bottlenecks as AI workloads explode.
Power Before Compute
Intersect is not just a data center company. It builds large scale power generation alongside data centers, including solar and battery storage. CEO Sundar Pichai said the acquisition will help Google bring new power generation online in lockstep with new data center capacity, a growing advantage as US grids struggle to keep up.
In practical terms, Google is buying the ability to build faster and more flexibly. Instead of waiting on utilities or negotiating power purchase agreements, Alphabet can now plan energy and compute together, which matters more than ever in the AI arms race.
Big Deal, Clear Signal
The acquisition is notable for another reason. It marks the first time a Big Tech firm has outright bought a major clean energy developer, reinforcing how serious hyperscalers are about securing electricity, not just chips.
Intersect will remain independently branded and led by CEO Sheldon Kimber, and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Alphabet is making it clear that winning in AI is no longer just about models and GPUs. It is about power, concrete, and who can move fastest.
NEWS
Market Movements
🎥 Paramount Adds Larry Ellison Backstop to Warner Bid: Paramount strengthened its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery after Larry Ellison agreed to personally guarantee $40.4 billion of the equity financing. The move aims to ease funding concerns after Warner’s board urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s $30-per-share offer. $WBD
🧠 Nvidia Plans Major H200 Shipments to China: Nvidia plans to ship 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips to China by mid-February, just ahead of the Lunar New Year. The higher-performance chips could meaningfully reopen a key market, though Chinese regulatory approvals remain the main hurdle. $NVDA
🚗 Bloomberg Flags Deaths Linked to Tesla Door Failures: Tesla is under renewed scrutiny after Bloomberg identified at least 15 deaths tied to crashes where doors reportedly could not be opened. The NHTSA is investigating whether certain Tesla door designs can block emergency access after severe crashes. $TSLA
📈 The AI Trade Climbs Back Above a Key Line: Most of the AI ecosystem finished last week back above its 50-day moving average, signaling renewed risk appetite. Gains are showing up across chips, infrastructure, power, and memory as money rotates back into high-beta names. $IREN $CIFR $NBIS $CRWV $BE $OKLO $GEV $MU $WDC $STX $SNDK $AMD $INTC $SMCI
⚛️ Quantum Stocks Jump on Options Momentum: D-Wave, IonQ, Rigetti, and Quantum Computing Inc. surged as call buying spiked early in the session. The move appears driven by aggressive options positioning rather than fresh fundamental news. $QBTS $IONQ $RGTI $QUBT
🎮 Nintendo Slips After Switch 2 Bundle News: Nintendo fell after GameStop said the Switch 2 bundle with “Mario Kart World” will stop being produced. Investors worry demand could soften once buyers must pay full price for the game. $NTDOY $GME $SONY
🎵 Spotify Investigates Massive Catalog Scrape Claim: Spotify is investigating after Anna’s Archive claimed it scraped roughly 86 million tracks and released a massive metadata database. Beyond piracy concerns, the scale raised alarms about potential misuse in AI training. $SPOT
📡 POET Jumps as Call Buying Heats Up: POET Technologies moved sharply higher as call volume surged well above recent averages. The rally appears driven by speculative trading rather than a new company-specific catalyst. $POET $MRVL
🚗 Hertz Rallies on Options Activity: Hertz surged after call volume spiked far above normal levels, pushing shares sharply higher intraday. The move looks driven by momentum traders betting on a short-term rebound. $HTZ
🏠 Opendoor Pops After Showing Nationwide Scale: Opendoor moved higher after CEO Kaz Nejatian shared visuals showing near-national coverage across the lower 48 states. He credited AI for dramatically accelerating expansion, with execution now the key question. $OPEN
🤖 Tesla’s Robotaxi Registrations Surge in California: Tesla has registered 1,655 ride-hailing vehicles in California, up sharply from launch, suggesting rapid infrastructure buildout. Waymo still leads in fully autonomous deployment, while Tesla’s Austin progress remains limited. $TSLA $GOOGL
📊 Wall Street Prices in Record Profit Margins: Consensus estimates now call for S&P 500 net profit margins to reach 13.9% in 2026, the highest on record. The optimism leans heavily on tech and AI-driven efficiency, leaving little room for disappointment. $SPX
SPACE
Rocket Lab Lands $816M Defense Contract and Caps Record Launch Year
Rocket Lab $RKLB ( ▼ 0.71% ) is ending the year with momentum it badly needed. Shares built on Friday’s surge after the company landed an $816 million contract to design and manufacture 18 missile-tracking satellites for the US Space Development Agency, the largest deal in Rocket Lab’s history.
The win does more than pad the backlog. CEO Peter Beck framed it as validation of Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated model, with spacecraft and payloads built fully in-house. That speed, cost control, and resilience combo is exactly what defense agencies want as they race to deploy large satellite constellations faster.
Launch Cadence Is Becoming the Moat
Rocket Lab also capped off 2025 with its 21st Electron launch, finishing the year with a perfect mission success rate. Electron is now the most frequently launched small-lift orbital rocket in the world, according to the company, with seven missions this year for Japanese Earth-imaging firm iQPS and five more already booked for 2026.
That steady cadence matters. Reliable launches and repeat customers help shift Rocket Lab from a speculative story into a systems-and-services business with real visibility.
Space Optimism Is Spreading: The rally is not isolated. Satellite peer AST SpaceMobile $ASTS ( ▼ 2.46% ) is also moving higher as investors look ahead to its BlueBird 6 launch, a key step in its direct-to-smartphone strategy scheduled for December 23.
Taken together, big contracts, flawless execution, and a packed launch calendar are giving investors fresh reasons to lean back into space stocks heading into year-end.
CALENDAR
On The Horizon
Tomorrow
Wall Street is basically on airplane mode this week. No earnings. Barely any data. Just traders staring at screens and pretending that low volume is a strategy.
The calm breaks tomorrow. A small data dump is finally arriving, led by industrial production, capacity utilization, and durable goods orders. We also get a check-in on consumer confidence from the Conference Board and a delayed Q3 GDP print, which should give markets something to chew on before everyone mentally checks out for the holidays.
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