Good afternoon! Big Tech’s favorite time-suck features are heading to a courtroom spotlight. Jury selection starts in Los Angeles for a civil trial where parents argue Meta, TikTok, and YouTube designed products that hooked kids and harmed their mental health. The companies deny the claims and say they have invested heavily in safety tools.
The case centers on a 19-year-old who says features like infinite scroll fueled addiction, depression, and anxiety when she was younger, and executives like Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri are expected to testify. This trial could be the first of many, with thousands of similar lawsuits lined up and growing political momentum worldwide to restrict social media use among children.
MARKETS
Stocks drifted higher with the S&P 500 hitting another record as investors looked ahead to earnings from Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple. The Dow lagged after a sharp drop in UnitedHealth weighed on the index, while traders brushed off weak consumer confidence data as the Fed began its two day meeting.
The dollar slid to its lowest level since early 2022 after the US signaled support for a stronger yen, fueling talk of coordinated currency action. Trade headlines also heated up, with President Trump raising tariffs on select South Korean goods while the EU and India signed a major free trade deal aimed at boosting exports.
STOCKS
Winners & Losers
What’s up 📈
Corning rose 15.48% after Meta agreed to pay up to $6 billion over several years for fiber-optic cables for its AI data centers $GLW
General Motors gained 8.75% after boosting its dividend and launching a new $6 billion share buyback, citing expectations for profit growth following a strong year $GM
Sysco jumped 10.94% after reporting fiscal Q2 results that beat expectations $SYY
Orsted rose 5.03% after European countries agreed to expand offshore wind capacity in the North Sea
Micron Technology climbed 5.44% after outlining plans to invest $24 billion in Singapore over the next decade to meet AI-driven chip demand $MU
What’s down 📉
Pinterest fell 9.61% after announcing layoffs and revealing plans to prioritize AI $PINS
Boeing slid 1.56% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings, with gains driven largely by an asset sale $BA
Reddit dropped 8.07% after an analyst raised concerns about slowing growth prospects into 2026
Roper Technologies declined 9.64% after missing fourth-quarter revenue estimates
Sanmina fell 21.56% despite beating Q4 expectations
American Airlines sank 7% after missing Q4 expectations and saying a government shutdown shaved roughly $325 million from revenue $AAL
HEALTHCARE
Medicare Advantage Rate Cut Sends Health Insurance Stocks Lower
The federal government just gave health insurers a reality check. Proposed Medicare Advantage payment rates for 2027 are coming in far below expectations, and the market reaction shows just how much was riding on those increases.
A Tiny Increase With Big Consequences
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Medicare Advantage rates would rise just 0.09% in 2027. Analysts had been expecting something closer to 3% to 6%, and this year’s increase was a much stronger 5.06%.
That difference translates into a huge revenue gap. Insurers were counting on billions in additional growth, but the new proposal suggests only a modest bump, putting pressure on future earnings.
Health Insurance Stocks Get Hit
Investors quickly repriced the sector. UnitedHealth $UNH, Humana $HUM, CVS Health $CVS, and Elevance Health $ELV all saw steep declines, wiping out tens of billions of dollars in market value in a single day.
Companies with heavy exposure to Medicare Advantage were especially vulnerable, since the program has been one of the industry’s biggest profit drivers in recent years.
Why Washington Is Pulling Back
Medicare Advantage has grown into a massive business for private insurers, but it has also attracted scrutiny over billing practices and rising costs to the government. Regulators are trying to improve payment accuracy and reduce incentives for aggressive coding that boosts reimbursements without clear links to patient care.
The smaller rate increase reflects a broader push to control healthcare spending while keeping the program sustainable for the long term.
A Political Fight Is Coming
These rates are still proposals, not final numbers. Insurers are expected to launch an aggressive lobbying effort before the final decision is announced, arguing that lower payments could lead to reduced benefits or narrower provider networks for seniors.
Still, the message from Washington has shifted. What investors once saw as a supportive environment for Medicare-focused insurers now looks more uncertain, and the sector may face a bumpier road as policymakers focus on costs over profits.
NEWS
Market Movements
🧠 D-Wave Lands $20M Sale and Defense Partner Wins: D-Wave $QBTS jumped after announcing a $20M Advantage2 system sale, a missile-defense planning partnership with Davidson and Anduril, and a $10M two-year quantum computing as a service deal with a Fortune 100 customer. The defense proof of concept cited faster time-to-solution plus improved threat mitigation versus classical approaches, giving D-Wave a clearer path into government budgets. $QBTS
✈️ Boeing Posts Second Straight Positive Free Cash Flow Quarter: Boeing generated $375M in free cash flow, beating expectations, and revenue beat estimates as deliveries rebounded sharply from 2024 levels. Earnings were boosted by a large one-time gain tied to the sale of digital aviation assets, but the operational headline was improved deliveries, nearly 1,200 orders in 2025, and a $682B backlog. $BA
🧠 Wedbush Says Tesla FSD Can Hit 50% Penetration, But Shows No Math: Dan Ives argued Tesla $TSLA is nearing a Robotaxi-driven transformation and suggested FSD penetration could rise from the low teens to above 50%, unlocking massive value. The critique in your paste is that the note leans on inevitability and regulatory assumptions without explaining pricing, bundling, scaling, demand, or the mechanics needed to bridge that adoption gap. $TSLA
🤖 Richtech Rockets on Microsoft Agentic AI Collaboration: Richtech Robotics $RR surged after announcing a hands-on collaboration with Microsoft to deploy agentic AI in real-world robotic systems, including adding context awareness to its ADAM robot. The move tapped into the broader robotics bid that has stayed hot even without confirmed evidence of the rumored federal industry push. $RR $MSFT
🧵 Corning Spikes on $6B Meta Fiber Deal: Corning $GLW rallied after striking a deal to sell up to $6B of fiber-optic cable products to Meta for AI data centers, extending a run of big-tech infrastructure wins. The CEO said he expects hyperscalers to become the company’s biggest customers next year as data center demand accelerates. $GLW $META
🔌 Optical Connection Stocks Rip With Corning-Meta Momentum: The Corning $GLW deal reignited the opto-electrical trade, lifting names tied to plugs, cables, and data center connectivity like Amphenol $APH, Coherent $COHR, and Lumentum $LITE. The group had been strong into late 2025 before stalling in early December, and the Meta spend woke it back up. $GLW $META $APH $COHR $LITE
🚕 Tesla Robotaxi Is Cheaper, But Wait Times Are Brutal: Data from Obi showed Tesla Robotaxi rides averaged $8.17 in the Bay Area, about half the price of comparable Lyft, Uber, or Waymo routes, but waits were 3x to 5x longer, near 16 minutes on average. The analysis suggests low pricing is being used to pull in users and data, but the small fleet is the bottleneck, with service levels far below prior rollout promises. $TSLA $LYFT $UBER $GOOGL
🏗️ Georgia Lawmakers Move to Pause Data Center Construction: Georgia introduced legislation for a one-year moratorium on data center construction amid rising local resistance, with the Atlanta metro area leading the nation in data center construction in 2024 per the report you pasted. The same week saw similar moratorium efforts crop up in other states, showing how local politics is turning into an AI infrastructure constraint.
🕵️ Crypto Money Laundering Hits $82B as Chinese Networks Dominate: Chainalysis reported crypto money laundering activity surpassed $82B in 2025, with Chinese-language networks accounting for about $16.1B and processing roughly $44M per day. The report linked growth to capital controls driving capital flight demand, which then supports services that can also cater to Western organized crime flows.
⛏️ Bitcoin Miners Get Downgraded as Storm Slams Hashrate: Several miners including Bitfarms $BITF, Bitdeer $BTDR, and HIVE $HIVE were downgraded as analysts flagged execution risk and long lead times in monetizing the pivot to HPC and AI hosting. A winter storm also forced some shutdowns, and one X post cited a record hashrate drop, while another expert said the dip is likely temporary as weather clears and the network adjusts. $BITF $BTDR $HIVE
🧠 One Year After the DeepSeek Shock, AI Just Got Louder: Your paste argues DeepSeek-R1 changed the industry’s playbook by proving strong results with older GPUs and a mixture-of-experts approach, forcing incumbents to adopt reasoning and rethink training scale. Markets initially nuked about $1T in value but quickly recovered, and the piece frames the episode as a true strategic reset that pushed open-weight models and efficiency to the center of the AI race. $NVDA $AVGO $GOOGL $MSFT
🚗 GM Beats Q4, Raises 2026 Outlook, Launches $6B Buyback: GM $GM beat Q4 adjusted EPS expectations and guided 2026 adjusted EPS to $11–$13, a touch above what Wall Street was modeling. It also guided $9B–$11B in adjusted automotive free cash flow and announced a new $6B buyback while hiking the dividend 20% to $0.18. $GM✈️ JetBlue Misses, Warns Costs Climb Into 2026: JetBlue $JBLU posted a deeper adjusted loss than expected, even as passenger revenue slightly beat estimates, marking a third straight year of y/y passenger revenue declines. Management said unit costs excluding fuel should rise in early 2026 and still increase 1%–3% in 2026 overall, while rolling out first-class seating as the industry pushes premium. $JBLU
🛫 American Airlines Guides Higher, Stock Pops Anyway: American $AAL issued full-year EPS guidance that cleared consensus and projected more than $2B in 2026 free cash flow, more than double what Wall Street expected. The quarter itself missed on EPS and revenue was a bit light, and the company flagged a government shutdown revenue hit plus a winter storm impact of $150M–$200M. $AAL
RETAIL
Amazon Plans 100 New Whole Foods Stores After Closing Amazon Go and Fresh
Amazon is once again promising a big push into physical grocery retail. This time, the focus is squarely on Whole Foods, as the company shuts down its remaining Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores and talks up plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods locations in the coming years.
Big Plans Meet Slow Reality
Amazon $AMZN says it is doubling down on Whole Foods expansion, but similar promises have been made before. In 2024, Whole Foods leadership talked about opening more than 30 stores per year, yet total store growth since then has been modest when you factor in closures.
Store counts show only a small net increase globally over the past couple of years. That gap between ambitious targets and actual openings is why some investors and analysts are taking the new 100-store plan with a grain of salt.
Why Amazon Is Pulling the Plug on Go and Fresh
At the same time it is hyping Whole Foods growth, Amazon is exiting its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh experiments. The company admitted it could not find the right economic model or create a compelling enough in-store experience to justify large-scale expansion of those formats.
Amazon will keep its cashierless technology, but instead of building its own convenience chains around it, the company plans to license it to third parties like stadiums and other venues.
Groceries Are Still the Endgame
Despite the closures, Amazon’s commitment to groceries is not shrinking. The company increasingly sees food retail as a hybrid model that blends physical stores with fast delivery, and Whole Foods gives it a strong brand to anchor that strategy.
Amazon has already expanded same-day grocery delivery to thousands of US cities and recently won approval to build a large hybrid grocery and fulfillment center near Chicago. More Whole Foods locations would help support both in-person shopping and local delivery logistics.
Whether this new expansion wave actually materializes will come down to execution. Amazon has laid out bold physical retail visions before, but this time investors will be watching the store count, not just the press releases.
CALENDAR
On The Horizon
Tomorrow
All eyes are on the Fed as policymakers wrap up their meeting and reveal their latest rate call, with markets overwhelmingly betting on no change. The real action may come later when Jerome Powell steps up to the mic, and there is always the chance of political curveballs stealing some of the spotlight.
Earnings season also shifts into high gear, with Microsoft, Meta, and Tesla kicking off results for the megacap crowd. A long list of other heavy hitters is on deck too, spanning chips, industrials, telecom, airlines, and software, making it one of the busiest report days of the quarter.
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