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Good afternoon! Apple is having a week… and not the good kind. The company is slipping in the AI race, losing key talent, and now even Justin Bieber is offering product feedback.
But the real plot twist is inside Apple Park, where Tim Cook’s leadership team is quietly exiting like the credits are already rolling. Four top execs just announced departures, including the interface design chief heading to Meta and the head of AI calling it quits.
And the tremors aren’t stopping. Bloomberg says Johny Srouji the architect behind Apple’s chip dominance is considering a change of scenery, while researchers keep defecting to OpenAI, Meta, and every startup with GPU money.
Cook insists the next product wave will silence the skeptics, but prediction markets now think it’s basically a coin flip he’s still CEO by the end of 2026. Apple’s got momentum, sure… but the vibes are getting weird.
MARKETS
Stocks drifted lower as traders shifted their focus to tomorrow’s FOMC meeting, leaving tech as the only S&P 500 sector to close in the green. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both slipped, while the Russell 2000 ended the day mostly unchanged.
Oil and gold both edged down, and bitcoin briefly climbed above $92,000 before pulling back as volatility picked up ahead of the Fed’s decision.
STOCKS
Winners & Losers
What’s up 📈
Confluent jumped 29.08% after IBM announced it would acquire the data-streaming company for $11 billion to strengthen its AI software business $CFLT ( 0.0% )
Warby Parker popped 13.27% after revealing it will help Alphabet develop new AI-powered glasses $WRBY ( ▼ 2.66% )
Kymera Therapeutics rose 41.55% on positive KT-621 drug results for Type 2 inflammatory diseases $KYMR ( ▲ 4.7% )
Wave Life Sciences exploded 147.26% after early trial data showed its RNA obesity therapy reduces fat while preserving muscle $WAVE ( ▲ 1.95% )
Structure Therapeutics gained 102.49% on strong trial results for its oral weight-loss drug $GPCR ( ▲ 4.77% )
Carvana climbed 12.06% as the company prepares to join the S&P 500 on December 22 $CVNA ( ▼ 0.7% )
What’s down 📉
Tesla dipped 3.39% after Morgan Stanley initiated coverage at Hold, leaving fewer than 40% of analysts with Buy ratings $TSLA ( ▼ 0.2% )
Lucid Group fell 4.92% after a downgrade to Sell, with analysts warning the EV hangover may last into 2026 $LCID ( ▲ 2.62% )
CoreWeave slipped 2.33% after announcing a $2 billion convertible bond offering $CRWV ( ▲ 22.99% )
Fluence Energy retreated 4.59% after a downgrade from Mizuho citing stretched valuation $FLNC ( ▲ 1.81% )
Air Products & Chemicals edged 9.45% lower amid plans for a major partnership with Yara International $APD ( ▼ 1.43% )
Marvell Technology sank 6.99% after Benchmark downgraded the stock over losing Amazon AI chip orders $MRVL ( ▲ 0.26% )
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AI
US to Allow Nvidia’s H200 Chip Exports to China
Washington and Silicon Valley just teamed up for one of the strangest plot twists in the AI chip rivalry. The Commerce Department is preparing to greenlight exports of Nvidia’s H200 to China, a massive win for Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 3.74% ) , which has been fighting hard to keep access to one of its biggest markets. Shares popped on the news.
And then came the Trump twist. President Trump said the U.S. will allow H200 shipments to “approved customers” in China, but only if 25 percent of the revenue flows back to the U.S. government. He added that President Xi “responded positively,” which might be the most surprising part of this entire saga.
The H200 isn’t just another GPU. It’s one of the defining chips of the AI boom, and its export status has been watched like a Fed dot plot. Washington lawmakers have worried about handing advanced silicon to a strategic rival, while Beijing previously blocked imports of Nvidia’s lower tier H20 chip altogether.
Nvidia and AMD $AMD ( ▲ 6.87% ) had already agreed to share 15 percent of China revenue with the U.S. government back in August, but Trump’s new plan bumps that cut to 25 percent and extends it to Intel $INTC ( ▲ 3.16% ) and other chipmakers. It is part trade deal, part industrial policy, and part geopolitical chess match.
Meanwhile, China’s AI sector is powering ahead regardless. Companies like DeepSeek and Alibaba have been rolling out models competitive with U.S. offerings, underscoring how quickly China is advancing even under tighter export controls.
The takeaway: Nvidia gets access to China. The U.S. government gets a revenue stream. China gets H200s. And everyone else gets a front-row seat to one of the most unusual tech trade arrangements in years.
NEWS
Market Movements
💼 Robinhood Expands Into Indonesia With Dual Acquisition: Robinhood is entering Southeast Asia by acquiring a local brokerage and a licensed digital-asset trader, with the deal set to close in the first half of next year. Indonesia now has over 19 million retail investors, most under 40, giving Robinhood a long runway ahead of its planned 2027 localized launch. Shares are trading higher on the expansion news. $HOOD
💻 IBM Nears $11B Acquisition of Confluent: Confluent jumped after reports that IBM is close to finalizing an $11 billion acquisition that would strengthen IBM’s AI and cloud data infrastructure. The rumored price implies a premium of roughly 35 percent as IBM pushes deeper into real-time data streaming. $CFLT $IBM
💸 CoreWeave Plans $2B Convertible Note Sale: CoreWeave announced a private sale of $2 billion in convertible senior notes, potentially rising to $2.3 billion. The move comes as the company tries to manage credit-market skepticism and fund capped-call transactions while scaling AI infrastructure. $CRWV
🚗 Morgan Stanley Downgrades Hit US EV Stocks: US EV stocks slid after Morgan Stanley issued three downgrades and warned that the sector faces a tougher demand outlook. Rivian, Lucid, and Tesla all traded lower as analysts raised concerns about slowing adoption and future dilution risks. $RIVN $LCID $TSLA
🛰️ Satellite Stocks Climb on Reported $800B SpaceX Valuation: Satellite names rallied after reports that SpaceX is targeting an $800 billion valuation in a secondary sale. EchoStar and Rocket Lab moved higher as investors reassessed spectrum value, while AST SpaceMobile lagged due to its developing spectrum position. $SATS $RKLB $ASTS
⚡ AI Data Centers Face Massive Power Shortage: AI companies plan to add about 44 gigawatts of US computing capacity, but the grid can only supply around 25 gigawatts over the next three years. Executives warn electricity not chips is becoming the industry’s biggest bottleneck. $META $GOOGL $MSFT $AMZN $NVDA
📢 Google Will Bring Ads to Gemini in 2026: Google plans to introduce advertising inside its Gemini AI chatbot next year, marking its first major push to monetize conversational AI. The move contrasts with OpenAI’s public denial of testing ads and could redefine how AI assistants generate revenue. $GOOGL
MEDIA
Paramount Skydance Launches Hostile Bid to Block Netflix’s Warner Bros. Deal
Paramount Skydance $PSKY ( ▲ 0.15% ) just crashed the stage with a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD ( ▲ 1.96% ) , trying to rip the company away from Netflix $NFLX ( ▲ 0.64% ) after months of failed negotiations. Paramount is offering shareholders straight cash at $30 per share and wants all of WBD, not just the studio and streaming pieces Netflix is trying to grab.
WBD’s board has hinted Netflix’s structure could be worth slightly more once the cable spin-off is accounted for, but Paramount says it made six proposals and WBD never engaged. So it is taking the fight directly to shareholders with a tender offer and a “this is the better deal, trust us” pitch.
The timing adds even more spice. President Trump publicly questioned the Netflix-WBD merger over competition concerns, and Paramount’s CEO David Ellison leaned right into that by arguing that letting the largest streamer buy the third-largest is anti-competitive. Markets took notice as WBD and Paramount jumped while Netflix slipped.
The bottom line: Hostile takeovers rarely succeed, but this one is less about romance and more about blocking a rival’s merger. Political pressure, regulatory risk, and two competing megadeals mean the ending to this saga is far from written.
Calendar
On The Horizon
Tomorrow
The data drought is almost over.
After a quiet Monday, things finally pick up tomorrow with the NFIB small business optimism index and the long-delayed October JOLTS report.
But let’s be honest, everyone’s staring straight at the Fed. The FOMC kicks off its two-day meeting, and traders are still betting nearly 90% that Powell delivers one more rate cut before the year wraps. Confidence is high, but nothing is real until Powell steps up to the mic on Wednesday afternoon.
Earnings are light but not empty: Campbell’s Co., AutoZone, GameStop, AeroVironment, and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet all report next.
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