Good afternoon! A decade-long scam at the Louvre just got its plot twist. French authorities arrested nine people accused of running a ticket-reuse scheme that allegedly drained about $12 million from the museum by sneaking tourists in on recycled passes. Two tour guides reportedly split visitors into smaller groups to dodge higher reservation fees, bribed staff to look the other way, and repeated the playbook daily for years, with some profits funneled into real estate abroad.
The museum’s streak of bad headlines didn’t stop there. Recent water leaks damaged artwork, hundreds of pieces in the Egyptian wing were affected months earlier, and staff strikes have forced repeated closures despite an $800 million renovation plan meant to modernize the aging institution. In short, the world’s most famous museum has been dealing with less “timeless masterpiece” energy and more “everything that can go wrong will.”
MARKETS
Markets pushed higher despite Fed minutes pouring cold water on hopes for quick rate cuts, showing policymakers are divided on whether inflation or jobs deserve top priority. Investors largely shrugged and bought anyway, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all finishing solidly in the green.
Tech stocks led the rebound, with the Mag 7 acting like market caffeine after a sluggish stretch, while energy names also gained amid renewed tension around US-Iran talks. Oil prices jumped as negotiations broke down and officials floated tougher measures, but traders treated the geopolitical noise as background music rather than a reason to panic.
STOCKS
Winners & Losers
What’s up 📈
Rackspace surged 228.16% after unveiling an AI partnership with Palantir to deploy its Foundry platform $RXT
Mister Car Wash jumped 16.14% on news it will be taken private by PE firm LGP at $7 per share $MCW
Caesars Entertainment climbed 13.03% following a Q4 earnings beat and strong digital EBITDA growth $CZR
Wingstop gained 10.99% after reporting strong comparable sales and better-than-expected earnings $WING
Garmin rose 9.45% after beating Q4 revenue estimates by 7% $GRMN
Cadence Design Systems advanced 7.60% on a strong Q4 report, robust pipeline, and upbeat 2026 outlook $CDNS
Upwork added 7.60% after announcing a $300 million share buyback plan $UPWK
Moderna increased 6.08% after the FDA agreed to review its flu vaccine application $MRNA
Riot Platforms rose 5.80% amid activist pressure to pivot toward AI data centers $RIOT
Uber gained 3.18% on plans to invest $100 million in U.S. autonomous vehicle charging infrastructure $UBER
What’s down 📉
Axcelis Technologies plunged 16.74% following weaker-than-expected first-quarter guidance $ACLS
Palo Alto Networks fell 6.82% after issuing disappointing profit guidance $PANW
Fiverr dropped 5.75% on weak Q1 and full-year sales forecasts $FVRR
Applied Digital declined 4.95% after Nvidia disclosed it sold its stake in the company $APLD
WeRide slipped 3.97% after Nvidia’s filing showed it exited its position $WRD
AI
AI-linked stocks slip after Nvidia discloses portfolio shake-up
Applied Digital $APLD, WeRide $WRD, and Recursion Pharmaceuticals $RXRX moved after hours after Nvidia $NVDA revealed it exited positions in all three during Q4 2025, signaling a shift in how the AI heavyweight is allocating capital across its ecosystem.
Nvidia also sold its stake in Arm $ARM, though the move was partly offset by expectations that Arm-based CPUs will play a larger role in data centers tied to Nvidia’s expanding partnership with Meta $META.
Not a full retreat from AI exposure
Despite dumping Applied Digital directly, Nvidia still maintains indirect exposure through its sizable position in CoreWeave $CRWV, which holds warrants in the data center operator. That suggests the decision may reflect portfolio rebalancing rather than a loss of confidence in AI infrastructure demand.
At the same time, Nvidia added stakes in Nokia $NOK, Intel $INTC, and Synopsys $SNPS, highlighting growing interest in networking gear, CPUs, and semiconductor design software as AI build-outs broaden beyond GPUs.
AI bet still intact, just repositioned
Holdings in CoreWeave $CRWV and Nebius $NBIS were unchanged, reinforcing that Nvidia remains deeply tied to the AI compute boom even as it rotates out of select names.
For investors, the filing reads less like a warning about AI demand and more like a reminder that even the sector’s biggest winner is constantly reshuffling its chips.
NEWS
Market Movements
🚀 Cadence Beats, Backlog Balloons: Cadence Design Systems $CDNS jumped after Q4 revenue and EPS came in ahead of estimates, and 2026 profit guidance edged above consensus. The bigger signal was its $7.8B backlog of contracted work, which tells investors there’s still a long runway for chip-design software demand.
🧊 Sandisk Slips as Western Digital Cashes Out: Sandisk $SNDK fell after Western Digital $WDC confirmed it’s unloading more than $3B of Sandisk shares in a discounted secondary, priced about 8% below the prior close. Sandisk isn’t raising money here, but the stock still has to absorb a giant block sale, and that usually means short-term turbulence.
🧠 Meta Goes All-In on Nvidia’s AI Stack: Meta Platforms $META and Nvidia $NVDA outlined a multi-year partnership to deploy “millions” of Nvidia GPUs plus CPUs and networking gear across Meta’s infrastructure. Translation: Nvidia just tightened its grip on hyperscaler AI spending, and competitors like Advanced Micro Devices $AMD, Broadcom $AVGO, Intel $INTC, and Arista Networks $ANET now have even less room to wedge in at Meta.
⚡ Riot Gets the “Stop Mining, Start Renting Power” Memo: Riot Platforms $RIOT rose after activist Starboard pushed the bitcoin miner to accelerate its pivot into AI data centers. The pitch is simple: Riot’s Texas power capacity could be more valuable leased to hyperscalers than used for mining, especially after Riot’s long-term lease deal with Advanced Micro Devices $AMD at its Rockdale site. .
🎵 Google Brings AI Music to Gemini, Labels Flinch: Google $GOOGL rolled out a Gemini feature that generates 30-second AI music clips using its Lyria 3 model, and record label stocks slid on disruption fears. Universal Music Group $UNVGY and Warner Music $WMG dropped, Sony $SONY dipped, while Spotify $SPOT wobbled briefly before bouncing.
🏦 Institutions Keep Buying Ethereum in the Mud: Ethereum $ETH is below $2,000, but big players are still adding exposure. BlackRock is moving toward a staked ETH ETF, Harvard bought into iShares Ethereum Trust $ETHA while trimming iShares Bitcoin Trust $IBIT, and BitMine Immersion Technologies $BMNR added a large ETH position and expanded staking.
🪙 Bitcoin’s “Decision Band” Sits Around $67K: Bitcoin $BTC is chopping around $67,000, and analysts are watching a tight “decision band” near $67,126–$67,478 for the next directional move. Lose it and traders eye supports near $66K then ~$64.8K, reclaim upside levels near ~$70K and ~$72.6K and the structure starts to look healthier.
STOCK
Berkshire buys New York Times stock and cuts Amazon & Apple
Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B revealed a new stake of roughly 5.1 million shares in The New York Times $NYT worth about $352 million, marking the conglomerate’s first newspaper investment since exiting the sector in 2020. The position is tiny by Berkshire standards but still pushed Times shares higher, briefly sending the stock to a 52-week high after the disclosure.
At the same time, Berkshire sharply reduced its exposure to Big Tech, slashing its Amazon $AMZN stake by roughly 77% and trimming Apple $AAPL by about 4%, though Apple remains its largest holding by a wide margin.
Quiet shift toward traditional industries
The portfolio adjustments suggest a tilt away from high-growth technology names toward more traditional cash-flow businesses. Berkshire also cut its Bank of America $BAC position by about 9% while increasing stakes in energy giant Chevron $CVX and insurer Chubb $CB.
These moves reinforce Berkshire’s longstanding preference for businesses tied to tangible assets and steady earnings rather than fast-moving tech narratives.
Small position, bigger message
Financially, the Times investment barely registers at just a fraction of Berkshire’s massive portfolio. But symbolically, it signals confidence in the publisher’s transformation into a digital subscription powerhouse spanning news, games, cooking, and lifestyle content, now boasting nearly 13 million subscribers worldwide.
The filing covers the final quarter of Warren Buffett’s tenure as CEO, making the reshuffle one of the last snapshots of portfolio decisions under his leadership.
CALENDAR
On The Horizon
Tomorrow
Expect a data-heavy morning, with weekly jobless claims dropping alongside fresh numbers on December’s trade balance. Investors will also get a pulse check on manufacturing from the Philly Fed’s February survey, plus an update on housing demand via January’s Pending Home Sales Index.
On the corporate side, earnings season rolls on with results from a wide mix of heavyweights and consumer names, including Walmart $WMT, Nestlé, Airbus, Rio Tinto $RIO, Deere $DE, Newmont $NEM, Lemonade $LMND, Etsy $ETSY, Yeti $YETI, Opendoor $OPEN, Dropbox $DBX, Live Nation Entertainment $LYV, Pernod Ricard, Wayfair $W, Renault, and Klarna.
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