Will SCOTUS save the FYP? |
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A passerby captured video of a Waymo robotaxi seemingly stuck in a roundabout, making the loop dozens of times. Joy rides: not just for humans. Investors weren't feelin' the holiday spirit yesterday: stocks fell ahead of the Fed's interest-rate decision today. Traders are betting on a cut. |
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Emergency, paging Dr. Beat… TikTok's making a last-ditch effort to continue feeding vertical-dance videos and #GRWM storytimes to Americans. This week, it made an emergency request asking the US Supreme Court to temporarily halt a law which would force its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or be banned in the US. A group of US users filed a similar petition. ICYMI: if ByteDance doesn't sell its controlling stake in TikTok by January 19, the app — which is used by 170M Americans — is set to be blocked from US devices. |
- A rock and a barred place: ByteDance has said it won't sell TikTok, and China's unlikely to approve exporting the app's algorithm. If ByteDance doesn't divest, then app stores including Apple's and Google's could face huge fines if they keep offering TikTok.
- A fighting chance? POTUS-elect Trump backpedaled on his 2020 attempt to block TikTok nationwide, and on the campaign trail said he'd try to save the app.
- Tough timing: The ban-or-divest deadline is one day before Trump's inauguration, and President Biden hasn't suggested any plans to extend it (his admin signed the bill into law).
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For You Rage… TikTok was expected to bring the case up to SCOTUS after a lower court ruled this month that the Tik-ban law could stand (the lower court rejected TikTok's argument that the ban violates free speech). There's a heated debate over whether scrolling the Tok is a constitutional right: TikTok has argued the ban violates the First Amendment, while the US gov't insists that the app's Chinese ownership is a national-security risk. |
- Not complaining: A Tik-ban would be a major win for Meta, Google, and Snap, which each have TikTok copycats ready to fill the void. When India scrapped TikTok in 2020, the app's 200M users in the country switched to rivals like Insta Reels and YouTube Shorts.
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"Tikstocks" have much to lose… because TikTok is an economy unto itself, from creators to companies. Retailers and other corporations that've grown reliant on TikTok for marketing could take a hit (see: some of the biggest Tikstocks). Record labels have also grown increasingly reliant on TikTok to make their songs go viral. |
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Know the facts about index options |
Don't let common myths and misconceptions discourage you from trading index options. For instance, some believe that trading index options is overly complicated. However, it's more straightforward than you might expect. If you're already familiar with trading stock or ETF options, you likely know the fundamentals of trading index options. Understanding calls, puts, strike prices, and expiration dates puts you on the right path so you can take advantage of the benefits index options offer, from cash settlement to potential favorable tax treatment, and more. Ready to learn how to trade index options? Check out our roadmap to placing a trade. Discover more index options insights and education from Cboe®. |
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Know the facts about index options |
Don't let common myths and misconceptions discourage you from trading index options. For instance, some believe that trading index options is overly complicated. However, it's more straightforward than you might expect. If you're already familiar with trading stock or ETF options, you likely know the fundamentals of trading index options. Understanding calls, puts, strike prices, and expiration dates puts you on the right path so you can take advantage of the benefits index options offer, from cash settlement to potential favorable tax treatment, and more. Ready to learn how to trade index options? Check out our roadmap to placing a trade. Discover more index options insights and education from Cboe®. |
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Sideburn success… Argentina officially exited its recession, with new data showing the country grew its quarterly GDP for the first time in nearly a year. President Javier Milei has been on a budget slashing spree since he took office a year ago, and the government's now making more than it spends for the first time in 16 years. Argentina's monthly inflation is down to a four-year low, and the IMF predicts the country's annual inflation will fall from a peak of 211% last year to 45% in 2025 (for reference: US inflation's under 3%). |
- Caveat: A better balance sheet may not mean better lives for Argentines. The poverty rate spiked to 53%, up from 40%, in the first half of the year as Milei cut government programs.
- Still: Milei's thrifty strategy is being applauded by a new wave of world leaders that say they want smaller governments and bigger biz.
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Imagine the group chat… POTUS-elect Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Milei frequently gas each other up on the global stage. Trump has said Milei can "make Argentina great again," while Musk has praised the self-described "anarcho-capitalist" and said his companies plan to invest in the country. Milei promised to take a chainsaw to gov't programs when he entered office: he cut the number of ministries in half and planned a big sell-off of state-run companies like Aerolíneas Argentinas. |
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America's looking to the other America… Trump and Musk agree with Milei's approach: Trump tapped Musk to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk said could recommend slashing as much as a third of federal spending. Still, experts say it might not be feasible to replicate Milei's extreme pare-down in the US because Argentina's government is notorious for decades of overspending and mismanagement. |
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Trump faces "glaring" crypto conflicts of interest as he returns to the White House. Read more. |
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- Retail sales soared at the start of the holiday-shopping szn, merrily beating expectations and suggesting the US economy's finishing the year strong.
- Walmart equipped some store employees with body cameras after Marshalls parent TJX made a similar move last year to combat theft.
- The FTC announced a final rule banning hidden junk fees on purchases like concert tickets and short-term rentals.
- XRP popped after Ripple, a crypto-payments platform that uses the token, launched a stablecoin, RLUSD. Competition in the stable space is fierce.
- The White House said that US renters forked over an extra $3.8B last year because of pricing algorithms used by property owners.
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- Fed's interest-rate decision; Powell's press conference
- Earnings expected from General Mills, Birkenstock, Toro, ABM Industries, Micron Technology, and Lennar
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Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Apple, Google, Snap, Tesla, and Walmart |
Advertiser's disclosures: There are important risks associated with transacting in any of the Cboe® Company products discussed here. Before engaging in any transactions in those products, it is important for market participants to carefully review the disclosures and disclaimers contained at https://www.cboe.com/us_disclaimers. |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
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