🚨 The Money Memo (working title) Edition: Week Ending Dec 17, 2025 Vibe: Markets are spicy, but your plan should be boring. ✅ The 60-Second Market Snapshot Stocks (risk-on, but with a weird limp): • SPY (S&P 500 ETF): ~$673.90 • QQQ (Nasdaq 100 ETF): ~$603.75 • DIA (Dow ETF): ~$481.02 • IWM (Small caps): ~$248.56 Crypto (still acting like crypto): • Bitcoin: ~$86,569 • Ethereum: ~$2,845.57 🤓 Kyle’s read: We’re not in “everything is broken” mode… we’re in “stop paying any price for the shiny AI stuff” mode. ⸻ ✅ What Mattered Last Week (and why it moved price) A) AI stocks stopped getting a free pass. Markets have been sliding for multiple sessions largely because big AI names have been taking heat—bubble talk, capex worries, and “how soon is the payoff?” B) Data-center reality check = “show me the money.” Reuters flagged a big snag around an Oracle-linked data center financing situation, which poured gasoline on the “AI spending is getting expensive” narrative. C) Crypto: year-end vibes + macro nerves. BTC has been drifting lower in cautious trade. And markets are eyeing big expirations (“triple witching” + options expiries) as potential volatility fuel. ✅ The Week Ahead: Your “Don’t Get Surprised” Calendar The big one: November CPI drops Thursday, Dec 18 (delayed schedule). Translation: liquidity is thinner into the holidays, so a “normal” inflation print can still create an abnormal move. 🧐 Kyle’s playbook (simple): - If CPI surprises hot → yields up, growth/AI could feel it first. - If CPI surprises cool → risk assets breathe, but watch for “one good print doesn’t fix everything” whiplash. ✅ Setups & Watchlist (how I’m thinking, not what you “must” do) Theme 1: “AI ≠ automatic wins.” This isn’t anti-AI. It’s pro-price. When the crowd gets emotional, I get selective. Theme 2: Small caps = sneaky tell. IWM matters because it hints at risk appetite beyond the megacaps. If small caps can’t hold bids, the “broad rally” story gets weaker.

Ben is proof that living in a small town and working a full-time 9-5 don't have to stop you from day trading success! @Ben Tatrow

What do you like to do on a long weekend for some R&R? Thanks @Angie Boule for the post topic :)

Here’s some weird things about me. Hopefully they can inspire you: - I was impossibly shy up until I graduated college. Never felt comfortable in any crowd. I was an athlete, would go all out on the field…but also a super nerd. Never went to parties, would rather go home and play final fantasy lol. - Trading and financial planning were not my first career choice. I actually went to college to be an accountant like my dad. 60k in student loans later realized that wasn’t for me. - I was divorced in my late 20s. Really forced me to look inward and focus on becoming the best version of myself. What you see now is the result of that, but I still probably have some fears around maintaining relationships because of it. Point is, I’m definitely not perfect. But I do have 100% confidence in myself and what I can do now. That’s all you need to change your life. I’m enough… You’re enough.

Sorry to my ohio fans…had to be done 😂