Should I make this a 2026 weekly newsletter?
šØ The Money Memo (working title) Edition: Week Ending Dec 17, 2025 Vibe: Markets are spicy, but your plan should be boring. ā
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 š¤ Kyleās read: Weāre not in āeverything is brokenā mode⦠weāre in āstop paying any price for the shiny AI stuffā mode. āø» ā
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 heatābubble talk, capex worries, and āhow soon is the payoff?ā B) Data-center reality check = āshow me the money.ā Reuters flagged a big snag around an Oracle-linked data center financing situation, which poured gasoline on the āAI spending is getting expensiveā narrative. C) Crypto: year-end vibes + macro nerves. BTC has been drifting lower in cautious trade. And markets are eyeing big expirations (ātriple witchingā + options expiries) as potential volatility fuel. ā
The Week Ahead: Your āDonāt Get Surprisedā Calendar The big one: November CPI drops Thursday, Dec 18 (delayed schedule). Translation: liquidity is thinner into the holidays, so a ānormalā inflation print can still create an abnormal move. š§ Kyleās playbook (simple): - If CPI surprises hot ā yields up, growth/AI could feel it first. - If CPI surprises cool ā risk assets breathe, but watch for āone good print doesnāt fix everythingā whiplash. ā
Setups & Watchlist (how Iām thinking, not what you āmustā do) Theme 1: āAI ā automatic wins.ā This isnāt anti-AI. Itās 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 canāt hold bids, the ābroad rallyā story gets weaker.