Where are multimillionaires spending their money? A new survey from Long Angle took a look at services most wealthy Americans are paying for — and the ones they value most. Of households with over $2.2 million in net worth, 82% use CPA and tax services, and housekeeping has become a “staple” for most. But that heavy spending doesn’t necessarily mean they’re happy with what they get: financial and home services score among the lowest in the survey’s satisfaction rankings, whereas services that help personal and family well-being rank the highest. Friday morning, a heat map of the S&P 500 looked like a solid red square. While stocks managed to rebound from session lows, the S&P 500 still finished a bit down, while the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 managed to eke out a higher finish. The tech sector ETF, which was down as much as 2% Friday, managed to close in the green. 🧠 Trivia time… Give our Snacks Seven Quiz a try. Here’s the first question: |
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Once again, it appears Apple’s relatively limited exposure to AI, while not quite an asset, isn’t the demerit it could be. Even as the company has increased its capital spending to build out its AI capabilities, that spending still pales in comparison to its peers. |
- While not exactly riding high amid the broad tech and AI sell-off, Apple has the distinction among its Big Tech peers of having mostly maintained its stock price this month, while most others, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta, have gone into the negative.
- Combined, those four giants in particular have spent nearly $100 billion on purchases of property and equipment last quarter alone.
- Apple, which has largely failed to deliver the AI iPhone features it promised more than a year ago, spent a miserly $3 billion last quarter. And at the company’s most recent iPhone event, mentions of AI were mostly MIA.
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Apple is still trying to up its AI game, but it’s doing so with the help of Google’s Gemini, paying it $1 billion a year to use the model on its iPhones. Similarly, Apple is continuing with its hybrid data center model, where it uses both its own data centers and third-party capacity as a way to rein in its own spending. As a result, Apple, unlike everyone else, has mostly been able to avoid persistent questions about massive AI spending and how exactly it’s going to pay off. |
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One is reminded of the fable of the zen master. In this telling, Apple is right out of the gate to build an AI assistant called Siri, and investors think it’s wonderful, but the zen master says, “We’ll see.” A few years later, Siri has failed to meaningfully move the needle and investors think that’s terrible, but the zen master says, “We’ll see.” So Apple doubles down on Siri at the onset of the AI boom and investors think it’s wonderful, but the zen master says, “We’ll see.” And then it turns out that Siri can’t remotely compete and investors think that’s terrible, but the zen master says, “We’ll see.” But now there’s a sell-off in anything touching AI! And investors, they think Apple’s wonderful! Ah, but what does the zen master say? |
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Are you overlooking the middle? |
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- Bitcoin plummets to its lowest price since May as “extreme fear” hits: Last week was rough for crypto, with bitcoin ETFs suffering their second-largest outflows on record Thursday and dropping below the $95,000 mark on Friday, a roughly 24% drop from its all-time high on October 16. Even with the decline in price, bitcoin treasury firms’ share prices have been falling even faster, with many top-tier firms — even Strategy! — seeing their market caps drop below the value of their stockpiles. Experts we talked to varied on their predictions of what’s next for bitcoin, but we agree that “traders would do well to stay on their toes.”
- Speculative stocks’ wild ride: The volatility last week was pretty insane for some high-beta momentum stocks. The basket has tanked over the past month, and it looked like the trend would continue Friday morning… until things completely reversed. Why? The same uncertainties that the market was facing Thursday — doubts about further rate hikes, confusion about the state of the economy, jitters about the potential for the AI boom to turn into a bust — haven’t changed, but perhaps retail traders finally came back for a bite of that tasty dip?
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Beyond Meat eliminated about $800 million in debt and all it got in exchange was a massive decline in its stock price, a longer runway to make processed peas into faux meat, and an entertaining story. Read the whole saga |
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BOXABL + a Potential Nasdaq Listing? |
BOXABL aims to transform the multi-trillion-dollar U.S. housing market by applying automotive-style manufacturing to homebuilding in its Las Vegas factory. BOXABL recently announced plans for a potential SPAC merger with FG Merger II Corp (“FGMC”).1 Currently trading on Nasdaq, FGMC will be the surviving entity following the proposed merger's closing. The combined company will then be renamed BOXABL Inc., with the anticipated ticker $BXBL, and $FGMC shares will automatically convert to $BXBL shares once the merger closes.2 Learn more. |
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- 🏎️ F1: This week, the racing world is converging on Las Vegas ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday. Max Verstappen is seen as the man to beat, with the markets pricing him as the favorite, with around a one-in-three shot of victory.
- 📊 Unemployment/Fed: November has seen a sharp change in expectations for the Fed decision in December: the 25-basis point cut that as recently as late October had had a 90% chance has now fallen to a 45% chance, with the likeliest outcome thought to be that the Fed maintains the rate.
- 🏈 NFL: The Dallas Cowboys take on the Las Vegas Raiders tonight for Monday Night Football. Though the Cowboys are somewhat anemic, at 3-5-1, the Raiders are straight up terrible this year, and Dallas has a 64% of winning, according to the markets.
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*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. |
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- Monday: Earnings expected from Trip.com
- Tuesday: Earnings expected from Home Depot, Baidu, and Nio
- Wednesday: Earnings expected from Target, Lowe’s, TJX, Nvidia, and Palo Alto
- Thursday: Earnings expected from Walmart, Warner Music Group, Bath & Body Works, Gap, and Ross Stores
- Friday: Earnings expected from BJ’s Wholesale Club
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Boxabl disclosures:
1 BOXABL and FGMC have extended their merger deadline to March 31, 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, see SEC Exhibit 99 for further details. 2 Investing in a SPAC can introduce unique risks, including but not limited to regulatory and compliance risks, liquidity risks, structure and complexity. Investors holding $FGMC shares prior to the closing will have their shares automatically convert to $BXBL shares upon closing. |
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