While overall, the news about inflation was positive Thursday morning, one tidbit hit home for us: we aren't the only ones whose power bills seem to be soaring, with the latest data showing electricity prices up nearly 7% year over year, the highest since 2023. After a string of dismal trading days, US stocks soared on a sack full of good news that reversed this week's downward trend and made visions of a Santa Claus rally dance in traders' heads. Micron's earnings report after the bell Wednesday absolutely smashed all expectations, lifting a trove of tech stocks with it as the AI trade lit back up. Investors also cheered yesterday's inflation data, which came in well below economists' expectations. The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all celebrated cheery gains. |
🔊 Snacks is off next week for the holidays, but if you're hungry for more Sherwood News content in your inbox, we've got you covered: Sign up for our newest newsletter, 🏈 Scoreboard 🏀 — we'll be covering the action around all the big holiday matchups in the NBA and NFL. |
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- The all-stock deal will create the first publicly traded fusion company, vaulting privately held TAE — the onetime darling of investors pumping billions into the so-called holy grail of clean energy — ahead of its rivals in accessing financing from retail traders.
- Unlike nuclear fission, which involves harvesting the energy released when atoms split in two, fusion generates heat and pressure from two atomic nuclei forcibly joining into one. It's the kind of reaction that powers the sun.
- Researchers have pined for decades to harness fusion — to create, in essence, a controlled artificial star. But the technological challenges have been so steep, fusion has long been mocked as the energy source of tomorrow that always will be.
- TAE's design requires deuterium and boron that needs to reach nearly 1 billion degrees Celsius. That is a more difficult proposition than even other fusion companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems are aiming for, like heating deuterium and tritium to roughly 100 million degrees Celsius.
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"TAE is not following the easiest pathway; it's a very challenging and complex approach," Chris Gadomski, the lead nuclear analyst at consultancy BloombergNEF, told Sherwood. "TAE is swinging for the fences for a grand slam, whereas Commonwealth is taking the most developed technology that's best understood and trying to get a single and move that way, which is perhaps the easiest way to go." |
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TAE is not alone. In July, Microsoft-backed Helion started construction on its facility in Washington state, vowing to produce the first commercial electrons by 2028. Commonwealth Fusion, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off that in recent years supplanted TAE as the biggest magnet for private capital, expects its first commercial plant in Virginia to come online sometime in the 2030s. Investment is picking up: in the 12 months leading up to this past July, fusion drew $2.5 billion in public and private dollars, according to the Fusion Industry Association's data. |
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Capture the future of computing with CHPX |
AI is redefining computing today, and quantum will likely reshape it tomorrow. Behind these shifts is the hardware ecosystem: semiconductor and quantum innovators building systems setting the trajectory for next-generation computing. Quantum technology is still nascent — but revenues are forecast to surpass $1 billion this year1 and scale to $10 billion by 2030.2 |
The Global X AI Semiconductor & Quantum ETF (CHPX) invests in companies reshaping the computing landscape to deliverAI. The fund invests in hardware companies, targeting advanced chips, memory/network providers, systems enablers, and quantum computing pioneers in an effort to represent the full hardware stack. As of December 5th 2025, CHPX consists of 90% AI semiconductors and 10% quantum computing. This balance seeks to provide exposure to semiconductors that enable AI model training and inference, while also capturing the development of quantum technologies — an area with potential to complement and amplify the capabilities of even the most advanced AI models. Discover CHPX, an investment targeting the future of computing. |
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Trump signed an executive order yesterday directing the Department of Justice to reschedule marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a move that stands to lift profits of ailing US cannabis companies and expand access to medical research. The executive order expedites the process of rescheduling marijuana from being a Schedule I drug, like heroin and LSD, to a Schedule III drug, like testosterone. |
- This recently rumored move, reports of which had sent cannabis stocks soaring since December 11, is being treated as a "sell the news" event. The benchmark ETF for publicly traded US cannabis companies fell sharply about an hour before the signing of this executive order hit the wires, and finished the day down 27%.
- For US cannabis companies, the biggest outcome could be a tax treatment that's more in line with other businesses.
- Under the current regulatory scheme, cannabis companies can generally expense only the cost of acquiring their product but virtually no other business expenses.
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The result is that cannabis companies are paying an effective tax rate of upward of 50%. Some cannabis companies may have a tax bill that exceeds their profits, and even unprofitable businesses may still get a tax bill. |
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Joanne Wilson, CEO of Gotham, a dispensary chain in New York City, said more than half of the money her business makes goes to taxes. She said the change would be felt "immediately." "That totally changes the business," Wilson said. "That's a huge win, because nobody is making money — the taxes are insane." |
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As streaming prices climb, ad-free subscribers are becoming a rarity, according to Morgan Stanley, which estimated that cheaper ad-supported streaming subscriptions now make up 30% of Netflix's subscribers and half of Disney+ subscribers, way up from last year's numbers. But the firm also believes that ad tiers scored all net additional subscribers for the two streamers. |
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- 🏈 NFL: With just a few weeks left in the regular season, massive games are found all over. On Saturday, Chicago (51%) has the edge over divisional rivals Green Bay, and Sunday Night Football will see the once again ascendant New England Patriots (42%) taking on perennial AFC challengers the Baltimore Ravens (58%) in a game with major playoff seeding implications.
- 📰 Babies: "Liam" is currently projected to hold on to its title as the most popular boys name of 2025, with an 86% chance of topping the list compiled by the Social Security Administration, according to Polymarket traders. "Noah" is seen as the only real contender, with a 10.2% chance.
- 🏈 College Football: It's the first weekend of the College Football Playoff! Friday night the markets* are giving a razor-thin edge to Georgia (51%) over Alabama (49%) in an SEC rematch. Then on Saturday, Texas A&M (60%) is favored over Miami (40%), Tulane is a huge underdog (12%) to Ole Miss (88%), and James Madison (8%) will have its work cut out for it against Oregon (92%) in a showdown for the ages for "schools that are kind of close to Washington."
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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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- November existing home sales
- Earnings expected from Lamb Weston, Carnival Corporation, and Conagra
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Important Information: 1 McKinsey. (2025, June). Quantum Technology Monitor. 2 Global X forecast, with information derived from: FactSet Research Systems, accessed on September 19, 2025. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The investable universe of companies in which CHPX may invest may be limited. The companies in which the Fund invests may be subject to rapid changes in technology, intense competition, rapid obsolescence of products and services, loss of intellectual property protections, evolving industry standards and frequent new product productions, and changes in business cycles and government regulation. CHPX is non-diversified. International investments may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuation in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from social, economic or political instability in other nations. Emerging markets involve heightened risks related to the same factors as well as increased volatility and lower trading volume. Shares of ETFs are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. Carefully consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund's summary or full prospectuses which are available at GlobalXETFs.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Global X Management Company LLC serves as an advisor to Global X Funds. The Funds are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. (SIDCO), which is not affiliated with Global X Management Company LLC. |
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