Palantir closed at a 52-week low yesterday, but what we’re more interested in is this review of their blue chore coat from the self-proclaimed “lifestyle brand.” According to The Atlantic’s Saahil Desai, the jacket, which has a message from Palantir’s CTO sewn into the lining, is “the most comfortable and practical garment” he owns, though nothing about the jacket “makes any sense.” Next month, the defense data and corporate AI software company is releasing boxing gloves and a tennis skirt, for the defense tech girlies.
The S&P 500 finished flat yesterday, though the equal weight S&P 500 rose, as losses were concentrated in megacap tech. Despite all Magnificent 7 stocks closing lower, the Nasdaq 100 posted a gain, thanks to a rally in chip stocks.
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- Investors loved Micron’s ability to surprise to the upside yet again on sales, profits, and margins. But what they really loved is the memory chip’s specialist measures to guard against any future negative surprises by way of 16 strategic customer agreements.
- Management indicated that these five-year pacts obligate buyers to purchase a specific amount of volumes at prices that can be as high as current levels (and also have a floor). Going forward, this gives investors enhanced confidence in a higher base for the company’s earnings, which have been prone to immense volatility amid boom-bust cycles.
- Jeff Bezos famously said, “Your margin is my opportunity.” When it comes to high-bandwidth memory, however, that’s easier said than done. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra warned on the conference call that he’s not sure when memory supply will catch up to demand, and that the new projects required to make this happen “are large, complex, and time consuming.”
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In the meantime, Micron’s margins are the rest of the tech world’s headache, and they’re responding by calling on you for Aspirin. On Thursday, Apple rolled out wide-ranging price hikes on many of its offerings (including Macs and iPads, but crucially not iPhones just yet). And Microsoft called out “storage and memory prices” in announcing its third increase to Xbox console prices in a little over a year.
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Thursday’s price action — and the announced price hikes — show that Micron’s success comes at a cost.
It’s a pointed reminder, coming on the heels of recent primary and secondary market issuance from megacap tech companies, that the AI boom is no longer being financed by some Magic Hyperscaler Money Tree. It’s being financed by you.
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*Robinhood Markets, Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company.
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Looking beyond Single-Segment AI Exposure |
Investors often break the AI value chain down into its individual links — but the reality is a vast, interconnected ecosystem.
Rather than focusing on a single segment, the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ) takes a comprehensive approach.
The fund seeks exposure to key areas of the AI ecosystem including: AI Developers, Artificial Intelligence-as-a-Service (AIaaS), Artificial Intelligence Hardware, and Quantum Computing. With hyperscalers projected to spend over $500 billion on AI capital expenditure in 2026, the infrastructure buildout has the potential to be just the beginning.1
By investing across the full value chain, AIQ seeks broader AI-related exposure beyond single-themes. Explore AIQ and see how a diversified approach could offer exposure to evolving AI-related trends.
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Want the inside look on the stats, data, and insights going on in sports? Looking for the numbers behind the biggest stories in the World Cup? Interested in prediction markets and how to make money there? Check out Snacks’ newsletter Scoreboard. For instance, in yesterday’s Scoreboard:
In most World Cup matches, the better team has the highest chance at the win, with the odds of a draw a more distant possibility. (Welcome to how sports work!) But things change when you get into the type of scoreboard-watching we described in yesterday’s newsletter, where gaming out certain scenarios matters more than playing to actually, you know, win.
We may see an example of that on Saturday, with Algeria and Austria, where both teams have 3 points already and would each likely advance if nobody wins. There, “Tie” is the prediction market favorite to, well, win. For decades, the World Cup has scheduled simultaneous kickoffs for the final match of group stage play in order to ward off collusion, but the newly expanded tournament, which will see some but not all third place group finishers qualify for the knockout rounds, has re-opened that problematic possibility.
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It’s the end of the group phase today and tomorrow, and today in particular has a wild slate of games.
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- ⚽️Group I - Friday, 3 p.m. ET: 🇳🇴 Norway vs 🇫🇷 France / 🇸🇳 Senegal vs 🇮🇶 Iraq: France is set for the knockouts and has a 62%** chance of winning, but Senegal really needs a win here. Good for them, they’ve got an 80% chance of getting one.
- ⚽️Group H - Friday, 8 p.m. ET: 🇨🇻 Cape Verde vs 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia / 🇺🇾 Uruguay vs 🇪🇸 Spain: One of the biggest games of the day is Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia, as Cape Verde makes the knockout round with a win, and it seems to be a nailbiter with Cape Verde having a 37% chance to win, Saudi Arabia a 36% chance, and a tie at 29%. That tie would be good enough to make the knockouts if Spain wins, which it has a 66% chance of doing.
- ⚽️Group G - Friday, 11 p.m. ET: 🇪🇬 Egypt vs 🇮🇷 Iran / 🇳🇿 New Zealand vs 🇧🇪 Belgium: Belgium is an 84% favorite, but the Egypt-Iran game will be the one to watch. Egypt is a slight (41% to win) favorite here, and Egypt is playing for a group win while Iran is playing to win to make the knockout round.
- ⚽️Group L - Saturday, 5 p.m. ET: 🇵🇦 Panama vs 🏴 England / 🇭🇷 Croatia vs 🇬🇭 Ghana: England is a huge 86% favorite in this one, so the game to watch will be Croatia-Ghana. Croatia is the favorite at 55%, and this one has big implications for seeding in the knockouts.
- ⚽️Group K - Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET: 🇨🇴 Colombia vs 🇵🇹 Portugal / 🇨🇩 DR Congo vs 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan: The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the single biggest tossup as to making the knockout rounds, so this game is crucial for them, and DRC has a 57% chance to win it. Colombia-Portugal is a fight for the group win, one Portugal’s got a 53% chance to win.
- ⚽️Group J - Saturday, 10 p.m. ET: 🇩🇿 Algeria vs 🇦🇹 Austria / 🇯🇴 Jordan vs 🇦🇷 Argentina: Like we mentioned up top, this Algeria-Austria game is one of the most interesting we’re going to see, if only for the sake of the incentives at play that are making “tie” the most likely outcome at 44%, Austria the winner at 36%, and Algeria at 24%. Argentina is the overwhelming favorite at 86% to win.
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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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- In South Korea, “dopamine sites” scratch the itch to shop online or order delivery without costing any money. One such site, whose name translates to FoodNeverComes, allows users to browse restaurants, create an order, and even track a delivery that will never arrive.
- According to eurochange’s Aperol spritz index, Naples is the most affordable city in which to purchase the cocktail, with an average cost of just €2.
- Despite fears that AI would disrupt tech jobs, job openings at tech companies climbed nearly 14% in 2026, according to data from TrueUp.
- JPMorgan’s consumer bank CEO, Marianne Lake, once thought to be a potential successor to Jamie Dimon, has retired, while Troy Rohrbaugh and Doug Petno were appointed as copresidents.
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- Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari speaks on a panel midday.
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Important Information
1 Goldman Sachs, FactSet. Why AI Companies May Invest More than $500 Billion in 2026, Dec 18 2025.
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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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