Delta Air Lines has partnered with DraftKings, a major name in sports betting and fantasy sports, as announced by CEO Ed Bastian during CES (a consumer technology tradeshow) in Las Vegas. While it might sound like Delta is gearing up for inflight gambling, that doesn’t sound very legal.

The 1962 Gambling Devices Act (aka the Gorton Amendment) strictly prohibits gambling on U.S. flights or flights to and from the U.S. Past experiments by Singapore and Swiss Airlines fizzled out due to these restrictions.

So, what’s the deal? Delta hasn’t shared many details, but a possible scenario is a loyalty tie-in: earning SkyMiles for sports betting on DraftKings. While cool, it doesn’t feel CES-keynote-announcement-worthy, does it?

This week the Pentagon continued its Chinese company combat, adding Tencent and Tesla battery supplier CATL to its growing blacklist of “Chinese military companies operating in the United States.” The list, now a hefty 134 names long, is designed to discourage US businesses from cozying up to these firms—and blocks them from Pentagon contracts.

Cue market chaos: Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares dropped 7.3% to HK$379.60 (US$48.82) following the news. The tech giant fired back, calling the inclusion a “mistake” and vowing to set the record straight with the Department of Defence through a reconsideration process—or legal action if needed (DoD time to suit up). CATL echoed similar sentiments, denying any military ties.

Not one to sit idly, Tencent engaged in its biggest share buyback¹ in nearly 20 years. The company shelled out HK$1.5 billion (US$193 million) to secure a whopping 3.93 million shares on Tuesday. Wanting in on the action, Chinese investors snapped up HK$14 billion (US$1.80 billion) worth of Tencent stock making it the day’s hottest stock. Despite this rally Tencent finished the week down nearly 11%, signalling poor investor sentiment.

The Supreme Court in the highly-anticipated hearing on Friday signaled that it’s likely to uphold the law banning TikTok in the U.S. beginning January 19 unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform. The law, signed by President Biden in April, was at the center of the hearing where national security concerns clashed with free speech arguments.

Chief Justice Roberts and other justices expressed strong concerns about ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government and the risk of sensitive data from TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users being accessed or manipulated. Justice Gorsuch was the lone voice sympathetic to TikTok’s argument that a warning about potential manipulation would suffice instead of an outright ban.

If TikTok isn’t sold to an approved U.S. buyer, the app will be removed from app stores, updates will stop, and it will become unusable. This leaves millions of creators and businesses that rely on TikTok scrambling for alternatives. Potential buyers, including groups led by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt, have shown interest, but ByteDance has resisted selling under the law's conditions.

China’s economy is grappling with a sluggish recovery, and the latest CPI² data isn’t painting a rosy picture. In 2024, consumer prices edged up just 0.2%, far below Beijing’s 3% target. What’s behind the slump?

• The housing market is in dire straits—property prices in key urban areas have plunged by up to 10% year-on-year, leaving both developers and buyers cautious.

• Shoppers, feeling the pinch, are delaying purchases while retailers slash prices to record lows; major electronics brands cut prices by as much as 30% during December sales.

• Adding to the shift, many consumers are renting goods rather than buying outright, with the rental market for durable goods³ growing by over 15% in the last year.

• Meanwhile, factories are feeling the heat: December marked the 27th consecutive month of factory price drops, with the producer price index⁴ tumbling 2.3% year-on-year.

In light of this, economists are warning of a deflationary spiral⁵. Beijing’s response? Record-breaking stimulus, including US$411 billion in special treasury bonds and long-term funding boosts for 2025. But shifting consumer sentiment? That’s a tougher nut to crack.

FuboTV just pulled off its best 2016 Finals LeBron impression, taking on media's Golden State Warriors—Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery—and delivering a historic upset. FuboTV, a sports-focused streaming service, began its battle in 2024, filing an antitrust⁶ lawsuit against the trio to “Blocked by James!” their joint sports streaming platform, Venu, arguing it would monopolize sports content and shut out smaller competitors.

This Monday, the showdown concluded with FuboTV securing a landmark settlement with Disney. The deal not only brought $220 million in damage payments and a $145 million loan but also included a merger with Hulu's live TV business, giving Disney a 70% stake in Fubo. To top it off, the proposed Venu platform was scrapped entirely, allowing Fubo to resolve the lawsuit, get paid, and eliminate a formidable competitor in one fell swoop.

Wall Street’s reaction to the upset? Fubo’s stock surged over 260%, and the company is now set to redefine its playbook with "skinny bundles"⁸ of sports, news, and entertainment.

• Donald Trump has reignited his ambitions to acquire Greenland, reclaim the Panama Canal, and even merge Canada with the U.S. While Canada’s absorption appears to be rage bait, Trump’s interest in Greenland and the canal is very much not as economic and military forces reportedly not ruled out for invasion.

• LA fires rage with 10,000 structures destroyed and at least 11 dead, tens of thousands have been displaced, an estimated cost reaching into the tens of billions and more than 30,000 acres were aflame in the worst wildfires yet.

• A magnitude 7.1 quake struck Tibet and Nepal on Wednesday, with at least 126 people killed, and 400 others rescued from trapped rubble by the Chinese military.

• Meta ends fact-checking, instead transitioning to a community notes feature like that on Twitter as the Zuck attempts to curry favour with incoming Pres. Trump.

• Constellation Energy agrees to buy Calpine in a deal worth $26.6 billion, as demand for electricity skyrockets with AI uptake.

• Telstra partners with Starlink, as Australia’s largest carrier attempts to leverage Starlink’s satellite-to-mobile messaging to gain remote/rural customers (CBR residents REALLY needed this).

• Kenya’s Treasury Secretary John Mbadi announced plans to legalize cryptocurrencies, reversing the government’s previous stance. This news follows Kenya’s 2015 crypto warnings and a 2022 push to tax the industry, with 8.5% of Kenyans reportedly owning cryptocurrencies.

• Donald Trump will soon be the first sitting leader to hold meme coins, with $8 million in his crypto wallet. Holdings include $5.5 million in TROG tokens, $1.5 million in TRUMP meme coins, and $1.6 million worth of Ethereum.

1. Share Buyback: A payout policy where the firm repurchases shares (usually directly from the market) to reduce the number of shares outstanding and push the stock price higher.

2. CPI (Consumer Price Index): A bundle of goods purchased by the ‘average’ consumer in an economy and used to calculate changes in the price level/inflation.

3. Durable Goods: A good that yields utility (usefulness) over a period of time, rather than only when consumed. Examples include appliances, vehicles and furniture.

4. Producer Price Index (PPI): A bundle of outputs sold by producers throughout an economy. PPI tracks inflation as producers experience it and indicate future inflation for consumers.

5. Deflationary Spiral: Where a decrease in inflation (price level) results in lower consumer confidence, further pushing down inflation resulting in lower wages, pushing down inflation etc.

6. Antitrust Lawsuit: A legal action against companies or entities accused of engaging in practices that harm competition, form monopoly/oligopolies⁷, or unfairly limit consumer choice in the market.

7. Monopolies/Oligopolies: A market structure where one company exclusively controls an entire industry, with no close substitutes or competitors. Oligopolies are largely the same where a small number of dominant firms collectively hold significant market share, often leading to limited competition within the industry.

8. Skinny bundles: Smaller, cheaper TV packages with only popular channels like sports and news.

• Joey Choy Top Stocks: Renowned Singapore Investor Joey Choy’s Stock Market Insights.

• Show Both Sides: Unbiased political coverage with a lil’ humor sprinkled in.

• WriteOff: Tax & Finance life hacks to help put an extra buck back into your pocket.

Rate this newsletter: