📈The AI Bubble Claims Another: Made famous by his Big Short of the US housing market in 2008-09, Michael Burry made a combined $1 Bn bet against Nvidia and Palantir. 3 months later and he has decided to shut down his fund, citing a disconnect between his valuation methods and the market.

📈DroneShield Craters: With a 583% YTD return, Australian microcap DroneShield was at the top of its game. Yet when the Chairman and CEO sold their entire stake holdings, on the same day, the market lost confidence. Over $1 Bn was erased in one day and the stock has been trending down ever since.

📈Blackstone’s Granny Gamble: Blackstone haw begun selling off its holdings of retirement homes. While initially spending ~$1.8 Bn to acquire its current portfolio in 2017, COVID-19, rising interest rates, and regulator attention have made their debt way more expensive than anticipated. It’s estimated Blackstone will incur a $600M loss once it’s all said and done.

📈Buffett’s Last Hurrah: Berkshire released its quarterly filings and Buffett’s final few actions as CEO ahead of his year-end resignation were laid bare. Notably, Buffett trimmed his Apple holdings by 15% (still holding a stake worth $65 Bn) and bought into Alphabet with a cool purchase of $6.5 Bn.

🌎New Mayor, New York: Campaigning on taxing the rich, free public transport and childcare, Zohran Mamdani has become New York’s youngest mayor since 1892. Critics argue that he lacks the power to implement many of his promises, with the NY governor already opposing his policies.

🌎Trump Goes to Bat for Netanyahu: In the most recent update to Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial (ongoing since 2020) Trump wrote to the Israeli President urging him to pardon Netanyahu. While a pardon seems unlikely, Trump is firmly entrenched in the Middle East.

🌎US Shutdown Comes to an End: The US’s longest-ever shutdown came to an end on November 13 with a final duration of 43 days. Experts estimate it shaved 1.5% off GDP growth this quarter with markets celebrating the return of long-postponed jobs and inflation data. However, the main problem, healthcare, will be determined at a later date.

🌎Japan – China Ties Go Frosty: When Japan’s ambassador to China warned that any Chinese move to forcibly take Taiwan would draw Japan into military action, Beijing reacted sharply. China’s response included a statement declaring that Japan “will only suffer a crushing defeat” and issuing a warning to Chinese citizens to avoid travelling to Japan.

👔SoftBank Bets on (Open)AI: In order to free up some extra cash SoftBank sold its entire $5.8 Bn stake in Nvidia; the reason? To bankroll further investments into OpenAI and fuel the ongoing Stargate investment with Oracle.

👔Pfizer and Novo go Head to Head: After a weeklong bidding war, Pfizer secured the takeover of weight-loss drug developer Metsera with a $10 Bn price tag, beating out Novo Nordisk. Despite this exuberance, the sector’s rising momentum hasn’t helped the Ozempic maker, which has been losing ground in recent weeks to Eli Lilly.

👔Anthropic Ups Capacity: While Claude competes with ChatGPT, Anthropic is trailing the pack with AI infrastructure investment. Its recent announcement of a $50 Bn investment in datacentres (starting in New York and Texas) pales in comparison with OpenAI’s $1.4 Tn commitment, yet signals competition is on the way.

👔Profits Lost in Transit: USPS booked a $9 Bn loss this year, only slightly better than last year’s $9.5 Bn loss. This was mainly due to the rise in prices for the postal service, increasing revenue to $80.5 Bn.

🤪Epstein’s Inbox Just Got Public: New Epstein emails reveal he tracked Donald Trump’s movements and discussed him with global figures long after their mid-2000s fallout. The release comes as Congress weighs forcing full disclosure of Epstein records.

🤪Web 3.0 Ragebait: A US judge declared a mistrial after jurors in a $25M Ethereum-fraud case broke down in tears and said they couldn’t agree on what counts as fraud in a blockchain world. It’s the DOJ’s third crypto-case misfire this year, showing how hard it is to apply old laws to fast-moving decentralised finance.

🤪60% of Harvard Grades Are A’s: Harvard reports 60% of grades are As, and plans stricter grading. Students push back, worried it adds stress. The debate shows the challenge of balancing fair grades, learning standards, and how employers see transcripts.

🤪Hungry Bears on the Loose: Japan faces a record number of bear attacks this year, with seven dead and dozens injured. Hunger, climate change, and declining hunters are pushing bears into towns, trails, and even supermarkets.