To The Moon

$S&P 500(.SPX)$ $Invesco QQQ(QQQ)$ $Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$ 31Dec25 🇺🇸 | 01Jan26 🇳🇿 Market Pulse I’m closing the books on 2025 with a very clear message from price, breadth, and cross-asset behaviour. The final session was decisively risk-off, even as the year itself finished structurally strong. Markets closed red, with the $DJI, $SPX, and $IXIC logging a 4th straight daily loss. The Nasdaq slipped into the red for December, while the Dow notched its 8th straight monthly win. Still, all three capped a 3rd straight positive quarter and year, a classic late-cycle tell. Market breadth was decisively bearish to close the year. On the NYSE, decliners outpaced advancers roughly 3:1, with down volume dominating. Nasdaq was even weaker, with nearly 2.5x more decliners than advancers, heavy down volume, and new lows swamping highs. This was broad distribution, not a tidy pullback. The S&P 500 closed at 6,845.50 (-0.74%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 48,063.29 (-0.63%), the Nasdaq Composite at 23,241.99 (-0.76%), and the Russell 2000 at 2,481.91 (-0.75%). Volatility firmed into the close, with the VIX ending near 14.95 (+4.33%), confirming active hedging as liquidity thinned. One for the history books. The S&P 500 closing red today marked its 5th straight year of closing the final trading day down, its longest such streak since 1953, and the most negative final trading day of the year since 2009. Congrats, $SPX 😒. The Nasdaq Composite also closed its 4th straight session in the red, its longest losing streak since 21Apr. Despite the weak finish, the annual scoreboard remains powerful. +20% 🟢 Nasdaq 100 +16% 🟢 S&P 500 +13% 🟢 Dow Jones The Nasdaq 100 ($QQQ) just closed the year up more than 20% for the 3rd year in a row. The S&P 500 ($SPY) and Dow Jones both closed the year up more than 10% for the 3rd straight year. Strong years, fragile internals. Sector leadership tells the story of 2025. Tech kept shining 😎. Communication Services led the S&P 500, followed by Information Technology and Industrials, while Consumer Staples and Real Estate lagged. Leadership was narrow, powerful, and crowded. Cross-Asset Scorecard Gold ended 2025 up 66.3% 🟡 Silver ended 2025 up 142.4% 🥈 Bitcoin ended 2025 down -6.1% Ethereum ended 2025 down -10.6% That divergence matters. Hard assets outperformed decisively while crypto lagged, a hedging signal rather than a broad speculative melt-up. The broader annual performance ranking reinforces it. In 2025, Silver and Gold topped the major asset class leaderboard, followed by MSCI Europe and MSCI EMs. The S&P 500 delivered solid mid-teens gains, while Bitcoin, the US dollar, and crude oil finished near the bottom. Directionally, the message is clear; real assets mattered. Top Stock Market Performers of 2025 🔥 | What $10K Became 📈 $SNDK +560% → $10,000 into $66,000 📈 $WDC +267% → $10,000 into $36,000 📈 $MU +229% → $10,000 into $32,000 📈 $STX +220% → $10,000 into $32,000 📈 $HOOD +190% → $10,000 into $29,000 📈 $WBD +170% → $10,000 into $27,000 📈 $PLTR +138% → $10,000 into $23,000 📈 $INTC +84% → $10,000 into $19,000 Massive winners across semiconductors, tech, and retail. Concentrated leadership paid. Options Flow & Volatility 🎯 Today’s unusual options activity (31Dec25) was dominated by positioning and hedging rather than outright panic. Several large-cap and growth names saw extreme call-heavy volume, while defensives and select tech names skewed put-heavy, consistent with year-end protection. The list of stocks with the highest % of doubled straddles in 2025 confirms why equity volatility refused to collapse this year. Dispersion stayed elevated even as index returns looked smooth, rewarding volatility buyers in semis, AI, cyclicals, and select defensives. Macro & Geopolitics 🌐 $TSM announced that the U.S. granted its annual export license allowing chipmaking products to flow to TSMC Nanjing in China, per Reuters. The renewal avoids disruptions ahead of the 31Dec deadline, keeping fabs running and deliveries uninterrupted. A meaningful reduction in near-term supply chain tail risk. Warren Buffett’s favourite valuation gauge, the market cap to GDP indicator, is ending the year near historic extremes. Think about it. Elevated valuation does not time tops, but it does increase sensitivity to rates, earnings quality, and credibility resets. Big Tech, AI, and 2026 Setup 🚀 “The elephant in the room remains the invisible AI strategy. With the biggest consumer installed base in the world of 2.4 billion iOS devices and 1.5 billion iPhones, the time is now for Apple to accelerate its AI efforts.” — Dan Ives on $AAPL 🎯 $META 🟡 BMO reiterates Market Perform, PT $710. BMO says Meta’s $2B acquisition of Manus, which scaled from $0 to $100M ARR in just 8 months, is an incremental positive and helps validate monetisation as Meta ramps $121B in AI spend in 2026. Capex is no longer optional; it is the roadmap. Here’s how Wall Street is framing 2026: • JPMorgan sees a selective market led by broadening AI beyond chips, global fragmentation and security, and a resilient value-focused consumer. • UBS asks whether markets achieve “escape velocity,” driven by AI, fiscal spending, and easing financial conditions, with an S&P 500 base case of 7,700 and bull case 8,400 by end-2026. • Goldman Sachs emphasises a broadening rally beyond the Mag 7, a middle-income consumer rebound, catch-up cyclicals, and gold as a structural hedge. • Truist highlights sustained mega-cap confidence while flagging AI ROI fatigue and regulatory risk as key 2026 watchpoints. After Hours BigBear.ai ($BBAI) just closed its $250M cash acquisition of Ask Sage, adding secure, mission-ready generative AI used by 100K+ users across government and regulated industries. A meaningful step in scaling trusted AI for defence and intelligence use cases. Bottom Line 2025 delivered strong index returns, but the year ended with clear signs of fatigue; weak breadth, heavy down volume, rising volatility, and concentrated leadership. I’m watching early January closely to see whether this was pure calendar-driven de-risking, or the first signal of a deeper rotation as liquidity, rates, and earnings discipline reassert themselves. 📢 Don’t miss out! Like, Repost and Follow me for exclusive setups, cutting-edge trends, and insights that move markets 🚀📈 I’m obsessed with hunting down the next big movers and sharing strategies that crush it. Let’s outsmart the market and stack those gains together! 🍀 Trade like a boss! Happy trading ahead, Cheers, BC 📈🚀🍀🍀🍀 @Tiger_comments @Daily_Discussion @TigerPicks @TigerStars @TigerWire @TigerObserver