💰 5 Fact Friday: The Brewing Coffee Crisis

STOCKS
1. Silicon Valley Spotlight 💡

It’s been a blockbuster week for Big Tech and beyond, as shifting fortunes across AI tools, autos, chips, and social platforms reminded everyone just how fast the landscape can change.

OpenAI Unleashes Sora 🎥

OpenAI just launched Sora, a video-generation tool for ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. This cutting-edge platform allows users to create photorealistic, AI-generated videos up to 20 seconds long.

Early users are already pushing the limits of creativity—and sometimes physics—with videos that bend reality in unexpected ways.

Apple’s ChatGPT Leap 🍎

Apple rolled out a major update integrating ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. Users can now access the generative AI chatbot through Siri, Writing Tools, and visual intelligence features.

This functionality is available on the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 15 Pro series, thanks to their AI-capable processors.

Tesla’s New Highs 🚗

A flurry of good news lifted the EV giant to new all-time highs. GM shutting down its Cruise robotaxi unit leaves Tesla and Alphabet’s Waymo looking like a near-duopoly in autonomous driving.

Investors are also buzzing about Tesla’s Model Q, set to launch in 2025 priced under $37,499. Add these tailwinds together, and you’ve got Tesla up 66% since Trump’s victory—pushing Musk’s net worth north of $400 billion.

Nvidia’s China Challenge 🖥️

Nvidia is caught in the crossfire of U.S.-China tech tensions. The Biden administration’s export restrictions aim to prevent Nvidia’s cutting-edge AI chips from powering Chinese military advancements. In response, China has opened an antitrust probe into Nvidia’s $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox Technologies.

Although the stakes sound high, Nvidia’s exposure to China is relatively modest—the region accounts for ~15% of its revenue.

TikTok’s Legal Turbulence 📱

TikTok is under fire yet again. A U.S. appeals court upheld a law that could ban the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership by January 2025. Only the Supreme Court or a legislative change could reshape the narrative now.

Influencers aren’t waiting around—they’re already moving their audiences to Instagram. Plus, Zuckerberg’s recent $1 million donation could be a push to secure this outcome.

OUR PARTNER: CIZZLE BIO

You can be part of a life-saving mission.

Invest in Cizzle Biotech’s groundbreaking early-detection blood test, designed to catch lung cancer before symptoms appear. With over 95% accuracy and strong backing from partners like Bio-Techne and Moffitt Cancer Center, our innovation has the potential to save millions of lives and transform healthcare. Join us in making early detection accessible—and take part in reshaping the future of medical diagnostics.

Join the Raise

^{Read the Offering information carefully before investing. It contains details of the issuer’s business, risks, charges, expenses, and other information, which should be considered before investing. Obtain a Form C and Offering Memorandum at invest.cizzlebio.com}

COMMODITIES
2. The Brewing Coffee Crisis ☕

Coffee prices just hit a historic peak, leaving caffeine addicts and investors jittery.

Arabica—the world’s most popular variety—just smashed its 1977 record, with futures soaring 84% this year to $3.44 a pound.

Why the dramatic rise?

Brazil and Vietnam, which together pump out more than half of all global coffee, are grappling with wild weather swings. Ideal coffee farming typically needs moderate rainfall and steady, mild temperatures.

Instead, these powerhouse producers have battled harsh droughts followed by torrential rains, upending the delicate growth cycle of coffee cherries. The result: a massive supply squeeze that has traders sweating and roasters on edge.

Meanwhile, demand isn’t letting up. As new markets develop a taste for the good stuff and traditional coffee consumers stick to their daily cups, global consumption continues to climb.

What does this mean for you?

Expect roasters and brands—who’ve been quietly absorbing higher input costs—to finally pass the pain along. After years of holding the line, margins are tapped out, and come early next year, don’t be surprised if your morning latte costs a bit more.

With climate volatility now hitting the world’s most cherished bean, your morning cup may soon become an even pricier luxury.

ECONOMY
3. The Hardest Half-Point 😓

Inflation’s descent feels like a diet nearing its final stretch—losing the first 10 pounds was tough, but that last stubborn 5? Brutal.

November inflation came in at 2.7%, the highest since July. Meanwhile, core PCE—the Fed’s favorite measure—remains stuck at 2.8%.

The Fed is targeting 2% by 2026 and 2.3% by 2025, meaning we need to shed just another half-point next year. Unfortunately, that goal is proving as elusive as post-holiday abs.

Three months into rate cuts, which were intended to avoid overshooting and slowing the economy too much, progress has stalled. In fact, key inflation metrics like CPI, core CPI, PCE, and core PCE have all ticked higher. That’s... not exactly encouraging.

Markets, however, seem unbothered.

With a 98% chance of a 0.25% rate cut next week priced in, it’s as if investors are confident the Fed will prioritize momentum over results. But lowering rates now could be risky.

Shelter costs, which drove 40% of November’s inflation gains, aren’t cooling fast enough. Lower rates could boost housing supply, but they may also stoke pent-up demand, locking in sticky price floors.

Plus, GDP growth is strong, the labor market is solid, and the stock market’s record highs are inflating paper wealth. Could looser financial conditions spark another cycle of asset bubbles and inflationary pressures?

The Fed faces a delicate decision: Which will be the bigger problem a year from now—persistent inflation or a weak labor market?

The journey to 2% inflation is at a crossroads. But maybe, like a stalled diet, the real challenge isn’t always knowing what needs to change—it’s sticking to the discipline required to see it through.

GOVERNMENT
4. End Of An Anti-Big Era 🥊

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just pulled off a final victory for outgoing Chair Lina Khan by blocking the $25 billion Kroger-Albertsons merger. For antitrust hawks, it’s a last hurrah.

Under Khan’s leadership, regulators went after Big Grocery, Big Tech, Big Healthcare, Big Aviation—basically anything you could put a “Big” in front of. They blocked mergers at a record clip, thwarting deals four times more frequently than the previous two administrations.

But the winds are shifting.

President-elect Trump’s pick, Andrew Ferguson, promises a different approach. Ferguson has vowed to “reverse Lina Khan’s anti-business agenda” while promising to “focus antitrust enforcement against Big Tech monopolies.”

Translation: more room for deals in other sectors, but tech titans will remain under the government’s thumb.

Wall Street is taking note.

Analysts expect mergers to jump by 20% in Trump’s first year, as companies sense the handcuffs loosening. Private equity, venture capital, and corporate boards across the country are already buzzing with anticipation of a friendlier business environment.

OUR PARTNER: KLONDIKE ROYALTIES

Own a stake in Alaska’s oil reserves.

• Estimated 300 million barrels of recoverable reserves

• Royalty-based model reducing operational risks

• Projected 25+ years of reliable, high-margin royalty income

Learn More

STOCKS
5. Guess That Stock 🕵️‍♂️

Ready to flex your market smarts? Crack these clues about a tech giant blazing a trail into quantum computing:

1. The company’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

2. Its name comes from the number 1 followed by 100 zeros—fitting for a $2 trillion giant, with shares up over 35% this year.

3. This week, it unveiled a groundbreaking quantum computing chip capable of solving problems in minutes that would stump today’s supercomputers for 10 septillion years.

4. While most of its tech is free, its TV streaming platform just raised prices to $82.99/month, offering everything from MrBeast videos to live NFL games.

5. Born from a scrappy research project by two Stanford Ph.D. students in 1998, this company now shapes how we search, watch, and shop online.

Got a guess? Tap here to reveal the answer → 

Thanks For Reading!

Spread The Wealth 💸

Like what you read? Do me a favor and don’t keep it a secret! Send this newsletter to a friend and help them level up their financial game—one fact at a time.

Click the button above -or- copy and paste this link: https://read.themoneymaniac.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER