• An AI upswing along with better economic data pushes the markets higher

• Global interest rates are all over the place

• Employment bouncing around, but early signs of Private Payrolls improving

• Inflation cools quickly in November (maybe)

• Other hard data is better than soft data

• Quick Hits

• Where did all the crypto money go?

• Chart Crime of the week

• Evidently, 50,000 Yen is not a lot of money

The Artificial Intelligence see-saw continues.  On the heels of the worries surrounding Oracle’s access to funding given its negative free cash flow, one of the biggest providers of data center financing (Blue Owl) pulled out of a planned Oracle site in Michigan.  But then we get news of chip shortages (Micron), more cash flowing into the AI buildout (Open AI potentially raising $100b at an $800b valuation), and strategic partnerships with the government (CoreWeave).  And of course, predictably, Oracle denied the Blue Owl story.  Even the TikTok saga looks to be coming to a conclusion (not an AI story, but a positive for Oracle).  But we will not be surprised when the news swings in the other direction; the AI trade will remain choppy.  We are still biased to believe in the Google side of the trade versus the OpenAI one.  The general infrastructure trade will probably be just as choppy despite these companies being more traditional economy stocks.  Ultimately, we think the market needs some time to pass onto the next stage of the trade where utilization and monetization become more widespread.