The Weekend Rip
Happy Weekend!

U.S. markets kicked off 2026 with a high-stakes blend of "Delta Force diplomacy" in Venezuela and a massive tech-driven infrastructure boom that sent the S&P 500 and Dow to fresh all-time highs. The Russell 2000 made outside gains though, the tech market finally broadening out. The Mag 7 was not far behind Meta’s historic 6.6 GW nuclear energy deals, showing investors still spent the week betting on a future powered by American commodities and an insatiable AI "storage supercycle." 📉

Let's recap and prep you for the week ahead. 📝

Monday 🍏 The new year roared green as markets embraced "Delta Force diplomacy" following the U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro, sending oil services stocks like Halliburton and SLB soaring on hopes of a $100 billion Venezuelan infrastructure rebuild. While the S&P 500 officially triggered a "failed Santa Rally" warning with a lackluster seven-day return, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang stole the spotlight at CES by unveiling the "Vera Rubin" supercomputing system and a "human-like" autonomous driving model. Between Maduro pleading not guilty in a New York courthouse and the Monroe Doctrine trending on Wall Street, the week began with a massive bet that American "boots on the ground" will eventually lead to cheaper barrels.

Tuesday 🐌 : The S&P 500 and Dow hit fresh records as a storage "supercycle" took hold, with SanDisk skyrocketing 27% and Western Digital climbing 16% after Nvidia’s CEO identified memory as a massive unserved market. Trump’s priority on acquiring Greenland sent rare earth miner Critical Materials flying 25%, while crypto giants like MicroStrategy slumped after MSCI officially excluded bitcoin treasuries from its indexes. Between Elon Musk’s xAI closing a $20 billion round and a flurry of breakthroughs in nuclear energy and biotech, the market chose to ignore a weak Services PMI in favor of a full-scale AI infrastructure boom.

⚡️ On Wednesday, the S&P 500 pulled back from the 7,000 level as weak labor data from ADP and JOLTS signaled a four-year high in unemployment, cooling the recent tech-fueled optimism. Geopolitics dominated the tape as Trump announced the U.S. will indefinitely control Venezuelan oil exports, while his threats to cap executive pay at defense giants like Lockheed and RTX sent sector shares tumbling 5%. Meanwhile, the "Year of the Mega-IPO" kicked off with Discord filing for a $15 billion debut, and housing stocks like Blackstone and Invitation Homes slid after the President vowed to ban corporate ownership of single-family homes to address the cost-of-living crisis.

Thursday 🐔: Tech stocks pulled back as the market wrestled with a flurry of headlines, including a narrowed U.S. trade deficit and a looming Supreme Court decision on the legality of Trump’s tariffs. China stocks caught fire on reports that Beijing will approve massive Nvidia H200 buying, while Tilray Brands jumped 7% after-hours on record medical cannabis revenue. In a whirlwind of "Tweet Train" policy, the President pivoted from banning institutional landlords to directing a $200 billion government buy of mortgage bonds, while defense giants recovered on his proposed $1.5 trillion budget. The country endured a tragedy in Minnesota. Meanwhile, silver surged past $75 on industrial AI demand, even as paper futures saw extreme volatility from institutional rebalancing.

Friday ☢️: The stock market "went nuclear" to end the week as Meta sparked a massive sector rally with landmark deals to secure 6.6 GW of carbon-free power from Oklo, TerraPower, and Vistra. Small-caps finally broke out to all-time highs, signaling broad market support even as the Supreme Court punted its decision on the legality of Trump’s tariffs to next Wednesday. While a soft December jobs report (just 50k added) boosted rate-cut odds, residential real estate stocks like Opendoor surged 20% on the President’s $200 billion mortgage bond push. The week closed on a high note with Merck reportedly nearing a $30 billion acquisition of Revolution Medicines, solidifying 2026's start as a year of high-stakes infrastructure and massive M&A.

🤩 This week's Stocktwits Top 25 showed outperformance vs. the indexes.

Here are the closing prices: 

SPONSORED BY ZENATECH

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For complete ZenaTech disclaimers and disclosures, please visit ZenaTech here.

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here. 

THE BRIEF

Need a concise summary of what's going on this week? Look no further. Here’s a rundown of this week’s earnings and economic data.

Earnings This Week

Above is a quick summary. Check out the full Stocktwits earnings calendar for the other names reporting this week.

Economic Calendar

In addition to the above, check out this week's complete list of economic releases.

Links That Don’t Suck 🌐

🆘 Invest smarter in 2026 with our BEST deal—14 months of MarketSurge for $1,499 ($600 off)*

⚠️ Boeing’s airplane deliveries are the highest in 7 years. Now it’s about to pick up the pace

🤑 Big banks kick off fourth quarter earnings season, inflation data on deck: What to watch this week

💳️ Banks balk as Trump pushes for 1-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates

💀 See the list of California's 200-plus billionaires who could be hit by the proposed wealth tax

🧟 We’re in a ‘hiring recession,’ economist says — how job seekers can stand out

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

Get In Touch 📬

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