Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome - Charlie Munger
💡 Did you know?
The Economic Scale of the Silk Road
While often viewed through a lens of cultural exchange, the Silk Road was a massive economic engine; modern estimates suggest its annual trade volume would be valued in the billions of today’s dollars. This network was so vital that by the 14th century, it facilitated the movement of roughly 25% of the world's GDP between the East and the West.
Tech Talk
Happy CES week, folks! The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is officially kicking off, which means our feeds are about to be flooded with gadgets we definitely don’t need but desperately want. The big buzz right now is Baidu making moves to spin off its AI chip unit, Kunlunxin, for a Hong Kong listing because apparently, there’s no such thing as too much AI money. Meanwhile, Nvidia and Intel are starting the year with a nice little stock bump, proving that silicon is still the most valuable element on the periodic table. On the "robots are taking over" front, AI agents are reportedly moving from "helpful assistants" to "autonomous actors" this year, which is great until your smart fridge decides you’ve had enough cheese and locks the door.
Money Matters
Wall Street decided to pop the champagne a few days late, with the Dow hitting all-time records this Monday. The catalyst? A massive spike in oil stocks following the shock capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend (more on that messy situation below). While the bulls are running wild, the Federal Reserve is still playing the role of the nervous chaperone; inflation is sticking stubbornly above 2% despite three rate cuts late last year. Also, if you’re in the market for a new sofa, buy it now, furniture stocks like Wayfair are jumping as Trump delayed some tariffs, meaning your living room makeover is safe... for now.
Science Scoop
If you’re tired of bad news, here’s a genuine win: 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the "hybrid" solar cell. Perovskite-silicon panels are finally hitting commercial viability with efficiency rates over 34%, which basically means we can squeeze way more juice out of the sun than ever before. In medical news, the non-opioid painkiller Suzetrigine (brand name Journavax) is the industry's new golden child, promising heavy-duty relief without the addiction risks, a massive potential turning point for the opioid crisis. Oh, and scientists have sequenced RNA from a 40,000-year-old woolly mammoth, presumably so we can eventually clone one and ask it why it decided to go extinct.
The Rest of the World
The geopolitical landscape just got a major shake-up with the U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro this past weekend, a move that has oil markets cheering but diplomatic channels hyperventilating. In the U.S., President Trump is doubling down on his "law and order" revival, with execution numbers in 2025 hitting a 16-year high, a trend that’s drawing sharp side-eye from international allies. Meanwhile, China’s Xi Jinping is back to warning the U.S. about "acting like the world’s cop," which is rich coming from a superpower currently mapping the moon’s south pole for a permanent base. It’s only the first week of 2026, and the history books are already running out of pages.
Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice
We pledged approx. €2000 for you to see the ups 😀 and downs 👎 Defence stocks are up ( I wonder why?) and Bitcoin is on the rise again.
Source: https://xkcd.com/3188/
MARKET PULSE: Dec 31, 2025 – Jan 6, 2026
New Year, New Nerves (and a Little Bit of Venezuela)
Welcome back. While you were nursing your NYE hangover, the markets were busy trying to figure out if 2026 is going to be a year of booming tech or booming geopolitical drama. We saw tensions flare in Venezuela, tariff threats flying around like confetti, and Bitcoin deciding to carry the team on its back.
The $1000 Experiment
Let's imagine you tossed $1000 into a global mixing bowl exactly a week ago (New Year's Eve). You split it evenly: $250 each into American stocks, European stocks, Indian stocks, and Bitcoin.
The Result: A $1000 bet on this global basket a week ago would have grown to roughly $1,016.
Here is the play-by-play of your portfolio:
The American Slice ($250 → $251.75): Your S&P 500 investment spent the week shaking off the holiday rust. After a wobbly start to the year, it clawed back some dignity by Tuesday, posting a tiny gain. It basically showed up to work, drank coffee, and did just enough not to get fired.
The European Slice ($250 → $254.25): Surprisingly, the Old World was the responsible adult in the room. The Stoxx 600 ignored the noise and marched steadily upward, adding a respectable cushion to your wallet.
The Indian Slice ($250 → $248.00): This portion of your portfolio tripped over its own shoelaces. Spooked by "profit booking" (a fancy way of saying people sold high) and those pesky US-Venezuela headlines, the Nifty 50 dipped into the red. It wasn't a disaster, just a mild stubbed toe.
The Bitcoin Slice ($250 → $262.50): While the stock markets were overthinking everything, your Bitcoin slice acted like the golden child who actually stuck to their New Year's resolution. It rallied from around $89k to nearly $94k, doing all the heavy lifting for your portfolio while the others watched.
It was not a jackpot, but we are officially in the green to start the year.
Fund Summary
The global market is currently like a driver on an icy road: moving forward cautiously, but aggressively tapping the brakes every time a "Breaking News" alert pops up on the dashboard.
Lego just dropped a massive bomb at CES 2026 with the "Smart Play" system. We’re talking about standard-looking bricks, minifigures, and tags that are secretly packed with "invisible" tech - sensors, accelerometers, and a tiny speaker - allowing them to react to each other in real-time. The system launches this March with three Star Wars sets, where your builds can hum like lightsabers or roar like engines without needing a phone app. It’s all powered by a new "Smart Brick" containing a custom chip and wireless charging capabilities.
My Take: Usually when a classic toy company says "smart," we all groan and picture a glitchy iPad app that kids get bored of in ten minutes. But this? This feels different. Lego basically shoved a computer into a 2x4 brick without changing the form factor, which is undeniably impressive engineering. Plus, the idea that I can swoosh an X-Wing around and have it make vroom noises on its own is the childhood dream I didn’t know I still had. Though, I shudder to think what the price tag will look like when I inevitably step on one of these "smart" bricks in the dark.
Why It Matters: This is a major pivot for the toy industry, moving away from "screens as a crutch" and embedding the digital experience directly into the physical object. If Lego pulls this off, they aren't just selling plastic anymore; they're selling a hardware platform. It keeps kids building with their hands while satisfying that modern itch for interactivity, potentially setting a new gold standard for how analog toys survive in a digital-first world.
Here is a link to an intro: https://youtu.be/RptTZC2dwsQ