Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome - Charlie Munger
💡💡 Did you know?
The Resilience of Legacy Code: COBOL
Despite the rapid adoption of modern languages like Python and Rust, the COBOL programming language still processes approximately 80% of daily in-person financial transactions globally. This underscores a critical reality for CIOs and CTOs: the global banking infrastructure relies heavily on maintaining legacy technical debt, proving that durability often outweighs novelty in mission-critical systems.
Tech Talk
Tech stocks riding the “maybe-Fed-cut” wave: On 26 Nov, U.S. markets got a boost, renewed strength in AI/tech names (hello again, Nvidia & Dell) plus rising odds of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) pumped optimism across Wall Street.
Microsoft is holding steady: As of 29 Nov, MSFT stock hovered just under last month’s record, supported by strong cloud earnings, big-AI investments (including its deal with OpenAI) and a favorable EU regulatory moment.
Meanwhile, cloud-security firm Zscaler (ZS) is having a rough patch, despite a decent earnings beat, bearish sentiment and cautious guidance triggered a ~13 % drop since late November. Still up year-on-year, but volatile.
Money Matters
On 26 Nov, European markets followed the U.S. lead: Germany’s DAX rose for the third day straight, as investors cheered fading rate-rise fears and regained confidence.
In the U.S., weak retail sales growth + falling consumer confidence have further stoked hopes for a Fed rate cut, which investors treat as a ready-made holiday gift.
Meanwhile, as macro uncertainty looms (see: war, energy crunch, global instability), some “safe-haven” assets like gold and copper have seen renewed interest, though metals are bouncing more than soaring.
Science Scoop
This week was a bit quiet on flashy science frontlines, no major breakthroughs hitting the headlines. But what was loud: growing urgency from climate and humanitarian angles as global conflicts and geopolitical instability raise new questions about resource supply, energy use, and environmental stress.
Case in point: while global focus stayed fixated on markets, war zones, and diplomacy, pressing issues like humanitarian crises, migration, and climate backlash simmered quietly behind the scenes.
The Rest of the World
The world got a dose of brutal reality when war in Ukraine flared up again: on December 1, a missile strike in Dnipro killed four people and wounded 40 more.
Not sexy enough for big news, but global copper demand ticked up again (especially from green-energy sectors). This is usually a leading indicator of industrial activity kicking back to life.
Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice
We pledged approx. €4000 for you to see the ups 😀 and downs 👎 Defence stock down - Bitcoin & S&P up a bit
Market Watch
If you invested $100 at the start of the week on November 26, you’d have ended with roughly the same $100 in the S&P 500, gained about 30 cents in the Nasdaq, maybe 10 cents in the DAX, lost around 60 cents in the Sensex, and dropped about $7–8 if you were holding Bitcoin. It was the kind of week where equities mostly moved sideways, but crypto reminded everyone that volatility never really takes a holiday. This week was a gentle reminder that not every stretch delivers fireworks; sometimes stocks just shuffle in place while Bitcoin does the drama, and your job is simply to stay buckled in.
#Ticker / Name | Legal Annotation | Latest Value | 1-Week Change (approx) |
|---|---|---|---|
S&P 500 | S&P 500 | 6,813 | ~0% |
Bitcoin (BTCUSD) | Bitcoin | $86,830 | −7% |
NASDAQ Composite | Nasdaq Composite | 23,276 | +0.3% |
SENSEX | S&P BSE SENSEX | 85,138 | −0.6% |
DAX | DAX | 23,750 | +0.1% |
