Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome - Charlie Munger
💡 Did you know?
The Surprising Origin of "Wall Street"
The name "Wall Street" did not originate from a financial concept but from a literal, defensive wall built by Dutch settlers in 1653. The wooden palisade, erected in what was then New Amsterdam, was intended to protect the colony from potential English invasion and Indigenous raids.
Tech Talk
Google basically swallowed the news cycle this week with "The Android Show," finally unveiling its long-rumored Android XR platform and confirming that yes, those AI-powered glasses are coming in 2026 (Samsung is building the hardware, naturally). They also dropped "Nano Banana Pro", a name that sounds like a smoothie ingredient but is actually a powerful new image-gen model for Gemini. In less fun news, a major study just named-and-shamed top AI companies for failing global safety standards, which is exactly what you want to hear while Google is trying to put a camera on your face.
Money Matters
If you’re holding Bitcoin, you might want to look away, the "digital gold" slipped under $90,000 this week, dragging the rest of the crypto market down with it. Meanwhile, the "real" gold and stock markets are rallying so hard that the BIS (the central bank for central banks) is warning of a rare "double bubble" bursting. Add in some pre-Fed meeting jitters and Japan’s bond yields hitting 20-year highs, and it’s been a sweaty week for anyone watching a ticker.
Over in Europe, inflation continued its slow walk downward like a toddler learning to walk, adorable but unreliable.
The good news? Holiday season retail numbers came in stronger than expected, proving one thing: humanity may fight, argue, and doomscroll… but we will always buy gifts we can’t afford.
Science Scoop
Science had a fun week, finally!
Researchers announced early-stage success with bio-engineered coral, meaning the oceans may get a fighting chance after decades of abuse. It's like nature got a software patch.
A climate team also reported that global renewable installations in 2025 hit a record high. The planet is still warming, yes, but at least now we're running towards the fire with buckets instead of spoons.
And in adorable news: astronomers spotted a distant exoplanet with atmospheric patterns that might indicate giant clouds of sparkling crystals. Space is basically throwing confetti and we just weren’t invited.
The Rest of the World
It’s been a massive week for diplomacy as Pope Leo XIV (still getting used to saying "the American Pope") met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at Castel Gandolfo to push for peace, marking their third meeting since Leo took office in May.
Elsewhere, South Korea held "dark tours" to mark the one-year anniversary of the failed martial law decree, while Syria quietly observed one year since the fall of the Assad regime. On a lighter note, Paris is still partying, Notre Dame is gearing up for a beatification mass this Saturday, continuing its post-reopening victory lap.
Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice
We pledged approx. €2000 for you to see the ups 😀 and downs 👎 Defence stocks are on the rise again and Bitcoin is slowly, very slowly recovering
Market Watch
If you invested $100 at the start of the week on December 3, you’d have made roughly 10 cents with the S&P 500, 40–50 cents with the Nasdaq, about 30–40 cents with the DAX, and lost around $1–2 if you were holding Bitcoin. A week of tiny moves in stocks and another reminder from crypto that even “quiet” weeks can still sting
#Ticker / Name | Legal Annotation | Latest Value | 1-Week Change (approx) |
|---|---|---|---|
S&P 500 | S&P 500 | $6,846.5 | ~0.05% |
Bitcoin (BTCUSD) | Bitcoin | $92500 | −1.1% |
NASDAQ Composite | Nasdaq Composite | $23,545.9 | +0.4% |
SENSEX | S&P BSE SENSEX | ₹84,666 | −1.0% |
DAX | DAX | €24,162 | +02.0% |
The New York Times has officially dropped a fresh, heavy-hitting lawsuit, this time targeting Perplexity AI. The complaint isn't just about training data anymore. It alleges that Perplexity is taking massive amounts of NYT content, summarizing it into direct answers, and effectively replacing the need for anyone to actually visit the paper's website. The core issue is cutting the paper out of their own business model by bypassing the paywall.
Who should care? Everyone building or funding an AI answer engine. This lawsuit puts every single summarization feature on notice. If NYT manages a win here, it fundamentally changes how AI interacts with proprietary news content. It forces a simple decision for AI companies: license the content or build a significantly worse product. This is the next massive ripple effect setting new rules for the entire tech world.
China is now developing the world's highest fully unmanned mining site. This project, high up in Xinjiang's Kunlun Mountains at 5,600 meters, is purely for extracting lead-zinc. They are using autonomous, driverless trucks coordinated by 5G and advanced sensors to run the operation. Why go fully autonomous? Oxygen levels at that extreme altitude are half of what they are at sea level. The environment is too harsh, cold, and risky for humans to work continuously.
My Take: The race for critical resources is so intense, we are now sending robots where humans literally cannot breathe. This is where peak tech meets peak altitude. It is an insane feat of engineering, forcing automation not for optimization, but for survival. The true genius here is getting to a $52 billion resource and running it 24/7 without needing to worry about pesky details like worker safety, high-altitude hazard pay, or oxygen tanks.
Why It Matters: This mine holds one of the world's largest lead-zinc deposits. This project proves that geographic barriers and human limitations are irrelevant when the tech is good enough and the resource is valuable enough. This is a clear signal: for any industry with a dangerous or difficult job, expect your replacement to be autonomous and operating outside the atmosphere soon.
🌎 December 10, 1901: The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.
This event marked the beginning of an institution designed to honor individuals whose work conferred the "greatest benefit on mankind" in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
And the Winners are:
🧪Physics: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen — for the discovery of X-rays
⚗️Chemistry: Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff — for his work on chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure
🩺 Physiology or Medicine: Emil von Behring — for the development of serum therapy, especially against diphtheria
📚Literature: Sully Prudhomme — for his poetic work that reflected both artistic excellence and human ideals
🕊️Peace: Henry Dunant — founder of the Red Cross & Frédéric Passy — leading peace activist and founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
German industrial output numbers for October landed with a serious surprise punch. Production rose significantly higher than economists had expected. After a miserable run of headlines suggesting the largest economy in the Eurozone was headed nowhere fast, the factory sector finally delivered a proper beat against consensus estimates. Focus on what's new. They built more stuff.
The conventional wisdom is that Germany is the "sick man of Europe." And for good reason, energy costs, slowing global demand, general malaise. But they still know how to build high-quality things when they feel like it. This unexpected jump suggests maybe, just maybe, the bottom is in. It’s hard to believe one number fixes everything, but it proves the industrial core hasn't completely atrophied. We’re skeptical of a long-term boom, but we’ll take the win.
Why It Matters: Germany is the engine of the Eurozone. Full stop. When their factories hum, the whole bloc sighs in relief. This positive data eases immediate recession fears across the continent. It also gives the European Central Bank something new to chew on. It means slightly less panic and slightly more optimism moving money around.
PODCAST THIS WEEK🎙️Rich vs. Wealthy (Yes, they are different)
We use these words like synonyms, but they are actually opposites.
Rich is visible. It’s the peacock feathers. It’s the current income that allows you to make the monthly payment on the Porsche, the mansion, and the clothes.
Wealthy is invisible. It’s the money you didn't spend. It’s the unbought car, the unbought watch.
The Reality Check: When you see someone driving a Ferrari, you don't actually think, "Wow, that guy is cool." You think, "Wow, if I had that car, people would think I’m cool." Meanwhile, the guy in the Ferrari might be sweating bullets because he lives paycheck to paycheck to service the debt.
True wealth isn't stuff. True wealth is waking up at 7:00 AM on a Tuesday and saying, "I can do whatever the hell I want today."
Caught My Eye…IN OTHER NEWS
Salesforce to become Agentforce? Salesforce slapped the "Agentforce" moniker on many of its products and services recently. And when the company reported earnings this week, there were updated names for several offerings. Sales is now "Agentforce Sales." The Service offering is "Agentforce Service," and Platform became "Agentforce 365 Platform," and so on.
The Netflix-Warner Bros. deal might not go through. The combination would put together two of the biggest global streaming services, and put further power behind Netflix, which has repeatedly upended the media industry - only if Paramount hadn’t have stepped in
Hyundai Motor Group Unveils Production-Ready Autonomous Mobility Robot Platform ‘MobED’ at iREX 2025
Rumor has it that OpenAI is about to drop GPT-5.2 faster than you can say "artificial intelligence." It's all part of a high-stakes game of tech leapfrog with Google's Gemini 3, which strutted onto the scene last month like it owned the place.
Wishing you a productive week ahead!
The Mimimum Viable Product Team: Amod and Damian read your emails and comments daily.
For each referral you drive, you will unlock rewards when you hit milestones. If you recommend 10 of your friends we will send you a personalised cups of your choice from this shop for free: https://muenedesign.etsy.com