🏠 This Stock Might've Become A Monopoly

Good afternoon! Facebook is rolling back the clock—sort of. As part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “return to OG Facebook” mission, the platform just launched a new Friends tab in the U.S. and Canada that’s all about, well, your friends. The revamped tab will only show content from people you’ve actually added—think posts, Reels, stories, birthdays, and friend requests—with no algorithmically recommended clutter.

This is Facebook’s first big step in 2025 toward recapturing its social roots, after years of leaning into Groups, Marketplace, and video. Meta admits the “magic of friends” had faded, and this is their fix to bring it back. Users can even pin the new tab front and center to make Facebook feel more like it did back in the glory days—minus the pokes and FarmVille invites (for now).

MARKETS

• Wall Street kicked off the week with a game of whiplash. The S&P 500 clawed its way back from a 1.7% drop to close up 0.55%, while the Dow reversed early losses to climb 1%, or about 418 points. The Nasdaq didn’t join the rebound party, slipping 0.14% as tech traders braced for impact.

• All eyes are on President Trump’s looming Wednesday tariff deadline, with investors nervously pricing in the possibility of sweeping levies on global trade partners.

STOCKS
Winners & Losers

What’s up 📈

• Fortnox AB soared 33.65% after the Swedish cloud-based finance firm received a $4.5 billion buyout offer. ($FNOX.ST)

• Mr. Cooper Group jumped 14.46% after Rocket Companies announced a $9.4 billion all-stock acquisition of the mortgage lender. ($COOP)

• Celsius Holdings rose 5.85% after Truist upgraded the energy drink maker, citing strong positioning via its Alani Nu acquisition. ($CELH)

• Hut 8 added 0.85% after announcing a merger forming American Bitcoin Corp, backed in part by Eric and Donald Trump Jr. ($HUT)

What’s down 📉

• Moderna sank 8.90% after the resignation of the FDA’s top vaccine regulator raised concerns over future vaccine approvals. ($MRNA)

• Rocket Companies fell 7.37% after announcing the $9.4 billion acquisition of Mr. Cooper, which investors viewed skeptically. ($RKT)

• CoreWeave declined 7.30% in its second trading day, dragging down AI-adjacent stocks after a lackluster debut. ($CRWV)

• Mara Holdings dropped 7.78% as bitcoin's weekend dip hit crypto miners. ($MARA)

• Canada Goose slid 3.52% to a 52-week low after Barclays downgraded the stock due to rising tariffs and competition. ($GOOS)

• Palantir edged down 1.69%, heading for its fifth consecutive red session amid ongoing valuation concerns. ($PLTR)

Big Tech Has Spent Billions Acquiring AI Smart Home Startups

The pattern is clear: when innovative companies successfully integrate AI into everyday products, tech giants pay billions to acquire them.

Google paid $3.2B for Nest.
Amazon spent $1.2B on Ring.
Generac spent $770M on EcoBee.

Now, a new AI-powered smart home company is following their exact path to acquisition—but is still available to everyday investors at just $1.90 per share.

With proprietary technology that connects window coverings to all major AI ecosystems, this startup has achieved what big tech wants most: seamless AI integration into daily home life.

Over 10 patents, 200% year-over-year growth, and a forecast to 5x revenue this year — this company is moving fast to seize the smart home opportunity.

The acquisition pattern is predictable. The opportunity to get in before it happens is not.

INVEST BEFORE BIG TECH MAKES THEIR MOVE

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AQUISITION
Rocket to Buy Mortgage Firm Mr. Cooper in $9.4 Billion Deal

Rocket Cos. is making a moonshot bid to become the Amazon of homebuying.

In just three weeks, the Detroit-based fintech firm has committed over $11 billion to reshape how Americans buy, finance, and manage their homes. After agreeing to buy Redfin for $1.75 billion earlier this month, Rocket announced Monday it will scoop up Mr. Cooper—the nation’s largest mortgage servicer—in a $9.4 billion all-stock deal.

The combined company will service a $2.1 trillion loan book, with nearly 10 million clients under its umbrella. If everything goes as planned, Rocket’s vision is simple: you find your home on Redfin, get a mortgage through Rocket, and make payments to Rocket for the next 30 years. Easy.

One platform to rule them all

This isn’t just a real estate land grab—it’s a bet on vertical integration. Rocket wants to be your end-to-end housing concierge, offering a streamlined process from search to sale to servicing. And by bringing Mr. Cooper into the fold, Rocket adds massive scale and cash flow at a time when mortgage originations are still down from their 2021 highs.

The timing is also no accident. With the Trump administration easing regulatory pressure, Rocket sees a clearer path for expansion. A previous CFPB lawsuit accusing the company of steering customers to its own loans was dropped after Trump took office, and both companies expressed confidence regulators will greenlight the merger.

Welcome to mortgage monopoly

When the deal closes later this year, Rocket will control one in every six mortgages in the U.S., instantly becoming a force too big to ignore. The company expects $500 million in revenue and cost synergies—and it needs them. The housing market is still ice cold, and buyers remain sidelined by high prices and lingering rate anxiety.

But Rocket’s betting big that centralizing the entire homeownership experience will boost margins, lower acquisition costs, and—most importantly—lock in customers for life. If it works, this could be the blueprint for the future of fintech-fueled real estate.

And if not? Well, Rocket may have just bought itself two very expensive chairs in a game of musical homes.

NEWS
Market Movements

• 📱 France Fines Apple $162M Over Mobile Ad Practices: Apple has been fined €150 million ($162 million) by French regulators for allegedly using its App Tracking Transparency feature to hinder competitors in the mobile advertising space. It marks the first antitrust penalty targeting Apple’s ATT tool. The fine adds to Apple’s growing global regulatory challenges. ($AAPL)

• 💻 Arm Projects CPU Market Share to Surge to 50% in 2025: Arm Holdings expects to triple its data center CPU market share next year, climbing from 15% to 50%. The growth is expected to come from AI system demand for power-efficient chips. The projection signals strong confidence in Arm’s architecture gaining ground against Intel and AMD. ($ARM)

• 📉 Tesla Slides Amid Tariff Fears, Musk-Politics Fallout: Tesla fell as much as 6% on Monday before recovering slightly, as investors weighed the impact of looming 25% auto tariffs and Elon Musk’s political alignment with Trump. Analysts expect Q1 deliveries between 353K–390K, down YoY, as protests, vandalism, and brand damage hit demand in Europe and China. Stifel cut its price target but maintained a Buy rating. ($TSLA)

• 💣 Lockheed Martin Wins $4.9B Army Contract for Strike Missiles: Lockheed Martin secured a contract worth up to $4.94 billion to produce Precision Strike Missiles for the U.S. Army, replacing the older ATACM system. The deal reflects growing global defense demand, especially amid ongoing geopolitical conflicts. Shares rose more than 1% following the announcement. ($LMT)

• 🧬 Biotech Stocks Drop Up to 10% on FDA Shakeup: Biotech names fell sharply following news that FDA vaccine chief Peter Marks will step down. Gene therapy players like Sarepta, Solid Biosciences, and Taysha took the biggest hits amid concerns over delayed regulatory reviews. The sector has already been under pressure due to rising approval scrutiny. ($SRPT, $SLDB, $TSHA)

• 📺 FCC Investigates Disney and ABC Over DEI Hiring Practices: The FCC has opened an investigation into Disney and its ABC division regarding possible violations of equal employment laws tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The probe sent Disney’s shares down 1%. It’s the latest in a string of regulatory pressures on media companies. ($DIS)

• 🍗 Yum Brands CEO to Retire in 2026, Succession Search Begins: Yum Brands announced that CEO David Gibbs will step down in Q1 2026 after more than six years at the helm. The board has already started searching for his successor. Gibbs has led the company through global expansion and digital transformation. ($YUM)

• ₿ Trump Family Takes Stake in New Bitcoin Mining Giant: Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s American Data Centers is acquiring a 20% stake in American Bitcoin, a firm majority-owned by Hut 8. The new venture aims to become the world’s largest bitcoin miner. The move cements the Trump family’s growing involvement in crypto infrastructure. ($HUT)

IPO
Newsmax Draws Retail Trader Wave With 735% Surge in IPO Debut

Newsmax just pulled off the kind of Wall Street debut that would make even GameStop blush. Shares of the conservative cable network surged more than 735% on Monday, closing at $83.51 after pricing its IPO at just $10. Trading was halted multiple times throughout the day as more than 6 million shares changed hands—many of them driven by retail traders hyping the stock across Reddit and Stocktwits.

The rally gave Newsmax a market cap north of $10 billion, making it the best-performing U.S. IPO since 2022. It was also a head-scratcher for anyone who actually read the financials: The company posted a $55 million loss on $80 million in revenue in the first half of 2024 and is carrying more liabilities than assets. But who needs profits when you’ve got meme stock status?

A Right-Wing Ratings Rocket

Newsmax’s rise comes at a time when conservative media is enjoying a post-Trump boost. The network has seen a ratings bump alongside other right-leaning outlets like Trump Media’s Truth Social and Rumble. Founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy framed the IPO as a play for Fox News’s audience, telling CNBC, “There was a demand for more competition against Fox.”

While Newsmax still trails far behind in total viewership (averaging around 309,000 in primetime vs. Fox’s 3.1 million), it has carved out a solid fourth-place spot among cable news channels. The network has also shifted from relying solely on ad revenue to negotiating cable licensing fees, a sign it’s looking to solidify its place in the traditional TV ecosystem.

Will It Last?

But let’s not kid ourselves—this isn’t a fundamentals-driven frenzy. It’s a throwback to 2021’s retail trading chaos, where Reddit-fueled optimism could send any stock “to the moon,” balance sheet be damned. Whether Newsmax becomes the next Fox or fades like AMC and GameStop remains to be seen. For now, it’s got the meme magic.

Calendar
On The Horizon

Tomorrow

Earnings season is fading out, but tomorrow still brings a couple of economic data points worth your coffee break. First up: the JOLTS report, which offers a window into February’s job market vibes—how many positions were up for grabs, how many got filled, and who decided to call it quits.

If you’re more into buildings than business cards, keep an eye on the latest construction spending figures from the Census Bureau. It’s a handy pulse check on how much muscle the real estate sector is flexing right now.

NEWS
The Daily Rundown

• ⚾ Yankees Set Home Run Record With Help From ‘Torpedo’ Bat: New York smashed nine home runs in one game, setting a franchise record and finishing the weekend with 15. Several players used the new “torpedo” bat designed by an MIT physicist, which shifts mass for better contact. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit three home runs with it, helping spark buzz around the bat.

• 🚗 Uber and DoorDash Push for Tax-Free Tips for Gig Workers: As lawmakers weigh eliminating taxes on tips, gig companies want their drivers included. Most food delivery workers get 53% of income from tips, but as 1099 contractors, they’re currently excluded from the proposed break. Meanwhile, the administration may offset the loss by raising taxes on top earners.

• 📆 Tariff ‘Liberation Day’ Lands Wednesday With Broad Import Crackdown: The Trump administration will impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, including cars, auto parts, and goods from Canada and Mexico. Trump dismissed concerns about higher prices, saying the goal is to spur American-made purchases. The policy has rattled global trade partners and markets.

• 📱 TikTok Sale Deadline Looms, But Trump Signals Extension Likely: Saturday is the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok, though Trump indicated he’s open to pushing it back. The administration is working with four potential buyers, including MrBeast and Project Liberty. Trump says a sale isn’t urgent but wants U.S. ownership in the near future.

• 📈 Gold and Copper Prices Surge as Investors Seek Safe Havens: Economic uncertainty and trade tension sent gold soaring 17% this quarter, its best performance since 1986. Copper hit record highs as investors anticipate supply chain disruptions from global tariffs. The rally in metals reflects broader fears of inflation and market volatility.

• 🏡 Homebuyers Are Jumping In Despite High Rates and Low Inventory: Some Americans are pushing ahead with home purchases rather than waiting for mortgage rates to fall. Applications rose 7% YoY last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Buyers cited life milestones and market fatigue as reasons for pulling the trigger.

• 🛍️ QVC Lays Off 900, Shifts Strategy to Social Shopping: QVC is pivoting from traditional TV sales to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The layoffs affected 5% of its workforce, mostly in HSN’s old Florida base. The company is betting on “live social shopping” and streaming to engage modern consumers.

• 📺 Duke University Criticizes ‘White Lotus’ Over Controversial Episode: Duke objected to an HBO scene where a character dons a Duke shirt while engaging in criminal behavior and disturbing scenes. The university expressed concern over its brand being associated with the fictional misconduct. Legal experts say there’s little Duke can do due to First Amendment protections.

• 🏚️ Myanmar Earthquake Death Toll Tops 2,000 Amid Relief Struggles: A 7.7-magnitude earthquake has devastated parts of Myanmar and Thailand. Damaged infrastructure and ongoing conflict are slowing rescue and recovery efforts. International aid is trickling in, but fuel shortages and power outages are complicating the mission.

• 🗳️ Trump Suggests Possible Third Term, Ignites Constitutional Debate: In an NBC interview, Trump hinted he may seek a third term, saying “there are methods” to do so. The 22nd Amendment restricts presidents to two terms, meaning changes would require a constitutional overhaul. The comments sparked both legal alarm and political speculation.

• 🧪 Eli Lilly Drug Cuts Heart Risk Marker by 94% in Early Trial: Lepodisiran, an experimental drug targeting lipoprotein(a), significantly reduced the genetic heart risk marker in a Phase 2 study. The drug was well tolerated, with no major side effects reported. If approved, it could be a major advancement in preventive cardiology.

• 🎭 Actor Richard Chamberlain Dies at 90: Known for iconic roles in Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds, and Shōgun, Chamberlain passed away due to stroke complications. His career spanned six decades, earning him the title of “king of the miniseries.” Fans and peers are mourning a television legend.

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