What we’re reading (1/5)
“Dow Jumps Nearly 600 Points To Close At A Record As Markets Rally After U.S.-Venezuela Action” (CNBC). “Stocks rose on Monday even after the U.S.’ attack on Venezuela and capture of leader Nicolas Maduro as crude oil prices saw gains and investors bet the action would not lead to bigger geopolitical conflicts that upset markets.”
“A Mystery Trader Made $400,000 Betting On Maduro’s Downfall” (Wall Street Journal). “The trader’s final bet came at 9:58 p.m. ET on Friday, shortly before President Trump ordered the military to move forward. Such contracts were priced at just 8 cents apiece, implying that Polymarket users saw only an 8% probability of the Venezuelan strongman losing power this month, the platform’s data shows. Several hours later, news broke of the U.S. operation to capture Maduro and the contracts shot up in value. In the end, the trader earned nearly $410,000 in profit on about $34,000 worth of wagers. More than half the value of the total wager was placed the evening before the attack.”
“Chevron And Exxon Stocks Jump. Here’s What Analysts Are Saying About Big Oil Companies After Maduro’s Capture.” (MarketWatch). “Shares in the oil sector were flying on Monday as investors scrambled to assess what the capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro could mean for the industry. While fresh geopolitical headlines appeared to have little impact on U.S. stocks or crude, the big oil names were moving as some investors gauged future access to oil reserves in the country.”
“Wall Street Sees Another Banner Year For Markets. Could Anything Stop It?” (New York Times). “To many investors, it feels as if the S&P 500 is on autopilot, with nothing but rising returns on the horizon. Last year, the benchmark index racked up 39 record highs — after 57 the year prior — on the way to an annual gain of 16.4 percent. Wall Street expects more of the same this year. Analysts polled by FactSet have forecast, in aggregate, that the benchmark index’s price target will finish 2026 a whisker below 8,000 — at 7,968.78. That would imply, yes, another 16 percent gain from Wednesday’s year-end close of 6,845.50, and would put the S&P 500 on its best four-year pace since the 1990s, according to Bloomberg.”
“What We Learned About Microplastics In 2025” (Washington Post). “They found the plastics were not only entering the brain — they were actually accumulating there. Brains of people who died in 2024, for example, had significantly higher concentrations of microplastics than the brains of people who died in 2016. And there was no correlation between the amount of microplastics and the age of the person at the time of their death.”
