Silver banana goes to…

In this issue of the peel:

• 📊 Markets seem to be in a neutral holding pattern as investors await  “Liberation Day.”

• 🏛️ Trump is set to unveil his long-awaited tax plan today. Buckle up.

• 🤑 A little-known IPO from a company no one had ever heard of has jumped 2,000% since its IPO.

Market Snapshot

Banana Bits

• Get ready for the unveiling of Trump’s tax plan today. Investors are bracing for all possible outcomes.

• Surprisingly, markets have stopped free-falling and actually posted two straight days of gains.

• Here is a list of companies that could be the biggest winners and losers from tariffs, according to expert stock pickers.

• Trump aide says tariffs will raise $6 trillion, which would be the largest tax revenue in US history.

• Conservative media company Newsmax has jumped 2,000% in a few days.

• OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round led by Softbank, the most ever raised by a private tech company.

The Daily Poll

Previous Poll:

Will the new tariffs push the US into a recession?

Yes, it’s coming: 48.5% // No, just a scare: 13.3% // Depends on how long they last: 20.1% // Markets will adapt, like always: 18.1%

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Macro Monkey Says

Day of Liberation

The long-awaited day of liberation has arrived. Or more accurately, the day your portfolio might finally get what it’s wanted all along, a mercy kill. 

It’s not your typical market holiday, but it’s the day President Trump is set to implement sweeping tariffs on imports from at least 15 countries across hundreds of goods and products, including oil, autos, chipmakers, and much more.

The administration plans to apply these tariffs universally, affecting imports from all countries without exemptions. This approach contrasts with earlier indications that the tariffs would target specific nations with significant trade imbalances. 

Major auto companies like GM and Ford have been trading down for weeks on the news, along with AI players like Nvidia. 

The administration believes that while there may be some short-term pain, the strategy would strengthen America’s position in the long-term. One government aide estimates that they could bring in a record-breaking $6 trillion in tax revenue. 

However, most economists warn that these tariffs could lead to higher consumer prices and disrupt global supply chains. Sectors heavily reliant on imports, such as automotive and technology, may face increased costs and operational challenges, which would be passed on to consumers.​

Global leaders expressed concern over potential retaliatory measures. Countries across the EU, Hong Kong, China, and many others are promising retaliatory tariffs. The thing with trade wars is that even small changes in global trade policy can have very long-lasting impacts.

The Takeaway?

For the most part, nobody has any idea what to expect. All we know is that tariffs are coming in some form or another, and the market is either going to be very positive or very negative. 

Markets could surge if Trump takes a little bit of a softened stance, or completely fall out of the bottom if the administration takes a hard, retaliatory stance. Good luck!

Career Corner

Question

Focusing on my TMAY + 7 stories over the weekend, given I have two different working experiences (3 years of experience), should my stories solely focus on my current job? Is it fair to bring up stories from school at this point?

Answer

Would focus just on work unless it’s a lights-out / best-ever type of story.

I would offer a different point of view. Non-work-related stories help make a candidate more three-dimensional and separate them from the pack.

Just think about the interviewer listening to an entire day of stories from all candidates about a time when they were doing a work project, versus that one candidate who chats about how much effort they put in to qualify for a sports team, or win a competition, etc.

For a third perspective, I would encourage discussing both for different answers. I think group projects in school seem a bit junior when you’re 3 years out, so for those types of questions, I would focus on work or post-grad extracurriculars, but I think it’s fair game to talk about athletics/extracurriculars from college. It’s good to show different dimensions of yourself.

Just ensure it’s not every question—they will want to see what you’ve learned in your jobs.

Additionally, following the sentiment from the interviewer, when I was doing lateral hiring, I noticed that some interviewers seemed less interested in anything college-related, so I would make sure I spoke mostly about work in those.

Head Mentor, WSO Academy

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What's Ripe

Newsmax (NMAX) 179.0%

• ​Newsmax, a conservative media outlet that I can bet you never heard of prior to its IPO, is setting market records. Pricing at $10, the company had a quiet and humble public debut, with most of the attention going to AI player CoreWeave. To everyone’s surprise, NMAX has surged 2,000%, earning its CEO an $8.4 billion payday.

CoreWeave (CRWV) 41.8%

• Well, that was a shock. After all the fanfare of being the largest IPO of 2025, CorwWeave’s market debut was pretty timid last week. The confluence of tariffs and AI fears looked to be a bad setup for the stock. For whatever reason, investors took the weekend to think about it and realized they’ve changed their minds, sending the stock ripping. I guess this means the AI trade is back? 

What's Rotten

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 7.6%

• ​Johnson & Johnson's stock fell on news that a judge in Houston rejected the company's $10 billion bankruptcy proposal. As a reminder, the company has been in a multi-year battle related to the talc-powder lawsuit, alleging that its products caused cancer. JNJ’s resolution to the guilty ruling was to file for bankruptcy. But this is the third unsuccessful attempt to resolve the claims through court proceedings.

Southwest Airlines (LUV) 5.9%

• Jefferies downgraded airline stocks based on disappointing consumer sentiment and, of course, tariff risks. All the major airline carriers have slashed their first-quarter forecasts, driven by increased costs, which will most likely hurt price-sensitive customers.

Thought Banana

A Wild IPO Ride

The IPO for conservative news network, Newsmax, has been nothing short of astonishing. 

While the big billion-dollar IPOs get all of the attention, there are always smaller deals out there that come and go without any coverage. That was Newsmax. The company priced its IPO at $10 and raised just $75 million, which is on the lower end for even a small-cap company. 

But investors had something else planned. 

On day 1, the company jumped almost 800%, only to surge to 2,000% in its first couple of days as a public company, officially earning “meme stonk” status. Its market cap of $20 billion places it above companies like Reddit and right below United Airlines. 

To put that in context, United Airlines generated $3.5 billion in net profit last year versus a $55 million loss for Newsmax.  

The driving force behind this surge appears to be a combination of a few factors:

• Limited Share Float: The relatively small number of shares available for trading made the stock more susceptible to significant price movements. Think about it like supply and demand. When there is a small number of shares out there in the market, any price movement becomes exaggerated.

• Retail Investor Interest: Individual investors, particularly those active online (ahem, Wall Street Bets), flocked to Newsmax, contributing to its status as a "meme stonk." ​

• Political Climate: Following President Donald Trump's return to office, Newsmax's alignment with his administration resonated with a substantial viewer base, further fueling investor enthusiasm. 

The Takeaway?

Newsmax proved that retail investors still have power. Your retirement plan doesn’t have to be working for 40 years and saving your money anymore when you have stocks like NMAX creating overnight millionaires.

The Big Question: Can a stock’s valuation be justified by hype and retail interest alone, or does it inevitably correct to fundamentals?

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

If [x] is the greatest integer less than or equal to x, what is the value of [-1.6] + [3.4] + [2.7]?

Answer: 3

Today

In the first week of the year, Nancy saved $1. In each of the next 51 weeks, she saved $1 more than she had saved in the previous week. What was the total amount that Nancy saved during the previous week?

Send your guesses to [email protected]

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit & Patrick

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