Silver banana goes to…

Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity

📬 Delivered to 150,000+ ambitious readers

🎯 In this issue:

• Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

• Market Summary: Stocks steady as gold tumbles from record highs

• What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks 

• Technical Trip: Interview Question with KPMG

• Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions 

• The Daily Poll: See how you stack up

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

• Gold soars past $4,000; why the record is a sign of uncertainty.

• Stock market today: Dow jumps 200 points to record high as Wall Street cheers start of earnings season.

• GM shares surge 15% on raised guidance.

• Netflix shares drop after streamer misses earnings estimates, citing Brazilian tax dispute.

• Bank of England warns of growing private credit risks.

• Crude oil gains on news that the U.S. plans to refill the SPR.

• Trump hosts GOP senators at White House as shutdown drags on.

Market Recap

S&P Flat, Gold Cools

Today, the Dow rose, while the S&P 500 remained roughly flat and the Nasdaq changed only a little as traders weighed earnings news against macro worries. 

Overall risk appetite held up, but it wasn’t a strong trend today. Bloomberg's wrap called the S&P and Nasdaq “little changed” into the close, with the Dow up around 0.5%. 

The big mover today was gold, which fell around 5-6% in its largest one-day drop in years after a run at record highs. Reports pointed to overbought conditions and fading momentum as the drivers of this pullback. 

Silver also fell, adding to the pressure on precious metal ETFs and miners. 

In commodities, oil eased again on oversupply worries and a soft demand outlook, while Treasury yields ticked slightly lower, offering a small tailwind to equities. The U.S. 10-year yield hovered just under 4%, showcasing a cautious tone.

What's Ripe

General Motors (GM) 14.87%

• GM climbed as it earns headlines, showcasing a solid results day for Dow names, with GM among the notable gainers.

• Gainers lists also showed GM higher during the session, reflecting an upbeat reaction to its outlook.

GE Aerospace (GE) 1.31%

• GE Aerospace rose after reporting big earnings and raising its 2025 profit outlook, pointing to strong engine demand and aftermarket sales.

• Investors reacted to higher guidance, which signaled momentum into next year.

What's Rotten

Cleaveland-Cliffs (CLF) 17.24%

• Cleveland-Cliffs dropped more than 17% after Wells Fargo cut the stock to underweight and set an $11 price target.

• The downgrade raised concern about the company’s near-term outlook, which prompted heavy selling.

Nvidia (NVDA) 0.81%

• Nvidia fell as semiconductor stocks slid, weighing on the Nasdaq and pressuring mega-cap chip names.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from KPMG

👉 Want 1-on-1 recruiting help from KPMG bankers & 2,000+ top mentors? Apply to WSO Academy

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

• Hologic to go private for up to $18.3B.

• Shift4 to acquire Worldline’s North American subsidiaries.

• Coinbase strikes deal for cr*pto-investing platform Echo.

• National Fuel to acquire CenterPoint’s Ohio natural gas utility business.

• GE Vernova to fully acquire the Prolec GE joint venture.

• Veeam acquires data security company Securiti AI for $1.7B.

📊The Daily Poll

Previous Poll:

Trump’s rare earths deal with Australia is a

Smart counter to China: 33.4% // Geopolitical move: 35.9% // Just optics: 12.8% // Won’t change much: 17.9%

Student Success Corner

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

If Jake loses 8 pounds, he will weigh twice as much as his sister. Together, they now weigh 278 pounds. What is Jake’s present weight, in pounds?

Answer: 188

Today

In an increasing sequence of 10 consecutive integers, the sum of the first 5 integers is 560. What is the sum of the last 5 integers in the sequence?

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Colin, & Patrick

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