PayPal Eyes Bank Status

PayPal is applying for a banking license as U.S. regulators ease up.

December 16, 2025

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 head lower ahead of the jobs report

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

  • Technical Trip: Interview Question with Jane Street

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

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

Up your game in 2026 with exclusive M&A deal terms insights.

Start 2026 with an edge. This data-driven report from SRS Acquiom spotlights key trends to watch in the coming year. Explore up-to-date insights into deal consideration, volume, valuations, indemnification, and more, all based on a thorough analysis of 280+ private-target transactions that closed in the first three quarters of 2025. It’s new knowledge to use to your—and your clients’—advantage.

Market Recap 

Stocks Head Lower Ahead of Jobs Report 

Stocks drifted lower, and the dollar hovered near two-month lows as investors stayed cautious ahead of key U.S. economic data that may signal where interest rates are headed. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.6%. Many stocks were in the green, but market participants are locked in selling mode with tech stocks.  

They’re taking profit after years of outperformance, especially as risks pile up. The market is concerned about returns on the massive data center investments that software companies are making to build out their artificial intelligence capabilities. 

 

  

B*tcoin traded around $86,000, while gold was little changed after five days of gains. Oil held near the lowest level since 2021 as traders weighed the outlook for a ceasefire in Ukraine. 

 

What's Ripe

Tesla Inc.(TSLA) 3.6%

  • TSLA gained 3.6%. While shares of the electric-vehicle maker have risen 18% in 2025

  • Tesla is on track to sell fewer cars in 2025 than it did in 2024, marking the second consecutive year of declines.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) 2.7

  • LVS gained 2.7%. The casino company was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the price target was boosted to $80 from $64.

What's Rotten

iRobot Corp (IRBT) 72.7%

  • IRBT plummeted 73% after the Roomba maker declared bankruptcy on Sunday.

  • The company has struggled financially for years, and a proposed sale to Amazon.com fell through last year.

ServiceNow Inc. (NOW) 11.5%

  • NOW declined 12% after Bloomberg reported the software company was in talks to acquire cybersecurity start-up Armis in a deal that could reach $7 billion in value, citing people familiar with the matter.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from Jane Street

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

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

If 1/x = [1/(x + 1)] = [1/(x + 4)], then x could be ?

Answer: -2

Today

A certain fruit stand sold apples for $0.70 each and bananas for $0.50 each. If a customer purchased both apples and bananas from the stand for a total of $6.30, what total number of apples and bananas did the customer purchase?

❝

Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for a ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair.

Rudy Havenstein

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