Trump Meets Mamdani

Trump urged New York’s Con Ed to lower rates in a meeting with Mamdani.

November 24, 2025

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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 rise, but AI leverage worries persist

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

  • Technical Trip: Interview Question with Morgan Stanley

  • Lesson from the Library: Master the model that powers private equity — debt, returns, cash flow, and the full PE playbook.

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

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

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Market Recap

Markets Turnaround on Friday

Finally, Wall Street had a mini rally on Friday after days of decline. The selloff that whipsawed some of the most speculative corners of the market, testing investors’ nerves after a torrid rally. 

About 450 shares in the S&P 500 rose, with the gauge up 1%. Nvidia Corp. pared most of a plunge that earlier topped 4%. However, it still doesn’t change the narrative that November is set to be one of the worst months of the year. 

What is even more daunting is the fact that investors have the highest hopes for in the market: AI companies. The enormous sums major technology companies are spending on AI are nothing new, but the record pile of debt they’re raising to do it is. 

What’s worrying stock traders is that the trend breaks with recent history, when companies tapped their huge cash piles to fund capital expenditures. The use of leverage and the circular nature of many of the financing deals introduce a level of risk that wasn’t there before.

What's Ripe

Gap Inc. (GAP) 8.2%

  • GAP gained 8.2% after the clothing retailer reported that its third-quarter comparable-store sales had jumped 5% from a year ago; analysts had predicted a 3% increase.

  • Profit was better than expected as well: Earnings came in at 62 cents a share, topping estimates of 59 cents.

Intuit Inc. (INTU) 4.0%

  • INTU gained 4% after the maker of TurboTax beat analysts’ estimates for earnings and revenue in its fiscal first quarter. 

  • The business software company aims to boost growth through artificial-intelligence products.

What's Rotten

Elastic NV (ESTC) 14.7%

  • ESTC plunged 15%. The Dutch-American software company reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and raised its fiscal-year revenue guidance.

  • A deceleration in cloud revenue growth from the prior quarter, combined with management’s upbeat commentary on new deals, left some investors confused.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) 5.7%

  • ORCL continued its monthslong slump, falling 5.7%. The stock has succumbed to fears of an AI bubble, in part because of the sizable debt load Oracle is accumulating to deliver on its eye-popping revenue forecasts.

  •  The stock was the worst performer in the S&P 500 on Friday.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from Morgan Stanley

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

📚 Lesson from the Library

🎥 LBO Modeling: Buy, Build, and Break Down the Deal

Master the model that powers private equity — debt, returns, cash flow, and the full PE playbook.

🌟 WSO Academy Q4 Update

🔁 On-Cycle Recruiting for 2028 Grads

On-cycle recruiting for 2028 grads is officially kicking off, and we’re here to help them get ready. Make sure to check the application tracker on their dashboard, as some firms are rumored to launch applications in November.

  • Investment Banking (IB) – Kicks off earliest and moves fast. For 2028 U.S. grads, networking should be happening now for summer analyst roles. Expect most top firms to launch applications in December/January (some as early as November), with most Superdays typically scheduled around February/March.

  • UK Students – Recruiting has already started, so make sure they book mocks with their mentors.

  • Equity Research – Typically starts a bit later than IB, often in winter or early spring.

  • Sales & Trading (S&T) – Applications can open around the same time as IB, but recruiting is often more rolling through fall and early winter.

  • Asset Management / Hedge Funds – Highly variable. Some structured programs recruit in the fall, but many roles are filled off-cycle and closer to graduation.

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

A glass was filled with 10 ounces of water, and 0.01 ounce of the water evaporated each day during a 20-day period. What percent of the original amount of water evaporated during this period?

Answer: 2%

Today

Company P had 15% more employees in December than it had in January. If Company P had 460 employees in December, how many employees did it have in January?

❝

The best investors have a disciplined process and the flexibility to break it when necessary.

Leon Cooperman

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