What are the weirdest Christmas traditions in your family? Here’s a few from around the world that might be even weirder:

• KFC for Christmas (Japan): Families celebrate Christmas with KFC buckets thanks to a 1970s marketing campaign.

• Roller Skating to Church (Venezuela): People roller skate to early morning Christmas services in Caracas.

• Shoe Tossing (Czech Republic): Single women throw a shoe to see if marriage is in their future.

First one is tasty, second is practical, third is inexplicable.

Moving on.

Markets

Source: CoinGecko.com As of 6:10PM December 8, 2024

World news

Top news stories of the past week

1) U.S. gov wants TikTok gone: A federal appeals court has upheld a law requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the app or face a ban in the U.S. by mid-January. The U.S. government is concerned about national security concerns and dismisses TikTok's claims that the law infringes on First Amendment rights. But where will I post my GRWMs?

2) France government collapse: In a historic move, French lawmakers voted to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote, marking the first such successful vote in over 60 years124. The motion passed with 331 votes, far exceeding the required 288, and was supported by an unexpected alliance between the far-right National Rally and left-wing coalition, effectively toppling Barnier's government after just three months in office.

3) John Wick in NYC: The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot in a seemingly professional targeted attack outside a Manhattan hotel. The suspect is on the run and the FBI is conducting a nationwide search with a $50K reward for any info.

Top WEIRD stories of the past week

1) Adorable world record: a 100-year-old man and a 102-year-old woman who met at their retirement home in Philly just got married and set the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest newlyweds. What was the bachelor party like?

2) Dumb world record: a serial world record-breaker from Germany reclaimed two of his former titles in a single day by drinking liters of lemon juice and lime juice.

3) A British zoo said it is down to only one female king penguin after a 10-year-old bird who has been living at the facility since 2016 was found to be male. Seems like a tough thing to get wrong.

Chart

You like charts? Graphs? Ya you do

Two charts for the price of one! This year’s performance of the S&P500 market-cap weighted (meaning regular S&P500) vs. the S&P500 equal-weighted index (meaning all stocks have the identical weight). Looks like the biggest companies are still driving performance, with the market-cap weight index outperforming by over 11%. No wonder, Nvidia, the second largest company, is up 196%!

Investment idea

What are we investing in?

Venture capital

Venture capital is money that investors put into new or growing businesses, often startups, in exchange for part ownership. The number of public companies has been going down for years, so a lot of the return opportunities are in private companies.

In 2021, the industry hit an all-time high with $330 billion invested globally, fueled by massive deals like Stripe raising $600 million to expand its payment platform.

However, this boom didn’t last. By 2022, funding fell sharply as economic uncertainty and higher interest rates made investors more cautious, with total investment dropping nearly 50%.

Now, venture capital is starting to recover, offering exciting opportunities for investors. Companies like OpenAI have attracted major funding, signaling renewed confidence in innovative businesses. As markets stabilize, venture capital represents a chance to back the next wave of breakthrough ideas while valuations remain more reasonable than during the peak.

But how can you invest in it?

Indirectly: a private equity ETF like Invesco Global Listed Private Equity ETF

Directly: with a marketplace like Hiive. You can even buy into major private companies like SpaceX and Anthropic!

History

On this day…

…in 1965, the most boring Christmas special was released: A Charlie Brown Christmas. And it still gets TV air time every year. Who’s watching it?

Music

Banger of the week

Most important thing

Meme? Nah. Art.