Rallies, Retail, and Rate Cut Rumors: TWSS 5 - 12.1.2025

Welcome back to The Weekly Sift Stack, where Tyler Sherven and CJ Gettelfinger break down the biggest stories moving markets. The markets wrapped up November on solid footing. Last week, equities and bonds ticked higher as rate-cut expectations strengthened, with CME FedWatch pricing an 88% chance of a December cut. Bitcoin (BTC) slipped again after new warnings from China’s central bank, and markets now turn to the Fed’s final policy meeting of 2025.

This week’s stock for review is Amazon (AMZN), which continues reinforcing its wide moat across e-commerce, AWS, advertising, and AI. With capex set to grow past $150 billion and another $50 billion earmarked for government-cloud expansion, Amazon is investing aggressively to stay ahead. In Weekly Insights, online Black Friday sales hit record highs, Zootopia 2 and Wicked: For Good delivered a huge box-office weekend, and President Trump confirmed he has picked the next Fed Chair, though he’s keeping the name under wraps as December’s rate decision approaches.

This material is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Any forward-looking statements or expectations regarding company earnings are based on publicly available analyst estimates and are not predictions or guarantees of future performance.