NEWS
Investors Beef Up Their 2025 Portfolios

Source: Tenor.com

U.S. stocks took a bullish turn after several big tech headlines brought buyers out of the woodwork. During these first few trading days, investors are asking themselves whether the winners of 2023 and 2024 will remain so. Based on today’s price action, it appears many are betting on that exact thing happening. 👀

Today’s issue covers last year’s winners catching a major bid, why traders are betting on higher beef prices, and other noteworthy pops & drops. 📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 9 of 11 sectors closed green, with consumer discretionary (+2.02%) leading and consumer staples (-0.05%) lagging.

Source: Finviz.com

And here are the closing prices: 

Most bullish/bearish symbols on Stocktwits at the close: 📈 $FCUV, $CRNC, $MBOT, $IRBT, $EKSO 📉 $CVNA, $HEPA, $CELH, $FCX, $UPS

*If you’re a business and want to access this data via our API, email us.

STOCKS
Buyers Renew Bets On Biggest Winners 💵 

While many of the stock market’s strongest leaders experienced some weakness during December, investors are seemingly buying the dip to start 2025. Let’s review some of the biggest movers and themes from the day:

The Biden administration’s clean hydrogen tax credits caused a surge in nuclear energy stocks like Oklo, NuScale, Vistra, Constellation Energy, and more. Traditional oil and gas stocks were also in focus, with oil prices breaking out of their recent consolidation. ⚡️ 

MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and other crypto-related stocks rebounded alongside Bitcoin, despite its spot ETFs experiencing over $325 million in outflows to start 2025. 🪙 

Nvidia shares popped 5% ahead of CEO Jensen Huang’s presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025) on Monday evening. The company is widely expected to unveil its next-generation GeForce RTX 5000 series of graphics cards. On top of that, Microsoft said it expects to spend $80 billion on AI-enabled data centers in fiscal 2025, reinforcing the bullish outlook for the entire space. 💾 

Commercial drone stocks like Ondas Holdings remain in the spotlight. The company announced it has secured a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) waiver for its drone maker subsidiary, American Robotics. Drones, robots, and rockets remain a key theme for investors into 2025. 🤖 

We’ll have to see if this trend continues. For now, the first couple of days of 2025 have been good for last year’s big winners. We’re crowdsourcing the community’s best trade ideas for the year ahead; share yours down below! 👇️ 

STOCKTWITS COMMUNITY INSIGHTS
Share Your Top Trade Ideas For 2025! 🧠 

Hundreds of Stocktwits users have shared their best ideas as we gather the community’s views and give out Stocktwits Edge to some of our favorites! While many fan favorites have been mentioned, dozens of under-followed stocks and ideas are being discussed. So come check’em out and share your top picks!

Source: Stocktwits.com

COMMODITIES
Holy Cow, Cattle Price Hit All-Time Highs 🤠 

Commodities were a mixed bag last year, but some of the biggest winners, like cocoa and orange juice, showed that when multiple conditions stack against a commodity…its prices can get out of hand very quickly.

That’s why some traders are looking to “beef up” their portfolios with exposure to live and feeder cattle as their futures contracts creep to new all-time highs. 🤯 

Source: TradingView.com

So, what’s driving this trend, and can it continue? Over the last few years, the cattle industry has been hit by a number of factors leading to low market supply. 🔻 

On the supply side, increased production costs (like feed) during the pandemic made it more expensive for farmers to maintain and grow their herds. In 2022 and 2023, drought conditions in key farming regions caused farmers to sell off parts of their herds for slaughter, reducing the number of cows further. Lastly, rising interest rates have made financing more expensive for farmers, reducing their capacity to expand their herds and overall businesses.

While some of these conditions have improved, it takes time for farmers to rebuild their seedstock cattle (used for breeding) and overall cow population. As a result, the U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest size in several conditions. On top of that, a ban on cattle imports from Mexico will also pressure supply until a resolution occurs. 

Meanwhile, beef demand has remained strong due to the strength in the overall U.S. economy. When the economy weakens, consumers will typically trade down to cheaper protein options like chicken, but when people have the discretionary income available, they prefer to “beef up” their grocery hauls with prime cuts of meat. 🛒 

For investors, there are few direct ways to play this theme outside of the futures markets. Some ETFs, like the Invesco DB Agriculture Fund ($DBA), will offer partial exposure to live and feeder cattle alongside several other agriculture-related commodities.

Other than that, many keep track of these prices as a read-through on inflation or as headwinds/tailwinds for companies they own. After all, higher beef prices can be good or bad, depending on which part of the supply chain you’re a part of. 🤷 

Anyway, that’s the skinny on beefed-up cattle prices. This is expected to be a major commodity market theme in 2025, which is why investors and traders are highlighting this breakout in prices and projecting further gains ahead. 🐂 

STOCKS
Other Noteworthy Pops & Drops 📋️ 

Anheuser-Busch (-3%): Shares of major alcoholic drink makers declined Friday after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory outlining the link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk.

Cerence Inc. (+142%): The SoundHound AI rival expanded its collaboration with Nvidia to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) vehicle product lineup.

Rivian (+24%): The electric vehicle manufacturer reported Q4 production of 12,727 vehicles and deliveries of 14,183 from its Normal, Illinois facility. For the full year, Rivian produced 49,476 vehicles and delivered 51,579 — meeting its lowered 2024 guidance of 47,000-49,000 vehicles produced and 50,500-52,000 delivered.

U.S. Steel (-5%): The Biden administration blocked the steelmaker’s roughly $15 billion acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel.

Ford (+2%): The automaker reported its best annual U.S. vehicle sales since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted operations.

SuperCom (+16%): The IT solutions provider beat incumbents to win the contracts from agencies in Kentucky. As a part of the deal, SuperCom will leverage its public safety technologies to enhance monitoring capabilities.

N2Off Inc. (+142%): The company announced progress in its Germany solar project and signed a binding term sheet with Solterra Brand Services Italy (SBSI) to develop a new solar project in Sicily, Italy.

PRESENTED BY STOCKTWITS
Daily Rip Live: Guest Host Michael Nauss, CMT 🧑‍🏫 

Michael Nauss, CMT of Stats Edge Trading shares his technical views on the market, covering Bitcoin’s consolidation near $90,000, Tesla’s resilience, quantum computing and AI disruption, and the surge in uranium stocks. Plus, small-caps, semiconductors, psychedelics, and other trends shaping 2025.

COMMUNITY VIBES
One Tweet To Sum Up The Week 👀 

Here are the best-performing S&P 500 stocks from 2024…

🥇 $PLTR +340.4%
🥈 $VST +258%
🥉 $NVDA +171.1%
4. $UAL +135.3%
5. $GEV +133.3%

— Stocktwits (@Stocktwits)
4:19 PM • Jan 2, 2025

Links That Don’t Suck 🌐

🚘️ US new car sales rose to five-year high in 2024, helped by hybrids

💊 Lilly asks to join lawsuit over compounded versions of its weight-loss drugs

🖼️ Getty Images considers merger with Shutterstock, Bloomberg reports

👂️ Apple to pay $95 million to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping

🏦 Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac shares surge after federal agencies reveal privatization path

🤔 Sober-curious? Here’s what to know about Dry January, the alcohol abstinence challenge

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