Presented by

NEWS
Ready Or Not, Here It Comes

Source: Tenor.com

Whether investors are ready or not, the final trading day of the year has arrived. As a result, many are harvesting tax losses and positioning their portfolios for the new year. Meanwhile, with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter passing away at age 100, the U.S. stock markets will be closed on January 9th in observance of the national “Day of Mourning,” making it three shortened trading weeks in a row. 👀

Today’s issue covers cold temperatures sparking a natural gas hot streak, speculation amid small-caps continuing, and more from the day. 📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 0 of 11 sectors closed green, with energy (-0.01%) leading and consumer discretionary (-1.61%) lagging.

Source: Finviz.com

And here are the closing prices: 

Most bullish/bearish symbols on Stocktwits at the close: 📈 $PERF, $NRGV, $LPSN, $WATT, $PGEN 📉 $BA, $WTI, $BYON, $VSTM, $JD*

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

COMMODITIES
Natural Gas Soars On Dropping Temperatures 🥶 

Friday we discussed crude oil catching a bid and the Stocktwits community looking for the energy sector to improve into 2025. But today, natural gas is the star of the show.

February natural gas futures soared as much as 20% to a two-year high after The Weather Company and Atmospheric G2 released an updated outlook Sunday stating that January’s temperature forecast has trended colder in the East. 🌡️ 

The report also suggested that the cold pattern in the East might hit a peak around mid-month. However, the forecasters expressed uncertainty about how temperatures might evolve in the second half of January.

Colder-than-average temperatures mean more heat will be used, and therefore, domestic natural gas demand will be higher than anticipated. 🔥 

Natural gas prices had fallen over 85% peak-to-trough from August 2022 to March 2024, but have been steadily trending higher since. Although temperatures will continue to drive short-term prices, long-term investors are focused on regulatory changes that impact domestic production and its ability to be exported. 🤔 

Source: TradingView.com

For now, though, Stocktwits users are bulled up on vehicles like $UNG and $BOIL, which track natural gas prices. In a down market, uncorrelated assets like natural gas can be a haven for traders trying to avoid equity market volatility until this latest bout of weakness ends. 🐂 

SPONSORED
Invest with the art investment platform with 23 profitable exits.

How has the art investing platform Masterworks been able to realize an individual profit for investors with each of its 23 exits to date?

Here’s an example: an exited Banksy was offered to investors at $1.039 million and internally appraised at the same value after acquisition. As Banksy’s market took off, Masterworks received an offer of $1.5 million from a private collector, resulting in 32% net annualized return for investors in the offering.

Every artwork performs differently — but with 3 illustrative sales (that were held for 1+ year), Masterworks investors realized net annualized returns of 17.6%, 17.8%, and 21.5%.

Masterworks takes care of the heavy lifting: from buying the paintings, to storing them, to selling them for you (no art experience required).

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here. 

**The content is not intended to provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investing involves risk. “Net Annualized Return” refers to the annualized internal rate of return, or IRR, net of all fees and costs, to holders of Class A shares from the primary offering, calculated from the final closing date of such offering to the date the sale is consummated. A more detailed breakdown of the Net Annualized Return calculation for each issuer can be found in the respective Form 1-U for each exit. The 3 median returns above represent the ones closest in percentage to the median of the 12 exits with holding periods over 1 year. Masterworks internally appraises artworks that are held by entities administered by Masterworks Administrative Services on an ongoing basis, and obtains an independent review of appraisals by a third-party appraiser on an annual basis.Appraisals are prepared in accordance with the 2024-2025 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (“USPAP”) developed by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation, although it is noted that there are potential conflicts of interest given that some or all individual members of the appraisal committee are employees of Masterworks and Masterworks retains an ownership interest in the subject artworks as well as ownership of the Masterworks Platform. Masterworks compiles historical data from public auctions to produce metrics that we believe can be helpful in measuring and analyzing historical trends in artist markets and the historical price appreciation of specific artworks. See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.

STOCKS
Other Noteworthy Pops & Drops 📋️ 

MicroStrategy (-11%): The company’s weekly Bitcoin buy shrunk further for the week of Dec. 23-30 as the cryptocurrency’s price hovers in the low-to-mid $90,000s.

Genius Group (+12%): The education platform acquired an additional 105 Bitcoin for $10 million, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 319 tokens.

Hesai Group (+9%): The lidar technology company announced it was the first in the industry to deliver more than 100,000 lidar units in a single month.

Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (+97%): The electric vehicle startup announced late Sunday that it will deliver the new FF 91 2.0 Futuristic Alliance electric vehicle (EV) to Luke Hans, a prominent Los Angeles Chinese community leader, in January.

Castellum Inc. (+79%): The cybersecurity company announced a $3.7 million share offering to raise working capital and support general corporate activities.

Gorilla Technology Group (+19%): The company announced an injection of $6 million in fresh capital, with an existing shareholder exercising warrants.

Cel-Sci Corp. (-28%): The company, which develops immunotherapy products to treat cancer and infectious diseases, announced its latest share offering.

Vincerx Pharma (+58%): Shares were in the spotlight over the weekend following the company’s proposed merger with Oqory, a privately-held, clinical-stage company that develops ADCs for the treatment of multiple oncology conditions.

Nano Nuclear Energy (-7%): Its 2024 net loss widened from last year’s $6.25 million to $10.15 million, but management highlighted 2025 ambitions. It is one of six contract awardees in the DOE’s Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) Enrichment Acquisition Program.

Boeing (-2%): A Financial Times report indicated South Korea intends to inspect all B737-800 Boeing aircraft of its domestic airlines amidst the deadly crash of a Jeju Air flight on Sunday. The crash killed 179 people of the 181 passengers on board in what is seen as the nation’s worst aviation disaster.

PRESENTED BY STOCKTWITS
Daily Rip Live: The Busted Santa Claus Rally 🪨 

Daily Rip Live hosts Shay Boloor and Jordan Lee discuss the holiday market woes, caution around Tesla’s recent rally, Google’s eroding search monopoly, sector rotation, and stock-specific opportunities heading into 2025. 🤩 

COMPANY NEWS
Small-Cap Speculation Continues 😵‍💫 

While many investors and traders have taken the holiday season off from trading, those who have stayed on continue to speculate in the higher-volatility areas of the market, such as small caps and crypto.

Today’s big winner was MicroCloud Hologram, which soared nearly 200% after announcing a development that shocked investors. 🤯 

It developed an advanced quantum computing solution using a fast adiabatic driving protocol to control heavy-hole spin qubits in a double quantum dot system. This solution has advantages over traditional quantum experimental protocols, including higher quantum state fidelity and better noise suppression. Its 99% quantum state fidelity positions HOLO at the forefront of quantum gate operations.

Shares rose 167%, with Stocktwits sentiment pushing into ‘extremely bullish’ territory. Even with today’s move, the stock’s market cap is just under $50 million, and its share price is still down over 99% from its 2022 peak, as the company has failed to outline a long-term path to success. Whether or not today’s announcement changes remains to be seen. But for now, momentum traders are all over this. 👀 

Source: Stocktwits.com

Links That Don’t Suck 🌐

🗓️ Get a head start on your 2025 investing resolutions with 1 month of Leaderboard for only $29*

😐️ Mercedes-backed Volocopter files for bankruptcy

🛒 Value-seekers drove 2024’s retail trends and dead ends

🍕 NYers are so desperate for this pizza, they’re hiring TaskRabbits to wait in line

👜 ‘Walmart Birkin’ goes viral: What to know about Hermès Birkin bags, $78 dupe

🍩 Dunkin’ just dropped a new menu—and fans say their ‘prayers have been answered’

🔺 Housing contract activity, thanks to more inventory, rises for fourth straight month

💰️ Assets in U.S. exchange-traded funds topped $10 trillion. Here are trends for investors to watch, experts say

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

Get In Touch 📬

Follow our social channels for great, real-time content on Stocktwits and Twitter. And check out our YouTube channel for in-depth video content! 📲

Help us deliver the best content possible by completing this brief survey. 📝

Email me (Tom Bruni) your feedback; I’d love to hear from you. 📧

Want to sponsor this newsletter and reach hundreds of thousands of passionate investors and traders? Reach us here. 

Terms & Conditions 📝

Securities Disclaimer: STOCKTWITS IS NOT A TAX ADVISOR, BROKER, FINANCIAL ADVISOR OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. THE SERVICE IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE TAX, LEGAL, FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND NOTHING ON THE SERVICE SHOULD BE CONSTRUED AS AN OFFER TO SELL, A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, OR A RECOMMENDATION FOR ANY SECURITY. Trading in such securities can result in immediate and substantial losses of the capital invested. You should only invest risk capital, and not capital required for other purposes. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether any investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal and financial situation. You should also consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation. The Content is to be used for informational and entertainment purposes only and the Service does not provide investment advice for any individual. Stocktwits, its affiliates and partners specifically disclaim any and all liability or loss arising out of any action taken in reliance on Content, including but not limited to market value or other loss on the sale or purchase of any company, property, product, service, security, instrument, or any other matter. You understand that an investment in any security is subject to a number of risks, and that discussions of any security published on the Service will not contain a list or description of relevant risk factors. In addition, please note that some of the stocks about which Content is published on the Service have a low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float. Such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information. Read the full terms & conditions here. 🔍

Author Disclosure: The author of this newsletter does not hold positions in any of the securities or assets mentioned. 📋