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Greetings N2K reader!

I’m a bit of a cynic. I’m not sure if that’s totally clear from these emails every morning. Oh, it is?! Good. Still, this week’s World Famous News Haiku Competition™ has inspired you to write a few entries that have brought a tear to my eye. I asked you what you’re truly grateful for, this Thanksgiving, and boy, you delivered. Pick this week’s winning entry from a bumper top 10 in today’s poll.

Meanwhile, Kris Bodily didn’t even write a haiku. She just wrote a few lines that broke me down like Bill Murray at the end of “Scrooged”:

You too, Kris! And don’t even get me started on Thomas Clair’s entry, which I’ve featured to accompany today’s song of the day below.

Happy Thanksgiving, Cheddheads. I love you guys!

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• Stocks rise in time for Thanksgiving

• Should you invest in turkey🦃 ? Or in Turkey🇹🇷?

• Survive the Thanksgiving stampede

• Home, James! Judge dismisses James (Comey) and (Le …

• Amazon to invest $50B in AI centers for gov’t

• With Wicked concluded, should we leave two part mo …

• Poll of the day: Pick a winning haiku!

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.28% ) $DJI ( ▼ 0.54% ) $NDX ( ▼ 0.31% )

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$SPX ( ▼ 0.28% )  $NVDA ( ▼ 0.04% )  $META ( ▲ 0.24% )  $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.16% )  $AMD ( ▲ 1.62% )  $ANF ( ▲ 0.23% )  $KSS ( ▼ 0.31% )  $BBY ( ▼ 0.91% )  $TSN ( ▲ 0.58% )  $MKC ( ▼ 2.19% )  $CPB ( ▼ 2.07% )  $DOLE ( ▲ 0.13% )  $AMZN ( ▲ 0.03% )  $NVDA ( ▼ 0.04% )  $ANTHROPIC ( 0.0% )  $ORCL ( ▲ 0.24% )  $SFTBY ( ▲ 0.77% )  

Stocks rise in time for Thanksgiving

U.S. markets saw a broad lift on Tuesday, driven by optimism around potential interest rate cuts in December. The S&P 500 $SPX ( ▼ 0.28% ) climbed 0.7% as 80% of its components rose. However, a sharp drop in Nvidia's $NVDA ( ▼ 0.04% ) stock tempered overall gains.

Nvidia dropped 3.9% following a report about Meta $META ( ▲ 0.24% ) potentially purchasing AI chips from Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.16% ) instead. Advanced Micro Devices $AMD ( ▲ 1.62% ) also sank 6.9%, highlighting nervousness in the AI sector. Conversely, Alphabet rose 1.3%, continuing its upward trend amid excitement around its Gemini AI model.

Retail stocks experienced major swings. Abercrombie & Fitch $ANF ( ▲ 0.23% ) soared 35.1% after beating profit estimates and raising its guidance, while Kohl’s $KSS ( ▼ 0.31% ) skyrocketed 34.9% on an unexpected quarterly profit under new CEO Michael Bender. Supporting the narrative, Best Buy $BBY ( ▼ 0.91% ) rose 5.3% after lifting its annual profit forecast.

Hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut remain alive, with traders estimating an 85% probability of easing at December's meeting. “(Fed Chair Jerome) Powell doesn’t need to be the Grinch that stole Christmas,” said Brian Jacobsen, Annex Wealth Management's chief economist.

Should you invest in turkey🦃 ? Or in Turkey🇹🇷?

Every now and then my editors have a great idea. This, dear Cheddariños, is one of those times. And rather than fight them on it, I just say, “Great idea, boss! No problem!”

The question is: Should you invest in turkey? Or in Turkey? As in, the meat 🦃? Or the country🇹🇷?

First, let’s explore the meat. Stocks giving exposure to the poultry and Thanksgiving business include Tyson Foods $TSN ( ▲ 0.58% )  (down 12% in five years), McCormick & Company $MKC ( ▼ 2.19% )  (down 28.25% in five years), and Campbell’s $CPB ( ▼ 2.07% )  (down 38% in five years). There’s also Dole $DOLE ( ▲ 0.13% )  (down 2.21% in five years). In other words, if you’d invested in actual turkey-related stocks, you’d be down an average of 20% over the last five years.

Meanwhile, let’s turn our attention to the country. The Borsa Istanbul (abbreviated as BIST) is the Turkish stock exchange, and an index of its 50 largest stocks is up 685% in the last five years.

So there we have it, my friends. The answer is clear. You should invest in Turkey!

Although please note, this is #NotFinancialAdvice! Here’s a gif to drive home the point:

Song of the day: Benson Boone, ‘Beautiful Things.’

Today’s song of the day is for Thomas Clair, who says it inspired his haiku entry about things he’s grateful for, this thanksgiving:

Thomas writes: "The song that Benson Boone wrote, ‘Beautiful Things’, has inspired today’s submission. This song was released in January 2024, and the first time I heard the song was 1 April 2024, the same day that my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She is still with me fighting, but losing the war, as her CA-125 number (The number that measures cancer) keeps going up month after month even after all those chemo treatments and surgeries. This song has become our theme song, and I am so very thankful to have her in my life still. Thanks, Benson for writing the theme song to my life for the last two years. We went to see him in concert in Seattle…..amazing performer, btw.”

You’re so welcome, Thomas, and best of luck to you and your wife this Thanksgiving. That’s some nasty April Fool’s Day “gift” you got from the universe last year, isn’t it? I’ve not put your entry into today’s poll because as far as I’m concerned, it’s in a special winning category of its own. Jesus. I’m not in the book recommending business but you might find “Zero at the Bone: 50 Entries Against Despair” of interest, Thomas. It’s a memoir by a cancer survivor and poet. Or, you know, you might not. Either way: I’ll pray for you and your family.

Survive the Thanksgiving stampede

With a record 82 million Americans expected to travel more than 50 miles for Thanksgiving (I’ll be riding my bicycle a whole four miles there, and back, to the gym), navigating the holiday rush requires planning and patience. Sarah Kopit, editor-in-chief at Skift, attributes the surge to what she calls a period where "adult Americans... remember those years when we could not all get together," driving a desire "to share a meal with family and friends."

Travel patterns have also shifted, aided by remote work. Kopit notes, "you can just pack up your laptop and go to grandma's house," spreading the traditionally worst travel days — Wednesday and Sunday — to Tuesday, Monday, and the following Monday.

For the vast majority traveling by car (typically 90% of Thanksgiving travelers), Kopit advises drivers to "plan ahead, make sure you got gas in the car before you go" and to "watch for weather," which she calls a wild card.

Got it, Sarah. Stick some gas in my automobile. Where would we be without that gem?

Despite overall consumer confidence being "really quite sour," Kopit emphasizes that "people are willing to spend on travel... wanting to get out there... to spend on being with loved ones during the holidays." The travel economy is being propped up by the "luxury traveler," but Thanksgiving travel is "across the board strong."

Kopit's final, essential tips to avoid delays and cut down on headaches are: "buy your parking at the airport before you go," and remember the three main travel tips: snacks, chargers, and patience.

That actually is very good advice, Sarah. You redeemed yourself. Thank you!

Quote of the Day

Home, James! Judge dismisses James (Comey) and (Letitia) James cases

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, asserting that the prosecutor leading the cases was unlawfully appointed. The decision is a strong rebuke of the Trump administration’s legal strategy, which relied on installing Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide with (checks notes) no prosecutorial background, as an interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Judge Currie ruled Halligan’s appointment invalid, writing, “All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment… were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside.” Halligan had been chosen amid Trump’s push for charges against political adversaries, a move defense lawyers said violated federal law regarding interim appointments.

Reacting to the decision, Comey, who faced allegations of false statements and obstruction of Congress, called the case “based on malevolence and incompetence.” James, charged with mortgage fraud related to a house in Norfolk, Virginia, where I happen to live, expressed gratitude for the ruling, stating she remained “fearless in the face of these baseless charges.”

While the Justice Department vowed an immediate appeal, Currie’s dismissal leaves prosecutors scrambling — and raises questions about whether the charges could even be refiled under statutes of limitations.

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👍️ 

Yes indeed, you should.

Amazon to invest $50B in AI centers for gov’t

Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 0.03% ) is set to transform government access to cutting-edge AI tools with a massive $50 billion infrastructure commitment announced Monday. Slated to break ground in 2026 — coincidentally, the year of the midterms — the project will add 1.3 gigawatts of capacity through new data centers tailored to U.S. federal agencies, further solidifying Amazon Web Services as a powerhouse in cloud computing.

The investment will empower federal agencies with access to AWS AI tools, cutting-edge Nvidia $NVDA ( ▼ 0.04% ) chips, Anthropic’s $ANTHROPIC ( 0.0% ) Claude AI models, and Amazon’s own Trainium AI chips. AWS claims this will help agencies customize AI solutions, optimize data sets, and enhance workforce productivity. “This investment removes the technology barriers that have held government back and further positions America to lead in the AI era,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman in a statement.

Amazon isn’t alone in the race to develop AI infrastructure. Anthropic and Meta are ramping up their U.S. data center presence. Oracle $ORCL ( ▲ 0.24% ) and OpenAI, alongside SoftBank $SFTBY ( ▲ 0.77% ) , launched their Stargate initiative in January with plans to invest $500 billion over four years in AI advancements.

With AWS now serving over 11,000 government agencies, this enormous investment could mark a pivotal shift for the public sector, particularly now that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is officially no-more.

With Wicked concluded, should we leave two part movies behind?

This is the latest in a weekly guest column series by Grant Keller on the business of movies.

As “Wicked: For Good,” the second part of last year’s phenomenon simply known as “Wicked,” makes all the money in the world, let’s take a look back at the history of the two-part film trend and ask ourselves: Should it stop?

Poll of the day: Pick a winning haiku!

Poll results: You’re skeptical about the “boom times” promised, ahead…

We asked: Do you think there are "boom times" ahead?

You answered:

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ You mean like nuclear war? Then yes. (193)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes. I think the economy is going to be stronger by the 2026 midterms. (91)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Not for years and years. (176)

 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Somebody saying there are boom times ahead makes me angry, actually. (261) 

721 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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