Were the past four years a fever dream? Is it 2021 again?

Hot IPOs have been racking up outsized day-one gains in recent months. Now, crypto is getting in on the action. The looming public debut of the Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange Bullish just ballooned in size, now seeking a valuation nearing $5B. Pricing is set for tomorrow, and trading in $BLSH begins Wednesday.

RemindMe! 2 days.

Finally, read to the end for an uncharacteristically measured take on the AI takeover…

— Brooks & Cas

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Holiday performance starts now.

$ELF ( ▲ 6.33% ) Has ELF Beauty Turned A Corner? Shares Popped Today On Analyst Upgrade (IBD)

$PSKY ( ▼ 1.6% ) / $TKO ( ▼ 1.74% ) Paramount Stock Falls on UFC Deal. TKO Rises. (Barron’s)

$COIN ( ▲ 1.0% ) / $MSTR ( ▼ 0.74% ) Crypto Stocks Gain as Bitcoin Trades Near Its All-Time High (Investopedia)

$OMI ( ▼ 4.05% ) Owens & Minor stock tanks after Q2 miss, guidance (SeekingAlpha)

$TGNA ( ▼ 1.66% ) / $NXST ( ▲ 0.01% ) Tegna Stock Surges Over 28% on Nexstar Acquisition Talks (The Wrap)

CNBC: Trump signed an order extending the pause on high US tariffs for Chinese goods by 90 days following recent trade talks.

Reuters: Trump said the US will not impose tariffs on gold, easing concerns in global bullion markets.

FT: Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 0.87% ) and AMD $AMD ( ▼ 0.77% ) agreed to give the US government 15% of China chip sale revenues in exchange for an export license.

Bloomberg: Cannabis stocks surged after a report that Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana to a lower danger level.

AP: Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman said weak jobs data strengthens her case for three rate cuts this year, as most officials favor steady rates.

Despite a nearly 1,500% rise in Nvidia’s $NVDA ( ▲ 0.87% ) stock over the past 5 years, Wells Fargo $WFC ( ▲ 0.44% ) believes the AI leader still has room to run — another 20%, to be exact.

The bank hiked its price target to $220 and reiterated an Overweight rating, following today’s report that Nvidia and AMD struck an unprecedented deal with the Trump administration to resume certain chip sales in China.

Under the agreement, the companies will share 15% of revenue from specific products — like Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 — with the US government in exchange for export licenses.

For Nvidia, Wells Fargo argues that’s a green light to reclaim billions in quarterly revenue lost to the earlier ban. Analyst Aaron Rakers says the company could be back to full $8 billion-a-quarter China sales by fiscal Q4 2026.

Beyond the licensing deal, Rakers pointed to hard data that supports the bull case: stronger US imports and Taiwanese exports of automated data processing machines and healthy hyperscale capex trends. Combined, those figures suggest AI infrastructure spending is still in expansion mode.

Nvidia reports earnings on Aug. 27, and expectations are sky-high. Rakers says the China license approval could be the shot in the arm investors were waiting for, giving the company a fresh growth driver right as it steps into the earnings spotlight.

The risk? That all this optimism is already baked into the stock. The reward? If China demand ramps as quickly as Wells Fargo projects — and AI spending stays white-hot — Nvidia could potentially turn an already dominant position into an absolute runaway.

CNBC: Trump put Washington, DC’s police under federal control and deployed the National Guard, citing crime, despite official data showing declines.

Fortune: Ethereum $ETH.X ( ▲ 0.08% ) topped $4,000 for the first time in eight months as the crypto market’s value hit a record $4.15T.

AP: Ford $F ( ▲ 0.18% ) will spend nearly $2B converting its Kentucky plant to build more affordable, profitable electric vehicles.

Reuters: Brazil’s finance minister said a planned meeting with the US treasury secretary was canceled, stalling efforts to negotiate tariff relief.

WSJ: A new generation of investors, shaped by years of market gains and low rates, continues to buy dips and prop up stocks despite high valuations.

Skynet delayed indefinitely?

Trump’s crypto czar, David O. Sacks, has an uncharacteristically measured take on AI.

TL;DR: competitors keep matching each other’s progress, and models keep developing quirks instead of omniscience.

A take from a tech bro billionaire that isn’t totally dystopian? 🤯

Are you bullish or bearish on Kinross Gold Corp $KGC ( ▲ 0.26% ) over the next 12 months?

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐂 Bullish

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐻 Bearish