House Oversight Chairman James Comer declared this week, “The walls are caving in on Tim Walz,” as a federal probe into Minnesota’s sprawling fraud scandal intensifies. Whistleblowers, mayors, and lawmakers now enter the fray, spotlighting waste in social programs that hammer everyday residents. 

The fraud Comer described reaches far beyond accounting errors. Minnesota taxpayers now must endure cuts to basic services because billions of dollars earmarked for social programs vanished due to fraudulent schemes, most of which are tied to the state’s Somali community. The scale of the fraud has forced state officials to slash budgets and shift costs to local governments, leaving mayors across Minnesota scrambling to maintain essential services like police protection, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency response without bankrupting residents through property tax hikes.

The House Oversight Committee is coordinating with federal agencies and preparing subpoenas for records and testimony to trace the money and identify the culprits. 

Comer stopped short of demanding Walz resign but made it clear that the governor cannot escape accountability. “He deserves due process, and we’re going to give him due process,” Comer said.

Walz, of course, isn’t happy about the federal investigations and insists he can 

“This [was] on my watch,” Walz said last week. “I am accountable for this, and more importantly, I am the one that will fix it.”

Walz added, “Unlike the president, I’m governor now [and] whether these programs happen before we got here or afterwards, it doesn’t matter. We’re here now. We’re the ones fixing it. You have my guarantee on this, that I certainly will have this thing fixed.”

A Walz spokesperson dismissed the congressional probe as partisan theater designed to muzzle a vocal Trump critic. “This is clearly a coordinated political attack to try to silence one of the President’s most effective critics,” the spokesperson stated. “The Governor takes fraud seriously and wishes they would too.”

Comer, however, dismissed Walz’s suggestion that the Oversight Committee should step aside and let him investigate the fraud. “No one in America believes that. We are going to investigate this,” Comer said.

The scandal traces back to at least 2020 and involves fraudulent billing across numerous government programs, concentrated heavily but not exclusively within the Somali population. Federal prosecutors revealed that the Feeding Our Future case alone, which already resulted in charges against nearly 80 people, involved roughly $250 million in bogus claims for pandemic nutrition aid. Last week, prosecutors revealed the total fraud across Minnesota’s social services system could reach $9 billion or more.

Comer emphasized that successful congressional investigations depend on insiders willing to break ranks, and he now has them. “The key to a good congressional investigation is having whistleblowers. And, fortunately for us, we have some state employees who have bravely stepped forward. We’re going to get them under oath, and they’re going to tell us everything they know. And we’re going to go from there.”

The revolt against Walz extends beyond Washington. Nearly 100 Minnesota mayors delivered a stinging rebuke Monday in a letter to Walz and state legislative leaders, blaming fraud, reckless spending, and erratic fiscal management in St. Paul for crippling their cities. “Fraud, unchecked spending, and inconsistent fiscal management in St. Paul have trickled down to our cities,” the mayors wrote. “Our state owes it to our citizens to practice responsible fiscal management and to stop taxing our families, seniors, and businesses out of Minnesota.”

The mayors also pointed to Minnesota’s declining position in national economic rankings over the past six years, echoing a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report that described the state’s trajectory as a wake-up call. Once boasting an $18 billion surplus under Walz’s watch, Minnesota now faces a projected $3 billion deficit for the 2028-29 budget cycle. This means that the mayors are now being forced to raise taxes, cut services, delay infrastructure projects, or stretch municipal employees even thinner.

With subpoenas imminent and state employees preparing to testify under oath, Walz is staring down a political reckoning that could permanently end his career. The investigation is tightening, the facts are coming to light, and the collapse of trust alone may prove impossible to overcome.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The weekly mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.18 percent for the week ending Dec. 24 as the housing market continues to lean in favor of buyers.

The 6.18 percent rate is the lowest level since 2022 and a slight decline from 6.21 percent the previous week, according to Freddie Mac data. The current rate is 0.86 percentage points below the yearly peak of 7.04 percent reached in mid-January.

The recent rate decline comes as the U.S. housing market registered 37.2 percent more sellers than buyers in November, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a statement on Dec. 23.

“That’s the largest gap in records dating back to 2013 aside from this summer. It compares with 35.6 percent a month earlier and 17 percent a year earlier,” the brokerage said.

“Redfin defines a market with over 10 percent more sellers than buyers as a buyer’s market. By this definition, it has been a buyer’s market since May 2024.”

The 37.2 percent gap translates into 529,770 more sellers in the market.

Among the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan regions, Austin, Texas, was the strongest buyer’s market last month, with 114 percent more sellers than buyers, according to Redfin.

This was followed by San Antonio, Texas; Nashville; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, each of which had sellers outnumbering buyers by more than 100 percent.

Out of the 50 metros, 36 were buyer’s markets, seven were balanced, and the remaining seven were seller’s markets.

The number of home buyers hit the second-lowest level on record in November, as many backed off amid economic uncertainty and high housing costs, the statement said.

“A modest improvement in housing affordability could bring some homebuyers off the sidelines in 2026, which could narrow the gap between homebuyers and sellers,” Redfin senior economist Asad Khan said.

“But the housing market is likely to remain in buyer’s market territory for the foreseeable future, with sellers cutting prices or offering concessions to lure buyers.”

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes inched higher this month despite businesses facing challenges such as rising construction costs, economic uncertainty, and buyer hesitation, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in a Dec. 15 statement.

“In positive signs for the market, builders report that future sales expectations have been above the key breakeven level of 50 for the past three months, and the recent easing of monetary policy should help builder loan conditions at the start of 2026,” NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz said.

The Federal Reserve has cut its benchmark interest rates three times this year, pushing it down to a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent.

In a Dec. 11 commentary, Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at real estate data company Bright MLS, suggested that even if mortgage rates were to decline further, other concerns are weighing on prospective buyers’ minds.

On the positive side, Sturtevant expects mortgage rates to fall further.

“Expect mortgage rates to ease somewhat in 2026, though Bright MLS forecasts are for rates to remain above 6 percent through the end of next year,” she wrote.

“Slightly lower rates and slower price growth should improve affordability a little, which could bring more buyers into the market.”

President Donald Trump has vowed to lower mortgage costs.

“I will announce some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history,” he said during a televised address on Dec. 17.

Trump said he plans to announce a new Federal Reserve chairman who will support lower interest rates, which will trigger further decline in mortgage rates.

He suggested that illegal immigration under the Biden administration contributed significantly to housing costs.

“Over 60 percent of growth in the rental market came from foreign migrants,” the president said. “For the first time in 50 years, we are now seeing reverse migration as migrants go back home, leaving more housing and more jobs for Americans.”

On Western Christmas, December 25, Russian nuclear-capable bombers conducted a “scheduled” flight over waters in the Arctic region, specifically in neutral waters of the Norwegian and Barents Seas. This prompted “fighter jets of foreign countries” to escort them and mirror them from afar, Russia’s defense ministry has confirmed.

While the country origins of the Western aircraft which responded remain unclear, the Kremlin had notified NATO in advance of the somewhat routine flight path. The bodies of water in question lie north of Scandinavia and northwest of Russia, which is quite far from the UK, and yet British media did what they do best: exaggerate and hype Russian nuclear bombers being “sent” by Putin “to the UK”…and on Christmas!

And never mind the fact that for Russia and its Orthodox Church, it is not Christmas. Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7, according the Julian calendar ecclesiastical dating system.

These bodies of water lie far away from Britain, and is a standard flight path for Russia’s military. “At certain stages of the route, long-range bombers were escorted by fighter jets of foreign countries,” the Russian defense ministry disclosed.

The ministry further said that such flights “regularly take place in many regions and are in accordance with international law.”

Highlighting that these bombers were not at all ‘sent’ to the UK, one political commentator says as follows:

British media outlets like the Mirror and The Sun have reported that Russian nuclear-capable bombers flew a long-range patrol over the Norwegian Sea on Christmas Day Dec 25, 2025. Which was described as a deliberate act close to the notional “Santa Claus flight path”. NATO warplanes were scrambled to monitor the aircraft.

This is how the media spinned it! When it was two Russian Tu-95MS long-range bombers known as “Bears” that conducted a scheduled routine, seven-hour flight over “neutral waters” in the Barents and Norwegian Seas. The media made it sound like they were threatening NATO. When NATO was informed by the Russians the path that was taken.

The distant, far northern body of water in question…

Similar Russian bomber flights have recently occurred over the Sea of Japan, and in coordination with China’s military in the East China Sea, and such flight paths have even lately traversed the Black Sea.

Given the Ukraine proxy war is about to reach its fourth year, we are indeed living in dangerous times, but the situation is not helped when European press endlessly fearmongers and exaggerates. Of course, this is stoked by defense officials in London and Brussels, who keep pushing for bigger defense budgets, and for taxpayers to keep on funding Ukraine. 

NATO apparently wanted young British boys and girls to know that its warplanes are keeping European skies safe from the ‘Russian aggressor’… 

Poland said it scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to intercept a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near its airspace over the Baltic Sea, and reported that dozens of objects crossed into the country from Belarus overnight, with some officials saying these are intentional provocations timed during a holiday period.

The Polish military said that jets intercepted, visually identified and escorted the Russian surveillance plane away from their area of responsibility while it was flying over international waters close to Poland’s airspace.

It said in reference to both the aircraft activity and large balloon incursions from Belarus, “the mass nature of the violation of Polish airspace, its occurrence during the special holiday season, the assessment of the Russian aircraft’s activity in the ‌Baltic Sea, and the fact that similar incidents have recently occurred in Lithuania, may indicate that this was a provocation disguised as ​a smuggling operation.”

NATO countries along the alliance’s eastern flank remain on heightened alert after a series of provocative airspace incidents, including an episode in September when three Russian military aircraft entered Estonian airspace for over ten, shortly after more than 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland.

For another example, Lithuania has previously alleged that smuggler balloons originating from Belarus have repeatedly disrupted air traffic, at times forcing the closure of Vilnius airport.

Lithuanian officials claim that the balloons, which are used to transport cigarettes or other non-taxed contraband, amount to a form of “hybrid attack” by Belarus, a close ally and ‘Union State’ with Russia. However, the Lukashenko government has firmly denied any involvement.

The Polish military has said that as a result of the latest incidents, airspace over parts of the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland, which borders Belarus, was temporarily closed to civilian flights as a security precaution.

These Eastern European and Baltic countries are trying to coordinate their responses and present a united NATO front. According to Fox, “Polish authorities said the response included support from NATO allies, with Spanish aircraft assisting in air policing and Dutch forces providing air defense systems support.”

Some reports have tallied that Russian aircraft or drones have breached eastern European airspace well over a dozen times at this point, since the Ukraine war began.

According to Business Insider, the company Atreyd has sent a “drone wall” to Ukraine for testing, designed to intercept Shaheds and KABs. Thanks to AI, a single operator can control a hundred drones simultaneously. Production is already established in France and Ukraine, and the… pic.twitter.com/jyo9PXQpXT

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) November 12, 2025

NATO and the European Union have lately said they are working on plans for a ‘drone wall’ for collective defense along the eastern flank, with an eye on the ‘Russian threat’ facing European skies.

Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge granted a temporary injunction on Dec. 25 to block the Trump administration from detaining and deporting Imran Ahmed, an activist among those recently subjected to visa restrictions by the State Department for alleged censorship.

Ahmed, CEO of U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is a British citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the visa bans on Dec. 23 while condemning the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), naming several former EU officials, as well as prominent activists who had a part in formulating the DSA.

The announcement followed the EU opening formal proceedings against X under the DSA, alleging “dissemination of illegal content.” U.S. officials decried the move as censorship.

Ahmed sued on Dec. 24 in a bid to stop deportation proceedings, naming Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons, acting Field Office Director of the New York ICE office Judith Almodovar, and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers in the complaint.

Rogers had accused Ahmed of collaborating “with the Biden Administration’s effort to weaponize the government against U.S. citizens” in a social media post on Dec. 23, writing that his organization published the “infamous ‘disinformation dozen’ report” that spurred a campaign to de-platform those questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Leaked documents from CCDH show the organization listed ‘kill Musk’s Twitter,’ and ’trigger EU and UK regulatory action’ as priorities,” Rogers wrote.

“The organization supports the UK’s Online Safety Act and EU’s Digital Services Act to expand censorship in Europe and around the world.”

Ahmed argued in his complaint that the sanctions were political retaliation and violated the First Amendment.

“Immigration enforcement—here, immigration detention and threatened deportation—may not be used as a tool to punish noncitizen speakers who express views disfavored by the current administration,” the complaint said.

“Mr. Ahmed’s effort to protect children from social media dangers and harmful hate speech does not present ’serious foreign policy consequences’—any more than do the actions of the United Kingdom and European Union legislators who voted to pass the laws that Secretary Rubio apparently does not like,” the plaintiff argued in a separate court filing.

Ahmed is also arguing a violation of his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, a violation of immigration laws by tying his speech and views to a cause for deportation, and that the executive branch has exceeded its jurisdiction. The complaint reaffirmed CCDH’s support for the DSA.

U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick has set a hearing in the case for Dec. 29.

“The Supreme Court and Congress have repeatedly made clear: the United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country or reside here,” a State Department spokesperson said.

A new study finds Facebook hosts the vast majority of social media scams, and critics argue it is because Meta prioritizes profit over protecting users, according to the New York Post.

Internal documents obtained by Reuters show Meta projected $16 billion — about 10% of revenue — from scam ads last year. Experts say the company only bans advertisers when its systems detect a 95% probability of fraud, while charging higher ad fees to suspicious buyers, a system critics describe as “pay to play.”

Former California prosecutor Erin West says the documents prove fraud is a “major moneymaker” for Meta. “To know that Facebook is aware of this and they tolerate it — and in fact, they even command additional fees from the worst offenders — is egregious… the practice itself is outrageous, jaw-dropping, unacceptable.”

Data from fraud-reporting firm SafelyHQ shows Facebook is cited in 85% of scam reports that identify a platform, with more than 50,000 verified complaints collected so far. CEO Patrick Quade says the problem is far larger: “For 50,000 people to find us and independently document their losses implies a victim count in the tens of millions… This isn’t ‘cherry-picking’ — it is the overflow of a systemic failure that Meta’s own documents confirm.”

One victim, Brian Kuhn, lost $70 buying records from a fake Facebook sale. “It felt a little creepy that they seemed to know my taste so well… I somehow blame myself equally, but that doesn’t excuse Facebook from allowing the thieves to prey on people.”

The Post writes that lawmakers Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have demanded a federal investigation, writing: “Perversely, Meta reportedly charges higher rates for ads that it suspects might be fraudulent — in effect, imposing a scam tax…”

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denies the claims, saying: “We aggressively fight fraud and scams… Scammers are persistent criminals…”

Yet internal Meta reports from 2025 found the company was involved in one-third of successful U.S. scams and that it was “easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.”

Another victim, Betty, who bought counterfeit cosmetics from a Facebook ad, described the platform’s targeting: “You like one thing or look at something or you make a comment about one thing and then these ads appear… Some are really good — they’re fake, but you really can’t tell at first.”

Quade warns that “the ‘fox’ isn’t even guarding the henhouse — it’s charging a toll for other foxes to walk right in… Meta’s system is algorithmically trapping regular citizens in e-commerce scams…”

Consumer Reports and policy experts argue Meta’s protection under Section 230 must be narrowed, especially for paid ads. As Quade concludes, “You can’t let the company profiting from the crime be the one in charge of stopping it.”

Authored by Ciaran Lyons via CoinTelegraph.com,

Bitcoin’s market fundamentals have stayed strong in 2025, despite the asset’s price and sentiment declining toward the end of the year, says Strategy CEO Phong Le.

“The fundamentals of the market this year for Bitcoin couldn’t be better,” Le told the “Coin Stories” podcast on Tuesday, emphasizing that he doesn’t care too much about its short-term performance. 

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $125,100 on Oct. 5, but has since declined nearly 30%, trading at $87,687 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.

Meanwhile, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which measures overall market sentiment, has shown “Extreme Fear” since Dec. 12.

Le acknowledged that Bitcoin’s price “does what it does” and isn’t always easy to explain. 

“When you’re an investor, you think about the long term of the asset class,” he said. 

Bitcoiners should be “fairly methodical” about short-term price

Le stressed that short-term price action is often unpredictable and Bitcoiners should be “fairly methodical and mathematical about it.” 

“Which is why we focus on things like mNAV, why we built out the Bitcoin treasury and why we built out the US dollar treasury,” he said.

Strategy CEO Phong Le spoke to Natalie Brunell on the Coin Stories podcast. Source: Coin Stories

Alongside Bitcoin’s price decline, Strategy’s (MSTR) mNAV, the company’s market value compared to the value of its Bitcoin holdings, has fallen below 1, trading at 0.93, according to Saylor Tracker. The company holds 671,268 Bitcoin worth around $58.63 billion.

Looking at the long-term fundamentals, he pointed to the US government being “fully supportive of Bitcoin like it’s never been before.” 

TradFi is trying to “figure out” how to catch up

Le said that he and Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, have been meeting with traditional banks across the US and UAE, where institutions are trying to figure out how to catch up.

“If you think about what’s happening with traditional powers of the world. The US government, the US banking system, they are all getting on board with Bitcoin,” Le said.

“That’s extremely bullish for this year and 2026,” Le added. While US President Trump signed the executive order officially establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile in March, a formalized strategic plan has not been confirmed yet. 

Some analysts had forecasted it coming to fruition this year.

Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research, Alex Thorn, said in September that “there’s a strong chance the US government will announce this year that it has formed the strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

Yet another Biden family photo has become a punch line on social media, and trust me, this one is a doozy.

Biden shared the image around 9 p.m. on December 24, accompanied by a fairly boilerplate message: “Wishing you a peaceful and joyful Christmas Eve filled with love.

The strange part? You kinda had to play a game of Where’s Waldo just to spot him.

Wishing you a peaceful and joyful Christmas Eve filled with love. pic.twitter.com/OB5GouvxTJ

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 25, 2025

Hunter Biden and his adult daughter, Maisy, grabbed the prime spots front and center in front of the Christmas tree, whereas Biden is shoved to the back, his face partially hidden behind his wife, Jill Biden. Seven family members made it into the shot, including Joe’s daughter and former showering partner, Ashley—I had to say it—and Hunter’s current wife, Melissa.

Now, one thing is clear from this photo: there was ample room for them to spread out. There was simply no reason for Biden to be pushed to the background. Frankly, it’s bizarre that the supposed patriarch of the family, and, you know, the former president-ish of the United States, ended up tucked in a corner like an afterthought, or like he was being deliberately hidden.

At least Hunter is fully clothed in this photo.

Social media users had a field day with the awkward composition.

I think it’s disrespectful to put the eldest family member in the back of a photo taken for the former president’s social media.

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) December 25, 2025

Where’s Joe?

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 25, 2025

Took me a while to find ya, champ. pic.twitter.com/bRoP2dBeFP

— Apple Lamps (@lamps_apple) December 25, 2025

Why are you in the back, blocked by jill

— Official Ohio State DG (@DylanEveryday) December 25, 2025

This Christmas photo follows an unfortunate pattern of Biden appearing lost or hidden in group settings. Back in April 2022, Barack Obama visited the White House when Biden signed yet another Obamacare fix. After the signing, Biden found himself standing alone on stage, practically invisible as Democrats swarmed Obama as if he, not Biden, were the star of the event. Video showed Biden raising his hands in apparent frustration as the crowd ignored him completely.

Then came the April 2025 Easter family photo that sparked its own controversy. Biden appeared awkwardly positioned and formally dressed in a navy suit while everyone else wore casual clothing. His stiff pose and mismatched lighting prompted widespread speculation that he’d been photoshopped into the image.

We wish everyone celebrating today a peaceful and joyful Easter. pic.twitter.com/GQNsdZNaw1

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 20, 2025

Hunter was notably absent from that particular family portrait.

But, back to the Christmas photo.

As Andy Ngo noted, setting aside Biden’s status as the former sort-of president, putting the eldest member of the family in the back of a photo like this is quite disrespectful. I mean, this is the guy whose influence in Washington, D.C. helped enrich the Biden family for years. Put the guy in a chair and have everyone stand around him for crying out loud. That said, Biden has never seemed to command respect from people, whether it’s his own party or, now, apparently, his own family. It’s sad, really.

If this is how Joe Biden is treated for a photo meant to be posted on social media, how badly is he treated in private?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with US President Donald Trump on Sunday in Mar-a-Lago to talk peace with Russia, Zelensky’s top officials have confirmed. Ukraine is touting that a deal is close – and yet outside observers might easily note that huge hurdles remain.

Zelensky also stated on Telegram that “Many things can be decided before the new year.” And yet he is still rejecting Russia’s main sticking point – the demand to control the entirety of the Donbas region under any final peace settlement. Moscow also wants international legal recognition (and so, from Washington) of the eastern territories as being part of the Russian Federation.

Some level of progress must have been made in negotiations over the draft – at least from the US point of view – given that Trump said previously he would only meet Zelensky if he felt a deal was close.

Zelensky said Friday morning, “We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level — with President Trump in the near future. A lot can be decided before the New Year.”

At the same time, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia had received and reviewed information shared by Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev following his recent talks with the Witkoff-Kushner delegation in Miami. Crucially the latest talks included top negotiators from both Russia and Ukraine directly engaging. 

A senior US official characterized the talks involving envoys Rustem Umerov and Kirill Dmitriev as “positive and constructive.”

“We’ve gone as far as possible with the Russians and the Ukrainians. We’ve made more progress in the last two weeks than the last year. We want to push the ball into the goal. We’re heading in the right direction,” the official was quoted in Axios as saying.

Another point of contention between Moscow and Kiev is expected to be the strong security guarantees for Ukraine backed by the West. Zelensky has been pushing that they are akin to NATO’s Article 5 – but it’s unlikely the Kremlin would go for anything approaching this language. 

Breakthrough on the territory issue? Not likely from Russia’s point of view, given that what Zelensky is proposing still sounds like a temporary solution, and not the kind of full, legal, and permanent recognition the Kremlin seeks. Russia has emphasized many times it won’t contemplate a merely temporary truce.

Ukraine is ready to withdraw ‘heavy forces’ from the parts of the Donbas region it still controls if Russia mirrors the pullback as part of a peace deal, the Ukrainian president said. https://t.co/TYR3EghM4f pic.twitter.com/u85fSKR0re

— Financial Times (@FT) December 24, 2025

“The U.S. and Europe will provide Ukraine with security guarantees. If Russia invades Ukraine there will be a military response and sanctions will be reinstated,” Zelensky told reporters earlier this week.

As for the still open question of territorial concessions, Zelensky has maintained that if land is given up, then this must be decided by the Ukrainian people in a popular referendum. But of course, the country still hasn’t had a single parliamentary or presidential vote since the war began, so it’s hard to see how such a referendum would actually happen anytime soon.

US equity futures are little changed in thin trading with most traders away from the screens, while the bulk of overnight actions was once again in gold and silver as precious metals soared to a new record high driven by feverish Chinese demand. As of 8:15am, S&P futures were flat after closing Wednesday’s session at a new record high, while Nasdaq 100 futs were fractionally in the green. Asian markets were mostly higher while European bourses are closed. The dollar was unchanged as were treasuries, with the benchmark 10-year yield at 4.13%. There is no macro on today’s calendar. 

In premarket trading, Mah 7 stocks were mixed (Nvidia +0.7%, Tesla +0.2%, Alphabet +0.1%, Apple little changed, Amazon -0.1%, Meta Platforms -0.1%, Microsoft -0.2%).

• Miners including Coeur (CDE) and Freeport (FCX) are higher as gold, silver and platinum jumped to all-time highs and copper surged to a record in Shanghai and rallied in New York.
• Biohaven (BHVN) drops 14% after a mid-stage study of the company’s experimental drug BHV-7000 for the treatment of major depressive disorder missed the primary endpoint.
• Coupang (CPNG) gains 6.3% after Yonhap News reported the e-commerce company has identified the former employee who allegedly accessed personal data of 33 million customers; the company has retrieved all hard disk drives and devices that the ex-worker used.

As the Santa Rally accelerates, the MSCI All Country World Index gained 0.1%, rising for a seventh day, while a gauge of Asian stocks climbed 0.2%; Australia, Hong Kong and markets in Europe remain for holidays. Bloomberg’s index of the dollar held near the lowest since October. Treasuries were little changed, with the benchmark 10-year yield at 4.13%. 

Once again, the bulk of the overnight action was in gold and silver, which jumped as escalating geopolitical tensions and dollar weakness helped extend a historic rally for precious metals. Spot silver advanced for a fifth day, climbing as much as 5.2% to cross $75 an ounce for the first time. Gold, set for its best annual advance since 1979, rose as much as 1.2% to above $4,500 an ounce.

Copper surged to a record in Shanghai and rallied in New York, adding to substantial annual gains as investors bet on tighter global supplies in 2026, while also pricing in the impact of a weaker US dollar.

Meanwhile, the “Santa Claus Rally” which we said would be unleashed by Abu Dhabi’s bailout of OpenAI’s funding plans last week, is set to push stocks to fresh records even as exuberance over artificial intelligence and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path are being questioned. The rally is traditionally seen as taking place on the final five trading sessions of a year and the first two of the new one. Of course, the rally can well start early, and it did just that with the S&P 500 rising Wednesday for a fifth day in a shortened session ahead of the Christmas holiday. 

“As equity markets enter the fourth year of a bull market, our underlying market call remains constructive,” Scott Chronert, head of US equities strategy at Citigroup Inc., wrote in a note this week. “The current fundamental backdrop clearly has the opportunity for an ongoing AI-related tailwind to large-cap growth.”

After earlier concerns over high valuations for tech stocks amid the AI boom, traders are regaining confidence that companies will deliver solid earnings growth in 2026.

European bourses are  closed; Asian stocks extended gains for the week, helped by advances in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed as much as 0.5%, putting the gauge on track for its best week since late November. Samsung Electronics, TSMC and SK Hynix were among the biggest boosts to the index’s gain. Markets in Hong Kong, Australia and Indonesia remained closed for a holiday. Markets fell in Vietnam, Thailand and India.

Tech shares traded higher, amid a year-end rally in US peers, with Samsung Electronics rising to an all-time high. Japanese stocks rose as tech shares and exporters bolstered the indexes, while buying in dividend names also lifted shares. Mainland China shares rose, with gains in stocks related to solar, precious metals, lithium batteries and new energy vehicles boosting the gauge.

“China equity markets enter 2026 with the wind at their back, and new momentum from advanced manufacturing and tech self-sufficiency drivers,” according to a note by UBS CIO. “With domestic investors on board and global investors adjusting their stance, we see more upside ahead, even if occasional volatility and geopolitical squalls lie on the horizon.”

“There were AI-related concerns earlier this month, but those seem to have been digested by the market,” said Tetsuo Seshimo, a portfolio manager at Saison Asset Management in Tokyo.

In FX, the yen weakened 0.4% to about 156.44 to the dollar after a report showed Tokyo’s inflation cooled more than expected as pressures from food and energy prices faded. That triggered weakness in the currency on bets the Bank of Japan may push back the timing of its next rate hike. Meanwhile, China set the yuan’s daily reference rate at a level that was below market estimates by a record margin, in the latest sign of policymakers’ intention to slow the currency’s appreciation.

The move came after the offshore yuan advanced past the psychological level of 7 per dollar on Thursday for the first time since September 2024. The PBOC has steered the yuan toward a path of appreciation to appease Beijing’s trading partners, but has sought to maintain a gradual pace of gains to avoid a surge of hot-money inflows.

In commodities, oil headed for the biggest weekly gain since October, as traders tracked a partial US blockade of crude shipments from Venezuela and a military strike by Washington against a terrorist group in Nigeria.