Happy Friday afternoon to everyone on The Street. Here's a snapshot of where markets ended the trading session, plus tomorrow's trade idea delivered to you today.

• 🟨 | US stocks were mixed to end the week, with the Nasdaq Composite rising, the S&P 500 closing at the flatline, and the Dow ticking down for its longest losing streak since 2020.

• 📈 | One Notable Gainer: Broadcom’s stock soared nearly 25% following its earnings beat after the bell yesterday, with its market cap breaching $1T for the first time.

• 📉 | One Notable Decliner: Shares of fellow chipmaker NVIDIA shed more than 2% following some bearish analysis, and Microsoft once again dethroned it as the world’s most valuable company.

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MARKET MOVERS

Tesla, Airbnb, Walgreens

TSLA (+4.3%) Exclusive: Trump transition recommends scrapping car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Tesla (Reuters)

ABNB (-4.7%) Airbnb’s anti-party tech is cracking down on ‘unauthorized’ get togethers (The Verge)

WBA (+6.8%) Boots bidder lines up banks to finance $10bn takeover deal (Sky News)

SCHW (-4%) Coinbase Will Surpass Charles Schwab As Most Valuable Brokerage in the World, According to Bitwise – Here’s Why (The Daily Hodl)

RH (+17.1%) RH says demand is through the roof despite ‘worst’ housing market in decades (MarketWatch)

OVERHEARD ON THE STREET

NYT: In a new op-ed, UnitedHealth’s new CEO acknowledged “the health care system is flawed” following the former chief exec’s assassination.

WSJ: Trump advisers are exploring ways to reduce or eliminate banking regulations, including asking potential nominees if the President-elect could abolish the FDIC.

CNBC: OpenAI revealed emails that show co-founder Elon Musk advocated for a for-profit structure for the company as early as 2017.

AP: Speaking of Musk, the X CEO says the SEC is demanding he pay a penalty or face charges over disclosures of his Twitter stock purchases.

Axios: Amazon confirmed it donated $1M to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural fund, a day after Meta announced a similar contribution.

TOMORROW’S TRADE IDEA, TODAY

Exxon’s Spending Spree

Checkbook Open

ExxonMobil (XOM) has announced plans to invest heavily in a number of projects over the next six years. Its primary focus is on low-cost oil and gas extraction in places like the Permian Basin, along with liquefied natural gas production.

According to CEO Darren Woods, these investments will pay off even if oil prices drop dramatically.

It’s an unusual move in the broader context of the sector. Chevron (CVX), one of Exxon’s chief competitors, plans to cut back on capital expenditures by a whopping $2 billion next year alone.

In On AI

Exxon is aiming to increase oil and gas production to 5.4 million barrels per day by 2030, up from 3.7 million in 2023. The company believes that, at $65 per barrel prices, this will boost annual earnings by $20 billion and cash flow by $30 billion.

It is also entering the AI data center arena, with plans to build a natural gas plant to provide these power-hungry facilities with much-needed energy.

According to Exxon, this plant will be disconnected from the electricity grid, meaning customers will not have to wait for transmission lines to be built.

Steady Strength

Exxon outspending its peers is nothing new — and it’s paying off. Its stock is up nearly 60% over the past five years, surpassing all of its competitors.

But the love from the Street hasn’t been as strong this year. The stock is up more than 10% YTD, but has fallen nearly 8% in the past month, after analysts issued warnings on oil prices in 2025. JPMorgan (JPM) analysts went as far as to say that they are “outright bearish” on the commodity.

However, the company appears to be in the process of separating its success from oil prices. You know what they say: you need to spend money to make money. And if Exxon’s leadership is to be believed, its spending might just be investors’ gain.

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ON OUR RADAR

Barron’s: The stock market could gain another 20% in 2025, as Wall Street's forecasts are too cautious, given looming deregulation and AI growth.

CNN: As drug stores struggle, Walgreens is one of the worst-performing stocks over the past five years, dropping more than 80%.

WSJ: Netflix is leaving behind its parental leave benefits, leading employees to worry that the company is losing the identity that drove its success.

BI: Mark Zuckerberg donated a gold-plated chain to a charity auction organized by his sister. Here’s what one of the top bidders had to say.

Bloomberg: LEGO flowers are some of the bestselling toys of the 2024 holiday season.

THURSDAY’S POLL RESULTS

Are you bullish or bearish on Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) over the next 12 months?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🐂 Bullish

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🐻 Bearish