This Week in Barrons: 11.30.2025

This Market's sugar high...

Author

R.F. Culbertson
November 30, 2025

  • A little something techy … Nano Banana Pro comes to the Google Workspace.  Yep, Google’s latest image-generation model is getting integrated into Slides, Videos, and NotebookLM for easier image generation and editing.  One standout feature == a "Beautify this Slide" button.  That button (in Google Slides) takes existing slides and enhances them with just one click.  See it here.

  • A little something creepy:

    o I asked ChatGPT: “How would you numb the next generation without them knowing it?”

    o ChatGPT: “I would NOT come with violence. I’d come with convenience.  I’d keep the masses busy.  Always distracted.  I’d watch their minds rot: slowly, sweetly, and silently.  They would never know what was happening because we would call it - Freedom.”

The Market:

  • As we wrap up 2025… I'm reminded that the market is a master manipulator. It's pricing in an 85% chance of a rate cut, because who doesn't love a good illusion?

  • Apple finally dethroned Samsung… as the top smartphone maker, thanks to those juicy iPhone 17 sales and an upgrade cycle that'll keep them on top for the next decade.

  • ChatGPT thinks it's a shopping guru … but I'm still waiting for accurate results.

  • Google or Google-opoly … Warren Buffett bought in, Gemini dropped three times, and suddenly everyone realized that Google’s TPU chips were more than just background noise. They're disrupting the entire GPU ecosystem!

  • Meta wants to buy Google's chips instead of Nvidia's?  It's all about control. So, what does it mean?  The tech giants are playing a game of chess, and we're just pawns in their war for dominance.

Things I Read…  Masterworks keeps me abreast of alternative investments … Try-it-Here … R.F. Culbertson

$57 Billion in NVDA Revenue, 62% YoY Growth. And stocks still fell… What now?

Nvidia just posted a record-breaking quarter… yet the markets dropped. Why?

Experts say that even the top AI earnings couldn’t calm the fear of a potential bubble.

After soaring at the open, the S&P reversed sharply, wiping out over $2T of value in hours.

The “Great Bitcoin Crash of 2025” only wiped out ~$1T by comparison.

Wall Street’s finally asking: What if AI isn’t enough?

So, where can investors diversify when public markets stop making sense?

Now, for members-only → blue-chip art.

It’s not just for billionaires to tie the room together. It’s poised to rebound.

With Masterworks, +70k are investing in shares of multimillion dollar artworks featuring legends like Basquiat and Banksy.

And they’re not just buying. They’re selling too. Masterworks has exited 25 investments so far, including two this month, yielding net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

My subscribers skip the waitlist:

*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd

Info-Bits…  

  • Tech titans are flexing their muscles. Google's market cap hits $4T, joining Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft in a rare club.  Meanwhile, AWS is planning to invest up to $50B to build AI infrastructure for US government agencies, potentially locking out Google and Microsoft from lucrative AI contracts.

  • But here's the real kicker: Meta might spend billions on Google's tensor processing units (TPUs) for its data centers starting 2027 – a clear sign that Google is becoming a credible alternative to Nvidia's GPUs. The writing is on the wall: these companies are getting cozy, and it's only a matter of time before they start dictating the AI landscape.

  • What does this mean for us mere mortals?  Well, McKinsey says algorithms will swallow 57% of US work hours in no time – but don't worry, humans will just become their conductors. Or not. Maybe we'll all be replaced by AI before we even realize it.

  • Did you know that when people stop taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic … they tend to regain weight and lose those sweet cardiovascular benefits?

Crypto-Bytes:

  •  The crypto world is a mess.  BlackRock's IBIT, the largest bitcoin ETF, had a whopping $2.2B outflow in November. That's not exactly a vote of confidence in the volatile market. And yet, we're still being sold on the idea that AI will save us all – literally, with the White House announcing its "Genesis Project" to build an integrated AI model trained on federal data.

  • Alibaba is trying to bring sexy back to AI … by releasing Quark AI Glasses. For $500, you can get a wearable that's powered by the company's Qwen large language models – just in time for the holiday season, no less! The real question is, can they beat Meta by controlling the entire experience from hardware to checkout? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

  • And then there's DeepSeek, which has just open-sourced its DeepSeek-Math-V2 model. Because what's more exciting than a math model that rivals Google's internal heavyweight?  It's like a game-changer for engineering, where mistakes can be costly – literally.  But let's be real, this is all just an excuse to create agents that debug their own thought processes.  Yay, AI!

Things I Read… Masterworks only job is alternative investing … Give ‘em a try … R.F Culbertson.

Where to Invest $100,000 According to Experts

Investors face a dilemma. Headlines everywhere say tariffs and AI hype are distorting public markets.

Now, the S&P is trading at over 30x earnings—a level historically linked to crashes.

And the Fed is lowering rates, potentially adding fuel to the fire.

Bloomberg asked where experts would personally invest $100,000 for their September edition. One surprising answer? Art.

It’s what billionaires like Bezos, Gates, and the Rockefellers have used to diversify for decades.

Why?

  • Contemporary art prices have appreciated 11.2% annually on average

  • …And with one of the lowest correlations to stocks of any major asset class (Masterworks data, 1995-2024).

  • Ultra-high net worth collectors (>$50M) allocated 25% of their portfolios to art on average. (UBS, 2024)

Thanks to the world’s premiere art investing platform, now anyone can access works by legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso—without needing millions. Want in? Shares in new offerings can sell quickly but…

*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.

Morgan Moment(s):

  • December in crypto … where the Santa Claus Rally's sweet dreams collide with tax-loss harvesting and portfolio shuffling.  Half the market is convinced they're getting a gift, while the other half expects a lump of coal.  But here's the thing: it's all about November - if November's green, December often follows.

  • So what? You're basically flipping a coin in December … but when it works, it WORKS big time.  The average win is almost triple the average loss.  So don't bother trying to predict it; just take the gamble and hope for a green November.

  • What the heck happened on Friday?  

    o Friday morning, the futures board wasn't updating and sure-enough the entire CME was down.  Word was that a data center’s cooling room overheated – but that was fixed by the market open. 

    o In the background, silver was going nuts.  At 10:18am the COMEX fired a trading halt, but when trading resumed – silver continued to soar.  

    o After two more stop ‘n starts, trading was finally halted with silver up at an all-time high of $56.34 per ounce. 

    o I don’t know for certain that it was silver that caused the CME to halt trading 3 times on Friday, but it wouldn't surprise me.  The big guys have held silver down for decades.  If their computers were seeing relentless buying with so many big players short the metal, I wouldn't put it past the CME to yank the plug, hope things cool down, and "re-manage" the silver price this coming week.

Next Week...  This Market’s Sugar High …

  • This market's sugar high is just a temporary fix … The recent rally was fueled by liquidity injections, not fundamental changes. Don't get too comfortable; this sugar rush won't last forever.

  • Gold is setting up for a comeback.  Historically, it bottoms out in November or early December, then rallies through December into January and February - we're seeing that set up again right now.

  • What's the takeaway?  Our Fed's continued liquidity, rate cuts, and dollar debasement will drive this rally.

  • Tip #1: An institution purchased 58,000 Call Options on a GLD call spread targeting $410 by December 19th. 

  • Tip #2: Against all expectations, Bitcoin may also rally into year end.

  • Tip #3: AG = First Majestic Silver is showing bullish call buying at the $13.50 strike.  AG is showing short squeeze potential and sprinting toward $16.

  • Tip #4: BTG = B2 Gold is running toward $6 as the stock tests multi-year highs.

  • Tip #5: CGAU = Is simply running higher and forming all-time highs.

  • Tip #6: MARA = BOT the Jan 9 Call Spread: +$12 / -$14 for 65 cents.

TIPS...

  • Factually: (a) The S&P500 rebounded late-November to close “up” +0.13% on the month. (b) It’s now up 7-months in a row (n.b. win streaks often end at 7-months).  (c) LatAm (Venezuela) geopolitical risk is not being priced into markets yet.  And (d) US Small & Mid-caps look cheap vs history and vs expensive Mega caps.  Overall, per Callum Thomas: it’s looking like the November sell-off acted as a risk-clearing event, with a decline and subsequent surge in breadth.  This hints at a “stealth correction” with side-lined money taking the chance to buy on a long-awaited pullback.  As of yet, complacency is not part of this market’s playbook.

     

    HODLs: (Hold-On for Dear Life)

    - Reduce:

    o (-) Ethereum (ETH = 3,060 / in at $310)

    - Increase:

    o (+) IBIT – Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF ($51.55 / in at $24)

    o (+) Bitcoin (BTC = $91,500 / in at $4,310)

    o (+) Physical Commodities = Gold @ $4,256/oz. & Silver @ $57/oz.

    o (+) SLV (silver ETF) == ($51.2 / in at $27)

    o (+) GLD – Gold ETF ($387.8 / in at $212)

    o (+) GDX (gold miners) == ($83.2 / in at $52)

    o (+) ICSH (short term bonds = 4.65% yield == paid monthly)

     

    Please be safe out there!

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Until next week – be safe.

R.F. Culbertson