Another Monday, another melt-up. Markets opened with fireworks—AI, banks, and commodities all moving in different directions. And if you’re not paying attention to where the money is rotating, you’re going to miss the story.
Key Takeaways
AI boom goes vertical
- AMD ripped 35% after OpenAI announced a major stake and chip deal. That’s vertical integration at work—chipmakers and AI platforms blurring together.
- Nvidia slipped on the news, but you’d be insane to think they don’t punch back.
Banking consolidation heats up
- Fifth Third just dropped $10.9B to buy Comerica. That’s not just a merger—it’s a symptom of reserve pressure across the system.
- Scale is survival, and the wave of regional bank M&A has officially kicked off.
Global capital flows matter
- Bank of Japan keeps devaluing the yen, Europe’s in chaos, and the Fed isn’t acting in a vacuum.
- Central bank actions abroad are driving U.S. liquidity—and that’s why the AI trade still has legs.
What I’m Watching
AMD’s gap-hold test is front and center. Sympathy flows hit Nvidia, TSM, and the AI ETFs—watch how that rotation plays out. Regional banks just got a spark, so KRE and leveraged ETFs like DPST are on the radar for momentum plays. And don’t sleep on gold, silver, and copper—China’s monetary easing is fueling raw materials in a way that still isn’t fully priced.
The market keeps handing us generational trades—AI mania, bank rollups, metals on fire. The trick is knowing which fire to feed, and when to walk away before you get burned.
Until next time,
Garrett Baldwin
TheoTRADE