$Grab Holdings (GRAB.US)$ I am neutral on shares, but I bought a number of Jan and April calls on $Altimeter Growth Corp (AGC.US)$ to take advantage of the volatility spike at merger. We had very low IV and historical volatility up until Aug 30 when the Motley Fool article came out about Grab's Q1 results. The IV spiked and dipped, but is still at elevated levels compared to before Aug 30. That being said, it is still below average and way below the peak around AGC's announcement of Grab as its target. There a number of compelling reasons why I think we will see a pop before merger, with a possibility of a selloff after.

A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to not invalidate patents held by $Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS.US)$, dealing a blow to $Moderna (MRNA.US)$.
The court ruled that Moderna had no standing to appeal.
The patents in question cover a novel lipid formulation for nucleic acid delivery. These lipid nanoparticles are essential to protect mRNA therapies as they travel through the body to cells.
As a result, Arbutus may be eligible for royalties from Moderna from sales of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna had argued that the claims in the patents were obvious and upholding them would open the company to patent infringement lawsuits.

$General Motors (GM.US)$ doesn't GM have 100 bil of debt tied to ICE engines? will their EV be so profitable it will pay that debt while selling less ICE vehicles and figuring out EV? forgot about the billions of more debt they are taking out for EV. seems like a good buy

$Lucid Group (LCID.US)$ I think it should be noted that Rawlinson has been very vocal that he doesn't think Tesla is going to achieve real level 5 driving anytime in this decade.
It is interesting that Rawlinson seems to be openly inviting the big tech companies to enter into some kind of partnership. However, the fact that no partnership has been announced I find revealing. Surely Lucid and $Apple (AAPL.US)$ have had discussions. I imagine Apple is demanding too much from Lucid.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$ Giga Shanghai alone will beat VW Group in long range BEV production this year and the next year and the next year.
Just one Tesla factory is bigger than VW Group when it comes to BEVs. Efficiency is mindblowing. That is why Herbert Diess is crying out loud. The man knows the end is sooner than anybody expects.
And two more factories that dwarf Giga Shanghai is coming online with 4680.

$Twitter (Delisted) (TWTR.US)$ jumped as high as 11% this morning but closed down 2.7% on a momentous day for the company - suggesting that investors see changing CEOs from founder Jack Dorsey may not be the panacea for the company that early action suggested.
Twitter started the year out relatively well, but is now down 13.1% in 2021, and during the past two months has diverged even more from Tech's high fliers over the past few years, not to mention not keeping up with the market:
Since Dorsey returned as Twitter's CEO six years ago, the stock is up 75% - paling in comparison to Microsoft's 640% gain, Alphabet's 345% rise, Amazon.com's 580% increase and Apple's 450% jump.
Now Parag Agrawal moves up from the chief technology officer job to CEO, and is mostly winning approval from analysts and onlookers.
Baird's Colin Sebastian says "Twitter is competing in a market where the 'winners’ are engineering-oriented companies that are nimble, take risks, and prioritize technology over marketing."
$Block (SQ.US)$ - the company where Dorsey is also CEO, and where he will presumably focus his attention (along with cryptocurrency) - looks to be "at the forefront of many trends in fintech" while Twitter has been "woefully behind many in social media," WSJ's Heard on the Street notes.
Truist says the choice of Agrawal shows the focus needs to stay on products and technology: "While Jack Dorsey has founded an iconic and unique company that's been near impossible to replicate from a product standpoint, user growth, engagement and the commercialization of the platform have proven much more difficult to nail." Products are key to the better monetization the company seeks, it says.

"We are on strike!" reads a tweet this morning from product review website Wirecutter. "After two years of bargaining, The $New York Times (NYT.US)$ has continued to delay our negotiations through unfair labor practices and wage offers that significantly underpay our staff. We, members of the Wirecutter Union, are fed up. We're prepared to walk out during the Black Friday shopping week to win the fair contract we deserve."
The Times bought Wirecutter in 2016, but began selling standalone subscriptions to the website on Sept. 1. According to the company's latest earnings, Wirecutter gained 10,000 net subscriptions in the first month behind a paywall.
Wirecutter's 65 unionized staffers plan to strike through Cyber Monday, which is traditionally its busiest and most profitable of the year, said Nick Guy, Wirecutter Union unit chair. "This is the time of the year that we really work for months and months and months. I think it is an appropriate time to really show the value that we do bring to the company."
The union is seeking wage increases that total about $300,000 in the first year, as well as a 2.5% guaranteed annual wage increase and higher minimum salaries across four pay bands. So far, the Times has agreed to a 1% guaranteed annual increase plus the option for merit-based raises.
"The New York Times has a long history of productive relationships with unions to advance our shared objectives," responded Danielle Rhoades Ha, vice president of communications at the New York Times. "We're actively working with the Wirecutter Union to reach a collective bargaining agreement that continues to reward our employees for their work and contributions to the Times's success, and we look forward to continuing those negotiations at the bargaining table."
Strikes have been increasing across the U.S. labor market as workers flex their leverage to demand more from their employers. Deere was the latest to settle a month-long strike as United Auto Workers union members voted to accept an enhanced contract offer.
$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$

The values given to the new start-ups in the electrical vehicle field are extremely heavy in wishes, hopes and dreams.
They have to go a very long ways to be able to catch up with $General Motors (GM.US)$ and $Ford Motor (F.US)$. Putting together one car in a warehouse is a very long ways from being able to build and sell 1,000,000 per year. How much is it going to cost to build a plant to manufacture cars? How are the finances going to work? What about building a supply chain? What about sales and distribution? What about unionized employees. By the time those items are taken care of, their cash supply will be severely diminished.
I cannot believe that knowledgeable, serious investors are going to invest much of their hard earned money in ideas like those.
Just a thought or two.
Peace.

$Netflix (NFLX.US)$ Hated the movie so much that I watched it 3 times, mostly on background white noise, until Gal Gadot appeared on screen again. They all playing themselves, or rather, their “on screen” selves. Lousy movie but love the stock…owner since $7.63 per share….

The stock market wraps up Wednesday near session highs after the latest measure of the Fed's favorite inflation gauge arrived in line with forecasts. And the minutes of the last central bank meeting show that some officials wanted to reduce asset purchases by more than the $15B/month pace to give it more flexibility on when it could adjust interest rates.
Volume is declining as many on Wall Street get a jump on the holiday.
Buying picked up after a weak open when the core PCE price index posted an annual pace of 4.1% for October.
The $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ +0.4% creeps further into the green, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ edges up 0.2%. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ -0.03% stays under the breakeven point.
Treasury yields are are back in the red after early gains. The 10-year Treasury yield is down 3 basis point to 1.64%.
Six out of 11 S&P sectors are lower. Real Estate finishes at the top and Info Tech is in positive territory. Materials is the largest decliner in the session.
Retail is seeing big selloffs, with Gap down 24% and Nordstrom down nearly 30%.
Megacaps are mixed, with Meta in the lead and Amazon trailing.
In a recent note, Morgan Stanley says Big Tech is still underowned.
In other economic reports, personal income and spending rose for October, while the pace of new home sales came in lower than anticipated and November consumer sentiment fell less than expected.
Before the bell, the Labor Department reported weekly claims at 199K.
"We expected a huge drop in jobless claims - the consensus was baffling - which were pushed down by a seasonal adjustment quirk," Pantheon Macro's Ian Shepherdson writes. "It will substantially reverse next week, with claims rebounding to about 250K. That said, the trend in claims is clearly falling, and we expect it to return to the pre-Covid low, about 210K, early next year. Laying off staff is risky when the labor market is so tight, with near-record job openings."
Other premarket indicators weren't as encouraging, though. Durable goods orders fell unexpectedly for October, but that was almost solely due to a decline in plane orders. The GDP Q3 revision came in a little light at 2.1%.
Oil is slightly lower as rumors abound about OPEC+ changing course on production.