Next week's inflation and retail sales reports will send ripples through every corner of the market, as stubborn price pressures and robust consumer activity threaten to bolster the Fed's hawkish stance. Meanwhile, the threat of tariffs and high-profile bank earnings create a charged backdrop in which growth-heavy sectors could face renewed volatility.

Over the past 25 years since its last stock split on January 14, 2000, Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) stock has appreciated by over 2500%. But that hasn’t necessarily been the driver of stock price over the past quarter of a century. Indeed, per the CFO’s reasoning on the last earnings call, Costco isn’t looking to do a stock split in the foreseeable future. The reason is an interesting one, though, because it hints at the possibility that stock splits themselves might soon become a thing of the past - an obsolete corporate action that holds little meaning today.

Prepare for a shock and awe tariff strategy that could send the U.S. dollar soaring, ignite inflation fears abroad, and rattle large-cap multinationals. With policy surprises on the horizon and liquidity fissures deepening, the coming days and weeks promise market-altering excitement.

Even as we enter 2025 with no small measure of trepidation and the Fed appears to have kept its promise of 100bps in interest rate cuts in 2024, the markets are now pulling on the inflationary thread to assess the possibility of the target EFFR (Effective Fed Funds Rate) moving north again. Economists, bankers, investors, and investment professionals alike are all ears on developments around inflation. At this crucial time, it’s important to have a plan for things to go either way, or even sideways. What to do if the bull market doesn’t last? How to hedge for the worst-case scenario? Should I start initiating short positions?

As the holiday rush fades, another shortened trading week could still spark outsized moves, with housing data poised to confirm or reinforce resilience, pension rebalancing threatening fresh volatility in tech, and AI momentum racing toward 2025. Meanwhile, emerging trade conflicts and manufacturing slowdowns add geopolitical bite. Dive in to see how these converging forces could reshape portfolio strategies well before the New Year's confetti settles.