From a proclamation by Palantir head Alex Karp to the story of the 1929 stock market crash and an exploration of AI's impact on everyday life, journalist and author Maxim Semeliak has selected five of the most notable books published in 2025.

Palantir chapter manifesto, a novel about a stock market crash, life with AI: the best books of 2025 

Japan is increasing its budget support for chips and AI by almost four times. China is launching three major venture capital funds to invest in hard tech — from microchips and quantum technologies to neural interfaces. Nvidia has signed a licensing agreement with startup Groq. Read about these and other topics in our review of key events as of the morning of December 26.

Morning headlines: metals rally, Nvidia deal, and Japan's race for chips 


The S&amp;P 500 Index has added 17.9% since the beginning of the year, above its historical average of 10.6% over the past 68 years.

Investment banks have compiled a list of risks to the S&amp;P 500 in 2026

Apple Inc.

Arista Networks, Inc.

Amphenol Corporation

Evercore's top ideas for next year included the "AAA" portfolio of Apple, Amphenol and Arista Networks

Analyst names three technology stocks for "buy-and-forget" investments

ServiceNow, Inc.

Such a large takeover could increase the company's reliance on inorganic revenue growth

ServiceNow to spend $7.75 billion on new security platform Why did the stock fall?

Microchip Technology Incorporated

<a href="https://oninvest.com/issuers/ctrn?from=data">Citi</a> named <a href="https://oninvest.com/issuers/mcp-de?from=data">Microchip Technology (MCHP)</a> as its top pick for 2026. Analysts expect the company to deliver the most growth over forecasts as <a href="https://oninvest.com/issuers/mcp-de?from=data">Microchip Technology</a> 's sales and margins have declined the most from peak levels,<a href="https://seekingalpha.com/news/4534531-citi-2026-semis-outlook-mchp-top-pick-avgo-adi-mu-nxpi-txn-buy-rated"> according to</a> Seeking Alpha.

Citi analysts named Microchip Technology as their favorite for 2026

Novo Nordisk A/S

Eli Lilly and Company

Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd.

Paramount Skydance Corporation

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Novo Nordisk's first semaglutide-based GLP-1 obesity pill, intensifying the company's competition with Eli Lilly. ByteDance, owner of TikTok, plans to invest about $23 billion in AI infrastructure amid record growth in debt financing in the global tech sector. These and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of December 23.

The main thing for the morning: a pill instead of a shot, ships for the U.S. Navy and $40 billion for Hollywood

NVIDIA Corporation

The company's shares were up more than 1 percent in trading on Dec. 22

Nvidia plans to start shipping H200 AI chips to China by mid-February - Reuters

Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc.

A consortium of private equity firms led by Permira and Warburg Pincus has agreed to acquire investment software maker Clearwater Analytics for about $8.4 billion, including debt,&nbsp;according&nbsp;to an <a href="https://www.permira.com/news-and-insights/announcements/clearwater-analytics-to-be-acquired-for-84-billion-by-permira-and-warburg-pincus-supported-by-francisco-partners-and-temasek">official press release</a> from Permira.

Permira and Warburg to buy investment software maker, Morgan Stanley pick Clearwater

Steve Iceman now sees the same threat that collapsed the mortgage market in the US 

A Game of Thumb investor named the top two risks to the AI sector in 2026

Apollo Global Management, Inc.

Apollo Global Management is going into "risk reduction mode" by building up cash reserves. Mark Rowan, head of one of the world's most influential investment companies, considers the markets overheated and warns of growing geopolitical and systemic threats.

'When something bad happens': Apollo lowers risks in anticipation of turbulence

Oracle Corporation

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Constellation Energy Corporation

Three years have passed since OpenAI introduced the ChatGPT chatbot based on generative AI technology. It has generated euphoria, predictions of radical changes in the economy and daily life, an explosion of capital investment, a stock market boom, and, more recently, talk of a bubble. While money is still pouring into the AI field<b> </b>, some investors have begun to hedge against the AI bubble.

Artificial intelligence (AI)