1. London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index hit the symbolic 10,000 points marker for the first time.

"The main driver is that we've seen commodity prices continue to rise, and it's a sector that our clients are very interested in and one that shows great promise for the coming year," said Nick Saunders, CEO of trading platform Webull UK.

"From a logical point of view, a milestone of 10,000 is not important, but psychologically it is, as what we are seeing is that investors are keen to put money into the market without the fear of record valuations."

2. Gemini is approaching a 20% share of AI website traffic.

ChatGPT has slipped from 87% a year ago to below 70% today.

The shift comes down to distribution. Gemini now sits inside Google’s core products, including Search, Chrome, Android, and Workspace. When AI lives where people already spend their time, adoption follows naturally.

Meanwhile, OpenAI doesn’t expect to be profitable until 2030 and, according to Deutsche Bank, could burn more than $140 billion in cumulative negative free cash flow before getting there. Google’s parent Alphabet, by contrast, generated $74 billion in free cash flow over the past 12 months, even after heavy AI investment.

The clock is ticking on whether ChatGPT can meaningfully pressure Search before Gemini closes the gap.

3. As devices run more AI models locally (on-device AI), they need massive storage/memory upgrades.

“Edge memory” is the critical flash memory inside AI Smartphones, PCs, Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous vehicles.

JPMorgan is bullish on SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

“Our OW rating on SK hynix is based on the company’s solid AI solution execution capability, which has substantially improved its earnings generation capability. We believe we are in the early stages of a memory up-cycle and improving conventional fundamentals put SK Hynix in a positive position given the pure-memory business.”

Both stocks are still cheap at a forward P/E of 7.5 as the market valued them like a commodity hardware seller with a low P/E multiple.

However, the narrative has shifted. Investors are realising that high-speed storage is essential to scale AI infrastructure.

4. Upgrade for ASML with a target of $1500.

Aletheia Capital, a research house, upgraded ASML, the world’s most critical supplier of photolithography machines, doubling the price target from $750 to $1,500 in the process. The analyst noted stronger demand for extreme ultraviolet lithography from DRAM suppliers as one of the reasons the stock will continue higher, citing resilient orders from China and a potential surge in TSMC demand. The news sent ASML, Micron, and other related chipmaking stocks higher.

5. Expectations are that rates will be left unchanged when the FED meets again in January, with further cuts likely later in the year.

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