1. Rotation Out of Mag 7 to Small Cap
Barron’s
2. IPO Boom From VC/Private Still Not Yet
2025 IPO boom wasn’t enough to solve VCs’ problems
By Kyle Stanford, Director of US Venture Research
US VC-backed exits totaled nearly $300 billion in value during 2025, nearly double 2024’s total—but making it only the fourth-highest value in the past decade, according to our latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.
VCs expected 2025 to finally bring back significant liquidity, which it delivered to a point. While total value did increase, the uncertainty created by the new US tariffs and the government shutdown in early Q4 put a damper on the year’s IPO count.
The number of completed listings barely surpassed the prior couple of years. And by year’s end, only a small pipeline of companies had begun the registration process, not the long line of candidates the industry would hope for.
The aggregate value of unicorns has jumped to $4.3 trillion, further straining the problem. The ongoing lack of liquidity comes after years of robust fundraising by VCs, fueled by growing private market valuations.
But with returns remaining unrealized, LPs are left waiting and wishing. The impact of the overall lack of liquidity is obvious: 2025 recorded the lowest VC fundraising total since 2018.
3. IPO ETF Below Highs
StockCharts
4. Residential Investment as a Share of Real GDP is Close to All-Time Low
The irrelevant investor
5. Home Sellers Pull Listings Off Market Until Spring
Sales of Existing Homes in 2025 Drop to Lowest since 1995, Sellers Massively Yank Listings off the Market, Waiting for Spring-by Wolf Richter
6. Institutional Investors Most Bullish on Financials and Healthcare
7. Record Number of Americans Live Alone
chartr
8. 25k Russian Soldiers Being Killed Per Month in Ukraine.
Russia’s ‘massive’ losses in Ukraine have it heading toward a breaking point, NATO’s top official says
NATO’s secretary general said up to 25,000 Russian soldiers are being killed in Ukraine each month. By Jake Epstein
- Mark Rutte described the carnage as “unsustainable” for Moscow.
- That suggests that a breaking point is coming, though it remains unclear when.
Russia’s military is suffering heavy losses fighting in Ukraine, with up to 25,000 soldiers killed a month, NATO’s top civilian official said this week, calling the carnage “unsustainable” for Moscow.
“The Russians, at the moment, are losing massive amounts of their soldiers thanks to the Ukrainian defense,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told European lawmakers at a forum in Brussels on Tuesday. He said that 20,000 to 25,000 troops are dying each month as the war drags on.
“I’m not talking seriously wounded. Killed.” Rutte clarified. He compared the incredibly high losses to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, where an estimated 15,000 of its soldiers were killed over a period of more than nine years.
“Now they lose this amount or more in one month,” he said of the number of Russian soldiers killed every month. “So that’s also unsustainable on their side.”
Russia has not disclosed official casualty figures, but Ukrainian and Western estimates paint a grim picture for Moscow.
9. Iran Execution-WSJ
WSJ
10. Life Lessons from Eric Soda
Life Lessons
Caring What Others Thought: This was my biggest waste of energy. I used to worry about how my choices looked to people who weren’t even living the life I wanted. The truth? Nobody cares as much as you think they do. Do what’s right for you.
The Cost of Waiting is Real: Whether it’s traveling, building a home, or starting a renovation, waiting will almost always cost you more money. Materials go up, labor goes up, and time disappears. If you have the means, do it now.
Helping Others: I did not help others soon enough. Sharing what you know can change someone’s life. Business, investing, or otherwise. It’s why I started to gift my book as much as I have. Make sure you give back.
Life is a Series of Routines: We are what we do every day. If your routine is nothing but stress and spreadsheets, that’s what your life will be. So build good ones.
Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work: We all have to grind sometimes, but don’t let the grind become your identity. Work is the engine that funds the life you want to lead, not the other way around.
The U-Haul Principle: You’ve heard it before, there’s no U-Haul behind a hearse. You don’t want to be the richest man in the graveyard. Use your investments to fund a life you actually enjoy today, not just a number for a future you might not see.
Spreadsheets Don’t Capture Everything: You have to do what you want to do, not just what looks mathematically optimal on a spreadsheet. Sometimes the “right” move for your life doesn’t fit into a cell in Excel. Not everything fits on a spreadsheet. You do what works for you, not what looks right to others. Who cares.
