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This week, we’ve got…

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The president had a busy week playing kingmaker across multiple industries, and investors should be paying attention. First up: he's "thinking about" eliminating federal taxes on gambling winnings, which currently hit 24% on anything over $5,000. That's not just bar talk—it's a potential windfall for casino operators and sports betting platforms that could meaningfully boost player returns and industry margins.

Then he crashed Warner Bros. Discovery's merger drama, declaring it "imperative that CNN be sold" while Paramount CEO David Ellison waved a $30-per-share hostile takeover bid. Netflix wants the streaming assets but not the cable news headache, while Ellison has reportedly promised Trump "sweeping changes" at CNN if his deal goes through. Also, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is on the Paramount side of the deal…

But the AI executive order might be the most consequential move nobody's talking about. Trump just kneecapped state-level AI regulation, creating a single federal framework that tech giants have been lobbying for. The order even establishes a Justice Department task force whose "sole responsibility" is challenging state AI laws. Translation: California and New York can't regulate OpenAI and Google anymore, which is exactly what Silicon Valley wanted.

The Federal Reserve delivered its third consecutive quarter-point cut on Wednesday, dropping rates to 3.5–3.75%, and the committee was about as unified as a family dinner during election season (again). The 9-3 vote was the most divided since 2019, with Chicago's Austan Goolsbee and Kansas City's Jeffrey Schmid voting against any cut, while Fed Governor Stephen Miran wanted a half-point reduction instead.

What’s a rate cut? It’s when the Fed lowers the Fed Funds Rate, making it cheaper for banks to borrow, which then translates to lower interest rates for consumers and businesses on loans, mortgages, and credit cards. And that, our friends, tends to lead to a more bullish environment for stocks.

Chair Jerome Powell tried to sound reassuring, saying rate hikes aren't "anybody's base case" while blaming Trump's tariffs for most of the inflation overshoot. The market heard "we're done hiking" and rallied accordingly: the Dow jumped 500 points and the S&P 500 flirted with record highs. But the Fed's own projections suggest just one more cut in 2026, which is wildly out of sync with trader expectations of at least two.

Meanwhile, home prices just went negative year-over-year for the first time since mid-2023, down 1.4% in the past three months. Austin is getting hammered at negative 10%, Denver's down 5%, but Cleveland somehow gained 6% (???). Mortgage rates are hovering near 6.19% despite the Fed's cuts, so if you’re trying to time the housing market… maybe keep trying to time it 😬

Context: the two frontrunners for Fed Chair after Jerome Powell is out in May 2026 are Kevin Hassett and Kevin Warsh.

Elected officials have had a tremendous amount of success in the market recently.

I want to keep you updated on what they’re trading and when so you can leverage that intel as you plan out your own portfolio.

Data provided by AltIndex.

Remember to always DYOR.

That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake with Invested Inc.