Trader “AlphaRaccoon” wasn’t just feeling lucky when he took positions on a prediction market site related to last year’s top search results, but using insider information from working at Google, according to a criminal complaint. The case alleges the account made $1.2 million across various trades, including a highly unlikely bet on the No. 1 search for 2025. As we noted last year, the stakes involved and the volume of activity around this one specific subject aroused suspicion.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all closed at new record highs following reports that the US and Iran have reached a tentative deal to extend the ceasefire by 60 days, pending President Trump’s approval.

All is fair in love and war, unless you are a Chinese drone company.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the US government is in talks to provide funding to a small group of American drone companies, which may include equity and debt positions. 

While it seems like a good time to be in the drone business as the US military scrambles to build a domestic supply chain for the newly crucial battlefield technology, DJI, the China-based global leader in nonmilitary, quadcopter-style drones, still finds itself boxed out of the US market.

DJI published a report showing the results of a thorough study it commissioned from US cybersecurity firm OnDefend. After five months of adversarial testing of the DJI Air 3S and DJI Matrice 4E drone platforms, OnDefend found no evidence of transmitting data back to China, supply chain tampering, or unauthorized backdoors in the hardware or software.

DJI is estimated to have a dominant share of the nonmilitary drone market. Its products are used by first responders, farmers, infrastructure inspection firms, and many other small businesses. 

Google’s Waymo says in June it’s going to begin offering “select riders” in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix trips in its new Ojai vans, pronounced “oh-hi.” At the start, those rides will be free as the company gathers rider feedback.

Like its existing fleet — and unlike Amazon’s Zoox — the Ojai has a steering wheel and pedals, though it’s being configured to operate without those in the future, according to a Waymo spokesperson. The Ojai seats up to four people and has more legroom than the I-PACE. It also has three screens, a number of charging ports, and is easier to clean.

Waymo wouldn’t provide an estimate for the total cost of the vehicle and its autonomous add-ons, but based on previous Morgan Stanley estimates, the Ojai could cost around $125,000, whereas the fifth-generation I-PACE was closer to $200,000. Investor and Future Fund managing partner Gary Black has penciled in the fully equipped Ojai at a breezy $75,000.

Faster and cheaper autonomous vehicle assembly is essential for Waymo to expand into its planned 20-plus markets.

The once asset-light software business has been funneling money toward capital expenditure — now expected to reach an eye-watering $125 billion to $145 billion this year — as it builds out its AI business. And unlike its Big Tech peers doing the same, it doesn’t have their lucrative cloud and enterprise revenue sources to soften the blow.

A series of recent developments suggests that Meta is genuinely trying to change that.

Understanding market sentiment is a vital tactic of trading, yet many individual investors are left guessing based on sub-par information. 

In collaboration with Nasdaq, we explore how professional-grade options data goes beyond basic put/call ratios — and how traders of all types can use it to go from reactive trading to proactive positioning.

Read the 5 minute explainer on Sherwood →