President Trump uh says he's made his choice on the next Fed chair to replace Jay Pal, but he isn't making uh the name public just yet. Joining us now, former Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester. She's also a CNBC contributor.I I guess you don't um you probably don't want to tell us who you'd like uh Loretta, but what what type of person uh would you like to be the next head. >> Yeah, good morning, Joe. Hope you had a good holiday.>> I mean, we need somebody who's going to be a thoughtful leader who can ...

Core Problem & Solution - The primary concern is concentration risk, highlighted by a cooling issue-induced outage, emphasizing the impact of single points of failure [1] - Redundancy, multiple vendors, and an open platform are crucial for mitigating risks associated with single points of failure in digital infrastructure [3] - A hybrid environment, encompassing physical, virtual, and multi-cloud setups, is essential due to the difficulty in pinpointing single points of failure [4][5] - Optionality, including redundant systems and the capability to operate on-site, remotely, and via multiple clouds, is vital [10] AI's Role & Challenges - AI presents both opportunities and challenges in digital infrastructure, requiring a redefinition of security approaches [6][8] - AI's journey involves enhancing humans, replacing humans, and utilizing agents, each phase introducing new security considerations [7] - AI models are probabilistic, not deterministic, and adversaries with fewer constraints can exploit AI technologies, necessitating proactive security measures [11][12] - A full-stack security approach for AI is needed, considering the entire journey and how adversaries leverage AI [13] Redundancy & Technological Fixes - Redundancy is a fundamental solution, but optionality and architectural considerations are also important [9][10] - There is no "silver bullet" technological fix; a combination of redundancy, optionality, and architectural design is necessary [9][11]

people at data bricks, they seem to have a pretty nice holiday valuation going up. You've been on the show before talking about just the number of software companies that are private, like about 90% or so are private. These valuations, they just keep surging higher.What does that mean for investors of both the private markets and the public markets. >> Yeah, look, I think it's the number one question that we're all grappling with, whether it's public or private, are the valuations that we're seeing within t ...

Market Seasonality & Trends - Seasonality is considered unreliable for investment decisions, despite historical trends like "sell in May and go away" [1][2] - A rocky November preceded positive S&P 500 price targets for 2026 from banks, averaging 7580 [3] AI & Technology - Concerns exist about the consensus that AI will bring endless profitability, questioning if capital expenditure on AI is wise, given uncertain returns for end-users [6] - The current data center buildout for AI is reminiscent of the internet era's bandwidth buildout, suggesting a potential retrenchment [7] Investment Strategy & Market Breadth - The "easy money" in the market may have already been made, prompting a search for new investment opportunities [7][8] - The market is expected to broaden out beyond the same seven to ten popular stocks [9][10] - Investors are starting to look beyond hype, focusing on companies with solid earnings, dividends, and cash flows [11] Risk Assessment - Overexcitement and consensus can signal the end of bull markets [5] - Bitcoin is viewed as a short-term proxy for risk-on/risk-off sentiment, influencing algorithmic trading [11]

All right, so we had Courtney run down a few stats. I think this is the most interesting one, at least for me. Luxury sales up 21% year-over-year on Black Friday.What does that say about the consumer. Because I thought people were nervous about the economy, about their jobs, and we're looking to pull back in general. I know there were some bullish uh estimates for the holiday season, but luxury goods, I mean, not essentials, not apparel, luxury goods.Why Why do you think we saw that big jump. >> Yeah, Frank ...

All right. Hope you had a good holiday, but it's back to business right now. What do you make of this action we're seeing of the futures under pressure all morning long.>> Yeah, I think some of it's the Bitcoin risk back off. You know, that that's hurting a little bit on the risk assets. You got the BOJ kind of throwing out a rate cut that spaked a little bit.Just generally feels a little risk off. I think everybody's coming back to work. But I look at this, it's not necessarily where we open, it's going to ...

And welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. Time for this morning's insider action. We're tracking notable insider stock moves by company directors and executives that are outside their pre-planned stock sales.As always, the data comes from Varity Data, but is then confirmed by CNBC's data team against SEC filings. Okay, we're going to start with Chevron director John Hes selling more than 500,000 shares from a trust for nearly $83 million. He joined the board in July after Chevron bought for 53 billion.Applovi ...

Uh you can see it's getting worse uh for Airbus sharers. Reuters is reporting that the aerospace giant has discovered an industrial quality issue regarding uh dozens of A320 planes. The flaw is said to affect the aircraft's fuselage panels and is delaying some deliveries.The report says there are no immediate indications uh it has reached aircraft in service. That's is that a separate issue from what we were we were just talking about with the abrupt loss of altitude because of solar radiation. This doesn't ...

Market Trends & Leadership Changes - President Trump indicates a decision has been made regarding the next Federal Reserve chair [1] - Disney's "Zootopia 2" earns $156 million domestically over the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend [1] - "Zootopia 2" grosses over $550 million globally since its Wednesday debut, marking the best debut ever for an animated film [2] Data Security & Valuation - South Korea experiences its worst data breach in over a decade at e-commerce giant Kong, impacting over 33 million customers [2] - Data analytics firm Databricks is in talks to raise $5 billion at a valuation of $134 billion [2] Mergers & Acquisitions - United Health Group is reportedly selling its last South American business to a Brazilian private equity group for $1 billion [3]

Space Economy Growth & Vision - The space economy is at an inflection point, experiencing rapid growth, driven by commercial space activities and private companies [1][2][5] - By the end of the decade, a fully commercial space station, built by Axiom Space, is expected to be in orbit before the International Space Station retires, with the first module launching by early 2027 [3][4] - The ultimate destiny for humanity is interstellar travel, with the moon and Mars serving as stepping stones [16] - By 2050, the vision includes hourly launches to a space city above Earth, daily launches to the moon, and weekly launches to Mars, with quarterly launches to Proxima Centauri [18] Commercial Space Opportunities - Opportunities exist in low Earth orbit (LEO) for orbital data centers, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and bioprinting due to the unique environment of space [10][12] - AI data centers in space are a growing area, with companies like AWS pioneering in this field [13][14] - Mining on the moon, particularly for helium-3, presents economic and national security opportunities [16] Human Spaceflight & International Collaboration - Access to space is becoming more affordable, attracting interest from numerous countries, with Axiom Space having worked with 11 countries and being oversubscribed [6] - Space missions inspire the next generation, as demonstrated by the 350 million people under 16 in India who tuned in to a mission [8] Power & Nuclear Energy - Nuclear energy is crucial for space habitation and interstellar travel, with X-Energy developing small modular reactors [20][24] - X-Energy has signed deals with Amazon AWS for initially 5 gigawatts, potentially growing to 10 gigawatts, and with Centricon in the UK to power AI data centers [21] - Safe space nuclear power is necessary for lunar surface operations, nuclear electric propulsion, and nuclear thermal propulsion to shorten travel times to other planets [24]