Weekend Update #247
Thank you for your continued support and engagement. Each week, we're sharing what companies we're researching and the what, the who and the how that we think makes the companies interesting and unique. This roundup is brought to you weekly by a group of interns, creative minds, artists and investors who believe that through best in class investing along with the democratization of financial education we can do great things together. Enjoy, Explore and Share.
Equities closed at new all-time highs this week as favorable economic data and a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve fueled investor confidence in earnings growth. Investor focus was on the September rate decision by the FOMC, and markets surged to new records on Thursday following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks. While investors had braced for September, which has historically provided poor stock returns, the S&P 500 is already up 3.16% month-to-date.
In economic data this week, Retail Sales rose by 0.6% month-over-month in August, resulting in a large beat on economists’ estimates for the 3rd consecutive month of strong spending growth. For the week ended September 12, 2025, U.S. initial jobless claims at 231,000 fell by 33,000 week-over-week, the most since October 1, 2021, cooling investor fears after a large jump in the prior week. The Empire Manufacturing survey showed a surprise decline in New York State business conditions but with a 3-month average that rose to the highest level since January. Housing Starts and Building Permits were weaker than expected as a fall in mortgage rates drove new refinancing activity and continued to shift the housing market toward a sellers’ market.
Combining the recent evolutions in economic data, the FOMC committee voted in favor of lowering interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.00-4.25%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized that risks to both inflation and unemployment have moved up over the last several months, but in a fashion that called for a rebalancing of monetary policy toward lower rates to protect the labor market. The most recent CPI and PPI readings have been cooler than expected, and although FOMC members broadly expect slow upward pressure on inflation readings over the next couple of years, weak Nonfarm Payroll growth and higher Initial Jobless Claims figures drove the caution.
As of Q2 2025, the top 10% of U.S. income consumers accounted for 49.2% of total spending, which is the highest since 1989 and up from 43.2% in Q2 2020. The updated data provides additional insight into how earnings have remained resilient despite rising economic risks cited by the FOMC. Meanwhile, Gen Z led the national average FICO score down to 715 in April 2025, down from 718 in April 2023, as the younger Gen Z cohort struggling with student loan repayments fell to an average FICO score of 676.
In stock-specific news this week, Nvidia announced that it would invest $5 billion in Intel to co-develop GPU and CPU technology, strengthening Nvidia’s hold in the U.S. semiconductor market and serving as a potential beacon of hope for still-struggling Intel. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping aligned on a framework to keep TikTok running in the U.S., fulfilling one of the president’s political goals, although the details remain uncertain. TikTok buyers were announced to include Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz as U.S. companies seek to capitalize on the tech company’s share of social media engagement. China will likely stipulate that the company utilize a new algorithm as part of a deal worth potentially $35-40 billion. The SEC also announced this week that it will prioritize a proposal from President Trump to move the public company reporting schedule from quarterly to every 6 months.
Friday’s Close (Weekly Performance)
S&P 500 6,664.36 (+1.22%)
Nasdaq 22,631.48 (+2.21%)
Dow Jones 46,315.27 (+1.05%)
Thank you Blue Room Senior Analyst JARED FENLEY.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A VERY IMPORTANT
WORLD PREMIER
OF
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2025
7:00PM – 8:30PM
MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater
2644 W 32nd Ave Denver, CO 80211
In October 2020, filmmakers Adam Lipsius and Minyoung Sohn set out to capture the voices of Denverites during a time when COVID-19 had reshaped the ways people could connect. Their goal was simple: to listen, to hold space for stories, and to learn what mattered most to people in that moment.
What emerged from these conversations was a theme too urgent to ignore — the realities of Denver’s unhoused community.
Over months of filming, they spoke with more than one hundred unhoused individuals, meeting them in spaces like the 16th Street Mall, Civic Center Park, and along the Broadway corridor. Again and again, a common thread surfaced: the absence of support and security during youth, and how those missing foundations reverberate throughout a lifetime.
By 2024, nearly 800,000 people were living on the streets in America — an increase of 23% from the year before. Rising costs of living, substance use, mental health challenges, and gaps in access to resources all contribute to today’s housing crisis. Yet many of these struggles can be traced back to childhood — shaped by unstable or unsafe homes, or the absence of one altogether.
Home shares these stories with honesty and compassion. This intimate documentary offers glimpses into day-to-day survival, the battles within, and the sparks of progress and hope that remind us of our collective responsibility. It challenges us to ask: What is nurture, and what happens when it’s missing? How can we, as a society, provide safety, belonging, and care for our youth? And when those supports are absent at home, how can we step in — together — to be the foundation that every child deserves?
All ticket proceeds will be donated to Dry Bones, a long-standing community of support among Denver’s unhoused teens and young adults. The Colorado-based non-profit has a simple but radical belief that companionship itself can be profoundly transformative. So alongside helping to meet emotional, spiritual, and physical needs, their true work is practicing the way of Jesus through building ongoing relationships that remind the invisible among us of their immeasurable worth.
Check out the trailer.
INTRODUCTIONS:
Lorez Meinhold — Executive Director — Caring for Denver Foundation
Fiscal Sponsor of “Home”
PANEL AFTER THE FILM:
Tami Bonner — Director of Social Enterprise — Dry Bones
Adam Lipsius — Director/Executive Producer — “Home”
Minyoung Sohn — Executive Producer — “Home”
John DeFazio — Producer/Editor — “Home”
SPECIAL THANKS:
Denver Film Society & Colorado Office of Economic Development
10% OF ALL BLUE ROOM REVENUES GO DIRECTLY TO FUND OUR NON PROFIT TOGETHERISM.
WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING TOGETHER.
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