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• ☕️ What Else is Brewing Wednesday
  What’s a virtual world without anyone in it?...

  What’s a virtual world without anyone in it? As of last year, only 200,000 people were active in Horizon Worlds, Meta’s VR world, and Meta has yet to provide an update on that number. And for the ones who are there…it’s not that exciting. Quest 3, the latest iteration of Meta’s VR headset, debuted in October. By many accounts, it was an improvement on the Quest 2. But the problem that’s plagued the metaverse remained: What do you do once you’re in it? Some who entered the virtual world just couldn’t escape the feeling that it was more boring than the real one.

  
  

  Companies shifted away from the metaverse as the focus on artificial intelligence intensified. While Zuckerberg remained bullish on the metaverse, he paid more attention to AI at Meta Connect 2023, Meta’s annual conference. And, as recently as this month, the company pushed new AI developments, including “Imagine with Meta AI,” an image-generating tool, alongside updates to its AI assistant. Meanwhile, Meta temporarily listed a battery strap for the Quest 3 as “out of stock” last month because the product was so glitchy. The company that renamed itself after the metaverse may end up pivoting to AI instead.

  
  

  On the money. Politicians and advocacy groups warned that Musk’s takeover could lead to a rise in hate speech and disinformation on Twitter/X—and it did. Musk has implemented some platform restrictions on data gathering that have stifled dozens of studies trying to dig deeper into these trends, according to Reuters, but the EU is investigating X under its new tech rules.

  
  

  Unforeseen: We weren’t creative enough to predict that this year Musk would challenge Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match in “ancient Rome”—and then not follow through. Or that he would tell some of his biggest advertisers to “go f***” themselves for pausing their spending after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy.

  
  

  Looking to next year…maybe in between product meetings about X’s new banking feature, Musk will try to plug his losses with the help of his budding AI company, X.ai, which is seeking $1 billion in funding. But he also said a few months ago that X “may fail, as so many have predicted.”—ML

  
  
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• ConocoPhillips Gains Financial Approval for Alaska Project
  ConocoPhillips has been granted financial approval for its Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska,...
  ConocoPhillips has been granted financial approval for its Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska, with a budget of $8 billion. Following the approval, the company has initiated winter construction. Residents of Alaska are now experiencing the positive outcomes of responsible energy development.
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• Closing Oil & Gas Prices
  Benchmark U.S. crude oil for February delivery...
  Benchmark U.S. crude oil for February delivery rose $2.01 to $75.57 per barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for February delivery rose $2 to $81.07 per barrel.
  
  Wholesale gasoline for January delivery rose 3 cents to $2.16 a gallon. January heating oil rose 1 cent to $2.67 a gallon. January natural gas fell 6 cents to $2.55 per 1,000 cubic feet.
  
  
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• Dow ends higher as stocks build on eight-week winning streak
  U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, building on a streak of eight straight weekly gains as the final,...
  U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, building on a streak of eight straight weekly gains as the final, holiday-shortened week of 2023 got underway.
  
  The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose 159.36 points, or 0.4%, to end at 37,545.33 — its second-highest close in history, according to Dow Jones Market Data
  
  The S&P 500 SPX gained 20.12 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 4,774.75, its highest close since Jan. 4, 2022. The index is off 0.5% from its record close of 4,796.56, hit on Jan. 3, 2022.
  
  The Nasdaq Composite COMP advanced 81.60 points, or 0.5%, to wrap at 15,074.57, its highest close since Jan. 12, 2022.
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• Energy Sector Commentary for Tuesday
  The energy sector moved higher Tuesday morning, supported by strength...

  The energy sector moved higher Tuesday morning, supported by strength in the crude complex and the major equity futures extending their rally into the last week of the year.

  
  

  WTI and Brent crude oil futures are kicking off the holiday-shortened week higher amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and optimism surrounding the Fed’s dovish pivot. Traders are continuing to focus on last week’s catalysts and are keeping an eye out for more news surrounding tensions in the Middle East. Elsewhere, as of Sunday, Denmark's Maersk announced it is preparing to resume shipping operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, citing the deployment of a U.S.-led military initiative to protect ships traveling through the area.

  
  

  Natural gas futures are lower on forecasts for warmer temperatures.

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