Thanksgiving came and went, the turkey got carved, and somehow the stock market still managed to keep us on our toes right up until the very last trading day of November. You’d think a holiday-shortened week would be quiet, right? Wrong. What we got instead was a classic case of “close, but no cigar” for anyone hoping all three major indexes would finish the month in the green.
A Tale of Two Novembers
Let me paint the picture. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both squeaked out modest gains for the month—nothing to write home about, but enough to extend their impressive winning streaks to seven straight months. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite, after riding the AI wave for most of 2025, finally hit a speed bump and ended November down close to 2%. That snapped its own seven-month hot streak and reminded everyone that even the hottest trade can cool off when valuations start looking stretched.
It’s funny—Thanksgiving week itself was actually fantastic across the board. The S&P jumped almost 4%, the Dow added more than 3%, and the Nasdaq roared ahead over 4%. In a normal year that kind of performance would have locked in a solid monthly win. But earlier in November, profit-taking in mega-cap tech and fresh questions about how long the AI spending spree can keep roaring had already done the damage.
The Standout Winners Nobody Saw Coming
While some of the usual suspects stumbled, a couple of names absolutely crushed it over the holiday week—and frankly all month.
First, Apple. The stock quietly strung together three consecutive all-time highs from Monday through Wednesday. New data dropped showing Apple is on pace to snatch the global smartphone crown back from Samsung for the first time in over a decade. Analysts are now projecting Apple will grab nearly 19.4% of the worldwide market in 2025 versus Samsung’s 18.7%. That’s the kind of stat that makes investors sit up straight. By Friday’s close Apple shares were up another chunk, finishing the week nearly 3% higher. Quietly, steadily, Apple keeps proving the bears wrong.
Then there’s Broadcom—the chipmaker that seemingly nobody was talking about six months ago but now can’t stop hitting record highs. Shares closed at all-time highs every single trading day this week. That’s not an exaggeration. The catalyst? Wall Street finally waking up to the idea that Broadcom is one of the biggest behind-the-scenes winners in the entire AI build-out.
Google rolling out its latest AI models and reports that even Meta might lean on Google’s custom TPUs in 2027 lit a rocket under the stock.
Broadcom co-designs those specialized tensor processing units and supplies the high-end networking gear that keeps massive data centers humming. When Alphabet spends tens of billions on AI infrastructure, a nice slice of that flows straight to Broadcom’s bottom line. Result? An eye-popping 18% gain just this week. Sometimes the best AI play isn’t the company everyone is shouting about on TV.
Nvidia: Still the King, But Not Untouchable
Speaking of shouting on TV, no company has been louder in 2025 than Nvidia. So it felt almost surreal watching shares touch a near three-month low on Tuesday. Those same reports about competitors exploring alternatives to Nvidia’s chips sparked a mini panic. For one brief moment the narrative flipped from “Nvidia can do no wrong” to “maybe the party’s finally over.”
Look, I’m not here to sugarcoat it—anytime your stock drops enough to wipe out billions in market cap in a single session, it stings. But stepping back, nothing fundamental actually changed. Demand for Nvidia’s current-generation chips remains off the charts. The company still owns the lion’s share of the accelerator market that powers modern AI training. A few headlines about diversification plans for 2027 don’t erase that reality.
In my view, dips like these are part of the game when you’re the undisputed leader. The stock finished the week down about 1%, which in the grand scheme feels like a rounding error after the run it’s had. If anything, the pullback created what plenty of seasoned investors consider a rare gift: a chance to buy the preeminent AI franchise at a slightly less nosebleed price.
A Surprise Tailwind for Nike
Sometimes the best news for a stock comes from a completely different earnings call. That’s exactly what happened with Nike this week.
Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a solid quarter and, almost as an aside, mentioned they’re closing a bunch of underperforming Foot Locker stores. Normally that would be bad news for the athletic category overall, but the executive chairman went out of his way to praise Nike’s recent product refreshes—especially in running. He highlighted how well new Pegasus, Vomero, and Structure models are selling both at Dick’s and in the remaining Foot Locker doors.
“Nike is moving in the right direction,” he told reporters. Music to any Nike shareholder’s ears.
Nike shares jumped nearly 3% on the week without releasing a single number of their own. That’s the kind of indirect vote of confidence that can mark an inflection point in a turnaround story.
Two Trades We Actually Made This Week
Holiday weeks are usually sleepy when it comes to actual portfolio activity, but we couldn’t let two opportunities pass us by.
First, on Monday we added to our position in Palo Alto Networks. The stock got hammered after its earnings report the week prior even though the company beat on every important metric and raised guidance. The sell-off felt like classic overreaction to a slightly lighter near-term billing number while everyone ignored the bigger picture: Palo Alto’s “platformization” strategy—bundling firewall, cloud security, and now identity protection—is gaining serious momentum with enterprise customers. We view any weakness as a chance to own a best-in-class cybersecurity name at a discount.
Second move came Tuesday when we bought more Procter & Gamble. This was actually our second purchase since initiating the position earlier in November. The thinking is straightforward: if the AI-fueled growth trade ever takes a breather or the economy softens, investors will rotate back into defensive, cash-flow machines. P&G, with its lineup of must-have household brands, fits that bill perfectly. Sometimes the most exciting trade is the boring one that lets you sleep at night.
What This All Means Heading Into December
So where do we stand as the calendar flips? We have an S&P 500 that’s still within striking distance of all-time highs, a Dow that keeps grinding higher on the backs of industrials and financials, and a Nasdaq that just flashed its first yellow caution light in quite a while.
In my experience, these kinds of divergent signals often mark transition points. Leadership can broaden out—or it can snap back to the same handful of mega-caps that carried the load all year. The next few weeks, with year-end positioning and the Fed meeting in mid-December, should give us a clearer answer.
For now, the playbook feels pretty simple: stay invested, keep some dry powder for opportunistic buys on weakness, and remember that November’s mixed finish doesn’t erase the bigger trend. The bull market that began in late 2022 is still alive. It just took a quick coffee break over Thanksgiving.
Here’s to a strong finish to 2025—and maybe a few more surprises along the way.
