Market Beats | Peter Thiel’s Hedge Fund Exits Nvidia Position; Michael Saylor Doubles Down With $836 Million Bitcoin Purchase; Trump Backs Releasing Epstein Files, Reversing Previous Position; Ford Partners With Amazon to Sell Certified Used Cars Online; Bitcoin Bulls Have Everything — Except a Rally; US New International Student Enrollment Drops Sharply; Amazon Draws $80 Billion in Orders for First Dollar Bond Sale Since 2021

—— Peter Thiel’s Hedge Fund Exits Nvidia Position; Michael Saylor Doubles Down With $836 Million Bitcoin Purchase; Trump Backs Releasing Epstein Files, Reversing Previous Position; Ford Partners With Amazon to Sell Certified Used Cars Online; Bitcoin Bulls Have Everything — Except a Rally; US New International Student Enrollment Drops Sharply; Amazon Draws $80 Billion in Orders for First Dollar Bond Sale Since 2021

1. Peter Thiel’s Hedge Fund Exits Nvidia Position

Peter Thiel’s hedge fund Thiel Macro LLC sold off its entire Nvidia Corp. stake in the third quarter, marking another retreat from the world’s leading artificial intelligence chipmaker.

The fund disposed of all 537,742 shares — worth about $100 million based on Nvidia’s Sept. 30 closing price. According to its latest 13F filing, Thiel Macro’s top holdings now include Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., and a reduced stake in Tesla Inc.

The move comes amid growing concerns about an AI investment bubble that helped propel Nvidia to become the world’s most valuable company. Hedge fund manager Michael Burry has publicly taken bearish positions against Nvidia and Palantir Technologies Inc., while SoftBank Group Corp. announced in October that it sold $5.83 billion of Nvidia shares to fund other AI investments.

Thiel has been less bullish on AI than SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, but both exited around the time Nvidia first surpassed a $5 trillion valuation. Nvidia shares — up about 2% since late September — slipped roughly 1% in pre-market trading.

An analysis of 13F filings from 909 hedge funds shows sentiment evenly split: 161 increased their Nvidia positions in the quarter, while 160 reduced them.

Investors remain divided on the long-term prospects of AI companies, which continue rapidly raising and spending capital but have yet to prove monetization models that justify their lofty valuations.

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2. Michael Saylor Doubles Down With $836 Million Bitcoin Purchase

Michael Saylor is once again leaning into the Bitcoin treasury strategy he pioneered — this time during one of the crypto market’s sharpest recent downturns.

Strategy Inc. disclosed in an SEC filing Monday that it bought $835.6 million worth of Bitcoin over the past week, marking its largest purchase since July. The company now holds 649,870 BTC — about $61.7 billion at current prices.

The acquisition appears to have been funded largely via a euro-denominated preferred offering completed last week. Bitcoin has dropped nearly 30% from its early-October peak, despite expectations that increasing institutional adoption, supportive signals from Washington, and mainstream ETF growth would stabilize the market.

Retail traders remain cautious after past drawdowns, liquidity has thinned, and the selloff has hit Bitcoin treasury companies especially hard. Their stock prices move almost tick-for-tick with Bitcoin — often with leverage and little downside protection.

Strategy’s mNAV — a key ratio of market cap to Bitcoin value — has plunged from above 2.5 to just 1.2. The premium that once attracted momentum traders has evaporated, cutting off the reflexive loop that previously helped supercharge the stock.

Saylor’s latest dip-buying move now serves as a real-time test of whether major institutional players still have conviction in Bitcoin’s long-term story.

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3. Trump Backs Releasing Epstein Files, Reversing Previous Position

President Donald Trump said Sunday that House Republicans should vote to require the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein — a major reversal from his stance in recent months.

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on,” Trump posted on social media as he returned to the White House from Florida. “The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!”

Trump has faced mounting pressure from within his own party to release investigative materials related to Epstein, the disgraced financier who ran an underage sex-trafficking ring and died in prison in 2019.

A congressional committee last week released roughly 20,000 pages of emails and documents, shifting attention away from the shutdown fight and forcing the White House to address the issue. The House is set to vote this week on whether to compel the Justice Department to release more files.

At Trump’s request, the DOJ said last week it would investigate alleged ties between prominent Democrats and Epstein, including former President Bill Clinton and fund-raiser Reid Hoffman.

Until now, Trump and the White House had downplayed the need for further disclosure. On Friday, Trump said “I don’t care if it’s released or not” and called the issue a distraction from his second-term agenda.

Trump has repeatedly said he severed ties with Epstein nearly two decades ago and claimed he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal activity.

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4. Ford Partners With Amazon to Sell Certified Used Cars Online

Ford Motor Co. has struck a deal with Amazon.com Inc. to sell certified used cars through the e-commerce giant’s platform, becoming the second major automaker to reach consumers via the Amazon Autos portal.

Ford will offer its “Blue Advantage” certified pre-owned vehicles on Amazon, allowing customers to browse, finance and purchase cars using the familiar “add to cart” button, the company said Monday. Buyers will pick up their vehicles from participating Ford dealerships.

Dealers in Los Angeles, Seattle and Dallas have joined so far, and Ford plans a nationwide rollout in the coming months. About 200 of Ford’s 2,800 US dealers have expressed interest in selling on Amazon.

The move comes as car buyers increasingly seek faster, simpler online purchasing options and turn to sellers like Carvana and CarMax. With new car prices averaging above $50,000, more mainstream shoppers are turning to used cars — which averaged $31,067 for a 3-year-old vehicle in Q3, according to Edmunds.

Unlike Tesla, which sells directly online, Ford is keeping its dealer network involved.

“Everyone has an Amazon account,” said Wendy Lane, senior manager of Ford’s Blue Advantage program. “It’s a trusted source, and we’re excited to see how consumers respond.”

The vehicles will be sold at fixed prices with no haggling, and include multi-point inspections and limited warranties. Amazon’s interface will show service histories and condition reports.

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5. Bitcoin Bulls Have Everything — Except a Rally

Bitcoin was supposed to cement its legitimacy in 2025. Instead, after peaking above $126,000 in October, it has erased its gains for the year, plunging by roughly $600 billion in market value.

Wall Street has embraced crypto, ETFs have brought Bitcoin into mainstream portfolios, and the Trump administration has become openly supportive. Yet prices continue to fall — sharply and without a clear catalyst. Bitcoin dropped as much as 1% to $92,513 on Monday in New York.

Volatility is expected in crypto, but this time conviction evaporated faster than usual. Across trading desks and social media, anxiety is rising as traders hunt for explanations and buyers.

With traditional market frameworks offering little guidance, many are defaulting to the familiar four-year halving cycle — the programmed reduction in Bitcoin supply that historically triggers boom-and-bust periods. The latest halving occurred in April 2024, followed by the October peak. So far, the timeline looks familiar — but deep-pocketed institutional investors may change the script.

“The sentiment in retail crypto is so bad that there could still be some downside,” said Matthew Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Asset Management. “People are afraid the four-year cycle might repeat, and they don’t want to live through another 50% pullback. People are front-running that by stepping out of the market.”

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6. US New International Student Enrollment Drops Sharply

New international student enrollment in the US fell sharply this fall, according to Open Doors data from the Institute of International Education.

First-time foreign student enrollment dropped 17% this semester, following the Trump administration’s crackdown on student visas. That decline comes after a 7% drop in the 2024-25 school year, driven in part by fewer Chinese students due to rising geopolitical tensions.

Trump’s attacks on both higher education and immigration have thrown universities into chaos, leaving many international students unable or unwilling to attend US colleges. This summer, the administration paused visa interviews for a month and later intensified vetting while reducing appointment availability. The disruption has also strained university finances, as foreign students typically pay full tuition.

Still, colleges are trying to keep their international pipelines open. More than half of surveyed institutions are allowing admitted foreign students to defer enrollment until next fall, and most say they will continue to prioritize international recruitment. Over 80% of institutions cited the value of international perspectives on campus, while 60% highlighted the financial benefit.

Open Doors is funded by the US Department of State and run by IIE, which has tracked international student trends since 1919.

Last week, Trump said that allowing foreign students to study in the US is a “good” practice and pushed back on calls to reduce their numbers — a notable contrast with the policies his administration has been implementing.

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7. Amazon Draws $80 Billion in Orders for First Dollar Bond Sale Since 2021

Amazon.com Inc.’s first US dollar bond sale in three years has attracted about $80 billion in orders for a planned $12 billion offering, highlighting investors’ insatiable demand for tech debt as companies race to fund artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

Proceeds will be used for acquisitions, capex and share buybacks, according to people familiar with the deal. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are managing the transaction.

These deals helped push global bond issuance above $6 trillion, a record. JPMorgan forecasts $1.81 trillion in US high-grade issuance next year as AI investment accelerates.

Amazon is offering investment-grade notes in up to six tranches. Pricing on the 40-year portion tightened from +115 bps to +85 bps over Treasuries as demand surged.

Amazon said the funds will “support business investments, fund future capital expenditures, and repay upcoming debt maturities.”

The company is massively scaling cloud and AI infrastructure. Capital spending is projected to reach $147 billion in 2026, nearly triple 2023 levels.

JPMorgan noted Amazon has largely self-funded AI investment so far, making this an “opportune” time to incorporate debt for greater funding flexibility.

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