Luke Vargas

So multiple medals closing out the year here on a high note.

We've even had stories about people buying up silver coins to try and profit off of this rally, though it sounds like there's an effort underway to try to cool things down a bit.

Stocks are slipping in early U.S.

trading.

Big tech stocks including Oracle, Tesla, and Nvidia are leading the early losses, though indexes remain near all-time highs.

Among today's gainers is Lululemon, up around 1% at midday.

President Trump is touting progress toward ending the Ukraine war after a weekend call with Russia's Vladimir Putin and meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump was light on specifics, though, and offered no signs of a breakthrough amid Russian objections to a ceasefire and its insistence that Ukraine cede certain occupied areas currently under Moscow's control.

And today, Zelensky said differences remain over U.S.

security guarantees meant to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again.

He says Trump has offered 15 years of guarantees, which Kyiv wants at least doubled.

China staged major military exercises around Taiwan today, describing them as a stern warning against those interfering in Chinese affairs.

The drills follow this month's approval of billions of dollars in U.S.

arms sales to the island.

Beijing promised more drills tomorrow.

And Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to a ceasefire to end three weeks of deadly clashes over their disputed border.

That flare-up in fighting over the border and one earlier this year were the deadliest ever in the century-old conflict.

It's unclear from the text of Saturday's truce if it will permanently end fighting, given no mention of the withdrawal of troops.

Coming up, we'll turn our focus from this year's military hotspots to the threats likely to dominate in 2026 and drive defense spending in the process.

That's after the break.