Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning.

Good morning. It's good to have you here on this Friday, December 26th. I'm Julie Morgan.

2025 has been a year, but don't we say the same thing at the end of every year?

Well, today we're looking at the year as a whole and remembering three big topics that

shape 2025 and we're peaking into 2026.

Of course, this is a countdown.

So we're starting off with number three, vibe session.

There's this disconnect between the average person and how they feel about the

economy and what the economic data says about the economy. That's Jack Bowman with Bowman Capital

Management on Seeking Alpha. One of the big major players in like consumer sentiment,

which is at an all-time low and largely driven by this feeling that the economy is not as good

as the data says it is.

The most recent data shows the consumer price index rose 2.7% year-over-year in November.

Although it's very regionally dependent, right? Where I live in Southern California, our year-over-year

inflation was 4.5%. But someone in Dallas saw 1.1% way far off.

December consumer's sentiment was revised down to 52.9, from the University of Michigan's

initial estimate to 53.3, though to improve from 51 in November. Gains and sentiment were concentrated

among lower-income consumers, while sentiments

among higher income consumers remained steady. Meanwhile, year-ahead inflation expectations

declined for a fourth straight month to 4.2%, the lowest level in 11 months, though still above

the 3.3% recorded in January.

So what could potentially turn things around?

...