Netflix lights up Christmas with NFL ratings win

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Good morning! Today is Friday, December 27. I'm Julie Morgan. The NFL on Netflix on Christmas Day pulled in strong ratings. Quantum computing stocks extend their rally, and mortgage rates continue to rise.

Netflix received high marks from subscribers for a largely seamless streaming experience on Christmas Day, with its two live NFL games. The early afternoon matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers posted 24.1 million viewers, and the Baltimore Ravens win over the Houston Texans came in at 24.3 million, according to Nielsen Fast National Rating.

Viewership peaked during Beyonce's halftime performance at the Ravens Texans game at 27 million viewers. Notably, Netflix broke a streaming record for viewership of any NFL game and also set a record in the important 18 to 34 year old demographic.

All told Netflix reported that 65 million people in the U.S. watched at least a minute of the games. Netflix is expected to release its own viewership numbers next week. Global ratings for the games will also be disclosed.

Netflix also dominated on social media sites with hashtag Beyonce Bowl, topping the trending chart on X for hours. After Beyonce's performance, Netflix was part of 10 of the top 12 trending topics on X in the US. The agreement Netflix secured with the NFL for Christmas broadcast is for three years. Although there is no guarantee the company will broadcast more than one game in 2025,

in 2026. Looking ahead, Netflix has a deal to air live, WWE programming and the women's World Cup tournaments in 2027 and 2031.

Regetti computing soared 36% by the close of trading on Thursday as quantum computing stocks continued to spike during the final month of 2024. D-Wave quantum increased 24% while quantum computing added 12.5%. IONQ jumped 8%. Meanwhile, ARKIT quantum rocketed 50% by the closing bell.

Joseph Parrish, a seeking alpha analyst, noted in an analysis that although Rigetti has potential, investors will have to be patient to see those results materialize. Rigetti shares have gained a mind-boggling 543% this month. D-Wave has increased 275% over the same time frame.

Meanwhile, IONQ, which several analysts feel is the most convincing investment of these stocks, has climbed 52% during the final month of 2024, which is rather mild compared to its peers.

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Mortgage rates rose for the second straight week rebounding after a decline earlier this month. The latest Freddie Mac primary mortgage survey show 30 year fixed rate mortgages average 6.85% as of December 26th up from 6.72% last week and 6.61% in the year ago period.

15-year fixed rate mortgages average 6% compared to 5.92% a week ago and 5.93% a year ago. Now let's get a look at what's trending on Seeking Alpha. We have a look at the top dividend picks for 2025 according to Seeking Alpha's Quantmetrics. With a new year upon us, we're taking a look at Wall Street Santa rallies since 2000.

And this one definitely has everyone talking. Elon Musk says he prefers Lily's manjaro over Novo's olympic. By the way, that one article has more than 170 comments. And of course, you can get in on that action too. On her catalyst to watch for the day, it's a short one. China based water treatment provider decent holding is expected to start trading after pricing its IPO.

Of course, we've made it to that time of the morning when we take a look at the markets ahead of the opening bell. Dow, S&P and NASDAQ futures are in the red. Crude Oil is up 0.6% at $70 a barrel. Bitcoin is up nearly 1% at $96,000.

American battery technology is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. ABAT is up 19% after the company entered into a securities purchase agreement with a couple of institutional investors to purchase and sell more than 3.7 million shares of its common stock and warrants with a combined offering price of $2.65 per share and accompanying warrants priced at the market under NASDAQ rules.

On today's economic calendar, at 830 AM, retail inventories also at 830 AM, wholesale inventories. That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. To take full advantage of Seeking Alpha, join the highest quality community of real investors discussing stocks and ETFs at seekingalpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.