CHRIS VERSACE: Good morning, subscribers. On Wednesdays going forward, will be using The Rundown to focus on three stocks that are catching my attention each week. Those three stocks might not always be in the portfolio, but we will always be tying the data and the learnings back to our positions and more importantly, what it all means for you.

As you know, investing is all about sorting through the full mosaic of information. And the companies we don't own can sometimes tell us just as much about the ones that we do own as they do themselves. Now this doesn't mean we still won't be breaking down the latest news. In fact, if you're looking for our take on the December producer price index and December retail sales, look no further than your latest alert where you'll catch my take on all that data out today and other headlines.

Now let's get going and start with Party City and Big Five Sporting Goods. Party City filed for chapter 11 yesterday becoming the latest casualty among US retailers in the aftermath of the pandemic. The company struggled with low demand and increased competition from online buying.

Big Five, on the other hand, issued downside top and bottom line guidance for its December quarter early this morning sharing its results were on target through Black Friday but trends decelerated sharply in December as both inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty appeared to impact holiday discretionary spending.

From our perspective, those two items point to the continued pain that we've been talking about in Retail Land and consumers being far more mindful when and where they shop. We see that meshing with our thoughts on share gains to be had by Costco and Amazon.

Moving over to Interactive Brokers, the company reported better than expected December corporate quarter results this morning with its commission revenue benefiting from higher customer futures trading volume and larger average trade size and options. That strength offset lower customer stock trading volume.

Now the demand for futures and options sets up rather nicely for our shares of SIBO Global Markets for the company's December quarter, something it's going to report in the next few weeks. And, finally, EV charging company, Volta, shares are moving higher after agreeing to be acquired by Shell. We see this as a positive for a number of reasons for our shares of ChargePoint.

Not only does it validate the coming shift away from gas stations, it speaks to the importance of EV charging station assets as companies like Shell and others need to reposition their businesses for the ensuing shift to EVs.

As the EV charging landscape expands, those assets are likely to become even more valuable. Over time, we could see other M&A activity in the space as Chevron, ExxonMobil, and others look to reposition their business just like Shell is doing. For now, however, we'll continue to focus on the fundamental demand for EV charging stations, something Shell's buying Volta certainly speaks to.

As always members, we want to hear from you. And I want to continually improve what we're doing here with AAP and with the daily videos. I'd ask that you continue sending your questions and feedback to AAP Club at TheStreet.com.

Thanks for joining us. I'll be back tomorrow to answer some of your biggest burning questions with the Street's JD Durkin.