For: December 8, 2025
>>Ahead Of The Bell
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after stocks closed higher on Friday to cap a positive week. Stocks posted modest gains after lighter than expected inflation data left the door open for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. All three major averages notched weekly gains with the tech-heavy Nasdaq up almost one percent. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 104 points to 47-954. The S&P 500 added 13 points to 68-70. The Nasdaq rose 72 points to 23-578.
>>Fed Interest Rate Decision Coming This Week
(Undated) -- Coming up in the business week ahead, the Federal Reserve opens a two-day meeting on Tuesday that will end in the last interest rate decision of 2025. That announcement is due Wednesday at 2pm Eastern, followed by remarks from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Weekly jobless claims will be released on Thursday.
>>Earnings Preview
(Undated) -- A handful of big names have earnings results out this week for investors to pour over. Campbell Soup reports Tuesday, along with Cracker Barrel and GameStop. As the week winds down, Costco and Lululemon release their next earnings reports on Thursday.
>>Netflix To Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Assets In $82B Deal
(Los Gatos, CA) -- Netflix has reached a mega deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming business for more than 80 billion dollars. Netflix announced the deal on Friday, which would be completed by the second half of next year after Warner Bros. Discovery spins off its cable assets like CNN, TNT and Discovery. Netflix, which has more than 300-million subscribers, would become a juggernaut with massive leverage over the business. A senior Trump administration official said the White House views deal with "heavy skepticism." The deal will need to be approved by regulators.
>>Consumer Sentiment Improves In December
(Ann Arbor, MI) -- Consumer sentiment is improving slightly. The University of Michigan's early reading for December edged up two points from last month. Consumers see modest improvements from November although many cite persistently high prices among their major concerns. Year-ahead inflation expectations dipped to their lowest reading since January 2025. Survey officials noted December's reading on expected personal finances remains nearly 12 percent below the beginning of the year.
>>Southwest Airlines Sees $11M Fine Waived
(Washington, DC) -- The Trump administration is waiving an eleven-million dollar fine against Southwest Airlines. The announcement made over the weekend focuses on a 140-million-dollar settlement over the carrier's meltdown in December 2022 during a holiday travel period. Southwest had agreed to a 35-million-dollar cash fine and to provide 90-million dollars in travel vouchers to delayed passengers. The Transportation Department in a written order waiving the fine cited Southwest's decision to invest over a billion dollars in its operations to improve performance and reliability since the 2022 incident.
>>Consumers Added $16B In Credit Card Debt This Year
(Undated) -- Americans are piling up credit card debt at a slower rate than last year. WalletHub says U.S. shoppers added 16 billion dollars so far, which brings the total credit card debt to over one trillion dollars. Still, the additional amount of credit card debt is 27-percent less than what was added last year. The average credit card debt per household tops 11-thousand dollars heading into the holidays.
>>Former Rangers, Stars Owner Tom Hicks Dies
(Dallas, TX) -- The Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars are mourning the loss of their former owner. Texas businessman and philanthropist Tom Hicks died Saturday. He was 79. Hicks owned the Stars from 1995-to-2011 and the Rangers from 1998-to-2010. He also acquired a 50-percent stake in English Premier League soccer team Liverpool in 2007. He co-founded Hicks & Haas in 1984 and helped to reshape private equity and investing strategy. He is survived by his wife and six children.
