Market Beats | Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery; Fed Set to Cut Rates Again, but Impact May Be Slower and Weaker; EU Fines Elon Musk’s X €120 Million; SoFi Seeks to Raise $1.5 Billion in Share Sale; US Consumer Sentiment Rises for First Time in Five Months; Canadian Cold Front Sends Temperatures Plummeting Across Northeast; Wall Street Banks Predict Double-Digit US Stock Gains Again in 2026

—— Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery; Fed Set to Cut Rates Again, but Impact May Be Slower and Weaker; EU Fines Elon Musk’s X €120 Million; SoFi Seeks to Raise $1.5 Billion in Share Sale; US Consumer Sentiment Rises for First Time in Five Months; Canadian Cold Front Sends Temperatures Plummeting Across Northeast; Wall Street Banks Predict Double-Digit US Stock Gains Again in 2026

1. Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery

Netflix Inc. has agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. in a landmark deal, combining the world’s dominant paid streaming service with one of Hollywood’s oldest and most prestigious studios.

Under the agreement announced Friday, Warner Bros. shareholders will receive $27.75 per share in a mix of cash and Netflix stock. The total equity value of the deal is $72 billion, with an enterprise value of about $82.7 billion.

Before the deal closes, Warner Bros. will complete its planned spinoff of the networks division, which includes cable channels such as CNN, TBS and TNT. Netflix said the spinoff is now expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026. This morning, Netflix shares fell 2.3% in premarket trading in New York, while Warner Bros. stock rose about 1%.

The acquisition marks a dramatic strategic shift for Netflix, which has never undertaken a deal of this scale. The streaming pioneer built itself into Hollywood’s most valuable company—despite lacking its own studio or deep catalog—by licensing content from others and later expanding into original programming.

With the acquisition, Netflix will become the owner of HBO and its extensive library of hit shows including The Sopranos and The White Lotus. Warner Bros.’ assets also include its vast Burbank studios and an extensive film and TV archive featuring Harry Potter, Friends, and more.

“Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the statement.

Netflix said it intends to maintain Warner Bros.’ existing operations and build upon its strengths, including theatrical film releases—an issue that had raised concerns in Hollywood. The company added that the deal will allow it to “significantly expand” US production capacity and invest in original content, creating jobs and further strengthening the entertainment ecosystem.

Still, the companies expect to generate “at least $2 billion to $3 billion” in annual cost savings by year three.

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2. Fed Set to Cut Rates Again, but Impact May Be Slower and Weaker

Federal Reserve officials are poised to cut interest rates again next week, but any benefit to the broader economy may take longer than usual to appear—and could be muted by forces beyond the reach of monetary policy.

Rate-sensitive sectors such as housing may see only modest relief from lower borrowing costs because home prices remain near record highs and Americans are increasingly anxious about the labor market. Other parts of the economy, including manufacturing, have delayed investment amid President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies—an uncertainty that rate cuts won’t necessarily resolve.

Those overhangs mean that the typical lag for monetary policy to filter through the economy—often up to 18 months—may not hold in today’s environment.

“Companies have really paused hiring not so much because interest rates are high, but mostly because of uncertainty about the impact of tariffs and other changes in economic policy,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. “If that uncertainty persists, it could extend the lag and slow the feed-through to the economy.”

When the Fed adjusts its benchmark interest rate, financial markets tend to react almost immediately, as expectations are usually priced in well before policymakers act. That affects new loans for cars and mortgages more quickly, while the bulk of outstanding consumer and business debt—often at fixed rates—responds far more slowly.

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3. EU Fines Elon Musk’s X €120 Million

The European Union slapped Elon Musk’s X social network with a lower-than-expected €120 million ($140 million) fine for violating the bloc’s controversial content-moderation law — a move likely to heighten tensions with the White House over free speech and tech regulation.

In issuing the first-ever penalty under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission found that X’s paid-for blue checkmark misled users, the platform obstructed researcher access to required data, and it failed to properly establish an advertising repository. The fine was not based on revenues generated by Musk’s vast private empire across space, infrastructure and neuroscience — a tougher approach regulators had previously considered.

The penalty is negligible relative to Musk’s $467 billion fortune, yet it comes after months of pressure from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the EU’s aggressive fines and regulatory interventions aimed at American tech firms. Despite the lighter-than-expected fine, the standoff underscores widening rifts over digital sovereignty and what constitutes fundamental rights like free speech and privacy in the online era.

“The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage,” US Vice President JD Vance wrote in a post on X before the announcement.

Although the probe began in December 2023, it took on heightened political significance as Musk backed Trump’s campaign and briefly served as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency early in the president’s current term.

X now has 60 days to propose remedies and 90 days to implement them or risk additional penalties, according to a Commission official.

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4. SoFi Seeks to Raise $1.5 Billion in Share Sale

SoFi Technologies Inc. is seeking to raise $1.5 billion through a share sale as the financial technology firm continues to diversify its offerings beyond lending.

The San Francisco–based company is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the transaction, according to a statement Thursday. SoFi is offering shares at $27.50 to $28.50 each, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The range represents a discount of as much as 7.1% to Thursday’s closing price of $29.60.

SoFi plans to use the proceeds to bolster its capital position and pursue new business opportunities. A representative for the company declined to comment. Shares fell 5.8% to $27.89 in after-hours trading as of 5:05 p.m. in New York. Before the announcement, SoFi’s stock had climbed 92% this year through Thursday’s close.

The company reported record third-quarter adjusted net revenue of $949.6 million on Oct. 28, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $898.2 million. Chief Executive Officer Anthony Noto said that SoFi’s expansion into services beyond lending has helped drive the strong results.

In November, SoFi announced that users could join a waitlist for priority access to SoFi Crypto, which will allow them to buy and sell dozens of cryptocurrencies.

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5. US Consumer Sentiment Rises for First Time in Five Months

US consumer sentiment rose in December for the first time in five months, supported by a more optimistic outlook for personal finances and improved inflation expectations.

The University of Michigan’s preliminary sentiment index increased to 53.3 from 51 in the prior month. The survey covers responses from Nov. 18 to Dec. 1, following the end of the record-long federal government shutdown. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a reading of 52.

Consumers expect prices to rise at an annual rate of 4.1% over the next year — the lowest since January. They see costs increasing at an annual rate of 3.2% over the next five to ten years.

Despite the improvement, consumers remain troubled by the high cost of living, which has weighed heavily on sentiment this year. At the same time, holiday shopping data point to resilient demand.

According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, Black Friday sales excluding auto dealers rose 4.1% from a year earlier, surpassing last year’s 3.4% gain.

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6. Canadian Cold Front Sends Temperatures Plummeting Across Northeast

A blast of icy Canadian air sent temperatures tumbling across the US Northeast, breaking daily records in the New York metro area and setting up Washington, DC, drivers for a challenging Friday evening commute.

More than an inch of snow may fall across Washington and surrounding regions on Friday, said Erik Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Temperatures will plunge to near 20F (-7C) after sunset, freezing any melted snow along the Interstate 95 corridor.

“Anything elevated and untreated will remain slick,” Taylor said, adding that drivers will also face patches of freezing fog that could impair visibility.

New York will see a chance of light snow and freezing rain overnight. But frigid temperatures have already taken hold across the metro area, with lows hitting 20F — breaking the Dec. 5, 1942, record at LaGuardia Airport and tying the 1966 daily record at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

After a brief warm-up this weekend, another cold snap is forecast to arrive Sunday night, bringing a slight chance of snow for Monday morning’s commute.

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7. Wall Street Banks Predict Double-Digit US Stock Gains Again in 2026

Wall Street banks expect US stocks to notch another year of double-digit gains in 2026, despite recent investor concerns over Big Tech’s massive spending plans and a potential bubble in the artificial intelligence sector.

According to an average forecast from nine major investment banks surveyed by the Financial Times, the blue-chip S&P 500 index is expected to rise to above 7,500 points by the end of 2026 — roughly a 10% increase from current levels. The index closed at 6,857 on Thursday after hitting a record high of 6,920 in October.

While such gains would mark the seventh year of double-digit increases in the past eight, they would be slower than the 16.6% rise so far in 2025 and the average pace over the past decade.

Still, the projections reflect a belief on Wall Street that markets have moved past last month’s pullback — triggered by concerns over lofty AI valuations — supported by President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and expectations of interest-rate reductions.

“There will be some bumps along the way, but we believe the bull market is intact,” analysts at Morgan Stanley said. They expect the S&P 500 to reach 7,800 by the end of next year.

They added that performance will be supported by “the triumvirate of easy fiscal, monetary and regulatory policy, along with AI tailwinds,” pointing to an estimated $129 billion of corporate tax cuts in Trump’s “one big beautiful bill.”

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