Bloomberg Businessweek

Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Stocks and bonds slipped along with gold and silver on the last day of 2025, bringing a subdued close to an otherwise buoyant year across asset classes that saw US equities post their third straight double-digit gain.The S&P 500 extended a stretch of post-Christmas losses, paring the benchmark’s advance for 2025 to roughly 17%. Even so, the index is on track for its longest yearly winning streak of gains since 2021. The Nasdaq 100 was down 0.2%. Laggards include big-tech names like Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.Silver plunged as a run of heightened volatility featuring price moves of 5% or more entered a fourth day. CME Group raised margin requirements on precious-metal futures for the second time in the space of a week following the volatility.Investors have enjoyed blockbuster returns this year in a market that has been powered by optimism about the vast economic potential of artificial intelligence and primed by Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. It hasn’t been a smooth ride, though, with traders weathering swings triggered by a range of forces including US trade policies, geopolitical tensions, concern over lofty valuations and some uncertainty around the path of central-bank monetary policy.Looking ahead into 2026, market research firm Bespoke Investment Group cautions against expecting solid market performance during the first trading day of the new year. Since 1953, the S&P 500’s median change to kick off a new year was a 0.3% drop, according to a note by Bespoke. The stock market has also traded lower on the first trading day of the each of the past three years, the note said.Today's show features: Mike Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management Laura Champine, Director of Research and Consumer Sector Head at Tabor Asset Management, Manos Koukoumidis, CEO of Oumi, on why the AI investing landscape may become more challenged in 2026 and where the US stands its AI arms race with China Ross Gerber, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, on how the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery will be won See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bitcoin briefly topped the $90,000 mark on Monday before erasing gains, leaving traders waiting on a potential breakout after the token missed a Santa rally that sent stocks to record highs. Other cryptocurrencies had also swung, with Ether up as much as 4% to surpass $3,000 before dropping into the red. In the build up to Christmas, Bitcoin was largely unmoved despite the S&P 500 surging to a record close. The wider crypto space has yet to recover from a weeks-long selloff that began in October with the liquidation of some $19 billion worth of leveraged positions, leaving Bitcoin below where it started 2025.Abra is a global platform for digital asset prime services and wealth management that seeks to connect on-chain and off-chain ecosystems for private clients, family offices, hedge funds, venture capital and crypto infrastructure firms. The company's founder and CEO, Bill Barhydt, discusses both the investing and regulatory outlook for Bitcoin and crypto-related assets in 2026. Bill speaks with Carol Massar and Vonnie Quinn on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch Bloomberg Businessweek LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. plans to once again reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance Corp. after the rival media company amended the terms of its offer, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.The Warner Bros. board hasn’t made a final determination, but will meet next week, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing internal deliberations. Among the board’s concerns, Paramount has yet to increase its offer, which Warner Bros. earlier rejected as inferior to one from Netflix Inc. Paramount, the owner of its namesake studio and MTV, has been waging a public campaign to gather support for its proposal to buy Warner Bros., which owns HBO and CNN. Paramount went public with a $30-a-share cash bid on Dec. 8, three days after Warner Bros. accepted the deal with Netflix, which is only buying Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming businesses. Paramount has since amended its offer twice, most recently by including an assurance from billionaire Larry Ellison that he would personally guarantee $40.4 billion in equity financing and other commitments.Paramount is controlled by Larry Ellison and his son David, a movie producer now assembling a media empire. The Ellisons took control of Paramount in August and have since submitted multiple bids for Warner Bros., which would give their undersized company another of Hollywood’s original studios and more scale in streaming.Today's show features: Bloomberg News Managing Editor for Media & Entertainment Lucas Shaw on Warner Bros. Discovery's plans to reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategist at Baird on Tuesday’s Fed minutes release and the investment outlook for 2026 Private Wealth Management Ed Price , Senior Non-Resident Fellow at New York University, on geopolitical unrest in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America Melissa Brown, Head of Investment Decision Research at SimCorp, on the momentum trade and key historical market indicators to watch with earnings season on the horizon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Novi is an AI shopping optimization platform for consumer packaged goods (CPG). It seeks to help retailers and brands ensure their products can be accurately found, trusted, and recommended by AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude by verifying and structuring SKU-level product data. Retailers including Macy’s, Sephora, Target, and Ulta, along with thousands of CPG brands, rely on Novi to optimize their product data for AI-driven discovery.Kimberly Shenk, the company's CEO, discusses the impact of artificial intelligence on the retail sector during the holiday season as consumers increasingly use AI agents to perform deep-discount hunting, real-time product comparisons, and personalized gift curation. Kimberly speaks with Carol Massar and Vonnie Quinn on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch Bloomberg Businessweek LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.President Donald Trump’s push to end the war in Ukraine faced new complications on Monday when Vladimir Putin said he would revise his country’s negotiating position after the Russian leader claimed Ukrainian drones targeted his residence.Putin told Trump of his decision in a call Monday, according to the Kremlin, even as Kyiv cast the Russian allegations as a fabrication aimed at derailing the peace process.Trump addressed the dispute while speaking to reporters in Florida, saying that Putin had told him about the purported attack during their discussion. The US president, seeming to side with Putin, said he was “very angry.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed the Russian claims as a “new lie” and warned that Moscow could be using it as an excuse to prepare an attack on government buildings in Kyiv.Putin said Moscow intends to work closely with the US on peace efforts but will reconsider a number of previously reached agreements, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian newswires. Ushakov added that Putin assured Trump that Moscow will look to continue working with US partners to achieve peace and that the two leaders agreed to maintain their dialogue.Today's show features: Dr. Angela Stent, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Henrietta Treyz, Co-Founder and Director of Economic Policy at Veda Partners, on how President Donald Trump's foreign policy goals could impact Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone on gold and silver prices slumping as traders booked profit following their recent year-end rally Bloomberg News Wealth Reporter Dylan Sloan on the struggles of some IPO insiders who have seen their stakes fall in value in 2025 since their respective public-trading debuts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.