This week was replete with new data, deals, and drama. The Warner Bros-Netflix-ParamountSkydance bidding war unfolded with the latest developments on December 17, likely ending the bidding race as the WBD board formally rejected Paramount’s hostile bid to acquire the media giant. It continues to opt for Netflix, focusing on the future of entertainment with over 300 million subscribers on the platform.
Then IBM went ahead and bought Confluent for $11 billion. Read more here. How can we skip medical supplier Medline’s recent IPO, which broke records as it raised $6.26 billion, and its stock jumped more than 40% on the first day of its Nasdaq listing.
But before we delve deeper, let us look at how the major indices and commodities performed this week. A major part of the week was bearish; however, with the holidays approaching, the market too rejoiced.
Remember, though, the market, unlike some offices, is not closed. It will take a short break, closing early on Christmas Eve at 1 pm, and will remain closed on December 25th, a welcome respite from the constant monitoring of stock movements.
The S&P 500 closed 0.06% higher this week, barely recovering the losses from earlier in the week.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% this week, slightly up after all the tech sell-off.
The Dow Jones recorded a 0.7% decline, and the small-cap Russell 2000 was down 0.9% this week.
Oil, which had reached a record low of $55 per barrel on Tuesday, regained some of its losses on Thursday and Friday, but still recorded a 1.4% decline for the week.
This comes after US troops cornered Venezuelan ships transporting oil from the country after President Donald Trump ordered a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela,” in a Truth Social post.
This blockade is a broader strategy of putting administrative pressure on Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, whom the US accuses of drug and human trafficking, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Natural gas showed a positive turn after several days of declining prices and was up 2.9% on Friday, but remains 2.4% lower over the week.
Silver, which has now seen a 130% year-to-date gain, recorded another fresh high on Friday, now at $67.385/oz, up 8.6% over the week.
This week, we received the November non-farm payroll data, which showed no significant changes from September. On Thursday, the Consumer Price Index was reported at 2.7% for the 12 months ending in November, lower than the 3% reported in September.
However, if you examine the report, a significant portion of the data is missing due to the government shutdown that lasted throughout October and early November.
Related: Cooling jobs report resets Fed interest-rate cut bet
Klarna, a major proponent of AI and advancement, had previously discussed introducing additional payment options for its users. On Friday, it partnered with Coinbase to include stablecoin funding to its existing broad range of traditional funding sources. Klarna’s stock was up 0.9% on Friday, and Coinbase was up 2.5%.
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President Donald Trump finally made the decision that had cannabis stocks going back and forth this past week. Cannabis has now been reclassified from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, which allows for more medical research and increased future opportunities. It will definitely have investors more interested now with increased possibilities of company growth.
While some stocks saw an early increase, by the close of business today, most of the well-known cannabis stocks had significantly declined.
Tilray fell 9.6%
Trulieve was down 0.1%
Constellation Brands was down 1.3%
Curaleaf Holdings was down 5.5%
Green Thumb Industries was up 2%
As the week comes to a close, a new deal has emerged between President Trump’s Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT), also known as TMTG, and TAE Technologies, a private fusion energy development company. This all-stock transaction, valued at over $6 billion, will result in the world’s first publicly traded fusion company.
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With the merger expected to be completed in 2026, it will create a public company in which shareholders of both companies will own 50% of the equity.
“Fusion power plants are expected to provide economic, abundant, and dependable electricity that would help America win the A.I. revolution and maintain its global economic dominance,” read the official statement.
The stock of TMTG was up 8.3% on Friday following the news.
Talking about deals leading to significant stock gain, ByteDance’s TikTok has finally signed a deal to divest its US entity, which a group of American investors will now control, Axios reported.
The deal, which is set to close on Jan 22, will see Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX, an Abu Dhabi based investment firm, collectively own 45% of the US entity. Oracle’s stock surged 6.6% after the news, as it stands to be a security partner once the agreement closes.
Some good news considering Oracle’s 14% stock decline this month after news came that one of its major backers, Blue Owl Capital, will now not proceed with its original plan to invest in Oracle’s data center plan in Michigan to serve OpenAI, Financial Times reported.
Coursera, the go-to place for all things education, announced a merger with Udemy in an all-stock transaction, with an equity value of the combined company at $2.5 billion at the time of closing on December 16.
Analysts had a mixed reaction to the merger.
JPMorgan upgraded Coursera to Overweight from Neutral, with a price target of $12, while maintaining a Neutral rating and a $8 price target on Udemy.
UBS lowered its price target on Coursera from $11 to $9, keeping a Neutral rating.
Canaccord downgraded Udemy to Hold from Buy with a $7 price target post the merger.
The merger pushed both companies’ stock further up on Wednesday, with Udemy experiencing a 12.7% increase at the close. However, on Friday, both closed more than 5% lower.
Related: CPI inflation report sparks data backlash
