MARKET SNAPSHOT

U.S. stock indexes pared early Friday gains amid a delayed readout of the personal-consumption expenditures index. Treasury yields ended higher as data did little to swing the market. The dollar weakened. Gold ended flat, while silver settled at a record high. Oil rose for the day on geopolitical turmoil.

MARKET WRAPS

EQUITIES

Stock indexes pared early gains, with the Nasdaq composite finishing up 0.3%, the DJIA gaining 0.2% and the S&P 500 rising 0.2%. All three major U.S. benchmarks closed the week higher, with the S&P 500 within 0.5% of its record closing high.

Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studios and streaming business for $83 billion, including debt, in a mammoth deal that is set to reshape the entertainment and media industry. Warner Bros. shares rallied 5%. Stock in Paramount Skydance, a rival suitor, sank 9.8% as investors awaited its next move and reaction from Washington.

The Federal Reserve got one last inflation reading to consider before next week's rate decision, at which it is widely expected to cut rates again.

A delayed readout of the Fed's preferred gauge, PCE, showed price pressures accelerating slightly in September. The personal-consumption expenditures index rose 2.8% from a year earlier, in line with consensus expectations.

Stocks in Asia mostly rose, with the exception of Japan, whose Nikkei 225 dropped 1.1% due to rising expectations for a rate hike.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite gained 0.7%, the Shenzhen Composite rose 1.2% and the ChiNext Price Index ended 1.4% higher.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.6%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index rose 0.2%.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.2%.

COMMODITIES

Multiple geopolitical hot spots pushed crude oil prices up 2.6% to $60.08 a barrel this week. It was the second straight week that crude oil gained, making it 3.5% that oil has risen in that time period.

Conflicts in the world included an escalation by the U.S. toward Venezuela, which could impact demand as Venezuela is a key supplier to nations like China.

But what's also lifting crude oil is the lead-up to the Federal Reserve's next meeting. Policy makers are expected to cut the interest rate, potentially boosting commodity demand, said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group in a note.

For the day, the WTI contract finished up 0.7%, while Brent crude climbed 0.8% to $63.75 a barrel.

Futures for silver traveled up to a new record high, as the Federal Reserve's preferred metric for measuring inflation held below 3% in September.

While gold didn't get a lift from the final pre-meeting inflation data, it allowed silver to reclaim and set new record highs.

Looking into the new year, analysts forecast that precious metals are likely to steady at the levels they're currently at - although any new sources of uncertainty could renew a precious metal push in 2026.

Front-month gold futures closed virtually flat, at $4,212.90 a troy ounce. Silver rose 2.8% to $58.422 a troy ounce.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

Fed's Favored Inflation Gauge Shows Moderate September Trend

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation held below 3% in September, and indicated a moderate month-over-month increase in prices unlikely to block consideration of an interest-rate cut at the central bank's meeting next week.

Consumer prices as measured by the personal-consumption expenditures price index rose by 0.3% in September, the Commerce Department said Friday, in a report that was delayed by more than a month by the recent government shutdown. That yielded a slight rise in the 12-month PCE inflation rate to 2.8%, from 2.7% in August. The core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, declined to 2.8%, from 2.9% in August.

The month-over-month increase in prices was close in line with Wall Street's forecasts, which for PCE inflation tend to be highly accurate because the metric relies on previously published data.

Consumer Sentiment Improves Slightly in December

American households felt a bit better about the economy in December compared with the previous month, according to a monthly index of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.

A preliminary reading rose to 53.3 in December, from 51 in November, when government shutdown-related disruptions contributed to consumers' sour moods. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast 52 for December.

Despite the increase, the survey is closing the year much lower than where it started-it was above 70 in January-and closer to the record low of 50 hit in June 2022, when inflation was soaring. The monthly poll tumbled close to that low this past spring, as markets digested President Trump's sweeping tariff announcements, then neared a record low again during the fall's government shutdown.

Regulators Relax Rules on High-Risk Lending for Banks

Regulators in Washington have rolled back rules put in place after the 2008 financial crisis that limited how much risk banks can take in corporate lending and fueled the boom in the multitrillion-dollar private credit industry.

The so-called leveraged lending guidance was put in place in 2013 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve as part of a crackdown on banks' ability to make riskier loans.

The rules effectively made banks unable to underwrite higher-risk loans for companies like private-equity targets or for high-growth technology companies that had negative-to-no earnings. Regulators tended to see any loan worth more than six-times a company's annual earnings as too risky-a level banks had regularly crossed to fund private-equity deals. If banks lent out the funds anyway, they would be subject to costly demerits from their overseers.

Week Ahead for FX, Bonds: Fed Expected to Cut Interest Rates

The Federal Reserve's decision will take center stage in the coming week, with the central bank widely expected to cut interest rates after recent weak U.S. jobs data.

Central bank decisions in Canada, Australia and Switzerland will also be watched, as well as remarks from the Bank of Japan as bond markets assess when it will next hike interest rates.

In Asia, exports figures from China and Taiwan are in the spotlight as economists look for the impact of Beijing's truce with Washington to have lifted trade.

SpaceX in Talks for $800 Billion Valuation Ahead of Potential 2026 IPO

SpaceX is kicking off a secondary share sale that would value the rocket maker at $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, surpassing OpenAI to make it the most valuable U.S. private company.

The company's Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen told investors about the sale in recent days, and SpaceX executives have also said the company is weighing a potential initial public offering in 2026, some of the people said.

The $800 billion valuation is double the $400 billion value it fetched in a recent secondary share sale.

Netflix to Buy Warner Bros. for $72 Billion

Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. for $72 billion after the entertainment company splits its studios and HBO Max streaming business from its cable networks, a deal that would reshape the entertainment and media industry.

The cash-and-stock transaction was announced Friday after the two sides entered into exclusive negotiations for the media company known for Superman and the Harry Potter movies, as well as hit TV shows such as "Friends."

The offer is valued at $27.75 per Warner Discovery share and has an enterprise value of roughly $82.7 billion. Rival Paramount, which sought to buy the entire company, including Warner's cable networks, bid $30 per share all-cash for Warner Discovery, according to people familiar with the matter. Paramount is weighing its next move, which could involve pivoting to other potential acquisitions, people familiar with its plans said.

Meta Platforms Buys AI-Device Maker Limitless

Meta Platforms said it bought Limitless, a maker of wearable artificial-intelligence devices, a deal coming as Meta has shown increased interest in AI investment.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed the purchase Friday. "We're excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables," the spokesperson said.

Earlier Friday, Limitless Chief Executive Officer Dan Siroker disclosed the acquisition in a statement posted to the company's website.

Expected Major Events for Monday

04:30/JPN: Nov Corporate Insolvencies

05:00/JPN: Nov Economy Watchers Survey

09:00/SIN: Nov Official Foreign Reserves

09:59/CHN: Nov Trade

09:59/CHN: Nov Commodities Trade Data

09:59/CHN: Nov Energy Trade Data

16:00/NZ: Nov QV Nationwide Residential Property Values

23:50/JPN: Nov Money Stock, Broadly-defined Liquidity

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 07, 2025 16:30 ET (21:30 GMT)

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