This week’s headlines feel like a bingo card written by a finance intern with seasonal depression. Netflix bought nostalgia. The Fed teased dovish vibes without saying anything new. Marvell turned its AI data plans into a laser light show. And Americans celebrated Black Friday by buying things they’ll technically own in April. It’s a mix of strategy, hope, and financial self-delusion and we’re here for all of it.

Netflix just dropped $72B to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s film, TV, and streaming empire. That includes everything from the Harry Potter vault to HBO’s entire content factory. What started as a scrappy platform is now the landlord of half of Hollywood. Competitors like Comcast and Paramount tried to bid but they lost. 

The deal gives Netflix a complete media monopoly. It covers production, distribution, and direct-to-consumer control all in one. They're betting $2-3B in “synergies” will make the price tag less insane by year three. There’s also a $5.8B breakup fee if the deal dies in antitrust court, which feels like an expensive maybe.

It’s the clearest sign Netflix isn’t playing the streaming game anymore. They’re writing the rulebook. Say goodbye to the old playbook of licensing content and burning cash. Netflix wants to own the rails, the riders, and the traffic signals.

September’s PCE inflation came in at 2.8%, a slight dip from last month and just enough to make traders fantasize about rate cuts. Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred measure, also hit 2.8%, keeping things consistent and mildly less awful. Consumer spending slowed, and inflation eased. Suddenly, everyone thought Jerome Powell might loosen his tie at the next meeting.

This wasn’t a victory lap. Prices are still rising faster than the Fed’s 2% target, but slower than the peak panic months. The report gave just enough to support a "maybe soft landing" narrative without committing to it. Markets rallied anyway, because at this point, hope is cheaper than interest rates.

For consumers, the report means groceries might stop feeling like luxury goods. For the Fed, it’s an excuse to pause and look thoughtful. And for investors, it’s one more signal that the hike cycle might finally be over unless the next CPI print ruins the mood again.

Marvell just spent $3.25B to acquire Celestial AI, a company trying to replace copper wires with light beams in AI data centers. It’s a bit like swapping your office printer cables for fiber optics, except you’re piping terabytes between thousands of GPUs. The idea is to use photonics. This can move huge data loads faster. It also uses less power. That’s important, especially when your server room feels like a pizza oven.

The timing was smart. Marvell’s Q3 earnings came in hot with $2.075B in revenue and $0.76 EPS, both beating expectations. Instead of letting the stock rally ride solo, they threw in the Celestial acquisition news to keep the buzz going. Investors liked it. Suddenly, Marvell wasn’t just selling chips, it was selling the wires that connect all the other chips and doing it with lasers.

They expect Celestial’s tech to generate $500M in annual revenue by 2028, maybe even $1B by 2029. That's a long runway, but Wall Street seems fine waiting if it means less latency and lower electric bills. Until then, Marvell’s betting that photonics becomes as essential to AI as GPUs and that nobody trips over the fiber.

Americans spent over $1B on buy-now-pay-later platforms during Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2025. Holiday shopping looked less like a celebration and more like a spreadsheet. Retailers posted record numbers. Consumers posted payment plans.

BNPL platforms handled over $10B in transactions from November to early December. This is a nearly 9% increase from last year. That kind of growth suggests shoppers are less interested in prices and more interested in delay. It works fine until four of your favorite sweaters ask for money at the same time next month.

This season wasn't about gifts but rather on timing. As wages lag and prices creep, consumers turned to the one tool still offering flexibility: short-term denial. The bags were full, but so were the tabs.