Key global financial headlines from overnight and this morning include:
1. **Tough US Job Market in 2025 Feels Like a Recession, 2026 Outlook Similarly Grim** This year has been challenging for job-seeking Americans, and forecasters predict little improvement in 2026. Economists surveyed indicate that despite steady economic growth, unemployment will remain elevated for most of next year. Some attribute this unusual dynamic to AI-driven economic expansion, which has not translated into job creation. A stagnant labor market means limited job opportunities and slower wage growth, exacerbating affordability concerns ahead of midterm elections and increasing reliance on the healthcare sector—the sole driver of 2025 job growth.
2. **Nine Pharma Firms Reach Deal with Trump, More Expected to Follow** President Trump announced agreements with nine pharmaceutical companies on Friday, the latest in a series aimed at lowering drug prices for some Americans in exchange for a three-year tariff reprieve. Fourteen of the 17 firms Trump targeted this summer have now agreed to reduce Medicaid prices for low-income and disabled groups, offer direct-to-consumer discounts, and price new drugs in the U.S. on par with overseas markets. "Drug prices will fall fast and hard, soon making the U.S. one of the lowest-cost countries among developed nations," Trump stated in the Oval Office.
3. **Musk Wins Appeal, Restoring $56 Billion Tesla Compensation Package from 2018** Delaware’s Supreme Court reinstated Elon Musk’s $56 billion 2018 Tesla pay package on Friday, overturning a lower court’s 2023 rejection of the "unfathomable" deal—a ruling that had sparked Musk’s backlash and tarnished Delaware’s business-friendly reputation. The package, the largest at the time, preceded Tesla shareholders’ November approval of an even bigger pay plan. The decision allows Musk to finally collect compensation for transforming Tesla from a struggling startup into one of the world’s most valuable companies.
4. **Google Sues Data Scraper for Allegedly Stealing Web Content via Fake Searches** Alphabet Inc. (Google) sued Texas-based SerpApi on Friday, accusing it of bypassing Google’s protections to scrape copyrighted content through hundreds of millions of fake search requests and resell it at "staggering scale." The California federal lawsuit mirrors Reddit’s October case against SerpApi and others for allegedly feeding scraped data to AI startup Perplexity’s search engine—though Google’s filing does not name Perplexity.
5. **US Existing-Home Sales Edge Up as Price Growth Cools** November saw a slight rise (0.5%) in U.S. existing-home sales to an annualized 4.13 million units—the highest since February, though unadjusted sales fell 7% year-over-year. The median price rose just 1.2% to $409,200, marking one of the weakest gains since mid-2023, as moderating prices and lower mortgage rates provided modest buyer relief.
6. **Trump’s Nuclear Venture: Implications for the Industry and His Fortune** Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), a public company where Trump is the largest shareholder, announced a merger with private fusion firm TAE Technologies—boosting Trump’s paper wealth by over $450 million. The deal is TMTG’s latest pivot since its 2021 launch as Truth Social’s parent, following a recent $2.5 billion crypto fundraising push into Bitcoin. Analysts are weighing the potential gains for Trump and the impact on the nascent fusion industry.
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