MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks rose ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields rose as traders shifted their focus to the Fed's outlook, to be unveiled next week.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar was more or less flat against rivals ahead of the Fed meeting.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose, closing the week up 2.6% at $60.08 a barrel. Silver futures, which are sensitive to Fed policy, rose 2.8% to a new record high of $58.42 a troy ounce.
HEADLINES
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.
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.
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, people familiar with its plans said.
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.
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.
Victoria's Secret Sales Boosted as Chain Offered Fewer Discounts
Victoria's Secret logged its highest quarterly sales growth in more than four years after the chain throttled down promotions and sold more products at full price.
The strategy boosted margins and helped the bra and apparel retailer post a narrower loss in its third quarter. The momentum has carried into the early weeks of the fourth quarter, prompting the company to raise its sales outlook for the second consecutive quarter.
Chief Executive Hillary Super said the company's sales, which rose 9.2% in the third quarter, came as the company offered fewer discounts and raised prices on some items such as certain bras.
Southwest Cuts Outlook Over Government Shutdown, Higher Fuel Costs
Southwest Airlines cut its profit guidance for the year, citing rising fuel costs and lost revenue from this fall's U.S. government shutdown.
The carrier said Friday that demand temporarily sputtered during the 43-day shutdown, which included 10 days of government-ordered flight restrictions at 40 major airports. Southwest now expects earnings before interest and taxes to come in at $500 million for 2025, down from a prior projection for $600 million to $800 million.
Bookings have since bounced back to the company's previous expectations, Southwest said.
Samsara Stock Soars on Earnings. Investments Made Years Ago Are Paying Off, CEO Says.
Shares of Samsara took off on Friday. The company's CEO says the investments the Internet of Things company made years ago are paying off with a wave of new customers.
Samsara, whose technology helps connect physical operations like construction and shipping, posted adjusted earnings of 15 cents a share for its fiscal third quarter, ended Nov. 1. Analysts had forecast a profit of 12 cents a share, per FactSet.
Revenue totaled $416 million, up 29% from the year-ago period and above Wall Street's call for $399.3 million. Annual recurring revenue, or ARR, also grew 29% from last year, the company said.
ITT to Buy SPX Flow From Lone Star Funds for Nearly $4.8 Billion
ITT has struck a deal to buy industrial-equipment maker SPX Flow from private-equity firm Lone Star Funds for nearly $4.8 billion in cash and stock.
ITT on Friday said SPX Flow, which generated $1.3 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended Sept. 27 and has about 3,800 employees, would join its industrial-process segment.
The Stamford, Conn., maker of engineered components and customized technology solutions said the deal, slated to close by the end of March, would bolster its positions in core industrial, chemical and energy markets.
TALKING POINT Do You Really Know What's Inside Your 401(k)?
Leave it to Wall Street to take a cheap, simple, elegant idea and junk it up with fees, complexity and opacity.
That's what's starting to happen to target-date funds, the investment favored by tens of millions of people saving in 401(k)s and other retirement plans. A vehicle that couldn't be easier to own may soon become too hard to understand.
Many of these funds are getting cluttered with extra holdings. Things might get worse if so-called alternatives managers have their way and start stuffing illiquid, risky and often expensive private-markets assets into them.
Target-date funds are permanent autopilot portfolios that neutralize self-destructive investing behavior. More than two-thirds of all participants in 401(k) retirement plans hold at least one, according to the Investment Company Institute.
When we invest, many of us need to be saved from ourselves. We might chase whatever's hot and dump whatever's not, put too much in our own company's stock, or diversify by haphazardly buying a little of this and a lot of that. Saving for a goal that's decades away, we might trade on this week's hopes, fears, headlines and hunches.
These all-in-one funds solve all that. They hold stocks, bonds and other assets in predetermined proportions, scaling down risk as investors age. Along the way, if stocks fall too far too fast, these funds automatically buy; if stocks go up too far too fast, these funds mechanically sell.
--Jason Zweig
Expected Major Events for Monday
00:01/UK: Nov KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs
04:30/JPN: Nov Corporate Insolvencies
05:00/JPN: Nov Economy Watchers Survey
07:00/GER: Oct Industrial Production Index
11:00/FRA: Oct OECD CPI
13:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales
23:50/JPN: Nov Money Stock, Broadly-defined Liquidity
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Monday
ALT5 Sigma Corp $(ALTS)$ is expected to report $-0.36 for 3Q.
B Riley Financial Inc $(RILY)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Barnes & Noble Education Inc $(BNED)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Broadway Financial Corp $(BYFC)$ is expected to report for 3Q.
Compass Minerals International Inc $(CMP)$ is expected to report $1.87 for 4Q.
Mama's Creations Inc $(MAMA)$ is expected to report $-0.03 for 3Q.
Oil-Dri Corp of America $(ODC)$ is expected to report for 1Q.
Ooma Inc (OOMA) is expected to report $0.04 for 3Q.
Phreesia Inc $(PHR)$ is expected to report $0.00 for 3Q.
Star Group LP (SGU) is expected to report for 4Q.
Toll Brothers Inc $(TOL)$ is expected to report $4.88 for 4Q.
Virco Manufacturing Corp $(VIRC)$ is expected to report for 3Q.
Yext Inc $(YEXT)$ is expected to report $0.02 for 3Q.
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December 05, 2025 16:35 ET (21:35 GMT)
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