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The S&P 500 hit a record high on Wednesday, with broad gains across sectors supporting the main indexes during a shortened Christmas Eve session. The benchmark S&P 500 touched an intraday record high of 6,921.42 points, surpassing its previous peak in October, as investors continued to bet on more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year following mixed economic data. The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in the third quarter, government data showed on Tuesday, after the release was delayed by a 43-day federal shutdown. Worsening consumer confidence in December and a flat reading on November factory production, however, tempered the outlook. Data on December 24 showed new applications for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week. “Despite ongoing seasonal volatility, initial jobless claims remain in ranges consistent with relatively steady labor market conditions and don’t change our outlook for the labor market or Fed policy,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics. Trading volumes were thin, with U.S. stock markets set to close at 1 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Wednesday. The markets will remain shut on Thursday for Christmas. Micron Technology jumped 4% to scale a record high, extending its rally after issuing a strong forecast last week. Bank stocks were also among the top boosts to the S&P 500, with financials rising 0.4% to a new peak. Recent gains in U.S. stocks have spurred hopes of a “Santa Claus rally,” a seasonal phenomenon where the S&P 500 posts gains in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to Stock Trader’s Almanac. That period began on December 24 and would run through January 5. At 10:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 167.50 points, or 0.35%, to 48,610.95. The S&P 500 gained 10.24 points, or 0.15%, to 6,920.24, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.48 points, or 0.01%, to 23,558.35. U.S. equities have swung sharply this year as tariff-related headlines, concerns about high valuations in technology and AI companies, and rapidly shifting interest-rate expectations boosted volatility. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” was hovering near its lowest since December 2024. Still, the bull market, which began in October 2022, stayed intact as optimism around AI, rate cuts, and a resilient economy supported sentiment, with all three main indexes set for their third straight yearly gain. In the year ahead, global markets will be closely watch potential successors to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, after President Donald Trump said on Tuesday anyone who disagrees with him would “never be the Fed chairman.” Nike climbed 4.7% after Apple CEO Tim Cook, the sportswear giant’s lead independent director, bought about $3 million worth of shares. Intel fell 1.6% following a report that said Nvidia has halted tests to manufacture on Intel’s 18A chipmaking node after initial tests. Dynavax Technologies surged 38.5% after French drugmaker Sanofi said it would buy the U.S. vaccines company for around $2.2 billion. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.69-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 43 new highs and 117 new lows. By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan, Reuters
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The European Union, France, and Germany condemned U.S. visa bans on five Europeans combating online hate and disinformation on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump‘s administration took its latest swipe at long-standing allies across the Atlantic. Washington imposed visa bans on Tuesday on five European citizens, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton. It accuses them of working to censor freedom of speech or unfairly target U.S. tech giants with burdensome regulation. The bans mark a fresh escalation against Europe, a region Washington argues is fast becoming irrelevant due to its weak defences, inability to tackle immigration, needless red tape, and “censorship” of far-right and nationalist voices to keep them from power. Europeans forces to rethink Transatlantic ties They come just weeks after a U.S. National Security Strategy document warned Europe faced “civilizational erasure” and must course-correct if it is to remain a reliable U.S. ally. That documentand other comments by senior Trump officials, including a bombshell February speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munichhave upended postwar assumptions about Europe’s close relationship with its strongest ally, and concentrated minds across European capitals on the urgent need to diversify away from reliance on U.S. technology and defence. In Brussels, Paris, and Berlin, senior officials condemned the U.S. bans and defended Europe’s right to legislate on how foreign companies operate locally. A European Commission spokesperson said it “strongly condemns the U.S. decision”, adding: “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world.” The spokesperson said the EU would seek answers from Washington, but said it could “respond swiftly and decisively” against the “unjustified measures”. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been travelling across France to warn about the dangers that disinformation poses to democracy, said he had spoken with Breton and thanked him for his work. “We will not give up, and we will protect Europe’s independence and the freedom of Europeans,” Macron said on X. DSA angers DC Breton, a former French finance minister and the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019 to 2024, was one of the architects of the EU’s Digital Services Act. A landmark piece of legislation, the DSA aims to make the internet safer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. But the DSA has riled the Trump administration, which accuses the EU of placing “undue” restrictions on freedom of expression in its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation, and disinformation. It also argues that the DSA unfairly targets U.S. tech giants and U.S. citizens. Trump officials were particularly upset earlier this month when Brussels sanctioned Elon Musk’s X platform, fining it 120 million euros for breaching online content rules. Musk and Breton have often sparred online over EU tech regulation, with Musk referring to him as the “tyrant of Europe”. Breton, the most high-profile individual targeted, wrote on X: “Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back?” Germany says bans on activists ‘unacceptable’ The bans also targeted Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index, according to U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers. Germany’s justice ministry said the two German activists had the government’s “support and solidarity” and the visa bans on them were unacceptable, adding that HateAid supported people affected by unlawful digital hate speech. “Anyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system,” it said in a statement. “The rules by which we want to live in the digital space in Germany and in Europe are not decided in Washington.” Britain said it was committed to upholding the right to free speech. “While every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions which are working to keep the internet free from the most harmful content,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement. A Global Disinformation Index spokesperson called the visa bans “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.” “The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with,” they said. “Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American.” Breton is not the first French person to be sanctioned by the Trump administration. In August, Washington sanctioned French judge Nicolas Yann Guillou, who sits on the International Criminal Court, for the tribunal’s targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate U.S. officials. Sudip Kar-Gupta, Gabriel Stargardter, Sarah Marsh, and Sam Tabahriti, Reuters
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In many states, you can get kicked out of your home if the local government thinks someone else will generate more tax revenue. The Takings Clause is a part of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and it says that if the government wants to take away someone’s private property, they have to do it in a way that’s fair. Most of us grew up hearing adults say that life isnt fair. And theyre rightit isnt. Neither is an authority forcing you to give up your property for whatever they think is fair. Courts have said the government can take your property if it’s for something that benefits the public, like building a road or a park. As if that couldnt go wrong. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} How did we get here?! In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the British government had a policy of taking land from private citizens and giving it to favored individuals or companies for economic development. This practice, known as eminent domain or expropriation, was a major source of frustration for colonists, who were aghast at the violation of their property rights. The Proclamation of 1763 forbade American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, because British officials might move to the colonies and want some land. This policy prevented colonists from using the land for farming or hunting, and was one of the factors that contributed to the war for independence. The overreach by a central authority was fresh in Americans minds when the Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted in 1776. Its one of this countrys earliest documents to recognize the importance of property rights. The Declaration said “all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which . . . the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. Property rights are essential to individual liberty and should be protected by the government, but there was always a fanbase for central power. During the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, there was significant discussion about the need to protect private property rights. James Madison argued that without such protections, the government could seize property at will, which would be a threat to individual liberty. Madison proposed a protection of property rights, which eventually became the Fifth Amendment. This was only a decade after Americans experienced the widespread abuse of eminent domain that some of their new leaders were saying ackshully, taking your property by force is for the greater good. In the early 19th century, the Supreme Court ruled that private property could only be taken for public use and with just compensation. This principle was reaffirmed in several cases, including Pumpelly v. Green Bay Co. (1872) and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. City of Chicago (1897). Later decisions expanded on this idea, such as the landmark case of Kelo v. City of New London in 2005, which held that the government could take private property for economic development purposes. Kelo v. The Man In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled the government could use its power to take Susette Kelos private property for economic development purposes, even though her property was not blighted or in disrepair. The city where she lived wanted Pfizer to have her property along with a bunch of other properties, because Pfizer would generate more tax revenue than a lowly nurse and other working class households. The homeowners in the affected area argued that this was an improper use of eminent domain, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city, claiming the taking was permissible because it was part of a comprehensive redevelopment plan to create jobs and increase tax revenue. Some states were angered enough to pass laws limiting the use of eminent domain. Pfizer didnt even end up building what they promised, and the land ended up being sold for people not named Susette Kelo to live on Susette Kelos old property. Why do I vent about this? Because I want you to wrestle with the idea that eminent domaintaking property by forceis a power move. I want you to feel something between discomfort and rage when you hear about people being forced to let a road widening take over their front yard, or being forced to move out of their home to make way for some corporation. Weve gotten to a place in modern culture where the press equates property rights and right wing extremist, sending a not-so-subtle message to readers or viewers that you dont want to side with those people. But property rights arent a right/left or red/blue issue. My most left-wing friend should be a staunch property rights advocate to hold big corporate power at bay. The British Empire was hardly a left-wing operative, taking what they wanted when they wanted in the 1700s. And the City of New London was definitely not pushing a working-class agenda as it kicked out homeowners to make way for Big Pharma in the early 2000s. If you shrug at a government having the power to take stuff just because, then all your other rights and protections are up for grabs. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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