Yesterday was the NYE ball drop for monetary policy heads: The Fed slashed interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point in its first rate cut since last year.

Most wonks expected a rate reduction after recent government data showed the economy added only 22,000 jobs last month, indicating that it’s likely in need of a jump-start. But everyone’s eyes and ears were trained on Jerome Powell’s speech and the Fed’s projections of its plans, which suggested that central bankers expect two more rate cuts before the end of the year.

The big reprioritization: The central bank signaled that it has shifted its focus toward being more concerned with an anemic job market than inflation, even as it remains above the Fed’s 2% annual target.

Who’s celebrating?

The rate slashing will translate to lower borrowing costs for small businesses and credit card users. Expectations of future rate cuts could also push down mortgage rates, which have already been falling in recent weeks.

Wall Street rejoiced at the prospect of cheaper money: The Dow rose almost 0.6% yesterday, and while the S&P 500 dipped slightly, most stocks within the index were up.

The Fed has more on its mind than rates

The meeting of Fed leaders where they voted for the interest rate move was probably more awkward than Thanksgiving dinner amid a divorce, as the White House applies unprecedented pressure on the independent central bank:

• It came two days after a federal appeals court ruled that President Trump couldn’t unseat Fed Governor Lisa Cook before the meeting as courts weigh her challenge to her firing.
• And it marked the first day on the job for White House Chief Economist Stephen Miran, a Trump-appointed interim Fed governor whom the Senate confirmed on Monday. He cast the only vote against the .25% rate reduction, favoring a .5% cut instead.

But that still probably wouldn’t have been enough for Trump, who previously said the current interest rate is “at least” 3% too high.

Looking ahead...though Fed leaders were mostly united in yesterday’s decision, the “dot plot” of their individual predictions for future rates showed there’s less consensus about future cuts.—SK

ABC takes Jimmy Kimmel off the air over Charlie Kirk comments. The network said that Jimmy Kimmel Live would be “pre-empted indefinitely” following backlash over comments the host made on the show that the “MAGA gang” was trying to characterize Kirk’s alleged murderer as “anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” ABC’s decision came after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to take action against ABC affiliate stations and after station owner Nexstar—which owns 28 ABC affiliates—said it objected to the statements and would show different programming.

Things just got worse for Nvidia in China. The world’s most valuable company keeps finding itself caught in the geopolitical tussle between the US and China, with multiple news outlets reporting yesterday that Beijing’s cybersecurity regulator told major Chinese tech companies not to buy Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D chip. The less powerful chip was designed specifically for China to address US security concerns over the sale of its more powerful models there. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he was “disappointed” but that the company could only service a market “if a country wants us.” This comes after Chinese antitrust regulators said this week amid trade talks with the US that Nvidia had violated its anti-monopoly rules. And Nvidia has also had to contend with US export bans on chips that limit its sales to China.

StubHub slumped in its trading debut. The ticket reseller finally had its twice-delayed IPO yesterday, pricing its stock at $23.50 and raising $800 million for the company. It began public trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $25.35, and initially popped, but then proved not to be the hottest ticket in town, dropping 6% to around $22. The company trading below its IPO price comes as a check on investor enthusiasm after a streak of hot market debuts from Klarna, Gemini, Figma, and Circle, which followed a long period with very few IPOs amid economic uncertainty.—AR

It doesn’t matter how many brownie bites he’s leaving on the table, Jerry Greenfield, half of the famous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream duo, announced yesterday that he is leaving the company after almost 50 years, claiming its British owner, Unilever, is silencing the brand.

Greenfield accused Unilever, which bought the brand in 2000, of stifling the company’s political activism, specifically about Gaza and President Trump.

The acquisition agreement allowed Ben & Jerry’s to maintain an independent board responsible for making decisions regarding its social mission. But tensions escalated in 2021 when the ice cream maker said it would stop selling pints in the Israeli-occupied West Bank:

• Last November, Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever for allegedly threatening to break up its board for voicing support for Palestinian rights and a Gaza ceasefire.
• In March, the brand claimed Unilever illegally fired its CEO.

Unilever denied Ben & Jerry’s allegations. A spokesperson for Magnum, which will become the new parent company of Ben & Jerry’s once Unilever completes a spinoff of its ice cream brands, thanked Greenfield for his work “over many decades.”

What next? Ben Cohen, the other co-founder of the iconic brand, appears to be staying with the company. Unilever’s ice cream spinoff, which will combine brands worth about ~$9.3 billion, is expected to close by the end of the year. Unilever will retain a minority stake in Magnum for up to five years as it sells off its remaining shares.—MM

After getting you addicted to checking your like count on your phone, Mark Zuckerberg really wants you to look up at the world…because the computer will be on your face instead. Yesterday, Zuck introduced Meta’s newest AI-enabled smart glasses at Meta’s annual Connect conference.

The biggest innovation included in what Zuckerberg called Meta’s Fall 2025 lineup was its new Ray-Ban Display glasses:

• These glasses feature a display on the right side that can show texts, alerts, apps, photos, and even live translations.
• They’re controlled by a Neural Band worn on the wrist to detect hand motions (which mostly worked during Zuckerberg’s live demo—except when he tried to pick up a video call).
• The Meta CEO said they’ll be available for sale on Sept. 30 for $799.

He also introduced the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses, as well as a new model of smart Oakley glasses aimed at sports enthusiasts.

Zoom out: This isn’t just Zuck’s chance to influence fashion, it’s also an opportunity for Meta to show what the AI it is investing heavily in can do in the real world. The smart glasses category, once widely mocked, now appears to be growing fast. Meta reports having already sold millions of its current Ray-Ban models.—AR

If talking about your mortgage refinance during happy hour is one of the surest signs you’re getting old, then a lot of people probably had some existential dread along with their beers last week. With mortgage rates falling to their lowest in nearly a year, home loan refinance applications shot up 58% last week compared to the week before and increased 70% compared to the same week last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

• Refinancing accounted for 59.8% of mortgage applications, up from 48.8% the previous week.
• The average loan size on refinances reached the highest level it’s been since the MBA began keeping track 35 years ago, as homeowners with the biggest loans rushed to redo their contracts, the MBA’s Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni told CNBC.

And we likely haven’t seen the end of refinancing chatter over cocktails: Earlier this week, average 30-year mortgage rates dipped even lower to 6.13%—their lowest since 2022—in anticipation of the Fed’s rate cut.—AR