Bloomberg Businessweek

AST SpaceMobile Inc. this month launched its largest-ever satellite from India, the first in a series of deployments to help the company compete against Elon Musk’s SpaceX in delivering space-based connectivity to mobile phones. The BlueBird 6 satellite took flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India aboard the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO’s LVM3 rocket. It reached the low-Earth orbit in about 16 minutes, the live cast on YouTube showed. The successful launch is a big boost for the Texas-based company as well as India’s space program which wants to build its orbital space station among other ambitious projects.Investors are taking notice of the growing number of publicly-traded firms within the fast-growing market for services related to space exploration, satellite technology and enhanced telecommunications. Greg Pendy serves as an equity research analyst at Clear Street, focusing on the disruptive technology sector. He discusses the key trends and firms to watch in 2026 with Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec and Bloomberg Tech Co-Host Ed Ludlow on Bloomberg Businessweek DailySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Stocks and bonds slipped along with gold and silver on the last day of 2025, bringing a subdued close to an otherwise buoyant year across asset classes that saw US equities post their third straight double-digit gain.The S&P 500 extended a stretch of post-Christmas losses, paring the benchmark’s advance for 2025 to roughly 17%. Even so, the index is on track for its longest yearly winning streak of gains since 2021. The Nasdaq 100 was down 0.2%. Laggards include big-tech names like Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.Silver plunged as a run of heightened volatility featuring price moves of 5% or more entered a fourth day. CME Group raised margin requirements on precious-metal futures for the second time in the space of a week following the volatility.Investors have enjoyed blockbuster returns this year in a market that has been powered by optimism about the vast economic potential of artificial intelligence and primed by Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. It hasn’t been a smooth ride, though, with traders weathering swings triggered by a range of forces including US trade policies, geopolitical tensions, concern over lofty valuations and some uncertainty around the path of central-bank monetary policy.Looking ahead into 2026, market research firm Bespoke Investment Group cautions against expecting solid market performance during the first trading day of the new year. Since 1953, the S&P 500’s median change to kick off a new year was a 0.3% drop, according to a note by Bespoke. The stock market has also traded lower on the first trading day of the each of the past three years, the note said.Today's show features: Mike Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management Laura Champine, Director of Research and Consumer Sector Head at Tabor Asset Management, Manos Koukoumidis, CEO of Oumi, on why the AI investing landscape may become more challenged in 2026 and where the US stands its AI arms race with China Ross Gerber, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, on how the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery will be won See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bitcoin briefly topped the $90,000 mark on Monday before erasing gains, leaving traders waiting on a potential breakout after the token missed a Santa rally that sent stocks to record highs. Other cryptocurrencies had also swung, with Ether up as much as 4% to surpass $3,000 before dropping into the red. In the build up to Christmas, Bitcoin was largely unmoved despite the S&P 500 surging to a record close. The wider crypto space has yet to recover from a weeks-long selloff that began in October with the liquidation of some $19 billion worth of leveraged positions, leaving Bitcoin below where it started 2025.Abra is a global platform for digital asset prime services and wealth management that seeks to connect on-chain and off-chain ecosystems for private clients, family offices, hedge funds, venture capital and crypto infrastructure firms. The company's founder and CEO, Bill Barhydt, discusses both the investing and regulatory outlook for Bitcoin and crypto-related assets in 2026. Bill speaks with Carol Massar and Vonnie Quinn on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch Bloomberg Businessweek LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. plans to once again reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance Corp. after the rival media company amended the terms of its offer, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.The Warner Bros. board hasn’t made a final determination, but will meet next week, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing internal deliberations. Among the board’s concerns, Paramount has yet to increase its offer, which Warner Bros. earlier rejected as inferior to one from Netflix Inc. Paramount, the owner of its namesake studio and MTV, has been waging a public campaign to gather support for its proposal to buy Warner Bros., which owns HBO and CNN. Paramount went public with a $30-a-share cash bid on Dec. 8, three days after Warner Bros. accepted the deal with Netflix, which is only buying Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming businesses. Paramount has since amended its offer twice, most recently by including an assurance from billionaire Larry Ellison that he would personally guarantee $40.4 billion in equity financing and other commitments.Paramount is controlled by Larry Ellison and his son David, a movie producer now assembling a media empire. The Ellisons took control of Paramount in August and have since submitted multiple bids for Warner Bros., which would give their undersized company another of Hollywood’s original studios and more scale in streaming.Today's show features: Bloomberg News Managing Editor for Media & Entertainment Lucas Shaw on Warner Bros. Discovery's plans to reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategist at Baird on Tuesday’s Fed minutes release and the investment outlook for 2026 Private Wealth Management Ed Price , Senior Non-Resident Fellow at New York University, on geopolitical unrest in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America Melissa Brown, Head of Investment Decision Research at SimCorp, on the momentum trade and key historical market indicators to watch with earnings season on the horizon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Novi is an AI shopping optimization platform for consumer packaged goods (CPG). It seeks to help retailers and brands ensure their products can be accurately found, trusted, and recommended by AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude by verifying and structuring SKU-level product data. Retailers including Macy’s, Sephora, Target, and Ulta, along with thousands of CPG brands, rely on Novi to optimize their product data for AI-driven discovery.Kimberly Shenk, the company's CEO, discusses the impact of artificial intelligence on the retail sector during the holiday season as consumers increasingly use AI agents to perform deep-discount hunting, real-time product comparisons, and personalized gift curation. Kimberly speaks with Carol Massar and Vonnie Quinn on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.