Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway surprised the investing world on Friday by disclosing a $4.3 billion position in Google parent Alphabet in the third quarter. Buffett is known for favoring traditional value investing over high-growth tech companies. Another notable exception has been Apple, which Berkshire continued to sell, according to a regulatory filing. Alphabet — now the 10th largest holding in Berkshire's equity portfolio — has surged on the strength of its cloud business amid the artificial intelligence boom.
A judge said Friday that he planned to approve a deal for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family who own the company to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids, allowing money to start flowing to victims as soon as next spring.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane said he would spell out his reasoning in a hearing next week.
Here’s what to know.
Members of the Sackler family have been cast as villains in an overdose epidemic that has been linked to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999, including from heroin and illicit fentanyl.
While most opioids were sold by other companies, many people have described the marketing of OxyContin, which was sold starting in 1996, as part of what touched off the crisis.
With legal troubles mounting, family members left the company’s board of directors in 2018 and have not received any payouts from it since then. But in the decade prior to that, they received more than $10 billion from the company that has been in the family for decades. About half that money went to pay taxes.
Under the deal, they’ll contribute up to $7 billion and cease to own the company.
They’ll also be barred from being in the opioid business in other countries and agree not to have their names put on any institutions as part of charitable contributions. Many museums and universities have already cut ties with the family.
The plan also calls for changing Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue’s name to Knoa Pharma and making it an entity dedicated to the public good with a board appointed by state officials.
It could still produce OxyContin, but the vision is that the company’s profits will address the nation’s opioid crisis.
It would also be subject to independent monitoring, as Purdue has been for the past several years.
The company agreed to make public millions of internal documents — including many that would normally be subject to attorney-client privilege.
It also still faces the formality of sentencing as part of a guilty plea it negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2020 after admitting it paid doctors through a speakers program to induce them to write more prescriptions and that it had an ineffective program to keep the drugs from being diverted to the black market.
There’s been a series of other opioid settlements over the past decade worth about $50 billion in total. Most of that money, like most of the Purdue settlement, is required to be used to deal with the overdose and addiction epidemic.
But none of the other major ones have one feature that’s in Purdue’s: payouts for individual victims and their survivors.
Purdue’s deal calls for about $850 million to go to victims, with more than $100 million of that dedicated to the care of children who were born suffering from withdrawal.
This part of the settlement is expected to be paid next year, while amounts going to government entities can be paid over 15 years.
But the individual payouts are a frustration for victims. Those who qualify by showing they were prescribed OxyContin are expected to be able to collect around $8,000 or $16,000 each, depending on how long they took the powerful painkillers.
A judge approved a previous Purdue settlement plan in 2021, but it was undone by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Sackler family members would have improperly received protections from lawsuits, though they themselves hadn’t filed for bankruptcy protection.
This time, an appeal is less likely, in part because by the time this week’s hearing on the plan was complete, no one represented by a lawyer was objecting to it. A handful of individual victims who do not have lawyers involved were the only ones who kept pushing back.
In response to last year’s Supreme Court ruling, the new settlement allows lawsuits against Sackler family members over opioids to be filed by entities that don’t opt into the deal.
The city of Baltimore, for one, has indicated it may sue.
Thanksgiving 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most expensive ever. A new survey shows the average American celebrating the holiday will shell out close to $1,000 once all the food, travel, decorations, and random extras are added up. Still, more than a third of people say they’re actually cutting back this year as they try to navigate rising costs during what’s basically turned into a weeks-long celebration season.
A Talker Research poll for banking app Chime found that Americans expect to spend about $952 on Thanksgiving this year. For hosts planning to feed around eight people, that works out to roughly $22 per plate.
Food is the biggest piece of the budget at $175, followed by drinks at $110. Decorations add another $83, and miscellaneous costs—things like fixing an appliance or buying a new outfit—pile on another $291. Travel is a big one too: among the two-thirds planning to travel, the average cost is $293, while the remaining third aren’t spending anything on getting from place to place.
It’s no surprise then that 63% of people say Thanksgiving gatherings feel expensive—kind of ironic for a holiday that’s supposed to be about gratitude and togetherness rather than how much you spend.
How Families Are Cutting Costs
To deal with rising prices, 35% of Americans are planning to spend less than they did in previous years, by about 41% on average. Their money-saving strategies show that people are trying to keep traditions alive without blowing their budgets.
About 31% are hosting smaller gatherings, and 28% are asking guests to bring dishes so they’re not stuck doing all the cooking. Millennials seem especially open to scaling back, with 36% taking a more minimalist approach.
Gen Z, on the other hand, is all about making swaps: 28% say they’ll buy the same menu items but choose cheaper brands, and 24% are skipping travel altogether to save money.
Janelle Sallenave, Chief Spending Officer at Chime, summed it up: “Thanksgiving should be about connection, not cost. Plan early, set limits, and don’t be afraid to ask guests to pitch in.”
The Thanksgiving “Season” Is Real
Another reason Thanksgiving feels pricier? It’s no longer just one meal. Fifty-nine percent of people now say Thanksgiving is basically a whole season. The average person will attend three different gatherings, including immediate-family dinners, big family events, and Friendsgiving celebrations.
Gen Z is especially busy—two in five say they’re attending separate celebrations for each side of their family.
With more celebrations come more expenses, which may be why 43% of Americans now set a Thanksgiving budget, and nearly half start saving well in advance.
Generational Divide: Who Pays?
Generations don’t exactly agree on how costs should be handled. A third of baby boomers think the host should foot the whole bill, while 33% of Gen Z believe everyone should chip in equally. With 45% of all respondents feeling pressure to host a “perfect” Thanksgiving, expectations around money can make things even more stressful.
Still, families are trying to keep the heart of the holiday intact. Even though nearly $1,000 is a hefty price tag, people are getting creative—cutting back where they can, sharing responsibilities, and trying to refocus on what Thanksgiving is really about: gratitude, community, and connection.
Survey Methodology
Talker Research surveyed 2,000 U.S. adults who celebrate Thanksgiving—500 each from Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers. The survey was commissioned by Chime and conducted online from Oct. 17–23, 2025.
So the Dow just cratered 800 points on Thursday, and Friday isn't looking any better. What gives?
Here's the deal: Everyone's finally waking up to the fact that all these tech giants are basically passing the same stack of cash around in a big circle, betting everything on AI paying off huge. But what if it doesn't?
Take Oracle—they've dumped a ton of money into OpenAI (ChatGPT's parent company). OpenAI isn't publicly traded, but Oracle is. So when you buy Oracle stock, you're kinda buying into OpenAI. Same with Nvidia and a bunch of others. They're all buying each other's services, investing in each other, creating this echo chamber of money at the top.
Here's the trillion-dollar question: Who actually makes money from AI? Sure, AI is going to change everything—your job, my job, the whole economy. Productivity will skyrocket. But does that mean the companies *building* AI get rich? Or does the money just... spread out everywhere? Investors are starting to ask: what's actually propping these companies up?
Speaking of the Fed—I'm not buying the rate cut talk. Inflation's still very much alive, and businesses aren't exactly starving for cash right now. Slashing rates and flooding the economy with more money? That feels like pouring gasoline on a campfire.
The numbers are ugly: S&P down 1.7%, Dow down 1.7%, Nasdaq down 2.3%—worst day since October. If your economy freaks out this hard over *maybe* getting a rate cut, that's not a strong economy. That's a junkie waiting for his next fix.
The real problem? The "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks have been carrying the entire market. While they've exploded, the rest of the market has basically been flatlined. The Dow hit 48,000 because everyone kept betting on the same few horses. And when everyone bets on the same horses, you'd better hope they all win.
What happens if OpenAI doesn't deliver? What if AI takes way longer to actually make money than we thought? That's why you're seeing the top wobble right now. It wouldn't take much—some bad news from OpenAI, a profit miss from one of the big AI players—for that wobble to become a full-on wave.
I'm not saying a crash is definitely coming tomorrow. I *am* saying we're in a bubble—tech's a bubble, real estate is a bubble. The market's just starting to catch on.
Gone are the days when a six-figure salary promised financial stability. In fact, many Americans earning such an income are living paycheck to paycheck, writes USA Today. A recent Harris Poll survey of six-figure earners found that one in three were “financially distressed,” and two in three said their income did not reflect wealth. More than half said they required twice their current earnings to achieve financial security. And while a $100,000 income sits above the national median for full-time workers, years of inflation have eroded its purchasing power.
💥 BREAKING: Trump Slashes Tariffs to Tame Prices — Commodities React
🐂 Coffee. 🍌 Bananas. 🥩 Beef.A rare tariff rollback — aimed squarely at cooling America’s overheated consumer basket.
📉 The move signals a tactical pivot toward price stabilization ahead of 2026, as the administration leans on supply-side levers to ease food inflation.
💬 For investors, this opens a new chapter in the commodity and trade narrative:
• Agro-exports from Latin America may see a surge.
• Food retail margins could widen on lower import costs.
• Emerging market currencies tied to soft commodities might find short-term support.
🌎 The question now: Is this a temporary inflation fix — or the start of a broader trade softening that reshapes global demand curves?
College graduates could be stepping into one of the toughest job markets in a long time next year, a new survey found.
In its latest job outlook survey for 2026, which surveys employers on their “hiring intentions” for new college graduates, the National Association of Colleges and Employers discovered that hiring for entry-level jobs is likely to be stagnant next year.
About 25% of employers reported that they plan to increase hiring, while the vast majority — about 60% — plan to maintain hiring. Only about 14% plan to decrease hiring, the survey found.
More than half of employers rated the job market poor or fair — a twelve percentage point increase compared to last year’s survey. Based on previous survey data, this is the first time since 2022, and before then in 2020, when the majority of employers rated the market as poor or fair.
For employers that plan to decrease hiring, they pointed to a reduction in business needs or projects, as well as an uncertain economy and budget cuts, as the primary reasons. Employers still planning to hire new grads said their reasons for doing so include company growth and succession planning.
Will AI replace entry-level roles?
Not overwhelmingly in 2026, according to the survey. About 60% of employers said they aren’t replacing entry-level jobs with AI, while 25% said they’re unsure if they’re replacing roles with the tech. Only 14% said they’re discussing replacing these jobs with AI.
While this survey’s findings on AI may ease some concerns for 2026 graduates, other reports are sounding the alarm. An August study from Stanford University suggests employers are already replacing entry-level work with AI, and in May, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei told Axios that he thinks AI could get rid of half of all white-collar, entry-level jobs.
Employers reported that about 13% of jobs require AI skills, while 10.5% of entry-level jobs have AI in their descriptions.
As a fresh batch of college grads enter the labor market — which just saw its largest job cuts in a month since 2003 — they’ll be battling a hiring pause, more experienced job seekers, and the twin threat of mass automation and an AI bubble.
NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Survey was conducted between Aug. 7 and Sept. 22.
After a two-week standoff, Alphabet and Disney have reached a deal that will restore channels including ESPN and ABC to YouTube TV. The carriage dispute had deprived subscribers of major live sports content and led YouTube TV to offer $20 credits. The Disney networks went dark on YouTube's platform on Oct. 31, and the entertainment giant was losing an estimated $30 million each week because of the blackout, according to a Morgan Stanley report.
Apple's latest accessory, the iPhone Pocket, is a ribbed knit pouch that costs $149.95 for a short version and $229.95 for a longer one — and it's already sold out, Bloomberg reports. It was created in collaboration with the design studio founded by the late Issey Miyake, who designed the black mock turtlenecks Steve Jobs made famous. Aiming to blend fashion with functionality, it has baffled and amused many on social media.
The week ahead:
United States
BLS Rescheduling:– Sept Employment Report: Nov 20, 8:30 ET
– Sept Real Earnings: Nov 21, 8:30 ET
– White House: October CPI & jobs data likely never released.
Fed Outlook:
– Markets split on December cut; Powell says not guaranteed.
– Several Fed officials lean no move.
– Weak ADP/Challenger data muddy outlook.
Key Data Releases:
– Tue: Industrial Production (Oct) — stronger data = fewer cuts.
– Wed: Housing Starts; FOMC Minutes (hawkish tone = stronger USD).
– Thu: Jobless Claims — low claims delay easing.
– Fri: S&P PMIs (Nov prelim); Michigan Sentiment (inflation expectations key).
Corporate Earnings:
– Nvidia (Wed): Focus on Q4 guidance + $500bn order pipeline.
– Walmart (Thu): Watch tariff-driven cost increases and consumer trends.
China
PBOC (Thu): Rates expected unchanged; growth target on track, NIMs near lows.
FDI (Mon): Expected decline.
Earnings: Baidu (Tue) after muted reaction to Ernie 5.0.
UK & Eurozone & Japan
United Kingdom:
– Budget messaging (Nov 26) in focus after tax-plan reversal.
– Wed CPI: Key to BOE path; markets price 84% chance of December cut.
Eurozone:
– Flash PMIs (France, Germany, EZ) for November.
– EC autumn forecast (Mon).
– Analyst: Eurozone has more room for improvement vs. UK.
Japan:
– Q3 GDP expected –0.6% QoQ.
– Fri core CPI: 2.9%, above target.
– BOJ bond purchases scheduled for Thursday.