A look at the events that are sure to make the market move next week — the final week of 2019!
Illinois is ringing in the new year by legalizing pot. On January 1st, residents that are at least 21 years old will legally be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana flower, 5 grams of cannabis concentrate and products infused with half a gram of THC. Non-residents will be allowed to purchase half of those amounts. Stores are planning to open their doors as early as 6am Wednesday to manage the anticipated rush.
Next week is a big travel week as the holiday season comes to a close. AAA says a record 115.6 million Americans will have traveled between December 21st and Wednesday, January 1st. More than 90 percent will travel by car, the most on record. But AAA doesn't expect many delays from the influx in travelers — unless you're in big cities like New York or Washington DC. Traffic in those cities will triple next week.
There's also been a 5% jump in air travel, the biggest year-over-year increase since AAA began tracking this data in 2000.
Not everyone was happy with their holiday presents this year. On January 2nd, National Returns Day, people are expected to deposit 1.9 million packages according to UPS. That's an increase of 26% from last year. Thursday is set to mark the seventh consecutive record National Rreturns Day, following growing e-commerce gift purchases. A rise in returns spells out bad news for retailers, costing up to millions of dollars in lost sales.
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Aurimas Sabulis, CEO of Dextall, unveils how AI‑driven prefabricated façades slash design time by 80%, labor by 87%, and accelerate affordable housing delivery.
Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index as its stock rides higher on a cryptocurrency wave.
Trump wants interest rates to plummet to make borrowing cheaper and boost growth. Fed chair Jerome Powell and his allies say not so fast, they need to bala