Bloomberg News Now: Stock Market Rally Stalls, Admiral Denies "Kill-All" Order, Meta Cuts, and More

Market Performance and Federal Reserve

• 📈 The S&P 500 gained seven points, the NASDAQ gained 51, and the Dow lost 32 points as a stock market rally struggled to gain traction ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision next week.
• 📊 The ten-year treasury yield stood at 4.1%, and the two-year yield was at 3.52%.

Navy Admiral and Defense Secretary Controversy

• ⚓ A Navy admiral testified to lawmakers that there was no "kill them all" order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat.
• 🚢 Democrats are demanding the release of the full video and written records of orders related to the September 2nd attack, with one lawmaker stating that an American seeing the video would see the U.S. military attacking shipwrecked sailors.
• 📱 A Pentagon watchdog investigation concluded that Hegseth exposed sensitive information by discussing details of a pending military strike to a chat group from his personal phone, creating a risk to the mission and personnel.

Political and Legal Developments

• 💣 The FBI arrested a suspect in connection with planting pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters nearly five years ago, on the eve of the January 6th riot.
• 🤝 President Trump signed a critical minerals deal with the leaders of Rwanda and the Republic of Congo in Washington, allowing for access to rare earth minerals.

Tech Industry and Economic Indicators

• 📉 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to make deep cuts to the Metaverse group, potentially as high as 30% next year, which could lead to layoffs as soon as January.
• 💰 Company-wide, Meta is aiming for 10% cuts, but the Metaverse ambition has not materialized as expected.
• 📉 Weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest level in over three years, down to 191,000 for the week that included Thanksgiving, potentially complicating the labor market picture for the Fed.
• 💉 A panel of U.S. vaccine advisers delayed a vote on restricting hepatitis B vaccinations for infants until the next day to allow more time to study the issue.
• 🎗️ Flags were at half-staff to honor Specialist Sara Backstrom of the West Virginia National Guard, who was one of two National Guard members shot near the White House.