Magnificent Seven Back in Pole Position With Nasdaq Record

The Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.9% to a new record as the Magnificent Seven once again find themselves in pole position. Wall Street’s optimism surrounding the industry and its AI dreams has seemingly proven enduring. So much so that US inflation’s decision to take a breather on the way down wasn’t enough to dampen investor spirits Wednesday. The consumer price index rose 0.3% in November for the fourth-straight month, while core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose by the same amount. To Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital, the CPI report “gives the Federal Reserve the green light for a 25 basis point rate cut at the December meeting, as it helps to confirm that we are still making progress on inflation even though it remains sticky.”

The main owner of US chocolate maker Hershey is said to have rejected a preliminary takeover offer from Mondelez International, potentially ending a deal that would have created a food giant with combined sales of almost $50 billion. Turning the offer down as too low was Hershey Trust Co., which has roughly 80% of the voting power at the company and has nixed proposed unions in the past. In 2016, Mondelez walked away from discussions about a potential takeover after seeing its then-$23 billion bid rejected by the chocolate maker.