Electricity prices are up 6.9% year over year — much higher than overall inflation — and costs are expected to go up even more in the future. So, how are energy-hungry data centers, used to power AI, crypto, and more, impacting electric bills? That's a question that several Senate Democrats had, who opened an investigation into tech firms this week. Also on the show: TikTok ownership and real estate agents' thoughts on the market.
Marketplace All-in-One - TikTok set to sell US assets
From the BBC World Service: The Chinese owners of TikTok have signed a deal to sell the company's U.S. assets to a joint venture led by American investors. This morning, we'll parse the details of the agreement. Then, Ukraine will receive a loan of more than $100 billion from the European Union to fund its war against Russia. Plus, Morocco is staging the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament, but not everyone's pleased about the money being spent on it.
WSJ Minute Briefing - OpenAI Targets $100 Billion Fundraising Round
Plus: The European Union commits to a $105 billion loan to Ukraine, that doesn’t include tapping frozen Russian assets. And, Sony continues to beef up its entertainment business by taking control of the ‘Peanuts’ franchise. Luke Vargas hosts.
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Up First from NPR - Brown University Suspect Found Dead, Epstein Files Deadline, Kennedy Center Renamed
The suspected gunman behind the shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead. The Justice Department faces a deadline to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And the board of the Kennedy Center has voted to change the name of the cultural hub to the Trump Kennedy Center.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Robbie Griffiths, Megan Pratz, Jay Vanasco, Lisa Thomson and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.
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Marketplace All-in-One - Bytes: Week in Review – Micron’s big earnings, Oracle’s data center woes and “slop” is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year
Building artificial intelligence tools requires a lot of graphic processing units, and those GPUs need huge amounts of ultra-fast memory to feed them data. Micron Technology is one of a handful of memory chip makers that has been selling a whole lot of memory, thanks to the AI boom.
Plus, cloud company Oracle's data center debt is coming under scrutiny. And Merriam-Webster names the word of the year for 2025: slop.
Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, to learn more on this week’s Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.
Headlines From The Times - Trump’s Addresses the Nation, Inflation Slows, FBI Deputy Director Resigns, State Approves Affordable Housing Funds for Eaton Fire Survivors, DMV Threatens to Shut Down Tesla Sales, & More
Divided Argument - Non-Cake Physical Object
We're back to break down a month's worth of shadow docket activity -- three recent summary reversals, plus the stay in the Texas gerrymandering case (Abbott v. LULAC). We also discuss the launch of the SCOTUSblog "interim docket blog."
WSJ What’s News - EU Backs $105 Billion Ukraine Loan
A.M. Edition for Dec. 19. Europe throws Kyiv a fiscal lifeline in a move officials say could give Kyiv more leverage in negotiations over ending the war, but fail to agree on a plan to tap frozen Russian assets. Plus, OpenAI aims to raise as much as $100 billion to pay for its ambitious growth plans in a market that has started to cool on the artificial-intelligence boom. And WSJ Tokyo bureau chief Jason Douglas explains how interest-rate rises in Japan could push up borrowing costs in the U.S. Luke Vargas hosts.
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The Daily - Trump Says the Economy Is Good. Is It?
With anxieties building over affordability, President Trump made a push to reassure Americans just as the government released long-awaited data that raised new questions about the economic health of the nation.
Tony Romm, who covers economic policy for The New York Times, discusses how Mr. Trump is trying to take control of the issue, and Ben Cassleman, The Times’s chief economics correspondent, explains what the latest numbers tell us about why people are still so frustrated.
Guest:
- Tony Romm, a reporter in Washington covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The New York Times.
- Ben Casselman, the chief economics correspondent for The New York Times.
Background reading:
- Here are six takeaways from Mr. Trump’s address to the nation.
- With tariffs unpopular and prices still high, the White House has teased the promise of tariff rebates and large tax refunds next year.
Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Start Here - Brown University Manhunt Ends in Suspect’s Death
The hunt for a mass shooting suspect ends with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but not before police connect him to a killing at MIT. Today is the deadline for the DOJ to turn over its files on Jeffrey Epstein. And President Trump downgrades the criminal classification of marijuana.
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