MP Materials rises as Morgan Stanley upgrades stock on ’strategic importance’

Everything points to Meta Platforms needing another name change. The social-media company is cutting spending on the 'Metaverse' and directing funds toward wearable devices, which could mean Meta goes head-to-head with Apple in the next stage of the artificial-intelligence trade.

It looks like an admission of defeat in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's bet on virtual worlds. The cost has been $77 billion in operating losses in the Reality Labs division since 2020. Perhaps that's why investors cheered the reported move that Meta's cutting the department's budget, pushing the stock up more than 3%.

The money saved on the Metaverse is instead being pumped into AI. With Meta losing out in the chatbot race to rivals such as ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Google, Zuckerberg and Co. are focused on trying to extend their lead in AI-powered wearables, where Meta has a hit with its Ray-Ban branded smart glasses. The move makes some sense — whereas making AI models is a costly race where it is hard to maintain a lead against rivals, hardware success could prove more durable.

That should ring alarm bells at Apple. The iPhone maker has stayed out of the AI spending race so far, to the benefit of the stock, which hit an all-time high this past week. But rivals are hoping new technology might disrupt the dominance of the smartphone. Google is planning a renewed push into smart glasses, while OpenAI is working on a mysterious AI device with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive.

Apple isn't blind to the threat. It has its own plans for smart glasses, set to be unveiled next year, according to Bloomberg. But it is losing a string of engineers and designers to high-paying rivals, while its Vision Pro product — a full virtual-reality headset as opposed to lightweight glasses — looks to have been a dud.

So in terms of monikers will it be MetAI Platforms? It's probably too early to start picking out new names, but the next stage of the AI race is taking shape and it's happening in the real world.

• Adam Clark

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Kevin Hassett Increasingly Eyed as Trump's Next Fed Chair

Nearly all signs point to White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett as the person President Donald Trump will pick to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Attention on Wall Street and in the Beltway has already shifted to how Hassett, often seen as Trump's loyalist economist, would guide monetary policy.

• Hassett's potential appointment is viewed more favorably than if other contenders were the front-runners, some analysts say. He could, for example, extend Fed rate cuts even more, wrote Thierry Wizman at Macquarie Group. Prediction site Kalshi puts his chances of being nominated at 72%.
• Trump has publicly criticized Jerome Powell, whom he nominated in his first term, for holding interest rates too high and moving too slowly. Hassett, currently director of the National Economic Council, has defended tariffs, described inflation as a manageable problem, and supported faster rate cuts.
• Trump has sought a majority on the Fed's seven-member board of governors which means he could influence monetary policy. His attempt to fire Gov. Lisa Cook was halted by the Supreme Court pending a January hearing. Elevating Hassett will draw questions, especially from foreign central banks and global investors.
• Critics point to episodes that raise doubts about Hassett's judgment. Hassett's 1999 book Dow 36,000 projected that equity valuations would rise sharply, but they instead collapsed in the dot-com bust. He also circulated estimates suggesting Covid-19 fatalities would drop to zero by mid-May 2020.

What's Next: Powell's final months as Fed chair could be overshadowed by the presence of a successor who will shape expectations before taking office. Powell, whose term as chair ends in May, has spent the past several years defending the institution's credibility, insisting that decisions rest on data rather than political preference.

• Nicole Goodkind and Janet H. Cho

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Comcast's Cable Spinoff Versant Could Be Valued at $10 Billion

Versant Media Group, the cable networks spinoff from Comcast that includes CNBC and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), faces independence in a tough advertising market and as households continue to abandon traditional cable. But 2025 financial projections suggest a market value of about $10 billion when it starts trading.

• CEO Mark Lazarus highlighted Versant's strengths on Thursday. Analysts have talked about a multiple of around six or seven off current-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda), a common media financial measure. That would be a discount to Walt Disney and Paramount.
• In a presentation, Lazarus projected that Versant will generate $6.6 billion of revenue, $2.2 billion of Ebitda, and $1.4 billion of free cash flow this year. Revenue would be down 6% this year based on those projections. Ebitda would also be lower than a year ago.
• Taking Versant's share count and pro forma debt, it would translate into a market value of about $10 billion and a share price of around $70, Barron's estimates. Versant will begin when-issued trading around Dec. 15 and then regular trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker VSNT on Jan. 5, 2026.
• There will be 144 million shares outstanding with Comcast distributing one share of Versant for each 25 Comcast shares. Versant should have about $3 billion of debt outstanding following the spinoff and will borrow that money to help make a $2.25 billion payment to Comcast, which is parent to NBCUniversal.

What's Next: Comcast also is bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery but is considered a long shot to win the contest, where Paramount Skydance and Netflix are seen as the leaders and the top choice of bettors on Polymarkets. If Comcast wins, it could combine Warner with NBCUniversal.

• Andrew Bary

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This Home Builder's Earnings Report Sank the Sector

New Jersey-based home builder Hovnanian Enterprises posted what some could see as a bad sign for the housing market writ large: Its quarter was so challenging its shares sank by double-digits, dragging other housing stocks down with them. The exchange-traded fund tracking home builders fell 1.8%.

• Hovnanian posted a loss of 51 cents a share in the fourth quarter, a contrast to the $12.79 a share earnings in the same period a year ago. It fell well short of expectations largely because of land charges and refinancing expenses that weighed on profits.
• Hovnanian's revenue of $817.9 million was slightly above Wall Street expectations but marked a notable decline from $979.6 million a year ago. Rising mortgage rates and affordability constraints have led to weaker demand for new homes.
• Hovnanian's consolidated fourth quarter contracts fell 10.8% to 1,209 homes compared with 1,355 homes in the same quarter last year. The firm is a cyclically sensitive builder and carries more debt than many rivals. It tends to see larger swings in earnings during housing booms and busts.
• Home prices nationally will rise modestly in 2026, according to two new forecasts. Redfin expects that home prices will rise 1% next year, while Realtor.com forecasts a 2.2% gain. In either case, home prices will grow slower than wages, improving the math for many households.

What's Next: Both forecasters expect mortgage rates to average 6.3% next year. As home affordability improves slightly, so will sales, they say. Redfin expects a 3% lift in sales to 4.2 million, while Realtor.com calls for a 1.7% increase.

• Evie Liu and Shaina Mishkin

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World's Billionaires Less Interested in Investing in North America

The world gained 287 new billionaires this year, collectively worth $684.2 billion. But they're less keen on investing in North America than they used to be, citing policy uncertainty, high stock valuations, inflation, and how the U.S. engages the world, UBS's 11th annual Billionaire Ambitions Report said.

• Of billionaires surveyed, 63% said North America offers the greatest opportunity for returns, in the next 12 months, down from 80% who said that a year ago. Billionaires are diversifying to China and Western Europe, said Dan Scansaroli, UBS's co-head of investment management, Americas.
• UBS said 40% of billionaires view Western Europe as offering the greatest opportunity for returns, up from 18% a year ago, while 34% cite Greater China, and 33% cite the rest of Asia-Pacific, up from 11% and 25%, respectively, a year earlier.
• Billionaires find China's accommodative monetary and fiscal policies, coupled with approximately 30% lower valuations, appealing, Scansaroli said. They view China's centrally managed goal of achieving technical superiority, including through AI innovations like DeepSeek, as a way to capture outsize returns following the rally in U.S. tech stocks.
• The report, which draws from a UBS/PwC billionaire database, found that the world's billionaire ranks rose nearly 9% through April 4, to 2,919. Their combined wealth rose 13% to nearly $15.8 trillion, from just under $14 trillion a year earlier.