Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Stock futures are little changed after the Christmas holiday break this morning, but the three major averages are still headed for weekly gains. Nvidia agreed to buy assets from chip startup Groq for $20 billion in cash, CNBC's David Faber reported on Wednesday. In addition to the nonexclusive licensing deal, Groq's founder and CEO Jonathan Ross, president Sunny Madra and other senior leaders "will join Nvidia to help advance and scale the licensed technology," the startup said in a blog post. The deal is Nvidia's largest purchase ever by a large margin. The chipmaker's biggest acquisition before this one came in 2019, when it bought Israeli chip designer Mellanox for close to $7 billion. You might be able to change it soon. According to an update on Google's account help page, account holders can now replace their existing @gmail.com address and still retain all data and services. Waymo paused its robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday ahead of expected heavy rain in the area, the Alphabet-owned company said in its self-driving ride-hailing app. The pause came days after the company said it will update its fleet to better perform during power outages. On Dec. 20, Waymo paused service during a blackout in San Francisco that caused some of its autonomous vehicles to stop in mid-traffic, contributing to or causing gridlock. Whether it's boots, jackets or bags, tariffs and supply chain bottlenecks are driving up prices of leather goods for retailers and consumers alike. Tapestry, which owns handbag giants Coach and Kate Spade, has already seen higher costs. Company executives told investors in August that tariff-related expenses could total $160 million and eat into profits. The Yale Budget Lab estimates that prices for leather goods will stay nearly 22% higher for at least the next one to two years in part because of heavy tariff exposure, particularly across China, Vietnam, Italy and India. Here are some stories we recommend making time for this weekend. — CNBC's Fred Imbert, Lora Kolodny, David Faber, Dylan Butts and Luke Fountain contributed to this report. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Google just unveiled a Christmas gift for Gmail users who are still stuck with their embarrassing email addresses from high school. In a long-requested change, account holders can now replace their existing @gmail.com address with a new one while retaining all data and services, according to an update to Google's account help page. The support page said the feature is gradually rolling out to all users, suggesting full global adoption is coming, but could take some time. The English-language page retains prior guidance stating that @gmail.com addresses "usually cannot be changed." Google did not immediately respond to CNBC's inquiry about which regions would be the first to receive the feature. Under the new policy, users who change their address will automatically keep their original address as an alias. Emails sent to the old address will continue to arrive in the inbox, and the original address will still work for signing in to Google services like Drive, Maps and YouTube. Previously, users seeking a new Gmail address had to create a new account and transfer their data manually through a complicated and fraught process that could disrupt integrations with third-party apps. Google said existing data, including photos, messages and emails would remain unchanged after an address update. Users can also reuse the old Google account email address at any time, according to a Google translation of the support page in Hindi. However, accounts that change their Gmail address won't be able to create another new Gmail address for the next 12 months and cannot delete the new chosen address. Google has not issued a formal press release or announcement about the change, which was reportedly first discovered within user forums and tech communities. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a new "Trump-class" battleship, declaring it would be "the fastest, the biggest, and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built." He hailed the ships as "some of the most lethal surface warfare ships," promising they would "help maintain American military supremacy [and] inspire fear in America's enemies all over the world." But there is one glaring problem: battleships have been obsolete for decades. Once symbols of naval might with their massive guns, battleships have long since been eclipsed by aircraft carriers and modern destroyers armed with long-range missiles. While labeling the new surface combatants as "battleships" could be a misnomer, defense experts say that there remain several gaps between Trump's vision and modern naval warfare. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, dismissed the idea, writing in a Dec. 23 commentary that "there is little need for said discussion because this ship will never sail." He contended the program would take too long to design, cost far too much and run counter to the Navy's current strategy of distributed firepower. Bernard Loo, senior fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, described the proposal as "a prestige project more than anything else." He compared it to Japan's World War II super-battleships Yamato and Musashi — the largest ever built — which were sunk by carrier-borne aircraft before playing a significant role in combat. "Historically, we looked at battleships and the bigger the better... [and] in a very layman's perspective of strategy, size matters," Loo said. He added that the size of the proposed battleship — displacing more than 35,000 tons and measuring more than 840 feet, or a little over two football fields long — would make it a "bomb magnet." "The size and the prestige value of it all make it an even more tempting target, potentially for your adversary," Loo said. Battleships last saw combat in 1991, when retrofitted Iowa-class battleships provided shore bombardment fire support to coalition forces in the first Gulf War. According to the U.S. Navy, the Trump-class battleship — part of a new "golden fleet" of warships — will be equipped with weapons such as conventional guns and missiles, as well as electronic rail guns and laser-based weaponry. It will also be able to carry nuclear and hypersonic missiles. However, CSIS' Cancian countered that such a design runs against the Navy's distributed operations model, which seeks to reduce vulnerability by spreading firepower across many assets. "This proposal would go in the other direction, building a small number of large, expensive, and potentially vulnerable assets," he wrote. Even if the Trump-class battleship proves technically feasible, analysts said cost would be the decisive obstacle. Loo said U.S. weapons programs routinely exceed timelines and budgets. The Navy's Zumwalt‑class destroyers — the largest surface combatants currently at 15,000 tons — were reduced from 32 to three ships due to spiraling costs. More recently, the Constellation‑class frigate was canceled due to design and workforce challenges. Clark estimated the Trump‑class would cost two to three times more than today's destroyers. With Arleigh Burke destroyers priced at about $2.7 billion each, that implies a single battleship could cost upward of $8 billion. The cost of crewing and maintaining them will put more pressure on an already strained Navy budget, he added. RSIS' Loo was more critical in his assessment, calling the decision a strategic mistake. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Silver breached the $75 mark for the first time on Friday, ‍while gold and platinum ‍hit record highs, buoyed by ‍expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts and geopolitical tensions that fueled safe-haven demand. Spot silver jumped 4.5% to $75.20 per ounce, after hitting ‌an ‌all-time high of $75.62, marking a 161% year-to-date surge driven ​by supply deficits, its designation as a U.S. critical mineral, and strong investment inflows. Spot gold was up 1.1% at $4,526.92 per ounce, after hitting a record $4,533.14 earlier. U.S. gold futures for February delivery added 1.3% to $4,559. "Expectations ⁠for further Fed easing in 2026, a weak dollar and heightened geopolitical tensions are driving volatility in thin markets. While there is some risk of profit-taking before the year-end, the trend remains strong," said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals. Markets are anticipating two rate cuts in 2026, with the first likely around mid-year amid speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump could name a dovish Fed chair, reinforcing expectations for a more accommodative monetary stance. The U.S. dollar index was on track for a weekly decline, enhancing the appeal of dollar-priced gold for overseas buyers. On the geopolitical front, the U.S. carried out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria, Trump said on Thursday. "$77/oz and then $80 ‍in silver is within reach by year-end. Gold ⁠remains poised for its strongest annual gain since 1979, underpinned by Fed policy easing, central bank purchases, ETF inflows, and ongoing de-dollarization trends. On ‍the physical demand side, gold discounts in India widened to their highest in more than six months this week as a relentless price rally curbed retail buying, while discounts in China narrowed sharply from last week's five-year highs. Elsewhere, spot platinum rose 8.7% to $2,411.46 per ounce, having earlier hit a record high of $2,448.25, ⁠while palladium climbed nearly 10% to $1,850.76. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

The internet was becoming mainstream in the late 90s, but Miro Mitev was head-down exploring something that wouldn't become popular for decades: AI. "I fell in love with these kinds of possibilities," he said. Mitev spent his 25-year career forecasting for banks and tech firms like Siemens. He founded SmartWealth Asset Management, whose decisions are made entirely by a network of AI systems. Its latest fund, IVAC, is eyeing $2 billion in assets under management and has an annualized returns target of 14-15%. Once a model is created, "it's very dangerous to start intervening," Mitev said. Indeed, trusting the model is his golden rule, he added. Instead, humans should ensure that there are no errors in the data or calculations, and introduce new data so that the model is up to date. "The worst is to overrule the results, and this is what happens very often," Mitev said, adding that people "don't trust" AI at first. Even the European Central Bank has warned that the current AI bull run may be driven not by detailed technical analysis but by fear-of-missing-out. Mitev said that taking the emotion out of investing proves better results; SmartWealth Asset Management has seen gains of 407.63% across a 10-year period to Nov. 1 2025, compared with an industry benchmark of 145.34% over the same period, according to a graph a representative for the firm shared with CNBC. It's "not possible" to know what will happen in one year, Mitev said, but he can see up to one month ahead with his model. The constant monitoring and introduction of new data are important points, given that AI systems do "hallucinate": generating false information. Mitev said models' mistakes were down to "overfitting," data issues or model misspecification. Overfitting is where the algorithm pays too much attention to what Mitev called "noise." He said this was data "which is not meaningful" because it doesn't reveal a true cause-and-effect relationship with stock performance. Rigorous design, validation, and live environment testing, serve as an antidote to this, Mitev added. It means that, although his fund strategy is executed entirely by a series of algorithms, humans still play a crucial role in making sure it's effective. "It's actually a process that evolves over years ... and this is the reason why in-house development of these kind of technologies is very important," he added – especially for anyone looking to differentiate their AI play. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Hot growth, as seen in this week's GDP report, typically corresponds to stronger hiring and personal earnings, which then enable consumers to continue spending. As KPMG's chief economist Diane Swonk wrote on Tuesday, "Growth and labor market outcomes have decoupled." The US has found itself in what some are calling a "jobless boom." Money is flowing in and out of the economy at a healthy clip, but it's not going toward creating a new job for you. Instead, all eyes are on artificial intelligence, investment in which drove much of the year's economic growth, along with still-strong consumer spending. The big AI investors were larger companies, including those that have led white-collar job cuts. "Firms are doing more with fewer workers," Swonk wrote. "Many overshot on staffing during the hiring frenzy and are now using attrition or layoffs to bring staffing levels more in line with demand. Others are offsetting the squeeze on profit margins due to tariffs with layoffs and hiring freezes." Economists are still grappling with how the US ended up in this rare scenario. This year, although overall layoffs have crept up, they remain relatively low. Business Insider has heard from dozens of white-collar job seekers who said that finding a new role has felt "impossible," and those with jobs have, in many cases, held onto them for dear life. In addition to a tough job market, consumers had no income growth last quarter. However, spending held strong — despite tariff uncertainty and stubborn inflation still above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. This suggests that, despite strong spending by affluent households, much of this rise in consumer spending wasn't necessarily powered by confidence. In fact, consumer sentiment levels are among the lowest they have ever been, and many Americans have been cautious about spending because of tariff uncertainty. Dozens of job seekers across generations told Business Insider this year that they were frustrated about suspected ageism, cumbersome hiring processes, competition with hundreds of others for a single role, and the suspected role of AI in screening out their applications. "I just want to see some noticeable returns on all these massive AI projects," he wrote, referring to the eye-popping AI spending from Big Tech — and their plans for even more next year. If that does come, the jobless boom may only grow. Although it's difficult to determine if this year's investments in AI have yielded results, the GDP's spike to 4.3% in the third quarter is an encouraging sign overall. Still, many Americans may worry about what this means for their jobs. Some companies have cited the need to be efficient in an AI-driven future as justification for layoffs. The US already operates with fewer jobs than it had pre-COVID, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has recently said that the grim jobs data may be overstating this year's deflated gains.

The U.S. auto safety regulator said on Wednesday it has opened a defect investigation into Tesla Model 3 compact sedans over concerns that emergency door release controls may not be easily accessible or clearly identifiable in an emergency. The investigation was opened on Dec. 23 after the agency received a defect petition alleging that the vehicles' mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled and not intuitive to locate during emergencies. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company's vehicles rely primarily on electronic door latches, which open via buttons rather than traditional mechanical handles. While Tesla includes a manual door release for use in emergencies or power failures, experts have long argued that the mechanical releases are not consistently visible, labeled or intuitive, particularly for rear-seat passengers. Last month, Tesla was sued over a fiery Wisconsin crash that killed all five occupants of a Model S, who were allegedly trapped inside because of a design flaw that prevented them from opening the luxury sedan's doors. The automaker has also been sued by families of two college students killed in a Cybertruck crash November last year in a San Francisco suburb, after allegedly being locked in the burning vehicle because of its door handle design. The opening of a defect petition does not mean a recall will be issued, but it marks the first step in a regulatory review process that could lead to further action if safety-related defects are confirmed. The auto regulator, NHTSA, said in September it had opened a preliminary evaluation into about 174,290 Model Y cars over reports of electronic door handles becoming inoperative. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox