No early New Year's cheer here – Stocks fell after the Federal Reserve announced another 0.25% rate cut on December 18 and Fed officials expressed caution about further cuts in 2025 due to stickier-than-expected inflation. The S&P 500 Index lost nearly 3% for the first time since August. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Some pep left, yet – The US economy grew more than initially estimated in the third quarter at 3.1%, despite expectations that growth would remain unchanged. The upward revision is attributed to vigorous consumer spending and an uptick in exports. GDP growth has now topped 2% in eight of the last nine quarters. (Source: AP News)

NASDAQ’s fast track – The NASDAQ Composite Index briefly crossed the 20,000 mark for the first time in history on December 11, ahead of the Fed’s interest-rate decision. The tech-heavy Index has doubled in value in the last four years after hitting 10,000 in June 2020. (Source: Investopedia)

Does this inflatable rat have 2-day shipping? – Nearly 10,000 Amazon workers, or about 1% of its overall workforce, went on strike on December 19 at the height of the busiest e-commerce season. The impacted workers are part of the Teamsters Union and are seeking higher wages and better work conditions. The strike isn't expected to impact holiday deliveries. (Source: USA Today)

Nothing like a little retail therapy – US retail sales enjoyed a nice pop in November, driven by strong auto and online purchases. Analysts expected a 0.5% gain in sales, but the actual results came in at 0.7%. Year over year, retail sales rose 3.8% in November. (Source: Reuters) 

Tick tock, TikTok – The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s challenge to a law that could ban its US operations, putting the case on an exceptionally fast track. On January 10, just nine days before the app faces the ban, the Supreme Court will hear two hours of oral arguments addressing whether the sell-or-ban law violates the First Amendment. (Source: The New York Times and Axios)

The latchkey kids are stuffing their mattresses ... – According to a recent study, just 14% of Gen X think they've saved enough money for retirement, and about half say they haven't done any retirement planning. Even more, those who are saving are holding 35% of their retirement assets in cash, on average, out of fear of losing too much money if the market declines. (Source: Ignites)

This yellow brick road was quite long – Earlier this month, a pair of ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz were auctioned off for $28 million. Prior to their auction, they'd been stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005 and weren't recovered until 2018. (Source: NPR) 

Kings with no castle – Monarch butterflies will be added to the threatened species list under the Endangered Species Act. The number of butterflies completing their annual winter migration has dropped 81% in the last 25 years, likely due to warmer temperatures and herbicides that kill milkweed, the main food source for monarch caterpillars. (Source: US News & World Report) 

Forecast calls for a lot of greens – Next year, during the circuit’s 75th anniversary season, LPGA golfers will compete for a record $131 million in purse money over the course of 33 event schedule tee offs. The record prize money represents an astonishing 90% increase since 2021. (Source: ESPN)