The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell to its lowest level of 2025 this week, an encouraging sign for prospective home buyers.
The average long-term mortgage rate dipped to 6.15% from 6.18% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Wednesday. That’s the lowest average long-term rate since October 3, 2024, when it dipped to 6.12% before shooting back up. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.91%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, fell this week to 5.44% from 5.50% the previous week. A year ago, it averaged 6.13%, Freddie Mac said.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserves interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
The 10-year yield was at 4.14% at midday Wednesday, down a touch from last weeks 4.15%.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has been mostly holding steady in recent weeks since Oct. 30 when it dropped to 6.17%, which at the time was its lowest level in more than a year.
Mortgage rates began easing in July in anticipation of a series of Fed rate cuts, which began in September and continued this month.
The Fed doesnt set mortgage rates, but when it cuts its short-term rate that can signal lower inflation or slower economic growth ahead, which can drive investors to buy U.S. government bonds. That can help lower yields on long-term U.S. Treasurys, which can result in lower mortgage rates.
Even so, Fed rate cuts dont always translate into lower mortgage rates.
Home shoppers who can afford to pay cash or finance at current mortgage rates are in a more favorable position than they were a year ago. Home listings are up sharply from 2024, and many sellers have resorted to lowering their initial asking price as homes take longer to sell, according to data from Realtor.com.
Still, affordability remains a challenge for aspiring homeowners, especially first-time buyers who dont have equity from an existing home to put toward a new home purchase. Uncertainty over the economy and job market are also keeping many would-be buyers on the sidelines.
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in November from the previous month, but slowed compared to a year earlier for the first time since May despite average long-term mortgage rates holding near their low point for the year. Through the first 11 months of this year, home sales are down 0.5% compared to the same period last year.
Economists generally forecast that the average rate on a 30-year mortgage will remain slightly above 6% next year.
Matt Ott, AP business writer
U.S. stocks are slipping in afternoon trading Wednesday as Wall Street closes out a banner year for markets driven by both optimism and uncertainty.
The S&P 500 was down 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 100 points, or 0.2%, as of 1:47 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%. The stock indexes are coming off a three-day losing streak.
Trading is expected to be light ahead of the New Years Day holiday, when markets will be closed. With just one trading day left before the year ends, most big investors have closed out their positions for the year and trading volume has been very thin.
Even after their mini post-Christmas pullback, the indexes are on pace for strong gains for the year.
The S&P 500, which set 39 record highs in 2025, is up about 17% for the year, its third straight double-digit annual gain. The Nasdaq is up 21.1% and the Dow has gained 13.4%.
Wall Streets 2025 gains came as investors embraced the optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and its potential for boosting profits across almost all sectors. But the market had no shortage of turbulence along the way amid President Donald Trumps on-again, off-again tariffs on imported goods worldwide and uncertainty over the trajectory of interest rates.
The S&P 500 plunged nearly 5% on April 3, its worst day since the 2020 COVID crash. It fell another 6% a day later, after Chinas response raised fears of an escalating trade war. Worries also gripped the U.S. Treasury market.
Trump eventually put his tariffs on pause and negotiated agreements with countries to lower his proposed tariff rates on their imports, helping calm investors nerves.
Strong profit reports from companies and three cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve also helped drive markets higher.
Still, the AI frenzy that drove markets in 2025 did not come without concerns. Chief among them is the worry that artificial intelligence technology may not produce enough profits and productivity to make all the investment worth it. That could keep the pressure on AI stocks like Nvidia and Broadcom, which were responsible for much of the markets gains this year.
And its not just AI stocks that critics say are too pricey. Stocks across the market still look expensive after their prices climbed faster than profits.
On top of concerns that stocks are overvalued, the ongoing impact of the wide-ranging U.S.-led trade war threatens to add more fuel to inflation in the U.S. Despite the Fed cutting rates over concerns about the labor market, inflation remains solidly above the central banks 2% target.
Wall Street is betting that the Fed will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting in January.
Traders got an update on the state of the job market Wednesday. The Labor Department reported that fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week with layoffs remaining low despite a weakening labor market.
All of the sectors in the S&P 500 were in the red Wednesday, with technology stocks among the biggest drags on the market. Western Digital fell 2.1% and Micron Technology was down 1.5%.
Treasury yields were mostly higher in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.16% from 4.13% late Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which moves more closely with expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, rose to 3.47% from 3.45%.
Trading in precious metals continued to be volatile as the year winds down. Silver swung back to a big loss, giving back 9.1% after Tuesday’s gain of more than 10%. Following Friday’s 7.7% jump, silver lost nearly 9% on Monday. It’s still up more than 140% this year.
Gold was down 1.2%, but is still up about 64% in 2025.
U.S. benchmark crude slipped 0.7% to $57.55 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.6% to $60.97 per barrel.
Global stock markets including those in Germany, Japan and South Korea were closed Wednesday for the New Years holidays, while trading was mixed in those that remained open.
Alex Veiga, AP business writer
Americans filed the fewest new jobless claims in a month last week, and while the number of unemployed workers collecting relief payments has eased from recent highs, there is little indication of a break from the weak hiring environment that settled in over the course of President Donald Trump‘s first year back at the White House.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits for the week ended December 27 dropped unexpectedly by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 199,000, the lowest since the end of November, Labor Department data showed on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 220,000. The report was published a day early because of the New Year’s Day holiday.
Claims have been volatile in recent weeks amid challenges in adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations ahead of the holiday season. The labor market remains locked in what economists and policymakers describe as a “no hire, no fire” mode, and the final report of 2025 was largely emblematic of that.
Though the economy remains resilient, with gross domestic product increasing at its fastest pace in two years in the third quarter, the labor market has almost stalled. Labor demand and supply have been impacted by Trump’s dramatic policy shifts since he began his second presidency in January, most notably his steep import tariffs and his aggressive immigration crackdown that has limited worker supply, economists say.
The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, fell by 47,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.866 million during the week ending December 20, the claims report showed.
“The drop in initial unemployment claims to 199,000 in the week of Christmas was likely another seasonal-adjustment distortion,” John Ryding, chief economic adviser at Brean Capital, said.
“Bigger picture, we have not seen a meaningful increase in layoffs as signaled by these data in 2025 with the average level of claims in the year at 226,100 compared to 223,000 in 2024.”
Continuing claims have eased from recent highs
Continuing claims had neared the 2 million mark in late October but have eased off some as the year wound down and a record-long federal government shutdown ended in mid-November.
While off that recent peak, continuing claims are somewhat higher than they were at this time last year, and at a level that aligns with a survey from the Conference Board last week showing consumers’ perceptions of the labor market deteriorated this month to levels last seen in early 2021.
Hiring has slowed substantially in 2025, averaging just 55,000 new jobs created a month through November, roughly a third of the pace in 2024, and the breadth of hiring has narrowed as employers awaited greater clarity on Trump’s policies and as they gauge their workforce needs against the rapid rollout of productivity-enhancing artificial intelligence tools.
The slow hiring pace has brought job creation to near what economists estimate is the break-even rate that keeps the jobless rate from rising. The unemployment rate increased to a four-year high of 4.6% in November, though part of the rise was because of technical factors related to the 43-day government shutdown.
A jobless rate tracker from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago suggests it remained unchanged in December at 4.6%. The Labor Department, which was unable to produce a jobless rate for October because of the shutdown, will publish employment figures for December on January 9.
Still, the number of Americans on jobless benefits rolls as a share of the U.S. labor force is just 1.1% and has changed little over the course of this year even as the formal unemployment rate has climbed from 3.7% in January to November’s 4.6%. The lack of correlation in movement between the two data points is very unusual, and stands as further evidence for some economists of the reluctance among employers to cut headcount in an environment of still-tight labor supply.
What does it mean for the Fed?
The unusual attributes of the current job market are central to the debate underway at the Federal Reserve about whether to cut interest rates further to forestall further weakening of employment or to hold borrowing costs steady to keep pressure on inflation that remains above the Fed’s 2% target.
The U.S. central bank this month cut its benchmark overnight interest rate by another 25 basis points to the 3.50% to 3.75% range, but signaled rates were unlikely to fall in the near term as policymakers await clarity on the direction of the labor market and inflation, which has drifted upward over the year thanks to pressure on goods prices from Trump’s tariffs.
Minutes of the December 9-10 meeting released on Tuesday showed the depth of the divide among policymakers. Even some of those who supported the rate cut acknowledged “the decision was finely balanced or that they could have supported keeping the target range unchanged,” given the different risks facing the U.S. economy.
For Fed officials, much hinges on what a blitz of data coming in the early weeks of 2026 reveals about the economy’s direction.
Some of those policymakers who were either opposed or skeptical of the most recent cut “suggested that the arrival of a considerable amount of labor market and inflation data over the coming intermeeting period would be helpful on making judgments about whether a rate reduction was warranted,” the meeting minutes said.
Dan Burns, Reuters
Flu season is here and its shaping up to be a bad one.
Cases of the flu are rising sharply across the country and thats when looking at data collected right before the holiday.
In the U.S., the CDC estimates 7.5 million flu cases so far this season, with 81,000 hospitalizations and more than 3,000 deaths. So far this season eight children have died from flu-related causes according to the CDC, with five of those deaths reported this week.
According to CDC data for the week ending on December 20, 32 states reported high or very high levels of illness with flu symptoms, up from 17 states reporting that level of flu activity the week prior. New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Louisiana and Colorado are the states with the most extreme levels of flu-like illness, with many neighboring states also reporting very high levels.
New York just broke a record by reporting its highest load of flu cases in a single week. Its the hospitalizations right now that are getting my attention, New York State health commissioner James McDonald told Albanys CBS6. The weekend of December 20 we reported over 3,600 people in the hospital from the flu in New York state. Why thats important is that was more than the peak of last year.
What were seeing with this strain of flu is more contagious, more severe disease, McDonald said, adding that it isnt too late to get the flu vaccine, especially children and older adults. In New York, 40% of people hospitalized from the flu are older than 75, but infants are the second largest group requiring hospitalization.
Part of what is making this season shape up to be a brutal one for the flu is the emergence of a new variant of the virus, known as subclade K (a subclade refers to a subgroup of a strain of a virus). Subclade K is a newer subtype of influenza A/H3N2 that emerged over the summer, complicating the protection from the flu vaccine, which was formulated using different reference strains of the virus from subclade J. Still, that situation isnt completely uncommon the vaccine and the dominant strain sometimes mismatch from year to year.
While the term super flu is getting tossed around already, the vaccine formulation still likely provides some protection against the dominant subclade K form of the virus, as well as offering a buffer for the better-matched but less dominant strain.
A perfect storm
Seasonal illness spikes around the holidays each year as people travel to see loved ones and gather inside to celebrate. This year is no different, and the flu is joined by a lineup of other seasonal illnesses that includes COVID and norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea. Other serious and extremely contagious illnesses like whooping cough and measles are also on the uptick in the U.S. this year, as waning vaccination rates take their toll on public health.
Vaccine skepticism, once a fringe belief, now sits much closer toward the center of political beliefs in the U.S. Avowed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr now shapes U.S. health policy from the very top, after building a career from promoting lucrative anti-vaccine causes.
Another top Trump health official, Dr. Mehmet Oz, referred to the flu vaccine as controversial in an appearance on Newsmax this week, pointing viewers toward MAHA tips like taking zinc, eating well and coughing into the crook of your arm to protect against a flu infection. Oz called sleep the most important tool of all in protecting against a flu infection, failing to recommend the flu vaccine to the networks viewers.
Flu is always a problem. Every year theres a flu vaccine. It doesnt always work very well. Thats why its been controversial of late, Oz said. But like many illnesses, the best news out there is if you can take care of yourself, so that when you do end up running into the flu, you can overwhelm it.
An explosion of vaccine misinformation in recent years coupled with Covid-era fatigue has created the perfect storm for a public health crisis in the U.S., and were only just beginning to see the consequences.
Its the sort of thing you might not notice until it really matters, but the U.S. Postal Service recently changed how it defines the postmark on a piece of mailwarning that the postmark date is not a reliable indicator of when you actually mailed something.
If youre the sort of person who waits until the last minute to send time-sensitive mail, that means youll need to stand in line at your local post office and request a manual postmark when dropping off your mail.
While the way mail is postmarked hasnt undergone some major shift recently, the postal service set out earlier this year to clarify earlier what a postmark means and how the process works.
By clarifying, the beleaguered agency delivered a reality check of sortsand warned that an issue many people didnt even realize was an issue could become more common under an initiative its implemented to optimize mail delivery, and particularly in rural areas, as part of its Delivering for America 10-year plan.
Postmarks applied at originating processing facilities have never provided a perfectly reliable indicator of the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mailpiece, the agency said in a federal filing from last month. To the extent that customers currently have this view of the postmark, it does not reflect the realities of postal operations.
Perhaps worse yet? Buying postage online or at a kiosk in the post office, doesnt overcome the postmark issue as that date merely shows when the postage was printed and not when it was actually in the hands of the USPS.
CONCERNS ABOUT MAIL-IN BALLOTS
When the agency first proposed clarifying the process back in August, there was a mandatory public comment period that elicited only 130 comments. But many of those comments focused on the implications for mail-in voting, which has become especially prevalent in the post-pandemic era.
In the 2024 presidential election, mail-in voting accounted for 30.3% of the turnout, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. That was down from 43% in the 2020 election.
By warning of a likely timing gap between the date when you drop off mail and when its counted as received, the U.S. Postal Service has shifted some of the responsibility back on mailers. In the federal filing, it reiterated a common-sense measure that voters should mail their completed ballot at least one week before it must be received or else queue up at the post office for that manual postmark.
OTHER CHANGES COMING IN 2026
But theres some (hopefully) welcomed news for people who dread a visit to the post office. In September, the agency announced that a modernization project will continue in 2026 that will see many lobbies undergo much-needed renovations.
These projects, however, come at a cost.
And shipping prices are going up once again, though not (yet) for stamps.
After hiking shipping rates by as much as 7.6% in July, another big increase is coming on January 18. The cost to ship the lightest-weight package domestically will soon cost $7.76, a 7.8% increase from the current starting rates of $7.20.
Chinese factory activity expanded for the first time in eight months in December, as orders picked up ahead of holidays and builders rushed to finish projects, according to surveys released Wednesday.The official purchasing managers index for manufacturing, a monthly survey of companies, rose to 50.1 this month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. That was just above the 50 cut off for expansion versus contraction on a scale up to 100. Another, private sector, survey also was at 50.1 for December.The better-than-expected readings partly reflect easing pressure due to an extended truce in trade tensions with the U.S. They also suggest manufacturers ramped up production ahead of New Year holidays, when many companies close for days. China’s Lunar New Year falls in mid-February this year.In comments to a new year’s gathering carried Wednesday by China’s state media, President Xi Jinping, vowed to promote “high-quality development” and to carry out “more positive macroeconomic policies” while ensuring social harmony and stability.The world’s second largest economy is forecast to grow at a pace just below the official target of about 5% this year, supported by strong activity in high-tech industries and exports. The official PMI for high-tech manufacturing stood at 52.5 in December, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous month.The report said the PMIs for both equipment manufacturing and the consumer goods industry reached 50.4.The separate report by RatingDog, a Chinese credit research and analysis company based in the southern city of Shenzhen, said that despite an increase in overall orders, new export sales fell slightly and hiring weakened.“Overall, the manufacturing sector regained growth at the end of 2025,” RatingDog’s founder Yao Yu said in a statement. “However, the improvement was marginal, with the impact of promotions and new products appearing impulse-driven and their sustainability requiring observation.”The National Statistic Bureau said the PMI measures for food, textiles, clothing and electronics were above a relatively strong 53.However, while large manufacturers increased their output, factory activity for the small and mid-sized enterprises that account for the lion’s share of employment in China remained in contractionary territory. As consumers cut back on spending, conditions for retailers and restaurants also deteriorated, the report said.Some economists believe China’s economy is growing more slowly than official figures suggest. Its leaders are grappling with long-term challenges including a yearslong slump in the country’s property sector and excess capacity in many industries, including automaking, that has led to damaging price wars.Higher costs for raw materials, especially for metals, has put pressure on company profit margins, the RatingDog report said. It noted that exporters had raised prices for the first time in three months to help offset those higher costs.The upturn in activity may be short-lived as it appears to be helped by a slight increase in government spending, Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.“The big picture is that the structural headwinds from the property downturn and industrial overcapacity are set to persist in 2026 and there appears to be limited appetite among policymakers for a big increase in demand-side stimulus,” he said.
Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 350 branded medications including vaccines against COVID, RSV and shingles and blockbuster cancer treatment Ibrance, even as the Trump administration pressures them for cuts, according to data provided exclusively by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
The number of price increases for 2026 is up from the same point last year, when drugmakers unveiled plans for raises on more than 250 drugs. The median of this year’s price hikes is around 4% in line with 2025.
The increases do not reflect any rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts.
DRUGMAKERS ALSO CUT SOME PRICES
Drugmakers also plan to cut the list prices on around nine drugs. That includes a more than 40% cut for Boehringer Ingelheim’s diabetes drug Jardiance and three related treatments.
Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, which sell Jardiance together, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reason for the price cuts.
Jardiance is among the 10 drugs for which the U.S. government negotiated a lower price for the Medicare program for people aged 65 and older in 2026. Under those negotiations, Boehringer and Lilly slashed the Jardiance price by two-thirds.
U.S. patients currently pay by far the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what patients pay in similarly wealthy nations.
The increases on 350 medicines come even as Trump has struck deals with 14 drugmakers on prices of some of their medicines for the government’s Medicaid program for low-income Americans and for cash payers. Pfizer, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis and GSK are among those companies and also plan to raise prices on some drugs on January 1.
“These deals are being announced as transformative when, in fact, they really just nibble around the margins in terms of what is really driving high prices for prescription drugs in the U.S.,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Rome said the companies seem to be maximizing prices while negotiating discounts behind the scenes with health and drug insurers and then setting yet another price for direct-to-consumer cash-pay sales.
An HHS spokesman declined to comment.
KEEPING UP WITH INFLATION
Pfizer announced the most list price hikes, on around 80 different drugs including cancer drug Ibrance, migraine pill Nurtec, and COVID treatment Paxlovid, as well as some administered in hospitals such as morphine and hydromorphone.
Most of Pfizer’s increases are below 10%, except for a 15% hike of COVID vaccine Comirnaty, while some of its relatively inexpensive hospital drugs saw more than four-fold increases.
Pfizer said in a statement it had adjusted the average list price of its innovative medicines and vaccines for 2026 below the overall rate of inflation.
“The modest increase is necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover and deliver new medicines as well as address increased costs throughout our business,” the company said.
Larger U.S. drug price increases were once far more common. Drugmakers have scaled them back due to criticism from lawmakers and new government policies, such as penalizing companies that charge Medicare program prices that rise faster than inflation.
European drugmaker GSK plans to increase prices on around 20 drugs and vaccines from 2% to 8.9%. The drugmaker said it is committed to reasonable prices and the hikes are needed to support scientific innovation.
Sanofi and Novartis did not respond to requests for comment.
More price hikes and cuts can be expected in early January, which is historically the biggest month for drugmakers to raise prices.
3 Axis is a consulting firm that works with pharmacist groups, health plans and some pharmaceutical industry-related groups on drug pricing and supply chain issues. It is a related entity to, and shares staff with, drug pricing non-profit 46brooklyn.
Michael Erman, Reuters
Zohran Mamdani was a trailblazing candidate whom many in his city of 8 million some with hope, some with trepidation expect to be a disruptive New York mayor.
The democratic socialist’s plans for his first day in office on Thursday nod to his politics and priorities, without straying far from his predecessors with a sober official midnight oath-taking followed by a more celebratory ceremony in the afternoon.
New York law spells out that four-year mayoral terms start on the January 1 after elections. To avoid any ambiguity about who’s in charge of America’s most populous city, it has become a tradition to hold a small midnight swearing-in.
Mamdani has chosen as the site of his midnight oath the Old City Hall subway stop, which was decommissioned in the middle of the previous century and is accessible only a few times a year through guided tours.
The subway site, according to Mamdanis transition team, reflects his “commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day.”
Mamdani, a 34-year-old former state lawmaker, promised a freeze on rents and free buses and childcare, building a campaign around affordability issues that some have seen as a path forward for his Democratic Party around the country ahead of midterm elections.
Mamdani inspired a record-breaking turnout of more than 2 million voters and took 50 percent, nearly 10 points ahead of Andrew Cuomo running as an independent and well ahead of Republican Curtis Sliwa.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who was among Mamdani’s earliest prominent backers, was to administer the midnight oath to Mamdani. During the first administration of President Donald Trump, James began investigating his business practices in New York, resulting in a judge finding in 2024 that Trump fraudulently overstated his net worth to dupe lenders. The Trump administration has targeted James during his second term, accusing her of mortgage fraud.
Grant Reeher, a Syracuse University political science professor, said the role James was to play in the inauguration sent a message to core supporters that Mamdani is “going to be independent of the president.
INAUGURATION OF A NEW ERA
The Uganda-born Mamdani, who will be New York City’s first Muslim mayor, has been a sharp critic of Trump on issues such as immigration and said his differences with the president were numerous after a warm White House meeting.
But being sworn in by the state attorney general may say more about Mamdani’s political alliances than rivalries. In 2014 Bill de Blasio, whom Mamdani regards as the best New York City mayor of his lifetime, was sworn in privately by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman at the start of the first of his two terms.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive, Brooklyn-born Vermont senator whom Mamdani calls his inspiration, presided over de Blasio’s public inauguration ceremony in 2018 and will play a similar role for Mamdani. Liberal Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also on the inauguration ceremony agenda.
Plans for Mamdani’s public inauguration include a ceremony on City Hall’s steps and a program of music and speeches in front of 4,000 guests gathered in City Hall Plaza. In addition, tens of thousands of people will be able to watch a livestream of what Mamdani’s team has dubbed the Inauguration of a New Era in free viewing areas set up along Broadway.
Mamdani raised $2.6 million for the transition and celebrations from nearly 30,000 contributors, more than other mayors on record in this century, both by the total and single donations, according to official campaign data that presents disclosures of inaugural expenses beginning with Michael Bloomberg’s first term in 2001.
Sami Zaman, the owner of Astoria’s low-key Afghan restaurant Sami’s Kabab House, where Astoria resident Mamdani filmed a campaign video with Sanders, was on the inaugural committee alongside filmmakers, writers and activists.
After becoming mayor, Mamdani will move from his one-bedroom Astoria apartment, protected from sharp price hikes by the city rent-stabilization program, to Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York City mayors on Manhattan’s upscale Upper East Side.
Bankers and others in New York, the nation’s financial capital, had expressed concern about Mamdani but since his election they have explored how to work with him. The city has had another mayor associated with democratic socialism, David Dinkins. Dinkins did not make much of his association with the Democratic Socialists of America. During his 1990-1993 term he overcame budget deficits and persuaded private businesses to remain in New York, according to city archivists.
Maria Tsvetkova, Reuters
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain.South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks strike midnight in Auckland, a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball drops in New York’s Times Square.The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 240-meter (787-foot) Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s North Island on Wednesday due to forecasts of rain and possible thunderstorms.
Australia plans defiant celebration after country’s worst mass shooting
Australia’s east coast welcomes 2026 two hours after New Zealand, but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations will be held under the pall of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, killing 15 and wounding 40.A heavy police presence monitored the thousands who thronged to the downtown waterfront on Wednesday to watch a fireworks show centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Many officers openly carried rapid-fire rifles, in a first for the annual event.An hour before midnight, the massacre victims will be commemorated with one minute of silence while images of a menorah are projected on the bridge pylons. The crowd has been invited to show their solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by shining their phone torches across the harbor.New South Wales Premier Chris Minns urged Sydney residents not to stay away through fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds at New Year’s Eve festivities as a victory.“We can’t be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minns told reporters on Wednesday.“We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we’re not going to be cowered by this kind of terrorism,” he added.
Indonesia and Hong Kong hold subdued events
In Indonesia, one of Australia’s nearest neighbors, cities scaled back New Year’s Eve festivities as a gesture of solidarity with communities devastated by catastrophic floods and landslides that struck parts of Sumatra island a month ago, claiming more than 1,100 lives.The capital, Jakarta, will not ring in 2026 with its usual fanfare, choosing instead subdued celebrations with a calm and reflective program centered on prayers for victims, city Gov. Pramono Anung said last week.Makassar Mayor Munafri Arifuddin urged residents of one of Indonesia’s largest cities to forgo parties altogether, calling for prayer and reflection instead. “Empathy and restraint are more meaningful than fireworks and crowds,” he said.Concerts and fireworks on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali have been canceled and replaced with a cultural arts event featuring 65 groups performing traditional dances.Hong Kong, too, will ring in 2026 without the usual spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor, after a massive fire in November killed at least 161 people.The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.Many parts of Asia welcome the new year by observing age-old traditions.In Japan, crowds will gather at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo for a bell striking at midnight. In the South Korean capital Seoul, a bell tolling and countdown ceremony will be held at the Bosingak Pavilion.
China’s Xi renews threats against Taiwan
Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year’s Eve address broadcast by state media hailed his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors while renewing threats against Taiwan, which it claims as part of its sovereign territory.“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship,” he said. “The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.” China this week launched large-scale military drills around the island.
Berliners celebrate in snow
Tourists and Berliners alike marked the end of 2025 by enjoying snowfall, taking selfies and making snowmen in front of the German capital’s cathedral and the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The famous Berlin TV Tower was nearly invisible thanks to the falling flakes and fog.
Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.
Associated Press
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
CEOs deal with many challenges, but apparently their overall health and fitness isnt among them. Some 93% of CEOs surveyed by corporate wellness platform Wellhub rate their overall well-being as excellent or good.
In contrast, the same study, released earlier this year, finds that only 63% of employees are equally satisfied with their well-being.
The wellness conundrum
Wellness is complex, and its expensive, says Cesar Carvalho, founder and CEO of Wellhub, which offers fitness and wellness benefits to employers. Thanks to their status and income, Carvalho notes, CEOs generally have the wherewithal to focus on their health and fitness.
You can push meetings around, cancel meetings, reschedule stuff, he says, noting that he is able to start his day after getting his kids on their school bus.
But, he notes, CEOs take for granted that other people also have that same flexibility, which may explain another CEO-employee well-being gap: Nearly all C-level executives surveyed by Deloitte believe employees credit leadership with prioritizing worker well-being. However, survey data shows that less than two-thirds of employees believe executives care about it, and fewer than six in 10 say their company embeds well-being into company culture.
The problems this disconnect creates are huge, Carvalho says. Employees will leave companies if they feel management doesnt care about their health, for example. On the flip side, companies that prioritize employee health and fitness tend to outperform the broader market.
Wellness in the new year
Not surprisingly, Carvalho thinks the new year is an opportune time for executives to make wellness affordable and accessible for employees, calling the Monday after New Years Dayin this case, January 5the Black Friday of wellness. He says that companies launching wellness benefits in January see adoption at rates five times higher than companies introducing such benefits at other points in the year.
Beyond offering benefits, including reimbursing classes, therapy, and gym memberships, CEOs can play a role in closing the executive-employee wellness gap by creating a culture where employees feel comfortable talking about their well-being. That means sharing aspects of their own wellness journey, too. When CEOs share their examples and their stories, theyre showing [employees] that well-being is not a perk; its a business imperative, Carvalho says.
What will your company’s wellness plan look like in 2026?
How is your company encouraging employee wellness? Please share some of your best perks and practices at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I hope to feature some of the most compelling examples in a future newsletter.
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