Business

A food reporter says shopping at the online discount grocer Martie helped them buy pantry staples at far lower prices, and the site sells overstock and near‑best‑by items while donating $5 of food per order to the North Texas Food Bank.

Gold climbed to a one-week high after US Federal Reserve remarks reinforced expectations of interest rate cuts, and tensions involving Venezuela increased demand for safe-haven assets.

Next PLC said full-price sales for the nine weeks to Dec. 27 rose 10.6% and it raised its pretax profit forecast for the year ending late January to £1.15 billion; the company also gave initial guidance for fiscal 2027 expecting 4.5% full-price sales growth.

The SMMT says discounts on electric cars exceeded £5bn in 2025 while EVs made up 23.4% of new registrations, short of the government's ZEV Mandate targets.

Aeva's Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave 4D LiDAR has been selected for NVIDIA's DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle reference platform, and the company says this expands its role as a core LiDAR supplier to global passenger and commercial vehicle OEMs that use NVIDIA's architecture.

A Week 18 win over the Baltimore Ravens gave Mike Tomlin his 193rd regular-season victory, tying him with Hall of Famer Chuck Noll and securing the Steelers' AFC North title and a playoff spot.

State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) is reported to control the majority of the country's oil production and reserves, and foreign firms including Chevron and Russian and Chinese partners operate through joint ventures.

U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife; they are in federal custody in Brooklyn awaiting trial on narcoterrorism charges, and Venezuela’s leadership is reported as uncertain.

Aboard Air Force One, President Trump said Cuba could soon collapse and warned Colombia's president; he also reiterated U.S. interest in acquiring Greenland.

Oil and precious metals rose and major Asian stock indexes climbed after reports of the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Gold and silver climbed as investors moved toward safe-haven assets after reports that US forces captured Venezuela's leader Nicolás Maduro; oil slipped amid questions about crude flows from the country.

Pizzerias have fallen from the second-most common U.S. restaurant type and now trail coffee shops and Mexican-inspired eateries, and pizza-chain sales growth has lagged the broader fast-food market.

U.S. officials reported that American forces captured Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro. Regional leaders issued strong reactions and further actions are undetermined at this time.

Oil prices fell toward about $60 a barrel as markets assessed the reported capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces and OPEC+ said it would pause planned supply hikes in the first quarter amid a global glut.

Asia's equity markets raised $262.7 billion in 2025, and Hong Kong listings may raise as much as $45 billion in 2026, according to reported estimates.

Oil futures fell less than 1% in early New York trading, dipping below $57 a barrel, while Brent also traded lower; U.S. stock futures edged up and S&P 500 contracts gained about 0.1%.

Chartdata announced that Taylor Swift was the best-selling artist in the U.S. in 2025 with 14.1 million total album units sold, a notice that ran during the Chiefs-Raiders Week 18 matchup. The article also reports that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, playing his 192nd career game, faces a possible retirement decision while his contract expires at the end of the 2025–26 season.

The article reports that the crypto market cap fell from about $3.5 trillion at the start of 2025 to just above $3 trillion by early 2026, and investor Anthony Di Pizio warns that both XRP and Shiba Inu could decline by 50% or more this year.

Venezuela has been in default since 2017 with about $60 billion in defaulted bonds and roughly $150–$170 billion in total external claims; creditors and arbitration award holders are pressing legal claims, with Citgo/PDV Holding central to recovery efforts.

Developers filed for a second preliminary injunction after a new 90-day stop work order from the Trump administration; a D.C. judge set a DOJ response deadline of Jan. 8 and an in-person hearing for Jan. 12.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Delcy Rodríguez, sworn in after Nicolas Maduro's removal, is not Venezuela's legitimate leader and that the U.S. will use an oil quarantine as leverage.

The government plans to raise fixed penalties for driving without insurance from £300 to about £600—above the average premium of £551—and will set out the proposal in a forthcoming Road Safety Strategy that also considers other motoring measures.

The White House ordered HieFo to divest and unwind its purchase of Emcore chip assets, saying the buyer was controlled by a Chinese citizen.

OPEC+ said on January 4 it will keep oil output consistent, upholding a November 2025 agreement to pause production increases through January–March; oil prices fell more than 18% in 2025.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 4.20% as markets priced in higher rates into early 2026, while the article mentions Tesla reported roughly 418,000 fourth-quarter deliveries, down about 16% year-over-year.

The ministry said 95-octane gasoline in Gauteng will fall about 3% to 20.75 rand per liter from Jan. 7 after global crude prices eased and the rand strengthened more than 3% in December.

In 2025 the U.S. recorded solid GDP growth even as hiring slowed and unemployment rose, and a six-week government shutdown disrupted economic data collection.

Several explosions and plumes of smoke were reported across Caracas early on Jan. 3; officials have not issued confirmed statements and the cause remains unverified.

Jarmo Kekäläinen was named Buffalo's general manager on Dec. 15 and will face his former team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, as the Sabres carry a 10-game winning streak into Saturday's game.

As of Jan. 2 the IRS had not announced an official 2026 "go live" date; the agency began accepting returns on Jan. 27 in 2025 and tax professionals expect an announcement in January.