Stocks Slip After Major Indexes Pull Back for 2nd Straight Session; Gold, Silver Rebound

Jim Cramer Says ‘The Year of Magical Investing’ Is Over—Here’s What To Do Now

23 minutes ago

CNBC’s “Mad Money” host is waving the yellow flag.

In other words, he’s urging caution: After a run-up in AI and other tech plays in 2025, Jim Cramer says “the year of magical investing” is coming to an end. In a recent interview on the “Investopedia Express” podcast, the CNBC star warned that many stocks have soared too high on hype—he name-checked companies tied to quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, and data center buildouts—and are due for a pullback.

But Cramer isn’t telling investors to head for the exits. Instead, he suggests shifting from shares of companies building AI systems to blue chips using artificial intelligence to transform their businesses.

We take you through his 2026 to-do list here.

–Peter Gratton

Meta Platforms Buys AI Agent Firm Manus for Reported $2B+

1 hr 20 min ago

Meta Platforms (META) continues to make big investments in its AI business.

The Facebook and Instagram parent announced it acquired Singapore-based AI startup Manus for what The Wall Street Journal said was more than $2 billion.

Meta said that Manus agents are able to “independently execute complex tasks like market research, coding, and data analysis.” The Magnificent Seven company added it would integrate Manus services into its offerings.

Shares of Meta, which through Monday’s close were up 13% in 2025, were little changed less than an hour before the bell.

–Terry Lane

EKSO Bionics Stock Skyrockets on Proposed Combination With Applied Digital’s Cloud Business

1 hr 56 min ago

EKSO Bionics Holdings (EKSO) entered Tuesday with a market capitalization of below $15 million. The tiny company is poised to be worth significantly more when markets open.

EKSO Bionics shares soared more than 40% in premarket trading after Applied Digital (APLD) late Monday announced a proposed combination with the Nasdaq-listed company “to form an accelerated focused GPU platform purpose built for next-generation AI workloads.”

A deal would see the much larger firm’s cloud computing business, Applied Digital Cloud, spun off to merge with EKSO, with the combined company going forward as “ChronoScale Corporation.”

Applied Digital said the proposed deal “is intended to create a focused platform designed to deliver high-performance compute at scale in a capacity-constrained market.”

Shares of Applied Digital rose nearly 3% before the bell.

Gen Z Shares Ideal Retirement Age but Admits They Will Work Far Beyond It

2 hr 53 min ago

While Gen Z dreams of an early retirement, they’re not expecting it.

Gen Z’s ideal retirement age is 59, according to a new survey from Manulife John Hancock Retirement, an insurance company.

However, this generation, which includes people aged 18 to 28, actually expects to retire much later, at age 67. A similar trend occurs across generations—peoples’ ideal retirement ages were younger than their expected retirement ages.

Millennials, who are aged 29 to 43, want to retire at age 61, but don’t expect to retire until age 69.

Despite Gen Z and Millennials’ less-than-optimistic retirement outlook, they may be more prepared for their golden years than they think.

Read the full article here.

–Trina Paul

Social Security Payments for January 2026: Here’s When to Expect Yours

3 hr 28 min ago

The Social Security Administration distributes benefits to almost 74 million people each month. Here is when to expect yours in January.

Payments are primarily distributed according to beneficiaries’ birth dates. However, for those who began receiving retirement, spousal, or survivor benefits before May 1997, they typically receive their payments on the 3rd of every month.

Supplemental Security Income, a program that provides additional income for people with disabilities and adults aged 65 and older with limited or no income, is distributed separately from Social Security benefits at the beginning of every month.

In some cases, when the beginning of the month coincides with a weekend or holiday, SSI benefits will be distributed in the preceding month. Due to the government holiday on New Year’s Day, Supplemental Security Income recipients will get their January check on Dec. 31, 2025.

Benefits in 2026 will be 2.8% higher, or about $56 more per month on average, compared to 2025.

Read the full article here.

–Elizabeth Guevara

Stock Futures Little Changed After Major Indexes Slip for 2nd Straight Session

4 hr 3 min ago

Futures contracts associated with the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed marginally lower.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures also slipped 0.1%.