Science and Technology

The Year in Social Media
Science and Technology

The Year in Social Media

Ozempic ManiaWeight loss drugs made their way to the online set this year, with some influencers casting stigma aside and unabashedly proclaiming their Ozempic use.Djerf Dupe DramaMatilda Djerf, a popular Swedish influencer and a founder of the fashion brand Djerf Avenue, irked fans when her team started reporting TikTok videos that mentioned places to purchase dupes — inexpensive copies — of her pricey designs.Rocky Hockey RomanceDrama rippled through a niche literary community — fans of hockey romance novels — when Felicia Wennberg, the wife of the N.H.L. player Alex Wennberg, said that certain book lovers had become “predatory and exploiting” in their comments about her husband.Bud Light BacklashIn April, the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney partnered with Bud Light for a video pro...
Powell, Fed’s Chair, Unleashes the Bulls
Science and Technology

Powell, Fed’s Chair, Unleashes the Bulls

Higher for (not much) longer The “everything rally” has gone global, sending stocks and bonds soaring in Asia and Europe and lifting U.S. stock futures, after investors got their clearest signal yet that the Fed would begin cutting interest rates soon. Hopes are growing, too, on Thursday that other central banks will follow suit.The Fed delivered an unexpectedly dovish forecast on Wednesday, penciling in three rate cuts next year. Those moves are projected to lower the Fed’s prime lending rate to 4.6 percent, a notable drop from the central bank’s last estimate in September.The revision sent the Dow Jones industrial average to a record high. The S&P 500 also achieved that marker on a so-called total return basis — which would take dividends into account — according to Deutsche Bank ana...