Axios

TikTok didn't get any help from the U.S. Supreme Court today, but that Sunday deadline is feeling less and less like the end of the app in the U.S., regardless.

The latest: The court this morning upheld a law that could ban the wildly popular video platform this weekend in the U.S., Axios' Sam Baker writes.

• The nine justices unanimously rejected TikTok's claims that the sell-or-ban law passed by Congress this year violates the First Amendment.

Yes, but: President Biden — who signed the bill into law — doesn't plan to enforce it before leaving office on Monday, Axios' Dan Primack noted this morning.

Netflix has agreed to a theatrical release for "Narnia," a new film adaptation of the C.S. Lewis fantasy novels, Puck reports.

The big picture: Netflix "mostly prefers to have its movies, particularly the more broadly commercial ones, debut on its platform," per Variety.

• Greta Gerwig, who made "Barbie, is directing "Narnia," which is set to hit Imax theaters on Thanksgiving Day 2026 and Netflix at Christmas that year.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: I hope it's better than 2005's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which I remember as a disappointment.

Insured losses from the Los Angeles wildfires now appear likely to fall in a range of $35 billion to $45 billion, analytics firm CoreLogic said Friday.

Why it matters: At the high end of the range, and even adjusting for inflation, it would be one of the top five costliest natural disasters in world history by insured loss.

Here's what's new on Peacock, Apple TV+, Netflix, Max, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+ and Prime Video.

What we're watching: A docuseries chronicling "Saturday Night Live" over the decades, a new season of "Severance," and Cameron Diaz's first film appearance since 2014.

The nation's largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, endorsed the idea of a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve Friday, part of a wide-ranging blog post on "economic freedom" from CEO Brian Armstrong, shared in advance exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: Armstrong has emerged as the unofficial spokesperson for the industry in Washington, taking a confrontational approach with its chief regulator that others have emulated.

The U.S. economy will remain the world's growth powerhouse in 2025, International Monetary Fund economists anticipate, even as uncertainty around trade and immigration policies creates inflation risks.

The big picture: The latest World Economic Outlook envisions a more robust U.S. growth picture than seemed likely just three months ago, driven by strong consumer demand and productivity growth.

The biggest takeaway from Treasury secretary-designee Scott Bessent's confirmation hearing is that it's a safe bet he will be confirmed as the 79th secretary of the Treasury.

• Republican senators supported his confirmation, and he will likely receive "aye" votes from many Democrats as well. But in roughly three hours of testimony, a couple of other moments caught our attention.

State of play: The courtly and restrained Bessent warned of economic disaster if Trump's 2017 package of tax cuts, many of which are due to expire at the end of the year, are not extended.

• "This is the single most important economic issue of the day," Bessent said. "This is pass/fail. If we do not fix these tax cuts, if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity."
• The Trumpian rhetoric sheds light on the incoming administration's strategy for extending the law.

Between the lines: Republican lawmakers are mostly in lockstep on extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions, but with a wider range of views about what other changes ought to be made to the tax system and potential spending cuts.

• Bessent's warning implies the administration will leverage the risk of the tax cuts expiring to persuade a fractious Republican caucus to find compromises.

Bessent also seemed to support the idea of the Federal Reserve retaining its ability to set monetary policy independent from political control, contra some reporting about Trump allies' views.

• "I think, on monetary policy decisions, the [Fed policy committee] should be independent," Bessent said.

Of note: Bessent mentioned a couple of times that he owns farmland and has an avid interest in agriculture. Per his financial disclosure, it is North Dakota property where soybeans and corn are grown.

• "I may be one of the few Treasury secretary nominees in recent periods who occasionally listens to farm radio" on satellite radio, Bessent said.

China's ByteDance has called America's bluff on the future of TikTok, and it's beginning to look like a smart bet.

State of play: U.S. politicians from both parties are scrambling to save the app's availability, despite having previously supported a ban.

If capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell, as former astronaut and Eastern Airlines CEO Frank Borman famously put it, then the U.S. over the past decade or so has been a joyous church indeed.

Why it matters: We're now beginning to see signs that the days of very few bankruptcies might be coming to an end, thanks in large part to the Fed.

Monday is both Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Why it matters: The U.S. Postal Service, stock markets, banks and many schools are closed for the federal holiday, but not because it's the day President-elect Trump is sworn in as the 47th president.

Mayors across the country, representing nearly 35 million Americans, are warning of a severe and worsening housing shortfall, according to a new survey from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The big picture: There aren't enough homes in the U.S. to keep up with demand, with some estimates putting total housing shortage in the millions of units.

The number of public electric vehicle chargers doubled over the last four years, driven by a combination of increased private investment and a surge in government funding under the Biden administration.

Why it matters: EVs and charging have been a chicken-and-egg-problem that's now getting a little easier.

Mark Zuckerberg is living his best life in the Trump 2.0 era, despite the President-elect's campaign threat to jail him.

The big picture: Zuckerberg has spent the post-election months cozying up to Trump, including through a Mar-a-Lago visit and $1 million inauguration donation.