Crypto News: Back to your desk

It's a landmark post-pandemic moment. Wall Street heavy hitter JPMorgan is about to put a pin in work-from-home and end its hybrid work allowance. The decision, expected to be announced in the coming weeks, would expand existing rules announced in 2023 that required managing directors to be in all week. It marks a return to pre-Covid expectations for one of the financial world's biggest names, bringing it in line with competitors including Goldman Sachs, which has long pushed staff back to their desks. It's also a sign JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is following through on his stated belief that employees work better in-person. And while other rivals may continue to offer flexibility, JPMorgan staffers in New York at least have something to look forward to. The bank is building a 60-story skyscraper in midtown Manhattan that will offer enticements including yoga and cycling rooms, meditation spaces, outdoor areas and a state-of-the-art food hall. —Jordan Parker Erb

What You Need to Know Today

Meta will end third-party fact checking across its social media platforms. Instead, it will let users comment on posts' accuracy with a community notes system. Meta's fact-checking system was set up in 2016 when the site became a haven for election misinformation. The decision to remove it aligns the platform more closely with Elon Musk's X. The move also comes amid heightened political pressure as Donald Trump prepares for his second term: Trump has previously called Facebook "an enemy of the people," and threatened to send "election fraudsters"—Mark Zuckerberg included—to prison. In a video announcing the change, Zuckerberg—under whom Meta donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee—said recent elections "feel like a cultural tipping point to once again prioritizing speech."

Mark Zuckerberg Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

Bridgewater terminated 7% of its staff, firing about 90 employees in an effort to remain what it described as "nimble." The firm's headcount is now said to be back to where it was in 2023. In a letter to investors, Bridgewater, the world's biggest hedge fund, said the dismissals would result in "a more dynamic ecosystem of ideas, innovation, and impact that underlines our meritocratic values." And it arguably shows that even a fund like Bridgewater isn't immune to the kind of periodic, performance-focused cuts common across the financial-services industry.

A judge temporarily blocked the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on criminal investigations into Trump. The ruling by Trump appointee Aileen Cannon, famous for a series of unorthodox rulings in the Republican's favor in his top secret files prosecution, may not last, and it's unclear if Cannon has the authority to prevent the report's release before Trump's inauguration Jan. 20. The decision came ahead of a press conference held by Trump at his home in Mar-a-Lago, where he said (among other things) that NATO nations should spend 5% of their GDP on defense (none, including the US, currently do), and that he wants no wind turbines built during his administration.

Jack Smith Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg

Getty Images has agreed to acquire Shutterstock, a deal that would create a combined company worth about $3.7 billion including debt. The union brings together two of the biggest providers of licensed visual content in the US just as artificial intelligence upends the content-creation market and mobile phone cameras dilute the value of stock photos. Getty Images is expected to pay $331 million in cash and 319.4 million of its own shares. Craig Peters, Getty Images's chief executive, will serve in the same role for the combined entity.

A winter storm is set to pummel Texas and the US South later this week, putting the region at risk of blackouts and travel mayhem. The predicted snow fall—about 4 to 6 inches—is likely to trigger widespread power outages, snarl transportation and ground or delay airline traffic. While temperatures won't approach the extreme lows seen during a February 2021 storm that killed more than 200 people and left millions without power for days, any recurrence of cold raises concern about the stability of the state's traditionally fragile power grid.

Texas faces another challenge: Elon Musk's massive lithium refinery. Twenty miles outside Corpus Christi, Musk is nearly done building a lithium refinery that could require as much as 8 million gallons of water per day. The factory, where Tesla aspires to start production this year, is part of a broader effort by Musk to ease bottlenecks and build a more robust domestic supply chain of the critical raw material. It has also set off alarm bells among some in the small Texas town who are worried about having enough water to live on, let alone help supply a big factory.

Wildfires broke out in Los Angeles County as the region—already gripped by drought—began facing hurricane-force winds forecast to rage for days. One blaze erupted in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and quickly jumped to 200 acres, threatening homes and triggering evacuation orders. Traffic on Palisades Drive gridlocked as residents fled the fast-moving fire, with some people abandoning their cars and walking past palm trees engulfed in flames. From the Venice Beach Boardwalk, a fire-fighting plane could be seen skimming above the ocean, scooping up water and returning to the Palisades to drop it. Surfers bobbed in the Pacific, watching the smoke from afar.