Carl Quintanilla, Jon Fortt and Leslie Picker led off with the big story of the morning: Alibaba shares tumbling on news that the e-commerce giant founded by Jack Ma is the target of a newly launched antitrust investigation by the Chinese government.
They also discussed the House Democrats' push to approve $2,000 pandemic aid checks, which failed after Republican lawmakers blocked the unanimous consent effort. Also in focus: The latest on COVID-19 vaccinations, the stock winners and losers heading into the holiday weekend, plus energy as the top performing sector in the fourth quarter, recouping some of its big losses for 2020. Can energy stocks maintain their upward momentum in 2021?