Rejoice—the economy is looking like it could avoid a downturn and achieve a landing as soft as a pile of fuzzy Pillow Pets. US employers added a more-than-expected 199,000 workers to their payrolls last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said yesterday.

The solid result calmed many analysts’ fears that a steeper economic slowdown is imminent due to the Federal Reserve’s earlier rapid-fire interest rate hikes. And it brings us closer to the coveted “soft landing” scenario, in which the Fed plays inflation-taming superhero by throwing cool water on the economy without drowning it.

• The unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked down for the first time since July, to 3.7%.
• Average hourly pay increased by 0.4% and is now up 4% for the year, beating the projected pace of annual price growth.

But the job market isn’t quite what it used to be

Last month’s 199k jobs created were below the average of 240,000 added in the preceding 12 months. Plus, November hiring was confined to just a handful of industries.

• Healthcare and the government were responsible for two-thirds of the headcount growth, adding 77,000 and 49,000 jobs, respectively.
• The manufacturing sector gained 28,000 workers—but that was largely due to folks returning to work after striking against the Big Three automakers.

In another sign that employers might be pulling back from onboarding new people, the Labor Department reported earlier this week that job openings in late October were at their lowest since March 2021.

The economy might still be too good for J. Powell…while more jobs and higher wages mean we’re probably not staring down the barrel of a severe crash, it also heralds higher inflation risk. The upbeat numbers make it less likely that the Fed will lower interest rates in early 2024, something that many bond traders and anyone planning to take out a mortgage next year were hoping for.—SK

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Vladimir Putin said he’s running for reelection. The Russian president revealed the expected news during a military awards ceremony yesterday at the Kremlin. The election, scheduled for March, would mark Putin’s fifth presidential term. Already the longest-serving Russian leader since Josef Stalin, Putin signed a law in 2021 that effectively allows him to stay in power until 2036. The election is largely viewed as a formality, as Putin’s political opponents have been imprisoned, exiled, or poisoned. It will also mark the first time that people living in occupied regions in Ukraine can vote for the Russian president, which US officials have called a “sham.”

UK regulators are looking into Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI. A British watchdog is asking for feedback on whether Microsoft’s $13 billion, 49% stake in the ChatGPT-maker’s for-profit division constitutes a merger, the WSJ reported. If the agency decides to launch a formal investigation into whether the partnership creates an unfair advantage in the artificial intelligence industry, it could eventually force the companies to change how they operate. Following OpenAI’s dramatic firing and rehiring of CEO Sam Altman last month, Microsoft was given a “nonvoting observer” seat on the OpenAI board.

Taylor Swift made more history. It’s Taylor Swift’s world, and we’re just spending billions of dollars on her concerts in it. The pop star’s Eras Tour has generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales, according to the trade publication Pollstar, making it the first concert tour ever to cross the billion-dollar threshold. And she’s not done: Eras will exceed $2 billion by the end of 2024, Pollstar projected. The news caps off another winning week for the “Cruel Summer” singer after she was named Time’s Person of the Year on Wednesday.

The FDA approved a revolutionary new treatment that could provide nearly 100,000 Americans some relief from the debilitating illness sickle cell disease. Named Casgevy, the medicine is the first FDA-approved therapy to use the Nobel-prize-winning CRISPR gene-editing technology.

How it works: Sickle cell, which predominantly affects Black people, is a disorder in which red blood cells are shaped like crescent moons, or sickles. This causes cells to clump up in blood vessels and leads to severe bouts of pain that some can only manage with opioids like morphine.

Previous treatment was limited to bone marrow transplants, but patients often struggle to find donor matches. With Casgevy, bone marrow stem cells are removed, genetically modified, and infused back into the patient. According to clinical trial results from the FDA, the one-time therapy can eliminate patients’ symptoms for anywhere from one year to almost four years.

The bad news: The life-saving treatment comes with significant risks. Chemotherapy that’s required to prep patients for the procedure essentially turns off their immune system.

It’s also expensive. Casgevy currently costs $2.2 million per patient—and that’s not even including the price of the multimonth hospital stay that accompanies it. About half of all people with the disease rely on Medicaid, whose approval processes vary state-by-state.—MM

They’re the three most viral videos of the year…but a lot of people have never come across them before.

TikTok released its annual list of the year’s top content this week. The three highest-ranked videos each netted ~400 million–500 million views, with the No. 1 spot going to creator @dollievision for a mesmerizing makeup routine, followed by @justinflom’s DIY Iron Man ceiling light, and @through.the.lleaves holding an enormous cat. None of the TikToks on the list have fewer than 100 million views, but even some people whose jobs require online-ness haven’t seen them (including most of us here at the Brew).

Why? TikTok’s engagement-based algorithm creates silos, aka sides, of TikTok. So, you probably haven’t seen most of this year’s top videos if you gravitate more toward FrogTok or whatever genres these are rather than toward “get ready with me” vlogs/dog videos/other wholesome fun.

Just like on TikTok, theories abound: Tech reporter Katie Notopoulos wrote that the videos spotlighted on TikTok’s list all have such a positive vibe that it feels as if they could be curated to counteract widespread concerns about the app’s safety. While it’s hard to know exactly how popularity works given the secrecy surrounding TikTok’s algorithm, the company has said before, especially in response to content concerning the Israel–Hamas war, that viewership counts alone don’t provide a full picture of what’s trending.—ML

Quote: “Regardless of what they want to label it, throwing the party is not a charitable activity.”

If SantaCon seems like the kind of organization that would spend the money it raises on Burning Man and crypto, that’s because SantaCon is spending the money it raises on Burning Man and crypto. Notre Dame law professor Lloyd Mayer told Gothamist that SantaCon’s expenditures aren’t necessarily illegal—but they sure aren’t charitable, either. The group, which bills its annual Santa-themed bar crawl across NYC as an event for charity, only gave a fifth of the $1.4 million it raised from late 2014 through 2022 to registered nonprofits, according to a Gothamist analysis of tax records. Meanwhile, more than a third went to Burning Man-related art projects. SantaCon also reportedly lost more than $17,000 on crypto investments in 2018.

Stat: Sorry in advance if you live in a swing state. The US political advertising market is projected to reach a record $16 billion in 2024—more than 31% higher than in 2020, according to estimates from GroupM. That’s bigger than the entire ad market of Australia. The presidential race is unsurprisingly driving the record spending, as candidates now have more platforms than ever on which to ask Americans for votes. Among the new forms of advertising this cycle is artificial intelligence, which already has the Federal Election Commission perturbed.

Read: How the biggest boutique fitness company turned suburban moms into bankrupt franchisees. (Bloomberg)

Watch: An expert Lego builder makes a functioning miniature ski slope.

Listen: The ultimate Hanukkah playlist.

Learn: The science behind the (misleading) claim that going outside in the cold with wet hair makes you sick.

Prepare your nostrils: This Scottish washed-rind cheese might be the smelliest in the world.

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