Intro

President-elect Donald Trump tapped Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as his choice for Secretary of Commerce this week. We’ll get into why the role could be critical to the incoming Trump administration, which has vowed to enact sweeping tariffs. Then, we’ll explain why earnings at big-box retailers like Target and Walmart have been mixed ahead of the holiday season, and how the Justice Department wants to shakeup Google’s monopoly over the online search market. Plus, why is Bitcoin on a record-breaking streak?

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Trump picks Lutnick to be Commerce secretary” from CNN
• “Who will lead the Commerce Department?” from Marketplace
• “Target’s Stock Plunges 21% on Weak Sales Ahead of Holiday Season” from The New York Times
• “A tale of two retailers: Target reports sluggish spending while Walmart has a stellar quarter” from The Associated Press
• “DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly” from The Verge
• “Bitcoin hits fresh record, marches toward $100,000 as rally continues” from CNBC

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap. The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern.