5 Things To Know: Friday, December 26

Group 1: Precious Metals - Gold prices have increased by more than 70% in 2025, reaching new records [1] - Silver has gained over 150% during the same period, also hitting new highs [1] Group 2: Lottery - A single winning ticket for Powerball's second largest jackpot of $1.8 billion was sold at a gas station near Little Rock, Arkansas [2] - The identity of the winner will not be known until at least today due to the lottery claim center being closed for the holidays [2] Group 3: Autonomous Vehicles - Self-driving car startup Whimo has paused its robo-taxi service in San Francisco due to flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service [3] - The decision was influenced by recent rainstorms affecting California [3] Group 4: Mergers and Acquisitions - Snowflake is reportedly in talks to acquire AI startup Observe for approximately $1 billion, which would be its largest acquisition to date [4] - Observe operates a monitoring and analytics platform aimed at software developers and IT departments [4]