. >> reporter: dennis burman wrote a column in today's "wall street journal" about this year's rash of large-scale mergers. "2015 is already the record-holder with more than $4.3 trillion worth of deals done. pfizer buying aller again for $150 billion, an heister bush inbev larnding miller, $106 billion there, and charter communications taking over time warner cle for $55 billion. and while burman sees the logic in the dupont/dow deal, he also questions whether some of the mergers are motivated for the right reasons. >> it seems that the mantra or the emotional state of the u.s. executive is, i don't want to lose my job, i want to play it safe, i don't want to lose. and as any coach knows, if you're playing a sport and you're playing not to lose versus playing to win, that has its own set of consequences, and we'll see what those are in the years ahead. >> and we will see about this possible deal, perhaps as early as tomorrow. >>> now to a deal coming undone. yahoo! confirmed what we reported last night, the company is abandoned its plan to spin off its ali baba stake into a separate c

dennis burman is here. sarah isen is here. right now, i think we're going to listen to gary u.s.onds regaling us all at the stock exchange on this christmas eve. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's gary u.s. bonds. we will try to carry on above this concert. see what you get? >> it's fitting that the stock exchange has been turned into a karaoke parlor. >> what do you think? >> it's lovely. i love -- everybody is at work today, even though volumes are low. the market closes early. it's decorative and festive. we heard singing. where is your cheer? >> they are working hard. i like it. >> maybe kevin can break in here and give us a couple of his thoughts on the action we saw today. >> it's certainly a mixed day. merry christmas. thank you for everything you do all year long. this has been a mixed year. we haven't had very much movement in terms of the overall averages. the economy, however, here tips to do relatively well. not so much overseas. as we look back on the year, the last six months or so, and we look at that mixed performance, what do we see moving into 2016? we expect to see positive r