Investors are paying attention to the stock market at a securities business hall in Fuyang, China, on December 5, 2023.
Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Chinese authorities are making moves to restore confidence in its battered stock markets.
However, the upcoming company earnings season may present ugly headwinds for the markets.
China's economy has been struggling to stage a compelling recovery since the country lifted COVID-19 restrictions more than a year ago.
China authorities have started pulling out moves to shore up confidence in the country's floundering market — but things may not get much better soon.
That's because there's another potential headwind ahead: company earnings, which may not be pretty amid China's struggling economy that grew 5.2% last year. While the economic growth was better than the 3% it posted in 2022, it's still one of China's worst showings since 1990.
More than a year after it started lifting COVID-19 restrictions, China's economy is still trying to stage a convincing recovery. It's facing significant headwinds from a property crisis,deflationary pressure, and a demographic crisis.
This means companies that are due to post their 2023 annual results or earnings for the last quarter of the year will be "another miss" for the markets, Morgan Stanley strategists Laura Wang and Catherine Chen wrote in a research note this week, per Bloomberg. "Major downward earnings estimates revisions are likely, which will cap valuation re-rating opportunities," they added.
Broadly, the earnings outlook for Chinese companies doesn't look great.
Analysts' earnings estimates for companies represented by the MSCI China Index members have fallen nearly 1% since the start of 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This is in contrast to a 0.2% rise in earnings estimates for companies in the S&P 500, which tracks 500 of the largest companies listed on US stock exchanges.
Ugly corporate results could undermine Beijing's efforts to prop up investor confidence in China's stock markets, which have bled over $6 trillion in market value from 2021.
Yesterday, China's central bank slashed its requirement for the amount of cash banks need to hold in their reserves. This is expected to inject about $140 billion into the banking system.
The move showed the central bank is becoming more concerned about the ongoing economic slowdown and poor market sentiment, Nomura economists wrote in a note on Wednesday.
Separately, China's securities regulator implicitly instructed some hedge fund managers to restrict short selling, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Premier Li Qiang has also instructed authorities to take more "forceful and effective" measures to stabilize the markets and investor confidence, according to an official statement on Monday. There were no further details.
News that Beijing is trying to boost the investor confidence gave some upside to China's battered markets.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 2% at 3:01 p.m. local time. The index is 4.8% lower so far this year and nearly 30% lower than this time last year.
The CSI 300 — which tracks 300 Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks with the largest market capitalizations — was also 2% higher after falling 2.7% this year to date. The index is 20% lower than this time last year.
Despite feeling lonely living in China, the author doesn't plan to move back to the US.
Danielle Marcano
Danielle Marcano was bored with her life in Philadelphia and applied for a job in northern China.
After two years of teaching English, she wanted to change careers but stay in China.
She struggles with dating and loneliness but has no plans to return to the US.
Five years ago, my typical day consisted of work in Downtown Philly at my regular retail job, lunch, and then clocking out to ride the SEPTA to South Philly to take on the evening shift at my seasonal retail job. When I got home, I would shower, go to bed, and do the same thing again the next morning. It was a wash, rinse, repeat routine fueled by my motivation not to return to my hometown in LA.
But something had to give, and one day, while looking through job listings on Indeed, I stumbled across a teaching opportunity in China. In bold letters, the listing read: "No experience needed to apply!" My first thought was, this is a scam. So I did the one thing any "reasonable" person would do: I submitted my application, résumé, and cover letter, thinking they'd never reply.
An email requesting a video interview arrived in my inbox the next day.
The woman who interviewed me for the teaching job in China was based in Boston. She shared details about the position, as well as the visa process. Throughout the interview, I kept thinking, "There's no way this is legit."
My heart started racing when the offer letter arrived a few days later. What felt like a scam now felt real. I thought about why I'd applied in the first place. I was tired of the same old work routine in Philadelphia and wanted to travel. It had been seven years since I last left the country. I studied abroad in South Korea in 2012.
Soon after arriving, I adjusted to living and working in China.
I taught at an English training center in Yantai, from 2019 to 2021. My salary was between 10,000-13,000 RMB a month, or about $1,400-$1,820. The job package included an apartment, so I only had to cover quarterly maintenance fees and expenses. My other expenses — including groceries, water for my dispenser, weekly online therapy, and stickers for my younger students — worked out to less than $600 a month.
Author visiting Yangma Island in Yantai in 2019.
Danielle Marcano
Yantai is a coastal city in northern China, around 440 miles southeast of Beijing. I met a lot of curious students who would ask me questions about America. The most common question I heard was, "Do you know the Lakers?" When I wasn't working, I could do things like explore Yangma Island, sample wine at the famous Changyu winery, and pick fresh berries from a local farm.
I had to find a new purpose during the pandemic.
In January 2020, I went to Los Angeles to visit my family for Chinese New Year. My dad and I were having breakfast when a news report on TV said that the US had its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Later that day, I received a message from my director, saying that there was a chance that China would close its borders and I needed to fly back as soon as possible. A few days later, I returned to China.
When I came back, it felt like a ghost town. There were barely any cars or people. The only thing I could hear was the wind blowing past my ears. Our training center decided to start teaching students from home. It was clear that I needed another career shift. However, I had no interest in returning to the US.
I was determined to stop teaching
In most of my WeChat conversations, headhunters would ask why I wanted to quit teaching and often try to persuade me by mentioning higher salary options. But as much as I enjoyed working with my students, I knew my true calling was beyond the classroom.
Since 2021, I've worked as a tech copywriter in Shenzhen, a Chinese city about a 15-minute train ride from Hong Kong. While I can't disclose exactly how much I earn as a copywriter, the average salary I've seen in other copywriting positions ranges between 18,000 to 20,000 RMB a month, or $2,540 to $3,777, based on experience — close to double what I was making teaching.
Author at Hong Kong Disneyland
Danielle Marcano
I pay between 5,000-6,000 RMB for a one-bedroom apartment and utilities. I haven't had any roommates during my time in China, and while living on my own is more expensive, I value a quiet space to watch movies and play video games. My favorite part of the apartment I'm in now is the night-time view from the balcony, where multiple colors and moving projections are always on display.
My dating life is difficult, but I plan to stay in China.
I've found loneliness the most challenging part of being an expat in China. I still attend therapy, and while the price has increased over time, it has been essential to my mental health. Despite thousands of expats living in Shenzhen — and more in nearby Hong Kong — I spend most of my time alone. The majority of my close friends are either in a relationship or married. Meanwhile, I'm 30 and single. Despite my accomplishments in China, I'm still asked by some family members why I'm not married.
In my experience, dating in China is complicated. I'm not opposed to dating Chinese men, but I often worry about the language barrier and cultural differences. My Chinese skills are limited to a few phrases. Conversely, single expat men have expressed interest in me, but they'll also tell me they're not looking for anything serious. In other words, a situationship.
I say, "No way."
For me, 2023 was a rough year full of heartbreak, self-doubt, and stress-related health issues. Despite my fears, I'm confident that the support system I built here — my therapist, friends, and life coaches — will help me build the confidence I need to return to the dating scene.
Ultimately, it's about being open to people and their perspectives. It's a similar mindset I had when I found the opportunity to work in China in the first place. Expect the unexpected.
Got a personal essay about living abroad, parenting, or a midlife crisis that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor:akarplus@insider.com.
The market rout is a stark contrast to some analysts' upbeat expectations of a bull run after China lifted its draconian COVID-19 containment measures. Instead, investors are now bleeding just a month ahead of Chinese New Year festivities, which will start on February 10 this year.
But how did China's markets — which were once an investor portfolio must-have — come to this?
There are fundamental concerns about China's economy and Beijing's will to prop it up
To be sure, investors everywhere were on edge going into 2023 amid concerns over an economic slowdown and US interest-rate trends feeding into market uncertainty.
But China lifted its widespread pandemic lockdowns later than other major economies, prompting expectations of a major comeback story.
It doesn't help that Chinese leader Xi Jinping's regime has been cracking down on private enterprise and placing politics above all, calling into question his administration's will to support the economy decisively.
After all, Beijing has been hesitant to implement aggressive stimulus measures due to concerns over high debt levels and financial risks. This disappointed investors, who are also getting confused by confounding signals sent by authorities when they adjust policy positions.
In short, China's market meltdown, at least in part, reflects an "unprecedented confidence deficit in the economy," Vishnu Varathan, Asia economist, excluding Japan, at Mizuho Bank, wrote in a note on Tuesday.
Foreign investors are so unenthusiastic about China that they have pulled out nearly 90% of the money they put into Chinese stocks in 2023, according to a Financial Times analysis of data from Hong Kong's Stock Connect last month.
'Snowball' derivatives are creating a vicious cycle of selling
As the market sold off over the last few years, there's also a more technical reason why China's stock markets are bleeding so much: "snowball" derivatives.
A little-known, relatively new financial product, snowballs are instruments linked to stock indexes. A decline in indexes below certain set levels automatically triggers brokerages to sell futures positions, further pressuring the market.
This domino effect echoes what happened in 2015 — the last time China's stock markets appeared to be in free fall.
At the time, Chinese investors were forced to sell stock holdings which they borrowed money to invest in, because they could no longer top up cash or assets to their account during a "margin call" — further pressuring the markets.
Beijing is trying to soothe nerves, but investors may not hold out
Beijing appears to be concerned about the market meltdown and is trying to shore up confidence.
China's securities regulator implicitly instructed some hedge fund managers to restrict short selling, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Premier Li Qiang has also instructed authorities to take more "forceful and effective" measures to stabilize the markets and investor confidence, according to an official statement on Monday. There were no further details.
Hong Kong and Chinese markets appear to be somewhat buoyed news of Beijing damage-control measures, with the Hang Seng Index rallying 3.6% Wednesday, cutting year-to-date gains to about 7%. Meanwhile, the CSI 300 — which tracks 300 Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks with the largest market capitalizations — was 1.4% higher, but was still 4.5% lower so far this year.
"In our view, if the Chinese support funds are indeed mobilized, we will get a short-term positive impact that will help to arrest the downward momentum, but it may be difficult to mobilize the entirety of the proposed 2 trillion Chinese yuan target," wrote ING economists in a note on Wednesday.
"Furthermore, for a more sustainable rally, we likely need to see further clarity on potential stimulus policies to be released later in the year. Sentiment remains fragile for now," they added.
"GLOW" was renewed, only for Netflix to reverse its decision and cancel the show.
Netflix
Not all shows can be hits — those that aren't usually end up canceled.
As a result, some shows end on brutal cliffhangers, such as "No Tomorrow" and "My Name Is Earl."
Warning: Spoilers ahead for many different TV shows.
Now shows like "Ted Lasso" and "Succession" have come to an end, it's worth it to take a look at some of the all-time most unsatisfying conclusions on TV.
Some shows like "The Society" and "Pitch" were only given one season to find their audiences, and, when they didn't, were canceled on huge cliffhangers.
Keep scrolling to read about some TV shows we still think deserve better than what they got.
We'll never know if Ruth rejoins the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in "GLOW," which aired on Netflix from 2017 to 2019.
Alison Brie as Ruth.
Netflix
"GLOW," a drama set in the over-the-top world of '80s women's wrestling, wasn't a smash hit for Netflix, but it had a very dedicated fan base who were distraught when it was canceled in October 2020, over a year after it had been renewed. According to Deadline, the COVID-19 pandemic made returning to filming logistically impossible, and, instead of delaying further, the streamer decided to cancel it instead.
The third season ended with Ruth, the main character, deciding to leave Las Vegas and get on a plane, without giving a definite answer if she'd return to film another season of "GLOW," the in-universe show that the characters starred in.
With a large ensemble, there were plenty of unresolved plots that a fourth season would've tied up, but fans won't get to see them.
Katy Keene confronted the man who might be her father in the series finale of "Katy Keene."
Lucy Hale as Katy Keene.
The CW
"Katy Keene" was a spin-off of "Riverdale" that only lasted one season from February to May 2020, before getting canceled in July 2020, as TVLine reported.
It followed aspiring fashion designer Katy Keene and her group of friends who were all trying to make it in New York City, including "Riverdale" character Josie McCoy, of Josie and the Pussycat Dolls.
Throughout the season, Katy's late mother is mentioned frequently and seen in flashbacks, but one of the great mysteries of her life is the identity of her father. At the end of the finale, Katy meets Leo Lacy, the son of Katy's boss — and potentially her father?
Unfortunately, the show was canceled and Katy's parentage remains a mystery.
The 2019 series "The Society" was canceled after just one season by Netflix, failing to answer the big question: What happened to the residents of West Ham?
Kathryn Newton as Allie.
Netflix
In "The Society," a group of high schoolers return from a field trip to find their town has vanished into thin air, including their parents and the rest of their families. They also discover a dense forest has surrounded the town, and the outside world has seemingly ceased to exist.
While most of the season revolves around a "Lord of the Flies"-esque story of the teens trying to build a society, there's a running background mystery of what, exactly, is going on. The first (and only) season finale seems to imply the kids are in a parallel universe of some kind — we see the "real" West Ham, with a group of schoolchildren reading a plaque with the names of the missing teenagers.
The show was originally renewed for a second season in 2019, but, due to the pandemic, it wound up getting canceled in 2020, as Deadline reported.
"Prodigal Son" ended with Bright stabbing his father, but it's unclear whether he survived.
Tom Payne and Michael Sheen as Malcolm Bright and Martin.
Fox
"Prodigal Son," which lasted from 2019 to 2021, was about Malcolm Bright, a former FBI profiler turned NYPD consultant, who brought some special firsthand knowledge to his job — his father, Martin, is a serial killer known as the Surgeon who killed 23 people. The show saw Bright lean on his father for help understanding the minds of the murderers he profiles.
At the end of season two, Martin saves his son's life, only to turn on him in the end and attempt to kill him, but Bright, who had always been afraid of killing someone, stabbed his father first.
Fox canceled the series before the finale aired in May 2021, so we may never know what happened to Martin.
At the end of "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," it seemed Zoey's musical gift had transferred to Max, but we may never know why.
Jane Levy as Zoey.
Sergei Bachlakov/NBC
"Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," which aired from January 2020 to May 2021, followed Zoey, a programmer who, after an accident involving an MRI machine and an earthquake, can hear people's innermost thoughts via song. Throughout two seasons, Zoey learned secrets she didn't want to know due to this "gift," and she had to deal with the consequences.
In the series finale, it's revealed that Zoey's musical gift had transferred to her best friend/boyfriend Max — he finally hears her sing a song to him for the first time.
Unfortunately, "ZEP" was canceled soon after season two concluded. This was a shock, according to star Jane Levy, who told Vanity Fair she kept all her stuff in storage in Canada (where the show films), because "I was like, 'Of course we're coming back.'"
"Last Friday it seemed like it was a green light," said Ley. "And then Monday morning it was a red light."
The sudden cancellation left viewers to speculate what it meant for Max to hear Zoey's heart song.
A wrap-up holiday film was released on The Roku Channel in December 2021, but it didn't really conclude the story, and the explanation given for why Max got powers (to learn ... empathy?) was silly.
"Pitch" was canceled after a critically acclaimed (but low-rated) first season that aired in 2016, leaving viewers to wonder what happened to Ginny, her relationship with Mike, and her potential injury.
Mark Paul Gosselaar and Kylie Bunbury as Mike and Ginny.
Fox Network
"Pitch," the story of the first female pitcher in the MLB, has a stellar 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and was loved by critics. Unfortunately, it couldn't find its audience, and executive producer Kevin Falls announced its cancellation in May 2017 on X (formerly known as Twitter), a few months after the first season had wrapped.
For fans, this couldn't have come at a worse time.
The season finale's last shot was of Ginny, the pitcher, entering an MRI machine after pitching a no-hitter and potentially injuring her elbow. Plus, Ginny and her will-they-or-won't-they relationship with Mike, the team's catcher, was also teetering toward a they-will by the end of the season — too bad we'll never know.
"No Tomorrow" ended with Xavier, an apocalypse truther, finally being taken seriously and announcing to the world that an asteroid was on course to collide with Earth ... and then it was canceled.
Joshua Sasse and Tori Anderson as Xavier and Evie.
The CW Network
"No Tomorrow" aired on The CW in 2016 and 2017. It was about a girl (Evie) who met a guy (Xavier) who believed the world was going to end in eight months and 12 days. They fall in love and decide to spend the rest of their "remaining" months together, checking items off their "apoca-lists." Hijinks ensue.
The first (and only) season of "No Tomorrow" ended with Xavier being proven right by NASA and moving to Washington, DC, to save the world, while Evie meets acute doctor.
Obviously, the end of the world is a ridiculously huge cliffhanger, and The CW broke a lot of hearts when they canceled the show in May 2017, even though they did end up releasing a three-minute epilogue tying up some loose ends.
"The Family" had more than a few twists and turns in its 12 episodes across March, April, and May 2016 — and the finale was no different.
The titular Warren family.
ABC Studios
"The Family" examines what happens to the Warren family after one of their kids is kidnapped and then returns years later.
Of course, the show became much more complicated when it was revealed that Adam, the miraculously returned son, wasn't Adam at all, but a different missing boy named Ben. And that wasn't even the finale.
The finale set up two big cliffhangers back in May 2016. First, the real Adam, who had been presumed dead, was revealed to actually be alive and well (and understandably angry at Ben).
Second, Willa, the morally dubious daughter of the Warren clan, murdered a journalist named Bridey because she was going to release all the dirt she had on her family. Plus, Bridey had been sleeping with Willa and Willa's brother, Danny. Too much drama, perhaps?
However, it was canceled the day after the finale aired.
"Finding Carter" ended with a beloved character confessing to murder, while another was left badly beaten on the side of a road.
Kathryn Prescott and Alex Saxon as Carter and Max.
MTV
"Finding Carter" started as a show about a girl, Carter, who discovered that the woman she believed was her mother was actually her kidnapper.
Over the show's two seasons in 2014 and 2015, it evolved into a web of relationships, secrets, and lies, which is why it was so disappointing when the show got axed in January 2016.
The second season's (and the series') finale ended with Max, Carter's best friend, confessing to killing Carter's abusive ex-boyfriend, Jared. And if that wasn't enough drama, the finale also left Carter's brother, Ben, beaten up on the side of the road by a drug dealer named Rick after Ben had agreed to testify against Rick in court.
"The Whispers" ended with the show's main character sacrificing herself to aliens to save her son (yes, really).
Lily Rabe and Milo Ventimiglia as Claire and Sean Bennigan.
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
"The Whispers" was marketed as a show about kids and their not-so-imaginary friends, but it evolved into a conspiracy theory-heavy, alien-invasion drama.
The show's sole season ended in August 2015 with the main character, Claire, sacrificing herself to the aliens to save her son, Henry, from being zapped into dust ... or maybe she was transported to the alien's ship. We'll never know, because ABC canceled the show in October 2015, soon after its finale aired.
"Chasing Life" ended with its main character traveling to Italy ... to die.
Italia Ricci as April.
ABC Family
"Chasing Life," which was on the air from June 2014 to September 2015, was about a leukemia diagnosis: It followed April's battle with cancer, her attempt not to let it affect her career and personal life, and how it impacted the rest of her family.
The show's second and final season was emotional, with April's new husband, Leo, dying in his sleep soon after their wedding and April finding out that her cancer had returned.
In the show's finale, April is told that the clinical trial she is participating in has been ineffective and that she could try chemotherapy and other avenues of treatment, but that they might not work. So April decides to move to Italy and live out the rest of her days drug-free. And that's it! It was canceled the next month.
Executive Producer Patrick Sean Smith told TVLine the creative team behind "Chasing Life" had hoped for a third season, but when that didn't materialize, the producers asked to "wrap everything up in a two-hour movie or in a couple of episodes," but that didn't happen either.
"Southland" faded to black and left its main character's fate in question after a fellow police officer mistakenly shot him.
Michael Cudlitz as Officer John Cooper.
TNT
"Southland" had a difficult journey: NBC renewed it for a second season in 2009, and then, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the network rescinded its renewal and canceled the show after producing six episodes.
TNT then bought it and renewed the show until its fifth season in April 2013. That season ended with Officer Cooper getting into a physical altercation with his neighbors.
During the fight, the police show up and mistakenly take Cooper as an aggressor, shooting him twice. And then it ended, without viewers knowing if Cooper would survive or not.
"TNT has made the difficult decision not to renew 'Southland' for another season. We are enormously proud of 'Southland,' which stands as one of the best police dramas ever made," the network said in a statement to Deadline in May 2013.
"Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993 to 1997), ended with Lois and Clark receiving a mysterious Kryptonian baby from a time traveler.
Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher as Clark and Lois.
Warner Bros. Television
"Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" was the defining version of Superman for many '90s kids.
However, the show's fourth season was running out of tension once Lois and Clark finally stopped dancing around each other and got married.
The fourth season finale's 1997 cliffhanger, in which Lois and Clark find a baby in their basement with a note claiming it belongs to them, wasn't supposed to be a series finale. In an interview given to the "Superman" fansite Kryptonsite in 2003, writer Brad Bucker spoke about a fifth season the show's writing team had planned.
"Bored to Death" had one big twist in its finale: The main character's girlfriend, Rose, turned out to be his half-sister.
Zach Galifianakis and Jason Schwartzman as Jonathan and Ray.
HBO
"Bored to Death's" premise — a struggling writer who moonlights as a private investigator — lent itself to many ridiculous scenes, only made more hilarious by its all-star cast, which included Ted Danson, Patton Oswalt, and Kristen Wiig. It was on HBO from September 2009 to November 2011.
The show's final season ended with Jonathan, the struggling writer/private investigator, finally finding his dad (a sperm donor) and discovering that his father is also the father of his girlfriend, Rose, played by Isla Fisher.
Audiences thought he would come clean about their shared heritage, but instead, Jonathan keeps it a secret and kisses her. Roll the credits — and cue a cancellation that December.
Creator Jonathan Ames told Vulture that he was in a "numb state" after the cancellation news and that he had plans on how to resolve the show's various plotlines, but never got the chance.
"Flashforward's" inventive premise of characters seeing six months into the future wasn't sustainable in the long run. It was canceled after one season airing in 2009 and 2010, but not before blowing up a building with a main character inside.
Joseph Fiennes as Mark.
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
The " Flashforward" series finale in May 2010 had characters see years into their own futures instead of six months.
During this flash-forward, Mark, one of the show's protagonists, sees himself inside the FBI headquarters as it explodes, potentially killing him. Or maybe he lived. We'll never know, since the show was canceled that month.
In 2015, Robert J. Sawyer, the author of the 1999 novel that the show was based on and a writer on the TV series, shared a memo on his blog he'd written in 2010 that was sent to the writers of "Flashforward."
It detailed his plans for a potential second season, and explained how he thought "Flashforward" could stand to be more like "Lost." But the network didn't pick up the show, and these plans were never put into action.
"Joan of Arcadia" was canceled right as it was implied that Joan's journey was just beginning and that the first two seasons had only been preparing her for the real fight.
Amber Tamblyn and Hilary Duff as Joan and Dylan.
CBS
The first two seasons of "Joan of Arcadia," airing from September 2003 to April 2005, saw Joan communicating with God and doing his bidding to better herself and the world around her, though viewers never really knew why she could communicate with God or what the end goal was.
That all changed with the second-season finale when God informed Joan he had been training her to fight a battle against someone who could also speak to God but was using their powers for evil.
Too bad the show was canceled in May 2005, and viewers were left wondering, "What if God was one of us?"
"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" took place four years after the events of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." It followed Sarah and John Connor attempting to stop the creation of the destructive SkyNet, and aired from January 2008 to April 2009.
Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker as Sarah and John Connor.
20th Century Fox Television
A huge plot point for all of the "Terminator" movies is that John Connor is the chosen one who will defeat the evil software SkyNet.
So fans were understandably shocked when season two of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" ended in April 2009 with John traveling to a future where no one seems to know who he is.
Even more shocking? The show was canceled in May 2009, and viewers were left wondering what exactly happened in the past to change the future and wipe John from existence.
"Sliders" ended with the show's last remaining character injecting himself with a virus and "sliding" into a parallel universe.
Cleavant Derricks and Kari Wuhrer as Rembrandt and Maggie.
Fox Network
The concept of "Sliders" (which aired March 1995 to February 2000), is a bit complicated. In every episode, the titular Sliders would "slide" into a new parallel universe, encountering alternate versions of themselves, aliens, and other wacky circumstances.
In the show's final episode, the only original Slider left — Rembrandt, a former singer with no scientific background — injects himself with a virus that would destroy the show's main antagonists, the Kromaggs (a type of alien).
The show ended with a virus-infected Rembrandt in a new universe without closure on what happened to him or the rest of the Sliders, most of whom had left the series in previous seasons.
"Kyle XY" is best remembered as the show about the guy with no belly button, but it ended abruptly with an attempted murder, a surprising revelation, and no closure for the show's love triangle.
Matt Dallas as Kyle.
ABC Family
"Kyle XY" was about a teenage boy who woke up in a forest with the abilities of a newborn and no memory of life before. It aired from June 2006 to March 2009, but was canceled in January 2009, months before the finale even aired.
While the show started as one of the most successful ABC Family (now Freeform) shows of all time, as Entertainment Weekly reported, the plot eventually shifted from a sci-fi series to teen drama, causing viewership to drop.
The show's final season was just 10 episodes long, making it hard to wrap up the story satisfactorily. The last episode ended with Kyle choking Cassidy (the season's villain) until Cassidy revealed that the two were brothers.
The final episode also didn't provide closure for the show's main love triangle between Kyle, Jessi, and Amanda.
According to TVLine, the producers shared what would have happened on a season three DVD boxset, including that Cassidy would have remained a bad guy and Kyle would've picked Jessi, but they would have broken up eventually.
"Las Vegas" ended with a main character walking into his own funeral with no explanation.
Molly Sims and Josh Duhamel as Delinda and Danny.
NBC
"Las Vegas" was about a surveillance team overseeing a casino's security, and aired from September 2003 to February 2008. While the finale looked like it would be a tribute to one of the team's fallen members, it ended with a twist when the colleague they were all mourning walked into his own memorial service. It was canceled later that month.
Fans were so upset with this development that a Change.org petition was created to bring back the show and provide closure.
"My Name Is Earl" ended with the dreaded "To be continued..." and then never was.
Ethan Suplee and Jason Lee as Randy and Earl Hickey.
NBC
Low-level criminal Earl's life takes a turn when he wins the lottery. He decides to pay it forward and atone for the bad things he's done across 96 episodes from September 2005 to May 2009.
The fifth and final season of "My Name Is Earl" ended with two big reveals. The first was that Earl's adopted son, Dodge, was his biological son. The second was that Earl's other son, Earl Jr., assumed to be the result of his ex-wife's affair with Darnell, wasn't Darnell's.
In a 2014 Reddit AMA with the show's creator, Greg Garcia asked the network if they were safe to end the season on a cliffhanger, and NBC told him yes (clearly, they were wrong).
While he's talked about how he would have ended the series, until a "My Name Is Earl" movie appears, it's all up in the air.
"The Dead Zone's" series finale left viewers with a jaw-dropping revelation: The apocalyptic future Johnny had been trying to prevent might be his fault.
Chris Bruno, Anthony Michael Hall, and John L. Adams as Walt, Johnny, and Bruce.
USA Network
"The Dead Zone" is based on the characters of Stephen King's novel of the same name but not the plot, so viewers couldn't even find closure in the book.
In the show, Johnny wakes up from a six-year coma to discover that he can see a person's past and future by touching them or related objects.
The show lasted six seasons from June 2002 to September 2007, which makes the lack of a real ending even more frustrating for devoted fans. Throughout the show, Johnny is dedicated to stopping a hellish future in which Greg Stillson, an evil politician, takes power and turns the world upside down.
By the beginning of season six, the apocalyptic future had been averted by the death of another character. But in the finale, the "bad" future was seen again by Johnny and his son JJ, who was revealed to have inherited his father's powers. It was also hinted that the terrible future may have been Johnny's fault.
But, as The Hollywood Reporter wrote in December 2007, "The Dead Zone" was "vaporized" by USA before these questions could be answered.
"Hannibal" ends with the two main characters flinging themselves off a cliff.
Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy as Hannibal and Will.
NBC
"Hannibal," a prequel to the events of the horror classic "The Silence of the Lambs," was critically adored and quickly gained a cult following upon its premiere in April 2013, but the numbers were never large enough to justify the show's high production costs, Deadline reported in June 2015.
The show ended that August with Hannibal Lecter, a cannibalistic forensic psychiatrist, and his frenemy Will Graham, an FBI agent, defeating their nemesis, the Tooth Fairy Killer, once and for all. But in a final act of love and hate, Graham flings them both off a cliff.
Arguably one of Marvel's best TV shows to date, "Agent Carter," suffered from low ratings and was canceled after season two — it ended with a main character bleeding on the floor due to a gunshot wound.
Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter.
ABC
In a then-rare Marvel failure, "Agent Carter" could never find its audience across its 18 episodes from January 2015 to March 2016, even though Peggy is one of, if not the, best female characters in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was canceled in May 2016.
The show revolves around Peggy Carter, Captain America's former true love and a secret agent who needs to balance her work with life as a single woman in the 1940s.
The show's second season ended with Peggy's nemesis-turned-friend Jack shot by a mysterious figure, who then stole a heavily redacted file containing incriminating details about Carter.
The ending of "Agent Carter" was further complicated by the events of 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" and season seven of "Agents of SHIELD" in 2020, with characters from "Agent Carter" seemingly negating the ending of the show, as Captain America and the main characters of "AoS" both traveled back in time to the events of "Agent Carter" — which directly goes against what was shown in "Agent Carter."
"Popular," a perfect satire on the ridiculous plot twists of teen dramas, got to end on an absurd cliffhanger of its own: Queen Bee Brooke getting run over by drunk and jealous Nicole.
Leslie Bibb and Carly Pope as Brooke and Sam.
The WB
Ryan Murphy's very first entry into the teen dramedy playing field (he was previously known for "Nip/Tuck") was near perfect, but "Popular," which aired from September 1999 to May 2001, was canceled after just two seasons on The WB.
The show revolved around two teenage girls — one super popular (Brooke), one very much not (Sam) — who were forced to get along when their parents got engaged.
Season two ended with Brooke fleeing prom after forcing her and Sam's shared love interest, Harrison, to choose between the two before getting hit by a drunken driver, who turned out to be an angry and jealous Nicole, Brooke's former best friend.
Fans never found out who Harrison chose or if Brooke survived the car crash.
Murphy later spoke with Entertainment Weekly in 2016 about his experience making the show.
"I wanted it to work so I did the notes and thus I ended up jeopardizing my own sensibility and it got cancelled after year two," said Murphy.
No one expected "Moesha," a sitcom, to end the way it did, with one of the girls in Moesha's dorm pregnant, Myles abducted, and Moesha deciding whether to move in with her boyfriend.
Countess Vaughn and Brandy as Kim and Moesha.
UPN
"Moesha" was about the life of an average, middle-class Black family. But, in an unexpected, soapy plot twist, it ended with a character in potentially mortal peril, a surprise pregnancy, and a longtime couple in serious trouble. It aired from January 1996 to May 2001.
According to a 2001 report in Entertainment Weekly, some of these plots were supposed to be resolved in the "Moesha" spin-off "The Parkers," a show that followed Moesha's best friend Kim Parker who left "Moesha" after season four, but the cross-over never materialized over "The Parkers'" five seasons.
In 2014, Brandy, who played the show's titular Moesha, even apologized to fans of the show for its unresolved ending in an interview with Keke Palmer for her BET show "Just Keke."
"Mork and Mindy" was canceled after a steady decline in ratings, leaving the fate of its two main characters up in the air.
Robin Williams and Pam Dawber as Mork and Mindy.
ABC
This unlikely spin-off of "Happy Days" lasted four seasons from 1978 to 1982 before getting the boot, two years before "Happy Days" ended in 1984. It revolved around Mork, an alien, and his friend-turned-wife, the human Mindy.
"Mork and Mindy" ends with Mork discovering that his new friend, fellow alien Kalnik, is evil and trying to kill him. To save his and Mindy's lives, he outs himself to the world as an alien, and the two escape using magical shoes that allow them to time travel.
But they end up stranded in prehistoric times ... and that's it. Viewers never discover if Mork and Mindy ever return to their own time.
"Terra Nova," a time-traveling epic about what would happen to Earth if it becomes too populated, was canceled after just one season, leaving viewers to wonder what became of the citizens of Terra Nova.
Jason O'Mara as Jim.
Fox
"Terra Nova" is a bit complicated. The premise is essentially that the Earth will become overcrowded and almost inhospitable by the mid-22nd century, so technology is developed to help citizens travel back 85 million years to inhabit the untouched Earth in a settlement called Terra Nova.
The show's conflict arises from a rebel group called the Sixers, who are helping an evil corporation travel back and forth in time to exploit the past Earth's natural resources for usage in the future.
The series' sole season aired in 2011 with the main character, Jim, destroying the portal to the past and narrowly making it back to Terra Nova.
However, even though the portal was seemingly destroyed, an artifact from the 18th century was found in Terra Nova, left behind by the Sixers, suggesting that another portal to a different time had opened up.
What would that mean for the people of Terra Nova? Fans will never know since Fox canceled the show soon after, Entertainment Weekly reported in May 2012.
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly; Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
E. Jean Carroll's second defamation trial against Donald Trump was delayed again.
The judge previously skipped Monday and Tuesday following a juror COVID scare and the New Hampshire primary.
Trump intends to take the witness stand, his attorney said this week.
Testimony in E. Jean Carroll's ongoing defamation trial against Donald Trump was postponed for the second day in a row, according to a notice posted to the court docket.
Kaplan also called off the trial day on Tuesday. Trump's attorney Alina Habba pointed out that New Hampshire held its Republican presidential primary election on Tuesday, and that Trump wanted to campaign in the state.
The trial was supposed to pick back up on Wednesday. Trump himself, Habba said in court, wanted to testify.
But on Tuesday afternoon, a docket entry said the trial would continue to be delayed until Thursday morning. A court spokesperson did not explain the delay. The court's calendar shows that the trial will continue on Friday as well.
A jury last year in the same courtroom already found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her by calling her a liar, as she alleged.
The ongoing trial concerns additional defamation damages for two statements Trump made in 2019, while he was president, disparaging Carroll by calling her dishonest and insulting her appearance.
Carroll testified last week. Her legal team is expected to call just one remaining witness, Robbie Myers, the former editor of Elle magazine, where Carroll worked as a columnist. After that, the defense team will have a turn and may call Trump to the witness stand.
It's not clear what Trump will testify about. On Truth Social and at rallies, he's continued calling Carroll a liar and claims he doesn't know who she is. But because a jury already found him liable, he and his lawyers are not permitted to make those arguments in the current trial.
Chris Mattei, an attorney who represented family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims in their defamation trial against conspiracy theorist Alex Jomes, told Business Insider it would be pointless for Trump to testify.
"There is no halfway competent lawyer who would recommend to Donald Trump that he should testify in this case," Mattei, who won a $1.5 billion verdict in the Alex Jones case, said. "Unless he was going to apologize and say that he had committed himself to never doing it again. We know that's not going to happen."
Following the court's decision, Spirit Airlines stock plunged as much as 74% over a period of three days as the company's deal was in doubt.
The stock price of Spirit Airlines fell to as low as $4.04 on Thursday, but it has since mounted a furious rally, in part driven by a retail trading frenzy akin to the meme-stock rallies seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, during which traders bought shares of companies that had questionable fundamentals.
Shares of Spirit Airlines have since rallied as much as 131% from the low on Thursday, hitting a high of $9.34 per share on Tuesday. Helping boost the stock was JetBlue's decision to file an appeal to the court ruling, offering hope to investors that a deal might ultimately go through.
Cumulative trading volume has exploded over the past week, eclipsing more than 512 million shares traded, with multiple trading days seeing more than 75 million shares being traded. For context, Spirit Airlines has 109 million shares outstanding, and its typical daily volume before the court ruling was just 3 million shares.
Online chatter about the stock has picked up amid the trading frenzy, with message volume on the social media platform StockTwits registering an "extremely high" reading on Tuesday, registering a score of 87 out of 100.
Spirit Airlines stock has also received attention from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who purchased shares and posted videos to X over the past week commenting about the recent volatility in the stock price.
"$SAVE is ripping. WE FLY IN THIS COUNTRY!" he posted to X.
Despite the recent four-day rally, shares of Spirit Airlines are still 42% below last week's price before the court decision.
People are walking past an electronic display board showing the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong, China, on January 22, 2024.
Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto/Getty Images
China's stock market lost more than $6 trillion in valuation from 2021 through last week.
The shares recouped some losses Tuesday after a Bloomberg report that Beijing's mulling a market rescue package.
The market is confused by Beijing's policy stance on the economy, per Nomura economists.
A brutal downcycle in China's stock market has wiped out over $6 trillion in valuations since 2021 — and policymakers in Beijing may be adding to the turmoil.
Markets in China and Hong Kong extended declines on Monday and only managed to recoup some losses on Tuesday after Bloomberg reported that Beijing is considering a 2 trillion Chinese yuan, or $282 billion, package to stabilize the market.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 2.6% higher as of 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday after falling about 10% this year to date. Meanwhile, the CSI 300 — which tracks 300 Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks with the largest market capitalizations — was 0.4% higher but still down 6% so far this year.
Bloomberg's report, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, came just a day after the People's Bank of China, or PBOC, kept benchmark lending rates unchanged. This disappointed investors who were hoping for a rate cut — which would stimulate loans and investment in the broader economy.
China's signals on the economy appear to be confounding investors and analysts.
"There has been increasing confusion over Beijing's policy stance on the economy," wrote Nomura economists in a Monday note seen by Business Insider.
After all, the country's largest state-owned banks slashed deposit rates in December, boosting expectations of a similar move by the central bank — but that didn't happen, they added.
"Top officials' comments suggest Beijing is reluctant to seek short-term growth at the cost of increasing long-term risks," they added, referring to official commitments to a more sustainable and stable economy after decades of breakneck growth prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, China's economy is struggling to recover after the pandemic. It's facing significant headwinds from both a property crisis and a demographics problem marked by a record-low birthrate. The Asian nation's population contracted for the second straight year in 2023.
As China's economy and markets both flounder, there are signs that President Xi Jinping's administration is dialing back on some overzealous measures to shore up confidence in the economy.
In December, a document released after the annual Central Economic Work Conference suggested regrets over Beijing's fast and furious private-sector crackdown. In the same month, authorities went into damage-control mode after new draft rules regulating video gaming sparked an $80 billion market meltdown.
While such back-and-forth policy adjustments aren't rare for China, a sustained loss in investor confidence is what the country doesn't need at this time.
As Ji Min, a PBOC official wrote in a central bank publication this month, the market pays "close attention" to policy orientation and execution when expectations are weak, per South China Morning Post.
While China's stock market is still in the dumps, some see opportunities ahead.
"We maintain our long-term positive view as we see Chinese equity as a core component of a strategic asset allocation," expert at Amundi, Europe's largest asset manager, wrote in a Tuesday note, citing appealing valuations and attractive longer-term rewards.
Donald Trump intends to testify in E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial against him, his lawyer said.
The trial was delayed Monday for a juror COVID-19 scare — and Tuesday is the New Hampshire primary.
The trial will now also be paused Tuesday, allowing Trump to have his primary and testify, too.
Donald Trump will have a chance to testify in his own defense in E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial this week after his own campaign schedule nearly got in the way.
After initially holding Trump, Carroll, and their legal teams in suspense Monday, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed to adjourn the trial until Wednesday morning.
The delay allows the former president to spend Tuesday campaigning in New Hampshire without worrying about missing the chance to offer critical testimony to jurors, who will decide how much money he must give Carroll for defaming her.
The former president flew to New York in the wee hours of Monday morning and rolled into Kaplan's Manhattan courtroom at around 9 a.m., ready to take the witness stand in the case.
Then juror No. 3 called out sick — possibly with COVID-19.
And Tuesday? Well, that's the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary — and Trump made clear through his defense team Monday that he planned on being there.
That chain of events — a juror falling ill and the New Hampshire primary coming Tuesday — nearly conspired to keep Trump off the witness stand entirely.
Trump's myriad legal problems, which include four criminal cases and even more civil ones, were widely anticipated to cause a traffic jam in his race to reclaim the presidency.
The opposite is also happening as his campaign schedule pushes into his court calendar.
"My client just reminded me — I was in trial mode — he needs to be in New Hampshire," Alina Habba, the lead attorney representing Trump in the case, said in court Monday morning after saying that, like the juror, she too had been feeling a bit feverish.
"I would just need for his testimony to be Wednesday," Habba told Kaplan.
In court Monday morning, the judge, who has shown little patience for delay or rule-bending by Trump and his defense team, initially reserved the decision to postpone the trial any further pending the next update on who among the jurors and parties may have tested positive.
If Kaplan had decided to barrel forward with the trial on Tuesday, it would have likely closed the window of opportunity for Trump to testify.
But shortly before 5 p.m., the judge posted an update to the court docket saying the trial would skip a day on Tuesday after all. Kaplan selected nine jurors to sit on the panel for the civil trial without any alternate jurors.
The judge's announcement that a juror had coronavirus symptoms came first thing in proceedings Monday just after 10 a.m., when Trump and Carroll had taken their seats but before jurors had taken theirs.
"Juror No. 3 was on his way to the city," the judge told the room. But while en route, he added, the juror found he was "feeling hot and nauseous."
The juror was instructed to go home, take a COVID-19 test, and tell the court whether he tested positive. Habba said she didn't want the trial to keep going without him.
Just two non-Trump witnesses have yet to be heard in the case: the former Elle editor Robbie Myers for Carroll's side and the journalist Carol Martin for the defense. Those two witnesses are expected to take less than a day.
Carroll's lawyers argue that Trump caused her harm when he defamed her by calling her a liar when she accused him of sexual abuse from the 1990s, which damaged her reputation as a truth-telling advice columnist.
On Truth Social, Trump used Monday's delay to tell his followers yet again that he knew "absolutely nothing about" Carroll, even though a jury found last year that he sexually abused her. He also complained the trial was taking place in the thick of election season, even though it was his own lawyers who fought for years to delay the case.
"They could have all began years ago, or years after, but, certainly not DURING the Election," he wrote. "In actuality, they should have never been brought at all, because I have done nothing wrong."
Before sending everyone home Monday morning, the judge also ruled on Habba's motion for a mistrial in the case over Carroll deleting death-threat emails.
"Denied in all respects," Kaplan said.
This story has been updated with the court's announcement Monday night that the Carroll trial will resume on Wednesday.
Donald Trump intends to testify in E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial against him, his lawyer said.
The trial was delayed Monday for a juror COVID scare — and Tuesday is the New Hampshire primary.
If the trial isn't delayed another day, as Trump's lawyers requested, he may lose his chance to take the stand.
Donald Trump rolled into Manhattan federal court Monday ready to testify in his own defense in E. Jean Carroll's ongoing defamation lawsuit.
Then juror No. 3 called out sick — possibly with COVID-19.
And Tuesday? Well, that's the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary — and Trump made clear through his defense team Monday that he plans on being there.
Now, that chain of events — a sick juror, and the New Hampshire primary — may well conspire to keep Trump off the witness stand entirely.
Trump's myriad legal problems — four criminal cases and even more civil ones — were widely anticipated to cause a traffic jam in his race to reclaim the presidency.
The opposite is also happening, as his campaign schedule jams into his court calendar.
If COVID-19 doesn't bring the case to a standstill, and testimony resumes Tuesday, Trump playing hooky to attent the primary would mean the trial will barrel forward without him — quite likely closing the window of opportunity for him to take the stand.
If that happens, it would be decisions Trump himself has made that will effectively self-gag him.
"My client just reminded me — I was in trial mode — he needs to be in New Hampshire," Alina Habba, the lead attorney representing Trump in the case, said in court Monday morning, after saying that, like the juror, she too has been feeling a bit feverish.
"I would just need for his testimony to be Wednesday," Habba told US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
The judge, who has shown little patience for delay or rule-bending by Trump and his defense team, reserved the decision on pushing back the trial any further, pending the next update on whom, among the jurors and parties, may have tested positive.
Just two more brief, non-Trump witnesses have yet to be heard in the case: former Elle editor Robbie Meyers for Carroll's side and journalist Carol Martin for the defense.
Those two witnesses are expected to wrap by day's end on Tuesday. The judge could order the trial to move to closing arguments without Trump taking the witness stand.
The judge's announcement that a juror had coronavirus symptoms came first thing in proceedings Monday, just after 10 a.m., after Trump and Carroll had taken their seats but before jurors had taken theirs.
"Juror No. 3 was on his way to the city," the judge told the room. But while en route, the juror found he was "feeling hot and nauseous."
The juror was instructed to go home, take a COVID-19 test, and tell the court if he tested positive. Habba said she didn't want the trial to keep going without him.
The judge paused the trial until Tuesday, but that day will be busy as well, given the New Hampshire primary.
Carroll's lawyers argue that Trump caused her harm when he defamed her by calling her a liar when she accused him of sexual abuse in the 1990s, damaging her reputation as a truth-telling advice columnist.
On Truth Social, Trump used Monday's delay to tell his followers yet again that he knows "absolutely nothing about" Carroll, even though a jury found last year that he sexually abused her. He also complained the trial was taking place in the thick of election season, even though it was his own lawyers who fought for years to delay the case.
"They could have all began years ago, or years after, but, certainly not DURING the Election," he wrote. "In actuality, they should have never been brought at all, because I have done nothing wrong."
Before sending everyone home Monday morning, the judge also ruled on Habba's motion for a mistrial in the case over Carroll deleting death threat emails.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer; AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File
Before entering the 2024 presidential race, Ron DeSantis proudly touted his conservative record.
But it was DeSantis' tussles with Disney that hurt his candidacy from the beginning.
The governor's fights with Disney didn't endear him to GOP primary voters in the way he had hoped.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seriously miscalculated in trying to overtake former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential race, having come in a distant second place in Iowa and pulling in dismal numbers in New Hampshire.
But after DeSantis ended his presidential campaign on Sunday, we can trace this back to his first great misstep, where this all started to sour and go wrong: his war against Disney, which hobbled his candidacy before it officially began.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster; Blaine Harrington III/Getty
When his willingness to pick a fight overcame basic political common sense
While DeSantis' political brand is rooted in a more confrontational style of conservatism, his crusade against a major state employer and one of the most prominent companies in the world set him apart from the rest of the field — and not in a good way.
Disney has produced 263,000 direct and indirect jobs in Florida and in 2022 generated $40.3 billion in economic impact in the state, according to a company study. For decades, tourists have come to the state from all over the world to visit Walt Disney World.
But despite Disney's influence, DeSantis railed against the company when in 2022 it spoke out against Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, which would restrict the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3.
The legislation, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill, became a flashpoint in America's culture wars, which DeSantis was all too happy to use in advance of his reelection bid and his eventual presidential campaign.
DeSantis continued his crusade against Disney over the next year, taking control of what had long been known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District and ending the company's self-governing status.
Fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
A campaign built on fighting a popular American company failed to break through for some reason
It was a series of events that formed a big part of DeSantis' presidential campaign, as he sought to project toughness with a GOP electorate that had embraced Trump's hardline tactics on everything from immigration to healthcare during his single term in the White House.
This would become a habit over the course of DeSantis' run.
But while many GOP voters had a positive opinion of DeSantis, it didn't translate into many votes, no matter what he had done while tussling with Disney.
In New Hampshire, which has a strong center-right tradition among its Republican voters, DeSantis had initially polled strongly early last year, coming ahead of Trump in the state.
But as DeSantis campaigned across New Hampshire, he lost support among primary voters, as he proved to be a poor fit for the state's Republicans.
The most recent polling showed just how far DeSantis had fallen in New Hampshire, with a January survey conducted by Saint Anselm College showing the Florida governor with only 6% support among likely GOP primary voters.
Coupled with DeSantis' 21% showing in the Iowa caucuses, where he was 30 points behind Trump, he didn't have a path forward.
DeSantis made his conservative "blueprint" the foundation of his campaign, pointing to voting and education reforms to bans on COVID-19 vaccine passports as his ticket to the White House.
But in the end, it was DeSantis' fight with Mickey Mouse that stunted his campaign, and he never recovered.
Ron DeSantis is ending his 2024 presidential campaign.
DeSantis entered the race with lofty expectations, with many conservatives seeing him as a next-generation GOP figure.
But Trump has had a disciplined campaign, and DeSantis lost key support in many early-voting states.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday suspended his presidential campaign, a stunning fall for the conservative leader who had long been seen as the biggest threat to former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.
"I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory," DeSantis said in a message to supporters. "It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance."
"While this campaign has ended, the mission continues," he continued. "Down here in Florida, we will continue to show the country how to lead."
DeSantis, who entered the presidential race last May, sought to build on the national profile that he had built for himself as an immigration hard-liner and as a politician who had fought against COVID-19 mandates. After winning reelection in November 2022 in a 19-point landslide, DeSantis' profile exploded, and he was immediately viewed by many Republicans as the conservative who could go toe-to-toe against Trump and capture the GOP nomination.
In several polls taken before DeSantis entered the race, the governor actually polled ahead of Trump, which at the time revealed the vulnerable state that the former president found himself in politically after Republicans faltered in the 2022 midterm elections.
After DeSantis entered the race, he was competitive in the early-voting states, but as the summer and fall went on, his numbers slipped precipitously across the country. He staked his campaign on winning the Iowa caucuses, but Trump's standing in the state only strengthened by the end of last year.
Trump's myriad legal issues seemingly had the effect of boosting his polling numbers with GOP primary voters, which in turn iced out DeSantis as the leading alternative to the former president.
Trump would go on to win the Iowa caucuses, taking 51% of the vote to DeSantis' 21% share and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley's 19%. Despite campaigning in all 99 of Iowa's counties, DeSantis did not win a single county in the state.
DeSantis' exit from the race also comes two days before the New Hampshire primary, a contest where he was struggling for relevancy, with most his polling numbers mired in the single digits.
The governor in recent days had sought to pivot to the South Carolina Republican primary on Feb. 24, but with Trump riding high there and Haley have a sizable level of support in her home state, his pathway to continuing in the race became incredibly murky.
Homesteading is on the rise among young people who want to live off the land.
jacoblund
Homesteading, or living self-sufficiently off the land, has grown in popularity since early 2020.
Young families are increasingly choosing to raise chickens, grow crops, and live off-grid.
Some homesteaders said they like controlling more parts of their lives, including what they eat.
A visit to homesteading TikTok shows clips of young moms in billowy dresses making jam, picture-perfect gardens recorded at golden hour, and enviable stocks of home-jarred vegetables and sauces. It's a lifestyle that looks idyllic and is often sold as such.
But behind the videos is something deeper: a skepticism of the companies and systems we rely on to sustain us.
Homesteading — or living self-sufficiently by doing things like growing and raising food and maybe even living off the electric grid or sewer system — has grown more popular since early 2020, according to the Homesteaders of America, an organization that advocates leading an independent, agrarian lifestyle.
A poll of nearly 4,000 member homesteaders published in January 2023 found that over a quarter of respondents had been homesteading for three or fewer years. Millennials and Gen Z, in particular, have taken a shine to homesteading: Nearly half of the Homesteaders of America poll respondents were 39 or younger. Those generations are increasingly ditching city life not just for suburbs but for exurbs and rural areas, Business Insider reported earlier this month.
The high cost of living in traditional areas doesn't help, but people who homestead have told BI in recent interviews that it represents an opportunity to build something with their own hands, as well as raise their children how they want to. Why would young people embrace such a back-to-basics approach? COVID-19. Contested elections. Companies selling contaminated baby food. It might be easier, people may reason, to just control what they can from start to finish.
"A lot of young people are interested in starting homesteads because I think people are waking up to the food system," Christina Heinritz, a millennial raising her two children on a homestead in California, told BI in September. "There's a lot of stuff that everyone thinks is healthy and it's not."
The fix, the then-33-year-old argued, is knowing where your food comes from.
"People have no other way to figure it out than to raise it," said Heinritz, who with her family raises chickens, alpacas, and donkeys, and focuses on creating nutritious, home-cooked meals with her kids, opting for care over "convenience."
A pastoral scene from Christina Heinritz's homestead.
Christina Figone Heinritz
Homesteaders of all ages cite various reasons for their turn toward self-sufficiency, from distrusting how and with what chemicals food is made to wanting to rely only on themselves — should something in the wider world go wrong.
Homesteaders reject the status quo
Some homesteaders live on remote farms or ranches and raise livestock. Others live in more urban areas and maintain small container gardens. Many homeschool their children. They often opt for solar panels to avoid dependence on the conventional energy grid.
Other homesteaders choose an even more extreme detachment from modern society. While Homesteaders of America found that most survey respondents were employed full or part-time, drawing a salary, some off-the-grid communities — like Riverbed Ranch in the high desert of western Utah — employ a barter system where residents can trade for their needs.
No matter where homesteaders lie on the spectrum from casual farmers to off-the-grid preppers, the movement is, at its core, a rejection of the status quo.
It was a lifelong dream for Chuck Anderson, 61, to return to the lifestyle he experienced growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. His wife Brooke, 52, was quick to get on board with leaving their home in Raleigh, North Carolina, behind because the move "was something that brought me a lot of pleasure and peace," she told BI in November.
In 2021, the Andersons purchased 285 unadulterated acres in rural Virginia, with nothing around for miles, where they're building their remote homestead.
They report their kids are loving it so far: Their daughter, a high schooler on the youngest end of Gen Z, is even learning to ride horses, bow hunt, and cut cows, rodeo-style.
But she still enjoys some classic teenage touchstones, the Andersons admitted. They still have to schlep her to and from the mall, that ultimate bastion of youth culture and connectivity, an hour-and-a-half drive each way from their slice of heaven.
They said the hassle — including not being able to just, as Brooke Anderson put it, "run to the store real quick" — is worth it.
"For us, homesteading is being in a position where we can survive independently without outside resources if necessary," Chuck Anderson said. "We can hike for an hour or two and not run into another single person. This place becomes part of our DNA. We just want to be here, and it's so peaceful."
A top priority for John and Tara Newby — who left the UK to homestead in northern Portugal with their two sons, Crusoe and Sawyer — was living a life that doesn't excessively strain the planet.
Living off-grid, as they do, allows the Newbys to exert control over their environmental footprint in a way they couldn't in the UK.
Tara, then 35, told BI in August, "We were looking at a lifestyle that would mean we could get out of the UK, spend more time outside, have a better climate, and space for our children to grow a bit more wild and free."