What you need to know on Wall Street today

Reuters / Brendan McDermid

Broadcom announced its $130 billion takeover intentions for Qualcomm. Disney was revealed to be discussing a bid for most of 20th Century Fox, a deal that could cost $40 billion. Asset manager Brookfield proposed to buy the mall owner GGP for $14.8 billion.

All within a little over a week.

Not long before that, power companies Dynegy and Vistra completed an all-stock merger worth more than $10 billion, and Rockwell Automation rejected a nearly $30 billion takeover bid from Emerson Electric.

Is the mega-deal back? Here's our story.

In markets news, General Electric slashed its dividend by 50%, sending the stock lower. There could soon be a new way to bet on the rise of blockchain. And one market bear forecasts a decade of stock losses.

It looks like Janet Yellen issued a point by point rebuke of Donald Trump - without ever mentioning his name. And if Trump's new tax plan passes and you make $500,000 a year, you're about to get screwed.

In tech news, Apple's "geniuses" are straining under the iPhone's success, but revamped stores could ease the pressure. The current draft of the Senate tax reform bill would tax stock options and RSUs upon vesting. And Snapchat's latest feature converts its lenses and filters into shopping vehicles - and fixes its biggest flaw to date.

Bill Gates is investing $100 million to fight Alzheimer's, a deadly condition that becomes more common every year.

Lastly, Alibaba's shopping holiday that's bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined just brought in $25 billion - this is what it looked like.