Tag: foxbusiness current news

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up nearly 300 points Monday, recouping some of Monday’s 1,033 point loss.

Dow Chemical, Caterpillar and JPMorgan led the gains, while Boeing, J&JN and Apple lagged.

The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 rose over 1% apiece.

Large-cap tech stocks helped drive the rebound on Tuesday as the top leaders in the S&P 500 gaining over 1.5%.

This in turn help propel the Nasdaq and the QQQ ETF, which got a lift from Nvidia, Palantir and Amazon.

Democratic nominee for 2024 Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz as her running mate.

Investor Dennis Gartman shares his views on Waltz’s track record.

All three of the major market averages rose Tuesday with modest following the worst selloff since September 2022 which shave over 1,000 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

A federal judge ruled that Google is breaking the law, a move that puts the search giant’s future in limbo.

Shares of parent Alphabet
have gained over 15% this year but have slipped from the all-time high of $191.18 per share.

The swift and volatile selloff that hit the global stock market Monday may have been a wake-up call for the Federal Reserve
who is under pressure for not cutting rates last month as investors fear they’ve fallen behind the curve.

Investors got a wake-up call Monday, after months of U.S. stocks smashing records, things unwound quickly as volatility skyrocketed.

When we see periods of high uncertainty, here are some tips for managing your 401(k) and investment portfolio.

U.S. stocks ended solidly higher on Wednesday, led by a gain of more than 1% in the Nasdaq after a report showed inflation subsided further with consumer prices registering their smallest annual increase in more than two years.

The data underscored expectations the Federal Reserve may let interest rates stand after one more 25 basis point hike expected at its July policy meeting.

Shares of big tech-related companies, which tend to be sensitive to higher interest rates, gave the S&P 500 its biggest boost.

Twitter Inc
on Wednesday was hit with a lawsuit accusing it of refusing to pay at least $500 million in promised severance to thousands of employees who were laid off after Elon Musk acquired the company.

Courtney McMillian, who oversaw Twitter’s employee benefits programs as its “head of total rewards” before she was laid off in January, filed the proposed class action in San Francisco federal court.

McMillian claims that under a severance plan created by Twitter in 2019, most workers were promised two months of their base pay plus one week of pay for each full year of service if they were laid off. Senior employees such as McMillian were owed six months of base pay, according to the lawsuit.

But Twitter only gave laid-off workers at most one month of severance pay, and many of them did not receive anything, McMillian claims.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday finalized rules aimed at increasing the resilience of the $5.5 trillion money market fund industry, but scrapped a proposed new pricing model that had been strongly opposed by asset managers.

The SEC’s decision not to impose “swing pricing” represents a major victory for asset managers including BlackRock, Vanguard and Fidelity, which operate some of the industry’s largest money market funds.

The industry had argued the pricing mechanism, meant to deter hasty investor redemptions in times of market stress, would make money market funds unattractive and be challenging to implement.

Money market funds saw massive outflows in March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the U.S. government to intervene to stabilize them. The panic was reminiscent of 2008 when a run on money market funds threatened to freeze up global markets and prompted the government to backstop the sector.

Some congressional Democrats say three large tax preparation firms sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over at least two years.

Their Wednesday report urges federal agencies to investigate and potentially go to court over the information H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer shared with Meta.

The lawmakers tell the IRS, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS watchdog the findings “reveal a shocking breach of taxpayer privacy.”

The tax prep companies say they take the privacy of their customers seriously. Meta says its system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it’s able to detect.

Domino’s Pizza customers can now order food through Uber Eats and Postmates apps, the pizza chain announced on Wednesday.

Domino’s franchises will handle food deliveries, and the initial rollout will begin this fall in four pilot markets before expanding around the U.S. by the end of 2023. 

Lucid Group said its second-quarter production dropped from the previous three months while deliveries stayed flat, sending the shares of the luxury electric-vehicle maker down about 6% on Wednesday.

The Saudi Arabia-backed startup has been struggling to ramp up production in the face of supply chain issues, while a price war started by market leader Tesla in January has intensified competition.

Lucid delivered 1,404 vehicles in the quarter to June 30, compared with 1,406 deliveries in the previous quarter. Its production fell 6% sequentially to 2,173 vehicles.

The company had trimmed its 2023 production forecast and reported a lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue in May as it took a hit from Tesla’s price war and rising interest rates.

Global public debt surged to a record $92 trillion in 2022 as governments borrowed to counter crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with the burden being felt acutely by developing countries, a United Nations report said.

Domestic and external debt worldwide has increased more than five times in the last two decades, outstripping the rate of economic growth, with gross domestic product only tripling since 2002, according to the Wednesday report, released in the run up to a G20 finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting July 14-18.

Developing countries owe almost 30% of the global public debt, of which 70% is represented by China, India and Brazil. Fifty-nine developing countries face a debt-to-GDP ratio above 60% – a threshold indicating high levels of debt.

Citigroup became the 10th Wall Street firm to raise its price target on Tesla in recent weeks, predicting shares can hit $278 vs. $215.

Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that a China-based hacking group it identified as Storm-0558 breached email accounts from approximately 25 organizations, including government agencies. 

Inflation is slowing fast enough to allow the Federal Reserve to stop tightening U.S. monetary policy after what is still widely expected to be an interest-rate hike at its meeting in two weeks time, traders bet on Wednesday.

Implied yields on futures tied to the U.S. central bank’s policy rate fell after a government report showed consumer prices last month rose 3.0% from a year earlier, after climbing 4.0% in May.

Underlying inflation, whose persistence has been particularly worrying to Fed policymakers, eased more than expected to 4.8%.

The contract pricing still shows traders overwhelmingly expect the policy rate to rise a quarter point, to a 5.25%-5.5% range, at the Fed’s July 25-26 meeting, but now see about a 25% chance of another rate hike before year’s end, down from about 35% before the report.

Inflation rose by the lowest since March 2021 as consumer prices showed signs of easing. Thursday investors will get the producer price index.

All three of the U.S. stock benchmarks slipped after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
reiterated interest rates will be higher by year-end. The Nasdaq Composite led the declines as Tesla and Intel dipped. On the flip side, discount retailers rallied after Dollar Tree delivered an upbeat forecast, shares of Big Lots rose in tandem.

The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon on Wednesday for what it called a years-long effort to enroll consumers without consent into its Prime program and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the agency accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as “dark patterns,” to deceive consumers into enrolling in the program.

It also alleged the company’s leadership slowed or rejected changes that made canceling the subscription easier.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had a productive meeting with India’s Prime Minister Modi and signaled the automaker will soon make a big investment in the country.

Spotify may have parted ways with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle but its business as usual for the streaming giant who may be readying a new product rollout.

The IRS has processed tens of millions of tax returns faster this year compared with past years while getting through to customer service on the phone is slowly improving, according to a report to Congress released Wednesday.

The latest update on the IRS from National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins said the agency cut its backlog of unprocessed paper tax returns by 80%, from 13.3 million returns at the end of the 2022 filing season to 2.6 million at the end of the 2023 filing season. And now 35% of calls are answered, compared with 11% before.

“Overall, the difference between the 2022 filing season and the 2023 filing season was like night and day,” Collins said. “It marks a return to pre-pandemic levels.”

A second high profile Disney executive has departed the entertainment giant as CEO Bob Iger attempts to the right the ship after social and political tussles.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver his semi-annual testimony on Capitol Hill where he is expected to take questions on the economy, inflation and the future direction of interest rates.

FedEx shares sank Wednesday after revenues disappointed. Now, the delivery giant is talking about cost cutting.

A Canadian military surveillance aircraft has detected underwater noises as a massive operation searched in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.

A statement early Wednesday from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be. However, it offered a glimmer of hope for those now lost aboard the Titan as estimates suggest as little as a day’s worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning.

Meanwhile, questions remain on how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner.

The ADP jobs report for May came in better than expected a strong pre-cursor to Friday’s government report.

U.S. stock indexes closed up on Thursday as signs of slowing wage pressure on inflation raised hopes the Federal Reserve will pause raising interest rates in two weeks, and investors welcomed a vote in Congress to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week, while private payrolls increased more than expected in May, pointing to a still tight labor market
that could push the Fed to keep rates elevated.

Focus now shifts to the Labor Department’s closely watched unemployment report for May, due on Friday. The data will help determine whether the Fed sticks with its aggressive rate hikes.

Wage inflation is slowing, as reported by ADP, while a Labor Department report said the price of labor per single unit of output rebounded at a 4.2% rate in the first quarter – a downward revision from the 6.3% growth pace estimated in May.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday revealed the company’s next generation mixed reality headset, the Quest 3, as the company braces for Apple to potentially reshape a nascent market that Meta has dominated so far.

Priced starting at $499, the device will be 40% thinner than the company’s previous headset and feature color mixed reality, which combines augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) elements, Zuckerberg said in an Instagram post ahead of Meta’s annual gaming conference.

The Quest 3 will have a new Qualcomm chipset with twice the graphics performance as the Quest 2, Zuckerberg said. He said the device would launch in the autumn and promised more details at the company’s annual AR/VR conference on Sept. 27.

Zuckerberg’s announcement came less than a week before tech rival Apple was expected to unveil its first mixed reality device, a high-end product with a price point around $3,000, according to a Bloomberg report.

Alabama families could soon pay less at the grocery store after lawmakers advanced a plan Thursday to remove half of the 4% state sales tax on food.

Senators on Thursday voted 31-0 for the legislation. It would gradually remove half of the state’s 4% sales tax on food by Sept. 1, 2024, provided there is enough revenue growth to offset the loss. The bill now goes back to the Alabama House of Representatives, where lawmakers will decide whether to accept a Senate change to the bill. It could win final approval as soon as Thursday afternoon.

Alabama is one of only three states that tax groceries at the same rate as other purchases.

“This is going be great for working Alabamians. Folks who are struggling to put food on the table,” Republican Sen. Andrew Jones, sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, said after passage.

The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Thursday it is fining British Airways $1.1 million for failing to provide timely refunds to passengers for flights to and from the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since March 2020, USDOT received over 1,200 complaints alleging British Airways failed to provide timely refunds. British Airways, which is owned by IAG, disputed the allegations.

USDOT said it would credit British Airways $550,000 toward the penalty because the airline in 2020 and 2021 issued more than $40 million in refunds to customers with nonrefundable tickets.

Ford Motor Co sued Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in U.S. court on Wednesday, accusing it of a price-fixing conspiracy that caused the automaker to pay inflated costs for health insurance products for its employees.

The lawsuit Ford filed in Detroit federal court accused the insurer and its regional Michigan branch of unlawfully dividing up parts of the country in a scheme to reduce competition with each other in order to drive “astronomical profits.

“The allegations from Ford, employing more than 170,000 workers worldwide, relate to a $2.7 billion settlement that Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its three dozen member companies reached in 2020 with corporate and individual policy holders in Alabama federal court.

Ford opted out of that settlement, which is now on appeal at the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in order to pursue its own claims. The appeals court agreed to fast-track its consideration of the settlement.

Weak profit forecasts from department store chain Macy’s to discounter Dollar General on Thursday underscored the fragile health of the U.S. consumer as persistent inflation curbs spending.

Several U.S. retailers said sales have ebbed as consumers react to higher prices for food and other essentials. Broadly, U.S. consumer spending trends showed resilience in the face of high inflation, but big-ticket purchases suffered.

Upscale retailer Macy’s said the U.S. consumer pulled back more than anticipated and slashed its annual sales and profit forecasts for the year. The glum forecast sent shares of the company down 4%.

Shares of major retailers are in a slump, with the S&P 500 Retail ETF down about 25% on Thursday since a recent peak in early February. The S&P 500 was flat during the same period.

Stellantis will invest
160 million euros ($176.13 million) at its Rennes plant to launch a 100% electric compact SUV in 2025, the Franco-Italian-American car manufacturer announced on Thursday.

Stellantis will use the investment to set up a battery assembly workshop as well as one dedicated to plastic injection, it said in a statement.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday dealt another setback to organized labor
by making it easier for employers to sue over strikes that cause property destruction in a ruling siding with a concrete business in Washington state that sued the union representing its truck drivers after a work stoppage.

The decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that the lawsuit filed by Glacier Northwest Inc, which sells and delivers ready-mix concrete, against a local affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was preempted by a U.S. law called the National Labor Relations Act. Glacier Northwest is a unit of Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement Corp. 5233.T

Glacier Northwest filed a lawsuit in Washington state court accusing the union of intentional property destruction during a 2017 strike.

A group of drivers went on strike while their mixing trucks were filled with concrete. Although the drivers kept their mixing drums rotating to delay the concrete from hardening and damaging the vehicles, the company was forced to discard the unused product at a financial loss.

Lucid Group said it plans to raise about $3 billion through a stock offering, nearly two-thirds of which will come from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), sending shares of the luxury electric-vehicle maker down 9% after market hours.

PIF, which owns more than 60% of the company, has agreed to buy 265.7 million shares in a private placement for about $1.8 billion, Lucid said, implying a price of about $6.80 per Lucid share, compared with the stock’s Wednesday close of $7.76.

The remainder will be raised from a public offering of 173.5 million shares of common stock.

The additional funds are critical and come as the automaker, like its peers, struggles with mounting losses and tightening cash reserves amid recession fears and a price war sparked by market leader Tesla Inc.

The U.S. Medicare health plan will broaden coverage for new Alzheimer’s drugs such as Eisai Co Ltd and Biogen Inc’s Leqembi if they gain full U.S. approval, a federal agency said on Thursday.

Currently, Medicare, the government health plan for Americans 65 and over, will only pay for Alzheimer’s disease drugs approved under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s rigorous accelerated review if patients are enrolled in a clinical trial.

Broader Medicare coverage would begin on the same day the FDA grants traditional approval, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said.

Leqembi received accelerated approval from the FDA earlier this year and a decision on full approval is due by July 6.

Eli Lilly is also developing an Alzheimer’s drug
that targets amyloid brain plaques, similar to Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi.

Salesforce Inc fell 5% on Thursday after reporting quarterly revenue that increased at its slowest pace since 2010, with companies cutting back spending on cloud-based software offerings.

The enterprise software maker was set to shed nearly $12 billion in market value, based on its premarket share price of $211.39. The stock has risen nearly 69% this year, as of last close, making it the fourth-highest gainer in the S&P 500 index.

Salesforce on Wednesday posted its smallest rise in quarterly revenue in 13 years and predicted a further slowdown ahead, blaming an uncertain U.S. economy and weaker demand from financial services and tech companies.

Belt-tightening measures by businesses dealing with elevated levels of inflation and high interest rates have impacted tech spending this year, hitting growth at major cloud services players such as Amazon.com Inc.

Shares of Chewy Inc
rose nearly 20% in premarket trading on Thursday after the online pet supplies retailer raised its annual revenue forecast and said it would enter the Canadian market.

The stock is set to claw back most of its year-to-date losses if gains hold through the session.

The company posted a surprise profit for the first quarter as its sales benefited from strong customer loyalty, prompting at least two brokerages to raise their price target.

The median price target of the 31 analysts covering the stock is $45, which is about 53% higher than the last closing price of $29.49.

Two months ago Bud Light rolled out its marketing push with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney which has created a firestorm for shareholders in parent company Anheuser-Busch.

The House passed the debt ceiling and it now heads to the Senate. While the deal has many moving parts one of the most significant points is the impact to student loan borrowers.

Shares of Macy’s, owner of Bloomingdale’s, saw a sharp decline after the retailer said consumers are pulling back even more than before.

“We planned the year assuming that the economic health of the consumer would be challenged, but starting in late March, demand trends weakened further in our discretionary categories,” said Jeff Gennette, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s, Inc.

After 5 years of dating, Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos are making it official.

Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, has a net worth of over $130 billion, with much of it tied to the company he founded, Amazon. He currently owns 9.6% of the e-commerce giant and is the largest single shareholder. His stake is worth a cool $99 billion through Monday.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, parent to Facebook, was slapped with a heavy fine in Europe.

With debt ceiling talks ongoing, U.S. stocks ended the session mixed as the Nasdaq Composite closed near highs not seen since August, while the S&P 500 posted fractional gains.

This as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by triple digits, weighed down by shares of Nike and Procter & Gamble, while 3M and American Express limited the selling.

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) is tossing his hat into the 2024 presidential race, joining the likes of former President Donald Trump and likely contender Florida Gov. Rob DeSantis.

The Billionaire CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, is taking notice of the growing list of contenders.

PayPal sister Venmo is the latest app to roll out a feature especially for teens.

Chipmaker Micron disclosed to investors, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that sales may be impacted by pushback in China.

“On May 21, 2023, Micron Technology, Inc. (“Micron”) received notice that the Cyberspace Administration of China (the “CAC”) concluded its review which commenced on March 31, 2023. In its review, the CAC concluded Micron products present a cybersecurity risk. As such, the CAC notified critical information infrastructure operators in China to stop using Micron products. We are evaluating what portion of our sales could be impacted by a “critical information infrastructure” ban. 

Debt ceiling talks are set to restart on Monday but Wall Street is already warning the U.S. is dangerously close to a cash crunch, including this update from Goldman Sachs.

Investor day at JPMorgan, the nation’s biggest bank, is underway. Some highlights include:

Raises net income guidance by $3 billion to $84 billion after First Republic asset buys

Onboarded thousands of new clients during industry turmoil

The nation’s top economists don’t believe inflation will come down to where it needs to be this year and perhaps not in early 2024.

Elon Musk made it official, Linda Yaccarino will be the next CEO of Twitter.

Netflix Inc plans to cut its spending by $300 million this year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Company leaders urged staffers to be judicious with their spending, including in relation to hiring, but said there would be no hiring freeze or additional layoffs, according to the report.

As the streaming video pioneer faces signs of market saturation, it is exploring new ways to make money, such as password crackdown and a new ad-supported service.

Netflix in June also laid off 300 employees, or about 4% of its workforce, in the second round of job cuts aimed at lowering costs.

NBCUniversal said on Friday its advertising chief, Linda Yaccarino, will leave the company after reports that she is in talks to become the new CEO of Twitter. Twitter CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that he had found a new chief executive for the social media site, but did not name the person.

Yaccarino, who modernized the Comcast Corp entertainment and media division’s advertising business, was reportedly in talks for the job, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed.

Advertising President Mark Marshall will step in as interim chairman of NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnerships group.

PacWest and other regional bank shares are wrapping a volatile week after the California bank confirmed deposits are falling as it explores options to survive.

Meanwhile, the FDIC is proposing that bigger banks foot the bill for the collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank as well as potentially others.

The risk of a U.S. default is adding to problems facing the slowing global economy, with rising interest rates and high debt levels already choking back investments needed to fuel higher output, World Bank President David Malpass said on Friday.

Group of Seven (G7) finance officials meeting in Japan discussed the “very high importance” of raising the U.S. debt limit and averting the negative repercussions of a potential default on U.S. government debt for the first time ever.

“Clearly, distress in the world’s biggest economy would be negative for everyone,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the G7 meeting. “The repercussions would be bad to not get it done.”

Malpass said there had been discussion during the G7 meetings about the need to boost productivity and growth, and also deal with a high debt overhang facing a growing number of countries.

Tesla investors appear to believe that Elon Musk will re-focus the bulk of his attention on the electric-vehicle maker after he announced Twitter will soon have a new CEO.

Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, in a note to investors, said:

“We believe leaving earlier than originally thought by the end of the year is a positive development for Tesla as well as SpaceX with Musk needing to spend more and more time on these golden child platforms rather than Twitter.”

Elon Musk confirmed he will step down as Twitter’s CEO because he is ready to announce his replacement.

SpaceX’s Starship – the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built – blasted off from the southern tip of Texas on Thursday morning.

However, just minutes later and awaiting stage separation, it experienced a failure – what SpaceX livestream hosts described as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” 

The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, tumbling down into the Gulf of Mexico.

The cause of the failure was not immediately clear.

Major U.S. stock indexes ended lower on Thursday after disappointing quarterly reports from companies including Tesla and AT&T, while investors sought clarity on the path of interest rates.

Tesla shares tumbled after the electric vehicle maker posted its lowest quarterly gross margin in two years and signaled it would continue to slash prices. AT&T shares dropped after the wireless carrier missed market estimates for first-quarter revenue and free cash flow.

The S&P 500’s rally to start the year is set to be tested by a first-quarter earnings season
that investors expect to show tepid results. In the early stages of earnings season, analysts have largely retained last week’s expectations of a near-5% year-on-year fall in quarterly profits at S&P 500 companies, according to Refinitiv data.

Snap Inc on Wednesday said its artificial intelligence chatbot will now be able to respond to users’ messages with a fully AI-generated image, as the owner of photo messaging app Snapchat deepens its work in AI technology.

My AI is now available free to all Snapchat users and can be invoked to respond to questions in conversations between friends on Snapchat, Snap said on Wednesday. The chatbot was first rolled out to users who pay $3.99 a month for the company’s premium subscription Snapchat+.

My AI could help users explore more parts of the Snapchat app by recommending lenses, which can add effects to photos and videos, or use the app’s map feature to recommend real-world places to visit, said Evan Spiegel, chief executive of Snap, in an interview.

Cryptocurrency crimes hit an all-time high
last year as digital tokens’ popularity with criminals soared to a record, but the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence means there’s a new sheriff in town, and its reach is global.

Blockchain security firm AnChain.AI uses AI and machine learning to analyze blockchain transactions and identify suspicious behavior, including money laundering, insider trading and hacking. Its technology identifies security risks and vulnerabilities, assists in forensic investigations and helps companies stay compliant with industry standards.

AnChain.AI launched in 2018, focusing specifically on blockchain, Web3 and smart contract security, assisting both companies and the government in busting malicious online actors.

The tech company has been involved in several high-profile investigations, including the $100 million heist of U.S. crypto firm Harmony’s Horizon bridge last year and the $2 million “rug pull” that led to the first-ever indictment of NFT scammers. It has also contracted with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to assist in monitoring the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.

Chevron and ExxonMobil are road testing renewable gasoline blends that they say could bring down emissions from conventional autos to levels competitive with EVs.

If the fuels are made commercially available, they could extend the life of the gasoline market as part of the world’s transition to cleaner fuels and electric vehicles.

“We really believe there has to be alternatives for the light duty vehicle,” Chevron President of Americas Products Andy Walz said at an event on Wednesday. “Electrification is not the only answer.”

Minutes from the Fed’s March meeting released last week indicate that its forecasters believe a minor downturn is imminent after recent turmoil within the banking system – even as the central bank’s top policymakers deny such an outcome. 

“Given their assessment of the potential economic effects of the recent banking-sector developments, the staff’s projection at the time of the March meeting included a mild recession
starting later this year, with a recovery over the subsequent two years,” the minutes said. 

However, even a “mild” recession could have severe implications for the economy and the stock market. 

Blackstone Inc, the biggest manager of assets such as private equity and real estate, said on Thursday its first-quarter distributable earnings fell 36% year-on-year, as a weak property market stopped it from cashing out on some holdings.

Distributable earnings, which represent the cash used for shareholder dividends, fell to $1.25 billion in the first quarter from $1.94 billion a year earlier, Blackstone said. That translated to distributable earnings per share of 97 cents, slightly over the average analyst estimate of 96 cents, according to financial data provider Refinitiv.

Blackstone’s fee-related earnings fell 9% to $1.04 billion, as fewer asset sales led to lower performance fees.

Under generally accepted accounting principles, Blackstone reported net income of just $211 million, down from $2.5 billion in the prior year, owing to the drop in asset sales as well as a decline in the value of its assets.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, evidence the labor market is continuing to soften in the face of higher borrowing costs.

Figures released Thursday by the Labor Department show initial claims for the week ended April 15 rose by 5,000 to 245,000. That is above the 2019 pre-pandemic average of 218,000 claims.

Continuing claims, filed by Americans who are consecutively receiving unemployment benefits, also rose to 1.85 million for the week ended April 8, an increase of 61,000 from the previous week.

Over 300 biotech and pharmaceutical industry executives, including Pfizer Inc.

CEO Albert Bourla, signed an open letter on Monday seeking the reversal of a federal judge’s decision to suspend sales of the abortion pill mifepristone.

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A U.S. judge on Friday suspended the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the drug, effectively banning sales while a case brought by anti-abortion groups before him continues in the Northern District of Texas.

Last week’s ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk undermines the FDA’s authority, the letter’s authors wrote, adding that it ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent.

FTX’s new management is blaming hubris, incompetence, and greed for the cryptocurrency exchange’s failure.

“These individuals stifled dissent, commingled and misused corporate and customer funds, lied to third parties about their business, joked internally about their tendency to lose track of millions of dollars in assets, and thereby caused the FTX Group to collapse as swiftly as it had grown,” the report added.

Kura Sushi USA, Inc a Japanese restaurant concept, announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 1,100,000 shares of its Class A common stock. In connection with the offering, Kura Sushi intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 165,000 shares.

Kura Sushi intends to use the net proceeds from the proposed offering for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures, working capital, and other business purposes.

Kura Sushi USA, Inc. is a technology-enabled Japanese restaurant concept with 45 locations across 14 states and Washington, D.C. The Company offers guests Japanese cuisine and a revolving sushi service model.

Kura Sushi USA, Inc. was established in 2008 as a subsidiary of Kura Sushi, Inc., a Japan-based revolving sushi chain with over 500 restaurants and 40 years of brand history. 

Potbelly is reporting preliminary first quarter same-store sales above guidance.

The sandwich chain said same-store sales rose 22% to 22.3% in the quarter ended Mar. 27, above its estimate of 18.5% to 20.5%.

Shop-level margin and adjusted EBITDA also exceeded guidance.

Average unit volumes were below the top end of guidance: $23,800 to $23,900 versus $23,000 to $24,000 guided.

“We also enjoyed good progress in our Franchise Growth Acceleration Initiative during the quarter, as we signed a new franchise development deal and our first refranchising transaction in the New York City market,” said CEO Bob Wright.

HEXO has agreed to be acquired by Tilray Brands in an all-stock transaction.

HEXO shareholders will receive 0.4352 of a share of Tilray common stock in exchange for each HEXO share held, which implies a purchase price of $1.25 per HEXO Share based on the volume weighted average price of Tilray Shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the 60-day period ended on April 5.

The arrangement is to be effected by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario).

HEXO is a licensed producer of premium products for the global cannabis market.

U.S. stocks were little changed ahead of reports on consumer and producer inflation, due Wednesday and Thursday, as well as bank earnings, out on Friday. The results will be the first following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The Nasdaq Composite lost ground, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P closed modestly higher. Apple and Amgen dipped, while Caterpillar and Dow Chemical limited losses.

In commodities, oil lost 1% to $79.74 per barrel. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Sunday demanded answers from depositors at Silicon Valley Bank over their role in the bank’s stunning demise in early March. 

“Silicon Valley Bank’s unusually cozy relationship with its clients increased the threat of contagion when the bank went under,” Warren said in a statement. “The American people deserve to know how these mutual backscratching arrangements developed, who benefitted from them, and what role they played in Silicon Valley Bank’s failure.”

The companies probed include Circle, BILL, BlockFi, Eiger, Ginkgo Bioworks., iRhythm Technologies, LendingClub, Oncorus, Payoneer Global, Protagonist Therapeutics, Roblox, Rocket Lab USA, Roku and Sangamo Therapeutics.

Global shipments of personal computers slumped by nearly a third in the first quarter of 2023, with Apple Inc
dropping the most among the market heavyweights as the industry struggles with a post-pandemic slowdown in consumer spending.

In separate reports published on Monday, market research firms IDC and Canalys blamed weak demand, excess inventory and a bleak economic outlook for the shipment declines of 29% and 33%, respectively.

Of the top five PC makers analysed in the reports, Apple saw the largest drop with a fall of more than 40%. That was followed by Dell Technologies Inc with a drop of around 31%.

Lenovo Group Ltd, Asustek Computer Inc and HP Inc also faced declines, the reports said. The data suggests that PC makers are set for another quarter of weak earnings after a 2022 that saw their sales squeezed by the end of the pandemic-driven demand boom.

Audit firm KPMG LLP flagged potential losses on loans as a critical matter for Silicon Valley Financial but missed the inherent bond losses and unreliable deposits that took the financial institution down, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A KPMG spokesperson told FOX Business, that auditors can only take into account the “audit evidence available up to and at the date of the opinion.”

The accounting firm gave Silicon Valley Financial an unqualified opinion as part of the company’s annual financial filing issued on Feb. 24 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022. This audit came less than three weeks before SVB’s March 10th crash.

Emirates Telecommunications Group Company has agreed to take a 50.03% stake in a super app managed by Careem, Uber Technologies’ Middle East subsidiary, in a transaction valued at $400 million, said a filing on Monday.

The Super App will be managed by Careem founders Mudassir Sheikha and Magnus Olsson, said the company, formerly known as Etisalat Group and now called e&.

The ride-hailing business will be separated from the Careem Super App business and will be fully owned by Uber, but will still be available on the super app.

The deal will be financed from e&’s existing cash balance, and subject to regulatory approvals, customary closing conditions and administrative procedures, e& said in the filing.

Americans said last month that access to credit was at its toughest level in nearly a decade, as they also braced for higher levels of inflation over the next few years, a report from the New York Fed said Monday.

In the March Survey of Consumer Expectations, the bank found that the share of households who said credit is harder to get versus a year ago rose to the highest level in a survey that dates back to 2014.

Meanwhile, households project that inflation a year from now would stand at 4.7%, versus February’s 4.2%. That was the first increase in year-ahead expected inflation since October.

Despite expectations of higher near-term inflation, respondents to the New York Fed survey see lower gasoline, food and rent costs, while they forecast a 1.8% rise in home prices.

Whole Foods, which has outsourced much of the preparation of hot foods and prepared meals, is reconsidering the merits of vertical integration said the Wall Street Journal citing “people familiar with the matter.”

The move would come as shoppers have returned to the hot-food bars at grocery stores. Other grocery stores including Albertson’s and Kroger, see ready-to-eat food as a way of drawing in customers and builiding brand loyalty.

Amazon, who owns Whole Foods Market has been looking for ways to increase buzz about the brand as it prepares to launch 50 new stores, and it believes improved quality in its own kitchens is its meal ticket.

Canada’s Teck Resources on Monday reinforced its rejection of an unsolicited $22.5 billion bid from Glencore, calling it “an illusion” and telling shareholders that its proposed restructuring is the only option on the table.

Glencore’s offer, made public on April 3, includes a plan to simultaneously spin off the companies’ thermal and steelmaking coal businesses and rebrand the remaining company as GlenTeck.

Talking to shareholders on Monday, Teck Chief Executive Jonathan Price said that more value could be unlocked through a proposed restructuring in which the Vancouver-based miner would spin off its steelmaking coal unit to focus on copper and other industrial metals.

A shareholder vote on Teck’s proposal is scheduled for April 26. If it passes, the separation process will then take 6-8 weeks to complete.

Tupperware has engaged financial advisors to improve the company’s capital structure and near-term liquidity.

“Due to the challenging internal and external business economics, coupled with the increased levels and cost of borrowings under its credit facility, the company currently forecasts that, if it is unable to obtain adequate capital resources or amendments to its credit agreement, it may not have adequate liquidity in the near term,” the company said.

As a result, Tupperware has concluded there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.

The consumer products company
has engaged financial advisors to assist in securing supplemental financing and is engaging in discussions with potential investors or financing partners.

Tupperware is also reviewing its real estate portfolio to identify potential dispositions or sale-leaseback transactions along with right-sizing efforts, monetization of fixed assets, cash management, and marketing and channel optimization, to preserve or deliver additional liquidity.

Scotts Miracle-Gro expects its debt load will come in “comfortable below” the terms of its credit agreement.

The world’s leading marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products announced that its final fiscal second-quarter net leverage is forecast to be in the range of 6 times versus the credit facility covenant of 6.5 times.

Leverage at Dec. 31, 2022 was 5.9 times. Long-term debt was $3.19 billion. Net leverage is average total indebtedness, divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

Scotts also announced that Nate Baxter will join the company as executive vice president, technology & operations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday classified the recall of Philips’ PHG.AS respiratory machines as its most serious type, as their use could cause serious injuries or death.

The Dutch medical devices maker’s unit Philips Respironics recalled 1,088 devices in the U.S. on Feb. 10.

Philips was recalling the machines as some devices were assigned incorrect or duplicate serial numbers during initial programming, the U.S. health agency said.

The duplication could cause therapy to be delivered using the wrong prescription or factory default settings, it added.

The company has received 43 complaints about the issue, according to the FDA. It said there were currently no reported injuries or deaths attributed to it.

The devices were distributed between Dec. 1, 2021 and Oct. 31, last year.

Walmart wants to end its exclusive credit card partnership with Capital One Financial, the bank holding company said in a regulatory filing.

Capital One is the exclusive issuer of Walmart’s private label and co-branded credit card program in the U.S.

Walmart filed a lawsuit Monday in New York federal court seeking early termination.

Capital One disputes Walmart’s right to end the deal mid-stream and will vigorously defend its contractual rights in court.

As of December 31, 2022, the Card Program consisted of approximately $8.3 billion in ending outstanding loan balances and the allowance for credit losses related to the Card Program portfolio was approximately $314 million.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing says revenue fell 15.4% year-over-year in March to $145.41 billion in Taiwan dollars ($4.78 billion). Sequentially, revenue declined 10.9% from February.

Revenue for January through March 2023 totaled $508.63 billion in Taiwan dollars, an increase of 3.6% compared to the same period in 2022.TSMC is the world’s largest semiconductor facility.

In a stunning finish, Jon Rahm captures the coveted green jacket at Augusta National. The Masters win gives Rahm millions in prize money, along with prestige.

Exxon Mobil is reportedly eyeing a deal with Pioneer Natural Resources which would expand its footprint in the shale world, according to the WSJ.

Tesla is reportedly planning to incorporate iron-based batteries into an affordable electric vehicle and a semi heavy electric truck.

The company currently uses nickel-based batteries in its vehicles.

Reuters reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was quoted last month as saying “the vast majority of the heavy lifting for electrification will be iron-based cells.”

A prospective class action lawsuit was filed against Tesla over allegations the company’s employees shared invasive images and videos recorded by customers’ car cameras between 2019 and 2022.

The suit was filed Friday in the wake of a report by Reuters the prior day.

Monster Beverage Corp. on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $301.7 million.

The Corona, California-based company said it had net income of 57 cents per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 61 cents per share.

The energy drink maker posted revenue of $1.51 billion in the period, also missing Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.59 billion.

Ross Stores Inc. on Tuesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $447 million.

The Dublin, California-based company said it had profit of $1.31 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.23 per share.

The discount retailer posted revenue of $5.21 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.13 billion.Ross Stores expects full-year earnings to be $4.65 to $4.95 per share.

HP Inc on Tuesday reported the steepest fall in quarterly revenue since 2016 and missed analysts’ estimates, hit by delayed computer and printer upgrades by customers in the face of high inflation and economic uncertainty.

Rising costs, tepid consumer spending and recessionary fears have pummeled several sectors across major markets including the United States, with computers and peripherals taking one of the worst hits in retail categories.

There is now a slowdown in orders from businesses, Chief Executive Enrique Lores told Reuters in an interview.

HP said revenue fell nearly 19% to $13.8 billion in the first quarter ended Jan. 31, missing analysts’ average estimate of $14.12 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

However, the company forecast second-quarter adjusted per share earnings in the range 73 cents to 83 cents, which came in higher than analysts’ average estimate of 76 cents.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Chief Executive David Solomon said the bank is considering “strategic alternatives” for its consumer business after stumbles led to billions of dollars in losses.

Solomon did not specify what those options would be.

Goldman has already halted unsecured lending, a portfolio that could be sold. Its Marcus consumer business was folded into the company’s merged asset and wealth management arm last year, and its newly-formed Platform Solutions unit houses transaction banking, credit cards and a fintech platform, GreenSky.

Traders wrapped the month of February in what was a choppy session as stocks ended mixed. Still, for the month the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average posted losses, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell the least. Investors continue to wrestle with high inflation ahead of more rate hikes driving higher bond yields. In commodities, oil fell for the fourth straight month down 2.3% to $77.05 per barrel. 

February Performance 

Dow Jones Industrial Average: -4.2%

S&P 500: -2.5%

Nasdaq Composite: -1%

Tesla Inc will build a new assembly plant in northern Mexico, the country’s president said on Tuesday, marking a push by the electric vehicle maker to broaden operations outside the U.S. in a deal said by a source to be worth at least $1 billion.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said “the whole Tesla company” was coming to Mexico to build a “very big” automotive plant, noting that potential investment in batteries was still pending. He did not reveal what models it would produce.

One Mexican official said the plant would be a Tesla “Gigafactory” that could produce the Semi truck, Roadster sports car, and potentially other vehicles. Another official said the plant could produce a kind of sport utility vehicle (SUV). The Model Y is Tesla’s best-selling SUV. Tesla will likely give details of its plans on Wednesday, Mexico’s government said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Nishad Singh, the former Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), for his role in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX, the crypto trading platform started by Singh along with Samuel Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang.

Investigations into other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Singh created software code that allowed FTX customer funds to be diverted to Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund owned by Bankman-Fried and Wang, despite false assurances by Bankman-Fried to investors that FTX was a safe crypto asset trading platform with sophisticated risk mitigation measures to protect customer assets and that Alameda was just another customer with no special privileges.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced charges against Singh. 

Singh is cooperating with the SEC’s ongoing investigation.

Consumers confidence dipped for the second straight month as stubborn inflation and anxiety over a potentially slowing economy weighed on Americans.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index slipped to 102.9 in February, from a reading of 106 in January.

The business research group’s present situation index — which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — ticked up to 152.8 from 151.1 last month.

The board’s expectations index — a measure of consumers’ six-month outlook for income, business and labor conditions — tumbled to 69.7 in February from 76 in January.

A reading under 80 often signals a recession in the coming year, the Conference Board said.

Robinhood Markets Inc said in a filing on Monday it had received an investigative subpoena in December from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to listings of cryptocurrencies.

The SEC has maintained that pre-existing securities laws also apply to digital assets and that many crypto tokens meet the definition of a security, which the crypto industry has previously criticized.

Robinhood said the subpoena it received from the SEC was regarding the supported currencies at Robinhood Crypto LLC, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the brokerage, as well as its custody of cryptocurrencies and other platform operations.

Earlier this month, Robinhood also said it planned to repurchase its shares from Sam Bankman-Fried’s Emergent Fidelity Technologies as U.S. prosecutors were in the process of seizing its shares tied to the former FTX CEO.

The White House on Monday gave government agencies 30 days to ensure they do not have Chinese-owned app TikTok on federal devices and systems.

In a bid to keep U.S. data safe, all federal agencies must eliminate TikTok
 from phones and systems and prohibit internet traffic from reaching the company, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young told agencies in a guidance memorandum seen by Reuters.

The ban, ordered by Congress late last year, follows similar actions from Canada, the EU, Taiwan and more than half of U.S. states.

The device ban — while impacting a tiny portion of TikTok’s U.S. user base — adds fuel to calls for an outright ban on the video-sharing app. National security concerns about China surged in recent weeks after a Chinese balloon drifted over the U.S.

Shift4 Payments, Inc. on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $29.2 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

The Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company said it had profit of 46 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 47 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 45 cents per share.

The company posted revenue of $537.7 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $199.4 million, missing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $201.9 million.

For the year, the company reported net income of $75.1 million, or $1.05 per share, swinging to a profit in the period. Revenue was reported as $727.5 million.

Ocado Group, the British online supermarket and technology group, reported a worse-than-expected full-year loss, partly reflecting profits being wiped out at its retail joint venture with Marks & Spencer.

“The retail joint venture with Marks & Spencer looks stuck in the mud. Consumers are pulling back from doing big shops which is problematic for Ocado. It’s more cost and time efficient to fill a van with a big customer order than lots of little ones, so the shift in shopping behaviour creates a headwind,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

The group said on Tuesday it made a loss before tax of 501 million pounds ($604 million) over the year to Nov. 27 2022. That compared to analysts’ average forecast of a loss of 399 million pounds and a loss of 176.9 million pounds in the previous year.

“The latest results are as appetising as a bucket of sick. Revenue growth has ground to a halt, pre-tax losses are getting worse and net debt has ballooned,” Mould added. “Ocado has long argued that it needs to spend money to make money, but patience is wearing thin for the long-suffering shareholders.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

The major benchmarks are wobbling on Tuesday, putting them on target for their second losing month of 2023.

The Dow Jones Industrial, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are mostly down early, with the tech-heavy index remaining above the green as shares of Meta skyrocket.

Shares of Target
are also well into positive territory in early trading after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and revenue. Despite the company’s upbeat report, the retailer CEO’s guidance remains cautious.

In commodities, oil is up approximately 1.97% to $77.17 a barrel as gold wobbles between small gains and losses at roughly $1,825.20 an ounce.

Meanwhile, silver is up, rising around 0.11% to $20.81 an ounce. 

ADT Inc. on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $151 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Boca Raton, Florida-based company said it had profit of 16 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 10 cents per share.

The home security company posted revenue of $1.65 billion in the period.

For the year, the company reported net income of $173 million, or 19 cents per share, swinging to a profit in the period. Revenue was reported as $6.4 billion.

ADT expects full-year earnings in the range of 30 cents to 40 cents per share, with revenue in the range of $6.6 billion to $6.85 billion.

ADT shares have declined 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has increased nearly 4%. The stock has risen slightly more than 7% in the last 12 months.

Chico’s FAS Inc. on Tuesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $7.5 million.

The Ft Myers, Florida-based company said it had profit of 6 cents per share.

The clothing chain posted revenue of $524.1 million in the period.

For the year, the company reported profit of $109 million, or 88 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $2.14 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Chico’s said it expects revenue in the range of $535 million to $550 million.

The company expects full-year earnings to be 79 cents to 91 cents per share, with revenue ranging from $2.22 billion to $2.25 billion.

AutoZone Inc. on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $476.5 million.

On a per-share basis, the Memphis, Tennessee-based company said it had profit of $24.64.The results exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The auto parts retailer posted revenue of $3.69 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. reported fourth-quarter profit of $106.7 million.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based company said it had profit of $1.79 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.88 per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.

The auto parts retailer posted revenue of $2.47 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts.

Additionally, the company said CEO Tom Greco plans to retire at the end of the year. He will serve in an advisory capacity through a transition period.

In connection with Greco’s planned retirement and the company’s succession planning process, the Advance Auto Parts Board has formed a Succession Committee, composed of independent directors. The Board intends to retain a leading executive search firm to assist in a thorough and comprehensive search that considers both internal and external candidates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $49 million.

On a per-share basis, the Orlando, Florida-based company said it had net income of 76 cents.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations
. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 68 cents per share.

The theme park operator posted revenue of $390.5 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $384.4 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $291.2 million, or $4.14 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.73 billion.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (CBRL) on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $30.5 million.

On a per-share basis, the Lebanon, Tennessee-based company said it had net income of $1.37. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $1.48 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.33 per share.

The restaurant operator posted revenue of $933.9 million in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $917.3 million.

Cracker Barrel shares have increased 14% since the beginning of the year.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd forecast for its first annual profit in three years fell short of estimates on Tuesday, as the cruise operator battles soaring fuel and labor costs.

The cruise operator
forecast an adjusted profit of 70 cents per share for 2023, compared with estimates of $1.06, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company expects a loss of 45 cents per share for the first quarter, compared with estimates for a loss of 33 cents.

However, affluent passengers unaffected by high inflation have boosted booking volumes and occupancy rates, helping the company beat fourth-quarter revenue estimates.

On-board and other revenue at $507.6 million accounted for about 33% of total revenue as restrictions imposed during the pandemic were lifted and easing of on-board COVID-19 protocols fueled strong spending on casinos and spas.

Norwegian said demand during the all-important period “wave season” has been very strong and booking volumes have accelerated in recent months, echoing rival Royal Caribbean Group’s comments from early in February.

The  “wave season” is the period during January – March where cruise operators offer special deals and discounts for the year to attract customers.

Norwegian, which owns the Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands, expects occupancy to average about 100% for the first quarter and is on track to reach historical levels for the second quarter.

Target delivered a decent fourth quarter but CEO Brian Cornell is not overly optimistic about the current operating environment.

Reed Hastings, founder and co-CEO of Netflix, is relinquishing his title but won’t be far from the streaming giant.

U.S. stocks fell for the third consecutive session as investors digested mixed corporate earnings and weaker data on future homebuilding. In commodities, oil rose 1% to $80.33 per barrel after encouraging data coming out of China. 

Home Depot, Caterpillar and 3M led the drop which pushed the Dow into negative territory for the year. UnitedHealth and Merck held onto gains. 

Mortgage rates have fallen to the lowest level since September.

The maker of Tide detergent, Gillette razors and Dawn dish washing detergent raised prices during the past few months and plans even more.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed the U.S. debt ceiling has been reached, forcing the department to enact “extraordinary measures”…

U.S. stocks fell for a second straight day as corporate job cuts mount stoking fears about the depth of the recession. WeWork joined Amazon and Microsoft in announcing layoffs.

Procter & Gamble shares slipped after executives remained cautious on inflation and the global economy during the consumer giant’s earnings call.

Over the last five days, the Dow is down around 3.48%, the S&P is down around 2.37%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is now roughly 1.34% lower over the same time.

In commodities, oil rose nearly 1% to the $80 per barrel level.

Recent layoffs may signal a recalibration of the U.S. labor market.

Workforce solutions company ManpowerGroup recently found in its latest Employment Outlook Survey that the industries with the strongest hiring outlooks in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2023 were information technology, finance and real estate.

For the first quarter, the IT industry in the U.S. had the “strongest Outlook for this industry worldwide,” coming in at +52%, according to the survey. Finance and real estate industry employers expressed a +34% outlook regarding growing their headcounts.

Meanwhile, the three industries in the U.S.
with the “weakest outlooks” for hiring were: communication services; consumer goods and services; and transport, logistics and automotive, according to ManpowerGroup’s survey.

The federal government officially reached its $31.38 trillion debt limit on Thursday, prompting the Treasury Department to begin using its “extraordinary measures” to avoid defaulting on the national debt for the next few months.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
announced in a letter to Congress last week that the U.S. would reach the debt limit on Jan. 19 and that her agency would have to deploy two of the four extraordinary measures at its disposal to continue to make payments on the debt and avoid default.

The flood of financial earnings continues Thursday with Comerica, Fifth Third Bancorp, KeyCorp, M&T Bank Corp., and Northern Trust all reporting before the opening bell.

Consumer goods giant and Dow member Procter & Gamble will also post 4Q results.

In the afternoon the spotlight will turn to Netflix. The streaming giant is the first of the big-cap consumer/tech titans out with October-December results.  

Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expect earnings-per-share to tumble 66% to $0.45 on a 2% jump in revenue to $7.85 billion. 

Subscriber numbers will be the big focus, as always. Analysts are predicting net subscriber additions of 4.568 million, just slightly above Netflix’s own forecast of 4.5 million.

The Labor Department will tell us how many new jobless claims were filed last week. Expectations are for 214,000, up from 205,000 the previous week, which was the lowest since September. 

Continuing claims, which track the total number of workers collecting unemployment benefits, are expected to edge up to 1.66 million after falling the previous two weeks.

The Commerce Department is expected to say that the number of new homes under construction in December fell nearly 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.359 million. That would be the lowest since June 2020 as rapidly rising mortgage rates and high prices continued to dampen demand for housing.

Permits for future construction, a good gauge of upcoming housing activity, are anticipated to rise 1.4% to 1.37 million in December.

The report follows a surprise jump in the NAHB’s housing market index this month, though it remains at a depressed level. On Friday, watch for existing home sales for December. 

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve is out with its index of manufacturing activity for eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. It’s expected to inch up to -11.0 in January, remaining in contraction for a fifth month.

One airline CEO is warning travelers that other carriers won’t be able to handle all the flights they plan to operate this year. 

United Airlines chief Scott Kirby said airlines that operate as if this is still 2019, before the pandemic, are bound to struggle. 

According to Kirby, the industry has a shortage of pilots and other workers, outdated technology and strain on the Federal Aviation Administration.

Oil futures fell as much as $1 on Thursday over recession fears as a sharp decline in U.S. retail sales and manufacturing output muddied the outlook for demand. 

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded down 1.1%, to $78.00 a barrel.

Brent crude futures traded around $83.00 a barrel.

U.S. December retail sales fell by the most in a year, putting consumer spending and the overall economy on a weaker growth path.

Manufacturing in the United States also fell more than expected in December.

The American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. crude oil inventories rose by about 7.6 million barrels in the last week, according to Reuters.

The nationwide price for a gallon of gasoline gained on Thursday to $3.79, according to AAA.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline on Wednesday was $3.359.

A year ago, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.316.

One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.272. A month ago, that same gallon of gasoline cost $3.142.

Gas hit an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14.

Diesel gained, but remained below $5.00 per gallon to $4.612, but that is still a far from the $3.633 of a year ago.

Microsoft is cutting 10,000 jobs across the company and cuts include Xbox studios.

According to the Windows Central Newsletter, the cuts include multiple Xbox studios such as Bethesda Games Studios, The Coalition, and 343 Industries.

The overall job losses at Microsoft come to less than 5% of the tech giant’s global workforce.

The bond market is off to a big start with returns reportedly helping fuel an unprecedented debt-sale bonanza by governments and companies around the world of more than half a trillion dollars.

Global bonds have surged 4.1% to start the year, according to Bloomberg.

The forecast for US investment-grade bonds will return 10% this year after their worst performance in half a century in 2022. 

That’s more than double their forecast for US junk debt, according to Bloomberg.

Billionaire Elon Musk went after the annual gathering of economic, business and political leaders in a tweet. “WEF is increasingly becoming an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want.”

Bitcoin was trading around $20,000, after snapping a 14-day winning streak.

For the week, Bitcoin has gained 15%.

For the month, the cryptocurrency has gained more than 25%, but is down more than 50% in the past year.

Ethereum was trading around $1,500, after gaining 9% in the past week.

Dogecoin was trading at 8 cents, after gaining 3% in the past week.

With just one day left in the 2022 trading year, all three of the major averages rallied on Thursday with the Nasdaq Composite pacing the lion’s share of the gains rising over 2% led by Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. This as Disney and Salesforce powered the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 345-point advance. In commodities, oil slipped 0.7% to $78.40 per barrel. 

McDonald’s and Beyond Meat are rolling out the Double McPlant burger in all restaurants across the U.K. and Ireland beginning Wed., Jan. 4, the companies announced.

The McPlant took over three years to develop. The burger features a patty co-created with Beyond Meat. McDonald’s says the Double McPlant has already proved wildly successful with customers since its launch in September 2021.

Double McPlant is vegan certified and cooked separately from other McDonald’s burgers and sandwiches, using dedicated utensils.

Southwest Airlines said it expects to return to normal operations Friday after slashing about two-thirds of its schedule in recent days, including canceling more than 2,350 flights Thursday.

Airline executives told employees that crew scheduling this week— a major cause of the meltdown — has been fixed.

Southwest is struggling to recover after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that left hundreds of pilots and flight attendants stranded out of position to operate flights.

It is likely that far more than 1 million passengers have been affected. Southwest has canceled more than 13,000 flights since its meltdown began on Dec. 22. Its planes have 143 to 175 seats and were likely nearly fully booked around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The tech-weighted Nasdaq Composite is outpacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 as investors search for bargains to close out 2022. Investors are also mulling over Thursday’s initial jobless claims number.

An uptick in jobless claims in the United States, and a sharp decline in euro zone business lending offered evidence that the hawkish monetary policies of the Fed and the European Central Bank are succeeding in curtailing demand in order to cool inflation.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Goldman Sachs may trim its workforce by as many as 4,000 employees, FOX Business has learned.

Bloomberg reported earlier that CEO David Solomon told staffers to expect job cuts in the first few weeks of January.

Mortgage rates edged up in the last week of 2022, according to Freddie Mac.

The mortgage packager said the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.42% as of Dec. 29, 2022, up from last week when it averaged 6.27%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.11%.

15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.68%, down from last week when it averaged 5.69%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.33%.

“The housing market remains in the doldrums with declining sales, inventory and prices,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. 

The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday that electric vehicles leased by consumers starting Jan. 1 can qualify for up to $7,500 in commercial clean vehicle tax credits, a decision that makes those assembled outside North America eligible.

The announcement is a win for South Korea and some automakers that earlier this month sought approval to use the commercial electric vehicle tax credit to boost consumer EV access. Automakers said the credit could be used to reduce leasing prices.

The $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in August ended $7,500 consumer tax credits for purchases of electric vehicles assembled outside North America, angering South Korea, the European Union, Japan and others. The new Treasury guidance does not change the definition of what constitutes North American assembly to make more vehicles eligible for EV purchases.

That law lifts the 200,000-vehicle per manufacturer cap that had made Tesla and General Motors ineligible for EV tax credits starting Jan. 1. Treasury will release an initial list of eligible 2023 EVs Thursday and expects a more comprehensive list by Saturday.

On Dec. 19, Treasury said it would delay until March releasing proposed guidance on required sourcing of EV batteries, which means some EVs that do not meet the new requirements may have a brief window of eligibility in 2023 before battery rules take effect.

Twitter Inc suffered a major outage on Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of users globally unable to access the popular social media platform or use its key features for several hours before services appeared to come back online.

The incident is the social media site’s first apparent widespread service disruption since billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter as CEO in late October.

Downdetector, a website that tracks outages through a range of sources including user reports, showed more than 10,000 affected users from the United States, about 2,500 from Japan and about 2,500 from the UK at the peak of the disruption.

Musk tweeted later on Wednesday that “Significant backend server architecture changes” had been rolled out and that “Twitter should feel faster”, but his post did not make any reference to the downtime reported by users.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied on Thursday as investors scooped up beaten down tech names including Amazon and Apple with just two trading days left in 2022. In commodities, oil fell to the $77 per barrel level on more concerns over China’s COVID restrictions. 

GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. will be added to the S&P 500 effective prior to the open of trading on Wed., Jan. 4, 2023, S&P Dow Jones Indices said.

The company will trader under the ticker ‘GEHE’ and replaces Vornado Realty Trust, which will move to the S&P MidCap 400.

General Electric is spinning off GE HealthCare Technologies in a transaction expected to be completed post close on January 3.

General Electric in November last year announced it would split into three publicly traded units focused on healthcare, aviation and energy as it aimed to simplify business and pare down debt.GE Healthcare will operate imaging and ultrasound devices, patient care solutions and pharmaceutical diagnostics businesses.

The healthcare company had revenue of around $18 billion last year, with about half of it from recurring sources, GE Healthcare said in a presentation.

Reuters contributed to this report.

TG Therapeutics Inc said Wednesday that the U.S. health regulator had approved its monoclonal antibody for treating patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

The approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) widens the number of such drugs available for treating the disorder to three and may help soften the blow to the company’s finances from the withdrawal of its lymphatic cancer drug earlier this year.

TG Therapeutics said it was expecting to launch the drug, branded as Briumvi, in the first quarter of 2023, but did not give details on its pricing.

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease in which the immune system attacks the brain cells causing motor disabilities. It affects about 400,000 people in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Unlike other MS drugs that target T cells, Briumvi belongs to a class of drugs that tackles B cells’ role in driving the inflammation that is central to the neurological disease.

The approval, which comes with a warning of infusion reactions from the drug, was based on a late-stage study that showed the drug was effective in reducing the annualized relapse rates in patients.

Lockheed Martin Corp’s Sikorsky unit on Wednesday sought a review of the U.S. Army’s decision to award a contract for its next-generation helicopter to Textron Inc’s Bell unit.

The company, which filed its protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), said it had partner Boeing Co’s support.

Earlier this month, the Army ended a years-long competition aimed at finding a replacement for the Black Hawk utility helicopter after it assigned the contract to Textron’s unit.

The contract is potentially worth around $70 billion—over decades—depending on how many are ordered, according to the Army, which is looking to retire more than 2,000 medium-class UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters built by Sikorsky since the 1970s.

The filing of a protest by Lockheed and Boeing triggers a formal legal review from the GAO and requires a decision within 100 days, the agency said.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose only slightly last week with the labor market remaining strong despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and hiring.

Applications for unemployment aid for the week ending Dec. 24 climbed 9,000 to 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of applications, which smooths out some of the week-to-week swings, slipped just 250 to 221,000.

Unemployment benefit applications are a proxy for layoffs, and are being closely monitored by economists as the Fed has rapidly raised interest rates in an effort to cool job growth and inflation. Should the Fed’s rate hikes cause a recession, as many economists fear, a jump in layoffs and unemployment claims would be an early sign.

So far, the level of jobless claims remains quite low, evidence that Americans are enjoying a high degree of job security. In the coming weeks, thousands of workers with temporary jobs during the winter holidays will lose work and apply for jobless aid. The government seeks to seasonally adjust the data to account for those job losses, but the adjustments are not always perfect and the layoff of temporary workers could distort the data.

U.S. stock futures are up ahead of the opening bell on Thursday as commodities like oil and gold slip beneath the redline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures is up roughly 79 points, or 0.24%, while the S&P and Nasdaq futures are up approximately 0.43% and 0.59%, respectively.

Over the last five days, the Dow remains off around 0.23%, the S&P remains off nearly 0.62% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is still roughly 1.88% lower as tech stocks struggle to hold gains.

Pre-market, shares of Meta are approximately 0.56% higher, Apple is up roughly 0.94%, as Microsoft and Nvidia rise 0.33% and 1.13%, respectively.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 1.49% to $77.78 a barrel, as gold dropped 0.17% to $1,812.70 an ounce.

The problems at Southwest Airlines continued on Thursday morning with the carrier canceling more flights.

Southwest has canceled another 2,356 flights, according to FlightAware.com.

The airline scrapped another 2,500 flights on Wednesday.

The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association weighed in on the thousands of flights canceled by the airline in recent days during a Wednesday appearance on “Your World.”

Capt. Casey Murray, the president of the union, started off by apologizing to Southwest customers for flight cancelations. 

Southwest has continued to experience issues this week following the Dallas, Texas-based airline and other major carriers having to delay or cancel flights while people attempted to travel for the Christmas holiday due to a massive winter storm affecting large portions of the country.

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U.S. equity futures are trading higher Thursday, following a day when benchmarks fell.

The major futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.4% when the opening bell rings on Wall Street.

Oil prices declined as COVID-19 cases in China dimmed hopes of a recovery in fuel demand.

U.S. crude traded down more than 2% to around $77.00 per barrel.

Brent futures also traded around 2% lower at $81.00 a barrel.

Jobless claims will headline today’s economic reports. Expectations are for a rise of 9,000 to 225,000. 

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, was at 3.86% on Thursday.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.9%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.8% and China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4%.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2%, with technology, energy and industrial stocks among the biggest weights on the benchmark index. It finished at 3,783.22.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.1% to 32,875.71. The Nasdaq slid 1.4% to 10,213.29. 

The Labor Department will release the number of new jobless claims filed last week.

Expectations are for a rise of 9,000 to 225,000 after a smaller-than-expected rise the prior week to 216,000.

Continuing claims, which track the total number of workers collecting unemployment benefits, are expected to climb to 1.686 million, the highest in more than 10 months.

The DOE’s Energy Information Administration will release its inventory report for last week.

Crude stockpiles are expected to fall by around 1.5 million barrels following a much steeper-than-expected draw of nearly 6 million barrels the previous week. 

Watch for a draw of about 2 million barrels in distillate supplies (heating oil, diesel fuel) and a build of just over half a million barrels in gasoline inventories.

Oil prices traded lower on Thursday as COVID-19 cases in China dimmed hopes of a recovery in fuel demand.

U.S. crude traded down more than 2% to around $77.00 per barrel.

Brent futures also traded around 2% lower at $81.00 a barrel.

U.S.crude oil inventories fell less than expected, by about 1.3 million barrels, in the past week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures.

The U.S. government will release its weekly figures at 10:30 a.m. EST on Thursday.

The price of gasoline has ticked higher for nearly a week.

The nationwide price for a gallon of gasoline bumped up on Thursday to $3.159, according to AAA.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline on Wednesday was $3.133.

GasBuddy, an app that provides real-time gas price information, released 2023 projections on Wednesday that suggest Americans should expect some relief at the pump at the start of next year.

Gas is expected to hover around an average low of $3 per gallon in January and February, when demand is seasonally low. However, moving into the spring and summer, prices may rise as high as $4 when drivers hit the roads and enjoy the pleasant weather. 

A year ago, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.283.

One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.101. A month ago, that same gallon of gasoline cost $3.521.

Gas hit an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14.

Diesel has been rising, but remains below $5.00 per gallon to $4.677, but that is still a far cry from the $3.570 of a year ago.

Small businesses from coast to coast have closed up shop this year in response to rampant crimes that threaten the safety of their employees and customers, and oftentimes, left them with hefty bills to clean up break-ins and loss of merchandise.

The business owners’ stories vary, but all have found a common theme: Crime and other issues like drug use need to be cleaned up in America’s cities or businesses will continue to suffer. 

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Bitcoin was trading around $16,000, after trading lower over the last four days, falling nearly 2% in the process.

For the week, Bitcoin has lost 1.6%.

For the month, the cryptocurrency has lost more than 3% and down more than 64% year-to-date.

Ethereum was trading around $1,100, after dropping nearly 2% in the past week.

Dogecoin was trading at 7 cents, after falling more than 4% in the past week.

Government spending is projected to raise the national debt to more than twice gross domestic product by 2050, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan group at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

The group says current U.S. fiscal policy is in permanent imbalance as current debt plus projected future spending outstrips future tax revenue.

Achieving fiscal balance would require the federal government to permanently increase tax revenues by over 40% or reduce expenditures by 30% or some combination of both.

Trinseo is reducing capacity to improve profitability by $60 million, the company said.

The specialty material solutions provider will close manufacturing operations at the styrene production facility in Boehlen, Germany and one production line in Stade, Germany.

Trinseo will also consolidate the PMMA sheet manufacturing site in Matamoros, Mexico into the continuous sheet manufacturing operation of Aristech Surfaces in Florence, Ky.

The company is also reducing capacity of SB latex at the Hamina, Finland site starting mid-year 2023 due to over-capacity of SB latex in Europe.

U.S stocks ended the day lower.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 5%.

• The S&P 500 fell about 0.9%.

• The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.49%.

Investors are growing more concerned about a possible recession.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index showed builder confidence fell for the twelfth consecutive month to 31, marking the worst stretch for the housing market since the survey launched in 1985.

On Thursday, the government issues revised figures from third quarter gross domestic product.

Front Month Nymex Crude for January delivery gained 90 cents per barrel, or 1.21% to $75.19 today.

Walmart is recalling more than 6,000 pounds of chicken products due to mislabeling and an undeclared allergen.

The recall was issued after a customer complained that they found shrimp in their product, although it had been labeled as a Crispy Chicken with Almonds entrée. 

U.S. defense contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc said on Sunday it would buy Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc in a $4.7 billion all-cash transaction, as it looks to tap into rising demand for missiles amid the Ukraine conflict. Reuters had first reported on Saturday that L3Harris was nearing the deal to acquire U.S. rocket maker Aerojet. The offer price of $58 per share represents a premium of 5.7% to Aerojet’s close on Friday.

Aerojet develops and manufactures liquid and solid rocket propulsion and hypersonic engines for space, defense, civil and commercial applications.

L3Harris, which has been investing in the space and cyber industries, is looking to solidify its position among top aerospace and defense firms as one of the leading contractors to the Pentagon.

The Federal Trade Commission has secured agreements requiring Epic Games to pay $520 million to settle allegations the maker of the Fortnite video game violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and deployed design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases.

The FTC’s action against Epic involves two separate record-breaking settlements.

As part of a proposed federal court order filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC, Epic will pay a $275 million monetary penalty for violating the COPPA Rule—the largest penalty ever obtained for violating an FTC rule.

Additionally, in a first-of-its-kind provision, Epic will be required to adopt strong privacy default settings for children and teens, ensuring that voice and text communications are turned off by default.

Under a separate proposed administrative order, Epic will pay $245 million to refund consumers for its dark patterns and billing practices, which is the FTC’s largest refund amount in a gaming case, and its largest administrative order in history.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Honeywell International Inc. for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising out of bribery schemes that took place in Brazil and Algeria. The company has agreed to pay more than $81 million to settle the SEC’s charges.

The SEC’s order finds that Honeywell, a U.S.-based global manufacturer of aerospace, building technologies, and automation products, engaged in a bribery scheme involving intermediaries and employees of its U.S. subsidiary to obtain business from the Brazil state-owned entity Petrobras.

Specifically, the order finds that, in 2010, Honeywell offered at least $4 million in bribes to a high-ranking Brazilian government official in connection with the bidding process at Petrobras. The SEC’s order also finds that, in 2011, employees and agents of Honeywell’s Belgian subsidiary paid more than $75,000 in bribes to an Algerian government official to obtain and retain business with the Algerian state-owned entity Sonatrach.

“For years, Honeywell neglected to implement sufficient internal accounting controls to mitigate against known corruption risks in countries like Brazil and Algeria,” said Charles Cain, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit. “This failure created an environment in which Honeywell employees and agents could and did facilitate bribes.”

The European Commission on Monday said it has warned Facebook parent company Meta that it is breaching EU antitrust laws by distorting competition in markets for online classified advertising and abusing its dominant position.

The Commission said in a preliminary view that it would further investigate and that it could impose a fine of up to 10% of the company’s annual global turnover, if there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of European Union rules.

European Union’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement that she is concerned that Meta ties its dominant social network Facebook to its online classified ad services, which is called Facebook Marketplace.

“This means Facebook users have no choice but to have access to Facebook Marketplace,” she said.

Meta denied its business practices were anti-competitive.

History favors a Santa Claus rally in the stock market, though Wall Street investors aren’t counting on an end of the year stock bounce.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 10% year to date, the S&P 500 is 20% lower and the Nasdaq Composite Index has lost 33%.

Typically, the last five trading days of December and the first two of the new year have been good for traders. A study by LPL Research showed the S&P 500’s average return performance during the seven-day period is 77.9% more likely to yield positive returns than any other seven-day period.

Mesa Air Group is restructuring in its operations with American Airlines and United Airlines.

As a result of ongoing unprofitable operations with American Airlines, driven primarily by higher pilot wages and block hour utilization penalties driven by the ongoing industry wide pilot shortage, Mesa initiated and has finalized a consensual wind down of its American operations.

Mesa is finalizing a new-five-year agreement with United Airlines that would place the associated aircraft into United Express operations and compensate Mesa for the higher costs associated with regional jet flying. The new agreement would cover all of Mesa’s existing flying at American and could increase to 38 CRJ-900 aircraft, dependent upon the number of E-175s that Mesa is operating.

Operations with American will cease on April 3, 2023.

The expected agreement with United anticipates Mesa would begin to place aircraft with United in March 2023 and continue to utilize all of its crew and maintenance locations currently operated for American Airlines in Phoenix, Dallas, El Paso, and Louisville through the transition and beyond. The agreement also provides for Mesa to open a CRJ-900 crew base in Houston and a new pilot base in Denver, CO, with the potential for other incremental crew bases.

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes posted its 12th straight monthly decline in December, dropping two points to 31, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.

This is the lowest confidence reading since mid-2012, with the exception of the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020.

“In this high inflation, high mortgage rate environment, builders are struggling to keep housing affordable for home buyers,” said NAHB Chairman Jerry Konter, a home builder and developer from Savannah, Ga.

“Our latest survey shows 62% of builders are using incentives to bolster sales, including providing mortgage rate buy-downs, paying points for buyers and offering price reductions. But with construction costs up more than 30% since inflation began to take off at the beginning of the year, there is little room for builders to cut prices. Only 35% of builders reduced homes prices in December, edging down from 36% in November. The average price reduction was 8%, up from 5% or 6% earlier in the year.”

Krispy Kreme plans to automate approximately 18% of its doughnut production within 18 months, the company said in an investor presentation.

A capital investment of $6 million will save $2 million annually, generating a 30% return on investment capital.

Krispy Kreme said current doughnut production and processing is manually intensive and costly with $100 million spent each year on doughnut production labor in the U.S.

The company has five doughnut factories, along with 240 production facilities in theater hubs.

Krispy Kreme reiterated its full-year 2022 guidance that was provided in conjunction with its second and third quarter 2022 results.

• Net Revenue of $1.49 billion to $1.52 billion

• Organic Revenue growth of 10% to 12%

• Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.29 to $0.32

Crypto firm Voyager Digital Ltd said on Monday it will sell its assets to Binance.US in a deal valued at about $1 billion following a review.

Palo Alto, California-based Binance.US, which operates as an independent legal entity and has a licensing agreement with Binance.com, will make a $10 million deposit and reimburse Voyager for certain expenses up to $15 million.

Nearly $2 trillion in value has been wiped out from the crypto sector this year on rising interest rates and exacerbating worries of an economic downturn. The slump has eliminated key industry players such as Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network.

However, the bigger blow came after larger crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Its swift fall has also sparked tough regulatory scrutiny of how major exchanges hold user funds.

In September, Voyager Digital said FTX won an auction for its assets, in a bid valued at about $1.42 billion after Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July.

Voyager said on Monday it will seek Bankruptcy Court approval for the deal with Binance.US at a hearing on Jan. 5, 2023.

Stocks opened little changed in the week ahead of the Christmas holiday as investors look for signs of a Santa Claus rally, the traditional year-end lift of stocks.

‘’As a chill settles on markets, there is not much sign of a sustained Santa rally instead there is still a lack of overall cheer with investors mulling more interest rate rises and the never-ending story of the pandemic,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

There is a full week trading this week. The markets will close Mon., Dec. 26 for Christmas.

Notable earnings this week include FedEx, General Mills and Nike on Tue., Micron Technology and Rite Aid on Wed. and CarMax and Paychex on Thur.

Oil is trading higher.

Overseas, most major Asian indices finished lower.

European indices are higher.

“Despite some weakness in Asian markets overnight, the FTSE 100 starts the last week before Christmas with a sprinkling of cheer as it looks to recover last week’s losses,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. “US releases on consumer confidence on Wednesday and core inflation on Friday look the only scheduled announcements likely to shift the market’s mood this week but after an unpredictable year it would be foolish to rule out one last big surprise before 2022 is out.”

U.S. stock futures
are rebounding on Monday after traders went on a selling frenzy last week following another interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures is up roughly 60 points, or 0.18%, while the S&P and Nasdaq futures are approximately 0.28% and 0.38% higher, respectively.

Over the last five days, the Dow remains down near 3.06%, the S&P is off nearly 3.28% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is roughly 3.70% lower.

Pre-market, key retail stocks are gaining ground ahead of the holidays with Nike up approximately 4.2%, Best Buy is almost 1.16% in the green, while Macy’s is roughly 0.39% in positive territory.  

Tech shares are up and down on Monday as the Nasdaq struggles for gains with Meta off nearly 1.76% pre-market, Apple is up approximately 0.42%, and Microsoft is up around 0.40% in the green.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude futures spiked 0.81% to $74.89 a barrel, as gold jumped 0.11% to $1,802.10 an ounce.

Cryptocurrency prices were lower early Monday.

At approximately 4:45 a.m. ET, Bitcoin was trading at nearly $16,765 (-0.08%), or lower by $13.

For the week, Bitcoin was trading lower by nearly 1.85%. For the month, however, the cryptocurrency was higher by nearly 0.5%.

Ethereum was trading at approximately $1,185.10 (-0.13%), or lower by about $1.7.

For the week, Ethereum was trading lower by slightly more than 6%.

For the month, it was trading lower by approximately 2.15%.Dogecoin was trading at $0.077945 (-1.18%), or lower by approximately $0.000933. 

For the week, Dogecoin was lower by almost 15%. For the month, the crypto was lower by nearly 6.65%.

The nationwide price for a gallon of gasoline slipped Monday to $3.142, according to AAA. On Sunday, the price stood at $3.149, while on Saturday, the price was $3.159. A year ago, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.307.

One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.262. A month ago, that same gallon of gasoline cost $3.684.

Everyone remembers when gas hit an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14.

Diesel has slipped below $5.00 per gallon to $3.766, dropping more than 2 cents overnight, when it was selling for $4.778. 

A week ago, diesel prices nationwide cost $4.917. A month ago, that same gallon of diesel cost $5.316.

Economic reports will dominate the news this coming week as we can expect reports on the troubled housing market beginning Monday with the homebuilder sentiment index and ending Friday with a flurry of data, notably personal income and spending for November, which includes the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge.

Keep an eye out for the Housing Market Index for December on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. This closely followed gauge of homebuilder sentiment is anticipated to rise a point to 34. That’s up from a 10-year low of 33 in November, indicating only one-third of NAHB members regard conditions as good. 

It would mark the first increase in a year, following a record 11 consecutive monthly declinesas high inflation and soaring mortgage rates hurt buyer traffic and home sales. 

Other reports to watch this week are housing starts and building permits on Tuesday and existing home sales on Wednesday. All reports are for the month of November.

Additional reports expected on Thursday include figures on the final third-quarter gross domestic product as well as jobless claims.

Closing out the week will be a report on new homes sales for November on Friday.

U.S. stocks turned higher overnight after whipsawing earlier in the morning following two straight weeks of losses for the first time since September and weary investors trying to shake off recession fears. 

Wall Street fell Friday after the Fed raised its forecast of how long interest rates have to stay elevated to cool inflation that is near a four-decade high. The European Central Bank warned more rate hikes are coming. 

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index turned in its second weekly decline after losing 1.1% to 3,852.36 on Friday for its third daily drop. It is down about 19% so far this year. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8% to 32,920.46. The Nasdaq composite lost 1% to 10,705.41. More than 80% of stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 fell. Technology and health care stocks were among the biggest weights on the market.

Microsoft fell 1.7% and Pfizer slid 4.1%. U.S. inflation has eased to 7.1% over a year earlier in November from June’s 9.1% high but still is painfully high. 

The Fed on Wednesday raised its benchmark short-term lending rate by one-half percentage point for its seventh hike this year. That dashed hopes the U.S. central bank might ease off increases due to signs inflation and economic activity are cooling. 

The federal funds rate stands at a 15-year high of 4.25% to 4.5%. The Fed forecast that will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023. Its forecast doesn’t call for a rate cut before 2024. 

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets fell again Monday as investors wrestled with fears the Federal Reserve and European central banks might be willing to cause a recession to crush inflation. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. 

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 1.1% to 27,218.28 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.7% to 19,316.58. The Kospi in Seoul retreated 0.4% to 2,350.27 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 was 0.2% lower at 7,137.00. Singapore advanced while New Zealand and other Southeast Asian markets declined.

Oil rose on Monday as the prospect of demand recovery, led by China’s loosening of COVID-19 curbs and the United States’ decision to buy back oil for its state reserves, gained the upper hand over global recession fears. 

Brent crude futures gained 42 cents, or 0.5%, to $79.46 a barrel by 0753 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $74.67, up 38 cents, or 0.5%.

Both benchmarks plunged more than $2 a barrel last Friday, following hawkish remarks from U.S. and European central banks on interest rate hikes that sparked worries of possible recession. 

China, the world’s top crude oil importer and No. 2 oil consumer, is experiencing its first of three expected waves of COVID-19 cases after Beijing relaxed mobility restrictions. 

“Despite a surge in COVID cases, the reopening optimism and accommodative policy improve oil’s demand outlook,” CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said. 

China’s abrupt end to its “dynamic zero” COVID policy is breathing new life into its ailing aviation sector, with average jet fuel demand jumping by 75%, or nearly 170,000 barrels per day, in two weeks, according to satellite data firm Kayrros. 

An announcement by the U.S. Energy Department on Friday that it will begin repurchasing crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for delivery in February next year also supported the outlook for stronger prices. 

This will be the United States’ first purchase since this year’s record 180-million-barrel release from the stockpile.

A California judge sentenced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to 135 months in prison for defrauding investors in her now-defunct blood testing startup that was once valued at $9 billion.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, Calif., sentenced Holmes on three counts of investor fraud and one count of conspiracy. A jury convicted Holmes, 38, in January following a trial that spanned three months.

Though she was convicted on four counts, Holmes was acquitted on four other counts alleging she defrauded patients who paid for Theranos tests.

Davila had denied Holmes’ requests to overturn her convictions, saying they were supported by the evidence at trial.Now that the sentence has been imposed, Holmes can challenge those rulings and her sentence at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The corporate of Ticketmaster is reportedly facing an antitrust probe. The New York Times reported the Department of Justice is looking into whether the ticket seller is a monopoly that has taken unfair advantage of its market position with its practices.

The news follows problems with the handling of ticket presales for Taylor Swift’s upcoming “The Eras” tour. However, the antitrust probe apparently started well before Swift’s ticketing issues, according to The New York Times.

Presales for Swift’s tour opened Tuesday, with many fans waiting hours in the online Ticketmaster queue to purchase tickets or wind up empty-handed.

Used-car retailer Carvana Co is cutting 1,500 jobs, or 8% of its workforce, the company said on Friday, amid waning demand for used cars on the back of sky-high prices and supply shortages.

Demand for used cars has been negatively impacted by hybrid-working models and higher costs caused by rising interest rates, as consumers rethink personal mobility options to try and trim their daily expenses.

CNBC, which first reported the layoffs, cited an internal memo, that the company faced economic headwinds from higher financing costs and it “failed to accurately predict how this would all play out and the impact it would have on our business.”

Carvana, whose shares were down about 7% at noon, has missed expectations for adjusted earnings in the last five quarters, per Refinitiv data, as expenses soared and demand for used cars dipped.

The company, best known for its automated car vending machines, earlier this year laid off around 2,500 employees, or 12% of its workforce, in a bid to cut costs among its other measures.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says his firm did not cause FTX to collapse.

Binance pulled out a deal to buy Sam Bankman-Fried’s company after signing a non-binding letter of intent to buy FTX.

“As soon as we discovered that he actually moved user funds without disclosing that, and basically he was lying to everyone, I said, this guy is probably going to be in a lot of trouble, most likely going to jail. I couldn’t trust the data in the data room anymore,” Zhao told FOX Business’ Susan Li on “Varney & Co.”

Zhao said walking away from FTX may have been the “last straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Jeffrey K. Galvani, Stuart A. Jeffery, and two New York-based entities they controlled with operating as unregistered broker-dealers that facilitated more than $1.2 billion of securities trading, primarily in penny stocks.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Galvani and Jeffery provided brokerage services to approximately 60 customers involving at least 19,000 securities trades, primarily in penny stocks.

The brokerage services they allegedly provided included taking possession of customer securities, directing trades to executing brokers, facilitating trade settlements, and disbursing trading proceeds to customers.

In return for these services, the defendants allegedly received at least $12 million in transaction-based and other compensation.

General Motors is repairing repairs cars from rival Elon Musk’s Tesla.

Company president Mark Reuss said the business is growing, with GM service centers performed repairs on more than 11,000 Tesla vehicles since 2021.

GM currently has four all-electric models of its own across its brands, but will add at least six more through early 2024 as it aims to reach a North American production capacity of one million vehicles annually by 2025.

New Twitter owner Elon Musk says the social media platform has not decided whether to reinstate former President Donald Trump.

@realDonaldTrump was permanently suspended
in January 2021.The billionaire said Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated.

Musk also outlined a new free speech policy.

He said: “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”

Laid off tech workers could find new jobs at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) as the 100-year-old British automaker looks to hire hundreds of engineers to help develop electric cars.

JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, on Friday announced a jobs portal for displaced tech workers to fill 800 roles spanning self-driving, electrification, machine learning and data science.

The luxury carmaker, which wants to become an “electric-first” business from 2025, said it believed workers leaving big tech groups like Amazon were most likely to have the required skills to fill new roles in Britain, Ireland, the United States, India, China and Hungary.

The majority of the jobs will be in Britain and split between JLR’s offices in Manchester and Gaydon in central England, Chief Information Officer Anthony Battle said.

The hiring drive comes after thousands of layoffs in recent weeks at U.S. tech firms including Twitter, Meta and Amazon, some of which have offices in London and Dublin.

Twitter’s offices are closed until Monday.

The move comes following the resignation of engineers responsible for preventing service outages and fixing bugs and an employee ultimatum.

However, new owner Elon Musk wants any employees who write software code report to the 10th floor of Twitter’s office in San Francisco at 2 p.m., according to an email reviewed by Reuters.

“There will be short, technical interviews that allow me to better understand the Twitter tech stack,” Musk wrote in the memo.

Additional reporting from Reuters.

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas is taking control of all digital assets of FTX Digital Markets (FDM). The regulators say the assets will be placed in a digital wallet for safekeeping.

“Urgent interim regulatory action was necessary to protect the interests of clients and creditors of FDM,” the commission said. “Over the coming days and weeks, the Commission will engage with other regulators and authorities, in multiple jurisdictions, to address matters affecting the creditors, clients and stakeholders of FDM globally to obtain the best possible outcome.”

Atkore shares are surging in Friday trading. The manufacturer and distributor of electrical, mechanical, and safety infrastructure solutions reported record full year net sales and net income. Net income per diluted share increased to $20.30 from $12.19 in prior year.

Fourth quarter revenue rose 11.4% to $1.03 billion from a year ago; analysts expected $981.80 million.

Net income for the three months ended September 30 was $220.8 million, up from $202.6 million.

Quarterly adjusted earnings were $5.52​​ per share for the quarter ended in September. The mean expectation of four analysts for the quarter was for earnings of $5.08 per share.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Existing-home sales retreated for the ninth straight month in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. All four major U.S. regions registered month-over-month and year-over-year declines.

Total existing-home sales decreased 5.9% from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million in October. Year-over-year, sales dropped by 28.4% (down from 6.19 million in October 2021).

“More potential homebuyers were squeezed out from qualifying for a mortgage in October as mortgage rates climbed higher,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The impact is greater in expensive areas of the country and in markets that witnessed significant home price gains in recent years.”

Foot Locker Inc. on Friday reported fiscal third-quarter profit of $96 million.

The New York-based company said it had net income of $1.01 per share. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and non-recurring costs, came to $1.27 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.09 per share.

The shoe store posted revenue of $2.17 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.12 billion.

For the current quarter ending in January, Foot Locker expects its per-share earnings to range from 45 cents to 53 cents. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.10.

The company expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.42 to $4.50 per share.

Buckle is higher in Friday trading. The teen clothing retailer topped Wall Street revenue and profit estimates.

Third quarter revenue rose 4% to $332.34 million from a year ago; analysts expected $326.65 million.

Comparable store net sales increased 3.0%. Online sales increased 8.8%.

Net income for the three months ended October 29 was $61.4 million, down from $62.2 million a year ago.

Quarterly adjusted earnings were $1.24​​ per share. The mean expectation of two analysts for the quarter was for earnings of $1.19 per share.

Reuters contributed to this story.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy gave more details on the looming layoffs at the retail giant.

U.S. stocks post modest gains as investors wrap a choppy down week for equities digesting more Fed speak and the prospect for retailers ahead of Black Friday. In commodities, oil tanked nearly 4% trading below the $80 per barrel level. 

Troubled cryptocurrency firm FTX updated its bankruptcy filing in Delaware on Thursday, and the document is chock-full of new insights into the chaotic and questionable business practices that occurred under the leadership of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

John Ray III, who was appointed as FTX’s new CEO a week ago and previously oversaw the bankruptcy of scandal-plagued energy firm Enron following its collapse in 2001, blasted Bankman-Fried’s management of the company in the court document.

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” Ray wrote.”From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented,” he added.

Read more details on the story by clicking here: New FTX CEO highlights ‘pervasive failures’ in court filing

Bitcoin was trading around $16,000, after gaining in three of the last four days.

For the week, bitcoin has declined more than 4%.For the month, the cryptocurrency was lower by 18%.

Bitcoin is down 63% year-to-date.

Ethereum was trading around $1,200, after sliding 7% in the past week.

Dogecoin was trading at 8 cents, after losing 4% in the past week.

There is no question Elizabeth Holmes will serve time in federal detention, it’s a matter of how long and where.

That’s according to experts who say the disgraced Theranos founder can expect a lengthy term behind bars at her sentencing hearing Friday.

Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison after being convicted on three felony counts of wire fraud and one felony count of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Her attorneys are asking that she serve no more than 18 months if she is incarcerated at all, arguing that the high-profile case has ruined the former Silicon Valley darling’s reputation, saying she poses no threat to the public and noting that she has no prior criminal history.

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The nationwide price for a gallon of gasoline slipped Friday to $3.707, according to AAA.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline on Thursday was $3.725.  

One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.794. A month ago, that same gallon of gasoline cost $3.870.

Gas hit an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14.

Diesel declined to $5.330.

Oil moved higher Friday, but prices were on track for a steep weekly decline on concerns about weakening demand in China and further interest rate hikes.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded around $82.00 a barrel.

Brent crude futures traded around $90.00 a barrel.

WTI is down more than 7% so far this week, while Brent is down nearly 6%.

Remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve officials this week and stronger-than-expected retail sales data have dashed some hopes for the moderation of aggressive interest rate hikes in the United States.

The Fed is expected to raise rates by a smaller 50 basis points in December after four consecutive 75 bp hikes, according to a Reuters poll.