Here is a rundown of Cheddar News' top market stories of the day.
TECH LAYOFFS
Multiple outlets are reporting that Microsoft will begin a series of planned layoffs on Wednesday that could cut around 5 percent of its workforce, or 10,000 employees. CEO Satya Nadella warned the cuts were coming, and said the next couple of years were likely to be challenging, as the tech sector contracts after a decade plus of rapid growth. Amazon is also set to move ahead with plans to cut 6 percent of its 350,000 corporate employees.
ADOBE'S DATA DEBACLE
Adobe is facing backlash from customers who are concerned the software company is using personal images and video to train artificial intelligence models such as OpenAI’s Dall-E. Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky denied the accusations in an interview with Bloomberg, saying: "We have never, ever used anything in our storage to train a generative AI model."
UNITED AIRLINES EARNINGS
United Airlines' fourth quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates on the heels of a rebound in travel demand. The company reported a 31 percent increase from the same period before the pandemic. The gains were made despite the airline flying 9 percent fewer trips and a litany of other challenges, from winter storms to labor shortages to supply chain disruptions.
UNIVERSITY BANS TIKTOK
The University of Texas at Austin is blocking access to TikTok on its Wi-Fi and wired networks. The move is a response to Gov. Greg Abbott's requirement that all state agencies delete the app from government-issued devices. The administration said it is also seeking to eliminate risks to information on the university's networks. University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M University System have since implemented similar restrictions.
Lance Ippolito, Head Trader at The Future of Wealth, talks about the health of the tech sector amid the supply chain challenges and the catalysts fueling record highs on the stock market.
Darren Schuringa, Founder & CEO of ASYMmetric ETFs, discusses the major risks to markets and offers ways to hedge high inflation as consumer spending continues to rise.
Danielle Dimartino Booth, CEO & Director of Intelligence at Quill Intelligence and former Advisor to Dallas Fed, talks about what to expect from the FOMC meeting, and how labor participation and wage growth may impact inflation going forward.
Kristina Hooper, Chief Global Market Strategist at Invesco, talks about the Fed's flexibility around tapering and what to expect for the October Jobs Report.
Will Rhind, Founder & CEO of GraniteShares, talks about consumer spending amid inflation concerns and discusses the headwinds impacting the tech and energy sectors.
a.k.a Brands, an accelerator for next-gen, direct-to-consumer fashion brands like Princess Polly, released its first earnings report as a publicly-traded company with strong results. CEO Jill Ramsey joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the company's recent quarter and how the company has grown since its IPO in September.
Rivian is set to makes its market debut as the biggest IPO since Facebook in 2021. The EV maker priced its stock above the expected range at $78 apiece, allowing it to raise a whopping $11.9 billion. Matt Toole, director of deals intelligence at Refinitiv, joined Cheddar to discuss Rivian's highly anticipated IPO and how it's sending the already booming IPO market even higher.
A judge shot down a request by Apple to hold off on changes to payment options in the app store that would allow companies like Epic Games to use external payment systems. Apple had sought a stay that could delay making changes for years but the judge ordered them to implement fixes by December. The tech giant plans to appeal.
