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.
Facebook reported a beat on its Q3 earnings on Monday, despite a miss on revenue. This comes as the social media giant has found itself entrenched in negative headlines of late. Timothy Lesko, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Granite Investment Advisors, joined Cheddar to break down the latest.
Facebook has been in the midst of a media firestorm thanks to the Wall Street Journal scathing report and Frances Haugen's whistleblowing among other news. With the social media giant set to release its Q3 earnings after the bell, Cheddar News caught up with John Quelch, Dean of Miami Herbery Business School to discuss what to expect.
Jill and Carlo cover the news out of Facebook's latest earnings, Tesla's monumental day, Dave Chappelle addresses controversy and the tragedy of the climate emergency.
Stocks began the week on a high note, with two indexes - the Dow and the S&P 500 - each closing at a record high. Brian Levitt, Global Market Strategist at Invesco, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why the conditions were in place for a jump during the session and provides insight on inflation concerns in the United States.
The price of Bitcoin hit a new all-time high last week following the Wall Street debut of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. Todd Cipperman, Founding Principal for Cipperman Compliance Services, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why ProShares' ETF got off to a hot start while Valkyrie's Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which debuted just days later, did not.
Edtech startup ENTITY Academy raised $100 million in its latest round of funding. The company's platform offers tech training to women via online courses, in areas like data science and software development. The courses include mentoring and career coaching from people working in the tech industry. ENTITY Academy's founder and CEO Jennifer Schwab joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to talk more about the company and the funding.
On Monday Microsoft reported that the same Russia-backed hackers behind the 2020 SolarWinds attack have been assailing the global technology supply chain and cloud services. The former White House CIO under President George W. Bush and CEO of the security consulting company Fortalice Solutions, Theresa Payton, joined Cheddar to discuss why cyberattackers are relentlessly focused on infiltrating tech companies and what the future holds in terms of combating them. "This will be an ever-present danger and a journey," she said. "Locking down your systems is not going to be something you do once, and then you set it and forget it. It's going to be an ongoing journey that we're all going to be on together."
