Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at an Apple event on the campus of Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. Apple Music is about to reach a huge numerical milestone — offering an eye-popping 100 million songs available on the streaming service. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Here is a rundown of Cheddar News' top market stories of the day.
BIG BANKS REPORT EARNINGS
Three of the biggest U.S. banks reported earnings before the bell on Friday, marking the unofficial start to the earnings season. Both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase's earnings beat Wall Street estimates, though the latter said it was putting aside extra funds in case of a recession. Wells Fargo, meanwhile, took a massive hit from a $3.7 billion settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for illegally assessing fees on borrowers, but nonetheless beat the Street's admittedly low expectation.
TIM COOK'S PAY CUT
Apple CEO Tim Cook is getting a pay cut. According to an SEC filing, shareholders voted on a $49 million pay package for the coming year, compared to $99.4 million in 2022. The compensation committee was partially responding to pressure from institutional investors who have argued for reducing the executive's pay. Going forward, more of Cook's compensation will be tied to stocks. Shares of Apple are down around 23 percent from a year ago.
SEC CHARGES CRYPTO FIRMS
While it may seem like too little, too late for those who called for more aggressive federal regulation earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission is charging prominent crypto firms Genesis Global Capital, LLC and Gemini Trust Company, LLC for selling unregistered securities. “Today’s charges build on previous actions to make clear to the marketplace and the investing public that crypto lending platforms and other intermediaries need to comply with our time-tested securities laws," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a press release. "Doing so best protects investors. It promotes trust in markets. It’s not optional. It’s the law.”
CRYPTO LAYOFFS
In other crypto news, Crypto.com announced that it's cutting 20 percent of its workforce. "The reductions we made last July positioned us to weather the macro economic downturn, but it did not account for the recent collapse of FTX, which significantly damaged trust in the industry," CEO Kris Marszalek said in a blog post.
Stocks are moving tentatively Monday, as Wall Street waits to see whether a pivotal meeting in the afternoon will help the U.S. government avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt.
Scores of Boston University students turned their backs on the head of one of Hollywood's biggest studios, and some shouted “pay your writers,” as he gave the school's commencement address Sunday in a stadium where protesters supporting the Hollywood writers' strike picketed outside.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking that a federal judge be disqualified from the First Amendment lawsuit filed by Disney against the Florida governor and his appointees, claiming the jurist's prior statements in other cases have raised questions about his impartiality on the state's efforts to take over Disney World's governing body.
Ford CEO Jim Farley says the company will stop competing in over-served market segments and instead will place big bets on connected vehicles and digital services. The days of Ford being all things to all people are over, Farley said at the company's capital markets day event Monday.
The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring users personal information across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.
Joanne Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mycocycle Inc., joined Cheddar News to discuss how her company uses mushrooms to decarbonize construction waste. "Mycocycle was started to address the waste mismanagement issue we have," she said. "Globally, we've got overflowing landfills that are creating human and environmental health issues."
The World Economic Forum recently released its future of jobs report and broke down what abilities employers are looking for. Julia Pollak, chief labor economist at ZipRecruiter, joined Cheddar News to discuss what top, in-demand job skills are needed in the rapidly-changing economy.
