This Changes Things hosts Baker Machado and Hope King give a recap of the day's biggest earnings reports. Walmart dips in the e-commerce division as it fights to compete with Amazon. Plus, Home Depot thanks the booming housing market for its uptick in sales this past quarter.
Walmart says sales rose steadily over the holiday season, but online sales growth actually slowed last quarter. Its e-commerce sales in the U.S. grew 23% in the quarter, which is down from 50% in the third quarter of 2017. Walmart cited operational snags as the reason for the dip in their e-commerce business.
Plus. the housing market helps Home Depot hit a home run. The number one U.S. home improvement chain said sales at stores that have been open more than a year rose 7.5% last quarter.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
