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☆ Goldman Sachs CEO got 30% pay cut – but still made $25 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Dow and S&P 500 updates: Stocks react to GDP
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

The airline was forced to cancel more than 16,700 flights between December 21 and 29, roughly half its schedule during that period. Thursday, Southwest said that resulted in an adjusted net loss in the quarter of $226 million. Still it managed to report an adjusted annual profit of $723 million, a turn around from $1.3 billion it lost in 2021. It said it expects another loss in the first quarter due to the continued impact and costs associated with meltdown. The first quarter is typically the slowest and least profitable period for US air travel.

CNN —The end could be near for struggling retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, as it warned in a regulatory filing Thursday that it received a notice of default from its lender, JPMorgan Chase. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) plunged more than 20% on the news, to about $2.56 a share. Bed Bath & Beyond could be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization due to its financial woes. Founded in 1971, Bed Bath & Beyond became a staple for affordable home decor, kitchenware and college dorm room furniture. As of February 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond had 950 stores and 32,000 workers.

CNN —The US could be approaching a 2011-style debt ceiling market meltdown, but worried investors shouldn’t abandon ship, Wall Street analysts say. That means that if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling by then, the US could default on its debt. But lawmakers remain in a deadlock about whether to lift their self-imposed borrowing limit: Democrats want Congress to pass a debt ceiling increase without conditions but Republican leadership says that any debt limit increase should be accompanied by spending cuts. Wall Street’s response: A debt ceiling meltdown creates serious risk for investors. Even if the debt ceiling debates are resolved, it’s not a bad idea to have some money invested abroad just in case of upheaval.

☆ Salesforce under siege from top activist hedge fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Software giant Salesforce (CRM), one of the 30 stocks in the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average, had a miserable 2022. Now the company is under attack from a big hedge fund that wants to shake things up at the company that owns Slack. A source close to the situation said that Elliott Management took a multi-billion dollar stake in Salesforce. Elliott would not divulge the size of its position in Salesforce to CNN Business, but the company did confirm its investment. Salesforce also has to contend with tough competition from the likes of Oracle (ORCL), German software giant SAP (SAP) and Microsoft (MSFT), which has a top Slack rival in Teams.

☆ Did the economy end 2022 with a bang or a whimper?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But the United States economy still seems to be chugging along just fine after experiencing a hiccup in the first half of 2022. Despite worries about weaker consumer spending during the holidays, economists are forecasting solid growth for the fourth quarter. Yearning for earningsMore blue chip companies will report fourth quarter results (and perhaps give guidance about the first quarter of 2023 and beyond) this week. But according to FactSet senior earnings analyst John Butters, earnings for the tech sector are expected to fall nearly 10% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Verizon (VZ), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Travelers (TRV), 3M (MMM), Boeing (BA), Dow (DOW), Visa (V), Chevron (CVX) and American Express (AXP).

☆ Here are the companies that have laid off employees this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Tech firms went on a hiring spree. “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees. The crypto brokerage announced in early January that it’s cutting 950 people – almost one in five employees in its workforce. Departments from human resources to the company’s Amazon (AMZN) Stores will be affected. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees.

☆ Premarket stocks: What we learned at Davos: The economy is a mess, but there's still hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Friday marks the end of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, an elite gathering of some of the wealthiest people and world leaders. The meetings between CEOs, politicians, and global figures at Davos can help set the tone for the year ahead. CEOs and political officials are also worried about the United States hitting its borrowing cap on Thursday, forcing the Treasury Department to start taking “extraordinary measures” to keep the government open. If an agreement isn’t reached, markets could plunge (like they did the last time this happened in 2011) and the United States risks having its credit rating downgraded again. China’s removal of strict coronavirus restrictions late last year is also expected to unleash a wave of spending that may offset economic weakness in the United States and Europe.

☆ Markets: Bad news for the economy is now bad news on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The market is bracing for a perfect storm of bad news. Kelly added that “a failure to increase the debt ceiling is the most immediate fiscal threat to the economy and markets in 2023” and that a deal is needed sooner rather than later in order to reassure the markets. There’s a saying on Wall Street that bad news for the economy is actually good news for the stock market and vice versa. Bad news actually might be bad news. “What just some weeks ago would have seen markets cheering the weaker data…is now being judged more harshly with bad news no longer enjoying a warm welcome,” she added.

☆ Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both hit hard by deal drought
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Earnings for Goldman Sachs (GS) missed by their widest margin since the third quarter of 2011. Revenue tumbled 16% for Goldman Sachs (GS) in the fourth quarter, and profits plunged 66%. Morgan Stanley was hit by the slowdown too, with investment banking revenue dropping 49% from a year ago. Morgan Stanley’s overall revenue and earnings topped analysts’ forecasts though, while Goldman Sachs posted revenue also missed Wall Street’s targets. Goldman Sachs disclosed in a regulatory filing last week, however, that this division has lost more than $3 billion since 2020.

☆ Bank earnings fail to impress investors as recession worries rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and asset management giant BlackRock posted results that topped Wall Street’s forecasts Friday, but investors were nonetheless disappointed. Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and BofA (BAC) both fell about 3% in early trading. Wells Fargo (WFC), which reported earnings that missed Wall Street’s targets, was down 4%. JPMorgan Chase and Citi each said that advisory fees plummeted nearly 60% in the quarter. “The current environment offers incredible opportunities for long-term investors,” said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink in the earnings release.

☆ Netflix stock soars as the dollar slides
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The suddenly weaker dollar could be giving it a boost. So anytime the dollar loses value, that boosts sales and earnings for a multinational company like Netflix once those international results are translated back into dollars. A strong dollar, on the other hand, is bad news. Netflix warned when it reported third quarter results in mid-October that the dollar’s appreciation in 2022 would hurt revenue and operating income. It will be interesting to hear what management says about the impact of the weaker dollar in its letter to shareholders and conference call with analysts.

☆ Coinbase to lay off 20% of staff as crypto winter continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Coinbase announced Tuesday that it was laying off 950 people, about 20% of its staff. Coinbase, like many other publicly traded and privately held crypto companies, has been hit hard by the massive plunge in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is up more than 4% since the start of the year, suggesting that crypto prices may have finally bottomed out. The hope is that bitcoin and other crypto prices may start to stabilize, especially if financial regulators start to provide more guidance and clarity about their stance on cryptos. Several high profile crypto companies have gone belly up, most notably one-time crypto darling (and Coinbase rival) FTX.

☆ Stock sentiment is positive despite lousy headlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —It’s only early January, but so far in 2023 the pendulum on Wall Street has swung (to paraphrase Billy Joel) from sadness to euphoria. But why is there such optimism on Wall Street all of a sudden? But it also showed the pace of job growth is slowing — and that could be a precursor to an eventual recession. But Wall Street is a funny place: Good news is often viewed as a bad sign, and vice versa. As long as the Fed can get inflation under control, investors might not be too concerned by a recession anyway.

☆ Has inflation finally peaked?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But for investors, consumers and the Federal Reserve, inflation remains a major economic concern, just as it was in 2022. The hope is that inflation pressures will cool even more dramatically as the year progresses. We believe inflation peaked in June,” said Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer with Laffer Tengler Investments, in a report. Inflation impact on the Fed and housingWhat’s more, lower levels of inflation should allow the Fed to keep slowing its pace of interest rate hikes. But if inflation pressures continue to abate – and the Fed acknowledges that by pulling back on rate hikes – then the housing market may rebound.

☆ Investors anxiously await jobs report for clues about Fed rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Traders are betting on a further deceleration in jobs growth because that could lead to a reduction in the size of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Further strength could set off more alarm bells about inflation and Fed rate hikes. Focus on worker payWall Street will also need to dive even deeper into Friday’s jobs report to get a better sense of what’s happening in the economy. Investors cheered the fact that wage growth, measured by average hourly earnings, rose only 4.7% over the previous 12 months in October. Big Tech keeps handing out pink slipsOverall, the jobs market is still in good shape.

☆ Inflation fears fade as geopolitical risks rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Inflation fears roiled the markets in 2022. Now, investors may have scarier things to worry about in 2023, according to a report from global research and consulting firm Eurasia Group. “Inflation shockwaves” still feature as one of Eurasia’s top political risks for 2023 in a new report. But FTX and Alameda were each forced to file for bankruptcy in December after investors rushed to pull deposits. Just a year ago, Apple was the first company in the world to reach a $3 trillion market valuation.

☆ Oil funds and a Turkey ETF were 2022 market winners, but Russia and crypto tanked
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Oil stocks skyrocketed in 2022, so it’s no surprise funds that track the energy sector were Wall Street winners this year. The iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund had more than doubled as of December 19, according to data from Morningstar Direct. The Turkish economy has slowed recently as unemployment has risen, but the instability has not hurt Turkish stocks. Other US and international oil funds and ETFs were also at the top of Morningstar Direct’s list. (Morningstar Direct provided CNN Business with a ranking of the best and worst mutual funds and ETFs for 2022, excluding so-called leveraged funds that make outsized bets on stock market indexes.)

☆ Mike Sievert of T-Mobile is the CNN Business CEO of the Year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

T-Mobile’s solid performance on Wall Street was one big reason why CEO Mike Sievert is the CNN Business pick for CEO of the Year. CNN Business spoke to Sievert about how T-Mobile has continued to perform well in a super competitive business. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert talks to employees at a 2022 company event. That has led to higher expenses, but Sievert said T-Mobile is less worried about inflation than other consumer firms. Prepared for more competitionSievert, who has been with T-Mobile since 2012, took over as CEO in 2020 from long-time CEO John Legere.

☆ Dow surges thanks to strong earnings and confident consumers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Stocks surged Wednesday as investors cheered healthy results from two of America’s leading companies and a surprisingly strong reading on consumer sentiment. The Dow was up more than 500 points, or 1.6%, after FedEx (FDX) and Dow component Nike (NKE) each reported earnings that topped analysts’ forecasts. Still, the market could at least finish 2022 on a positive note following strong gains for stocks in both October and November. The jump in sentiment on Main Street came even as more signs point to a continued slowdown in the housing market. But BlackBerry (BB), the former mobile device leader that has since morphed into a cybersecurty company, tumbled 7% to a new 52-week low following a weak outlook.

☆ Disney should spin off ESPN and ABC, analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But one Wall Street analyst has an idea for how Disney could get back on track. Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall thinks Disney should spin off cable sports giant ESPN and traditional TV network ABC… two slow-growth (and some would argue, dying) businesses. Cahall wrote in his report that “we think Bob Iger is returning to {Disney] ready to make big changes. ESPN, in theory, may have an easier time negotiating with sports leagues as part of a pure play media network. “We think ESPN and ABC are integrally linked as the broadcast [network] improves negotiations in sports rights, and we’re seeing more of those sports on both networks,” he wrote.

☆ Housing slump to continue but some hopeful signs ahead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

While that’s already had a negative impact on the housing market, we’ll get more details this week about how much worse the damage has become. A long list of housing data is on tap. On Tuesday the US Census Bureau will report housing starts and building permits figures for November, followed by Friday’s release of new home sales data for the same month. Housing market was frothy, but not a bubbleOthers in the industry are cautiously optimistic as well. That all amounts to a few good reasons why the housing market could avoid a severe and prolonged slump.

☆ Dow and stock market tumbles. So much for an end-of-year rally
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Christmas is just ten days away, and investors are still hoping for a Santa Claus rally. The Dow tumbled more than 700 points, or 2.1%, Thursday, and it is down about 4% in December following solid gains the previous two months. The S&P 500 is now off more than 4% for the month while the Nasdaq has sank 5%. The Fed raised rates by “just” a half of a percentage point Wednesday, as expected. It didn’t help that the government also reported a much bigger drop in retail sales for November than expected on Thursday.

☆ Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are beating the market this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But Warren Buffett has no reason to be worried. Shares of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) are up about 5.5% in 2022. Berkshire has big stakes in Coca-Cola (KO) and Kraft Heinz (KHC), which are each up around 10% this year. Buffett turns 93 next August while Berkshire vice chair and long-time Buffett confidant Charlie Munger will celebrate his 99th birthday on New Year’s Day. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has introduced a bill with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall that would crack down on money laundering in the crypto world.

☆ It’s not the most wonderful time of the year for markets. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The holidays are meant to be the most wonderful time of the year. But for investors, this week just might be the most stressful time of the year. Then there’s the anticipated central bank meeting. “Most central banks will be reluctant to cut rates in 2023 given the need to cool wage growth.”It has all given the equity and fixed markets a jolt. Maybe investors will be able to relax and take a deep breath before the Fed announcement and press conference later that day.

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