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☆ ExodusPoint's 2022 struggles is a lesson for all of Wall Street: Play the hits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I shudder to compare some of the greatest artists of our generation to a hedge fund, but I can't help but notice some similarities between their disdain for their biggest hits and ExodusPoint's difficult 2022. The hedge fund, which still holds the industry's largest launch in history, ended the year with fewer assets, employees, and PMs than it started with. The world's biggest hedge fund has a new co-CIO. Ken Griffin, the billionaire owner of hedge fund Citadel, is causing quite the stir over his suggestion that a historic home on a property he owns in Miami be relocated. The firm continues to cut back on the size of a venture-capital fund its raising, The Wall Street Journal reports, with a new goal of $5 billion.

☆ AMD Shines Through Intel’s Dark Cloud
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AMD CEO Lisa Su at an event in Las Vegas earlier this year. For Advanced Micro Devices , it seems enough these days to simply not be Intel. Fourth-quarter results for the chip maker better known as AMD were mixed at best. Overall revenue of $5.6 billion slightly beat Wall Street’s forecasts thanks to strength in the company’s videogame business, which includes processors for the Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

☆ Republican U.S. lawmaker meets with TikTok, but unpersuaded
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Representative Mike Gallagher met with TikTok on Wednesday about the Chinese-owned short video app's U.S. data security plans but still plans to seek to ban TikTok in the United States, a spokesperson for the lawmaker said. Gallagher, the Republican chair of a U.S. House of Representatives select committee on China, met with Will Farrell, interim security officer at TikTok U.S Data Security. The lawmaker "appreciated their time but found their argument unpersuasive," Gallagher spokesperson Jordan Dunn said. Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Adidas wants to become the sportswear brand of choice for Gen Z shoppers as it launches a collection aimed at taking on Nike
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Adidas unveiled a new brand targeted at Gen Z shoppers this week. Dubbed Sportswear, Adidas' new collection has reportedly been 18 months in the making. Its launch comes just months after Adidas shut down its Yeezy brand, a collaboration with Kanye West that was popular with Gen Z shoppers. Nike is frequently ranked as the top sportswear brand among teen shoppers. Adidas describes its Sportswear collection as "sport for style" – clothing for everyday wear that includes items such as football jerseys, dresses, and fresh takes on its iconic three-stripe tracksuit.

☆ EA Shows Why Mobile Games Are a Minefield
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When one of the biggest videogame makers in the business gets hung up in the mobile end of the market, it can say something for the whole industry. With annual revenue now over $7 billion, Electronic Arts is the largest stand-alone game publisher in the U.S. save for Activision Blizzard . EA also has a few games capable of generating more than $1 billion a year on their own, including “Apex Legends.” The battle-royale style shooter was EA’s answer to the blockbuster “Fortnite” and has been a resounding success since its surprise launch in 2019 for consoles and PCs. Analysts estimate the game’s total revenue has surpassed that of “Madden NFL” to become EA’s second-biggest property next to the blockbuster soccer franchise “FIFA,” according to Visible Alpha.

☆ Spotify Faces Some of the Music
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Talk hasn’t been cheap for Spotify. Neither has anything else lately. The music streamer’s fourth-quarter results Tuesday morning showed both the costs and benefits of a surge in investments across the business. The company added a record 33 million total monthly active users during the quarter, while the 10 million new paid subscribers was more than it added in all but two previous quarters. Both also exceeded Wall Street’s forecasts for the period, helping to send Spotify’s stock price up 13% Tuesday.

☆ TikTok CEO to testify before Congress in March amid app security questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Rose Horowitch | Rose Horowitch Is An Intern With Nbc News Digital Politics. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before Congress in March to field questions about the viral video app's security measures amid mounting efforts to ban it because of privacy concerns. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has come under increased scrutiny after media reports showed possible security breaches. Several lawmakers are supporting legislation to ban the app from the U.S. entirely. The ban Biden approved, which was wrapped into the omnibus spending bill, included limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security and security research purposes. Last month Congress banned it on all government devices.

☆ Stocks face their biggest test of the year this week as early-year gains stir excitement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Earnings : More than 20% of the S & P 500 will report this week; by next Friday, 50% of the S & P will have reported. Craig Johnson at PiperSandler noted that 66% of all S & P 500 stocks are above their 200-day moving averages. It's not just the big-cap S & P 500 that is advancing: So are small-caps. The S & P High-Beta ETF is up 16% this month, at its highest levels since April of 2022. If that holds, it's the first positive January for the S & P 500 since 2019, when it was up 7.9%.

☆ Salesforce Can Bid Aloha to Big Deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Marc Benioff co-founded Salesforce and has run it for more than two decades. Much is uncertain at Salesforce these days, save for this: The days of the company chasing major M&A deals are over for a long while. The cloud software pioneer is experiencing the most significant slowdown in its history and has thus drawn the attention of activist investors. The latest is Elliott Management, which confirmed a major stake in the company earlier this week. It is already preparing an alternative slate of directors for the company’s board, according to The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Intel’s Leap of Faith Turns Into a Lurch
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

There is never a great time to spend obscene amounts of money fixing problems years in the making. Intel’s fourth-quarter results late Thursday closed out one of the roughest years in the storied Silicon Valley giant’s long history. Revenue for the year fell 20%—the worst annual decline the company has seen since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001. The recent downturn is driven by shriveling sales in its two key businesses: personal computers and data centers. Both got worse as the year progressed, resulting in fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted operating income coming in well below Wall Street’s forecasts.

☆ Texas Instruments Has a Lot Riding on Auto Chip Pileup
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Texas Instruments just projected its biggest sales slowdown in three years. Wall Street almost seems disappointed it isn’t worse. The chipmaker’s fourth-quarter results late Tuesday reflected the sharp downturn in demand being felt across many of the sector’s end markets. Revenue growth went negative on a year-over-year basis for the first time since early 2020 as the company noted declining sales to its industrial market as well as segments reflecting communications equipment, personal electronics and gear used in data centers.

☆ Sen. Josh Hawley says he'll introduce legislation to ban TikTok nationwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has announced he plans to introduce legislation Wednesday that would ban the popular social media app TikTok in the United States. Now I will introduce legislation to ban it nationwide." "But listen, I welcome all efforts to ban TikTok, of whatever form it takes." Under that measure, the president could impose sanctions on TikTok and other social media companies to prevent commercial operation in the U.S. Several states have also taken steps to prohibit the use of TikTok on government devices.

☆ Gucci and Louis Vuitton Need New Designers. Inside the Open Tryouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS—Men’s fashion week, which concluded Sunday, simmered with the speculative atmosphere of an NBA locker room just before the league’s trade deadline. In front rows and corner brasseries, buyers and critics eagerly discussed who will fill two of the industry’s most significant open design positions: that of Louis Vuitton ‘s men’s creative director, previously held by Virgil Abloh, who died at 41 in November 2021, and Gucci’s creative directorship, from which eccentric Italian designer Alessandro Michele stepped down in November 2022. Beyond those vacancies, it’s an open question which current designers will renew their contracts at the major luxury houses. It’s looking to be, to borrow a sports term, a silly season ahead.

☆ Microsoft’s Cloud Doesn’t Quite Cover All
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Demand for Windows operating-system software has fallen with sales of the personal computers that use it. Microsoft ’s latest results are like a blast from the past—and not in a good way. The software titan has come a long way from the days when it depended on its ubiquitous Windows operating system. But it is still a lucrative business—enough so that a slump in personal computer sales can weigh on Microsoft’s financial results. And a slump this is; IDC reported earlier this month that PC unit sales slid 28% year over year during the December quarter—the biggest drop tracked by the market research firm’s numbers going at least back to 2015.

McCarthy made good on his promise to block former House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell — both California Democrats — from serving on that panel. In addition to keeping Schiff and Swalwell off the Intelligence Committee, McCarthy previously said he intended to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who backed McCarthy but has caused headaches for GOP leadership in the past, also got a slot on the panel. The coronavirus committeeRep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, will chair the special committee investigating the spread of the coronavirus. Last week, McCarthy named GOP members to a third select committee, focused on competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party.

☆ TikTok and its parent company spent about $5.4 million on federal lobbying last year as it faced renewed threats of a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance spent about $5.4 million on federal lobbying in 2022. TikTok and its parent company ByteDance spent about $5.4 million on federal lobbying in 2022, a roughly 4% increase from the previous year, according to year-end disclosures filed by the companies and their hired lobbying firms on Friday. While ByteDance's and TikTok's lobbying spend remained relatively flat between 2021 and 2022, both years represented a significant spike from 2020 when the companies spent around $2.6 million. In late 2020, the Trump administration attempted to ban TikTok's app from US app stores. TikTok's app has faced similar government-device bans at the state level.

☆ Two of Fashion’s Biggest Jobs Are Unfilled. Inside the Open Tryouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] A woman takes pictures of the China Development Bank booth at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China September 3, 2021. Commitments made to 100 developing nations by the Export-Import Bank of China (China EximBank) and the China Development Bank (CDB) have fallen every year since hitting a record in 2016 as the lenders scaled back financing even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. "We expect an overall shift toward lower volume, higher quality investment from China," Kevin Gallagher, director of the university's Global Development Policy Center, told Reuters. Reuters GraphicsWORLD BANK STEPS INWhile Chinese lending has been waning, World Bank lending has ramped up, the study found. Overall, China's commitments were 83% of the $601 billion lent by the World Bank from 2008-2021.

☆ Japan whaling firm pins hopes on vending machines to revive sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Chris Gallagher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] A customer buys whale meat on the opening day of the shop by a Japanese whale-hunting company with vending machines, in Yokohama, Japan, January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Androniki ChristodoulouYOKOHAMA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Japanese whaling firm unveiled vending machines offering whale sashimi, whale steak and whale bacon in Yokohama on Tuesday in hopes of reviving sales of a food long in decline and shunned by many supermarkets. At its peak in 1962, annual whale meat consumption was 233,000 tonnes. Conservationists say moves to promote whale meat are desperate attempts to revive interest in a struggling business. Whale meat advocates point to its high protein content and low carbon footprint compared with other meats.

☆ Microsoft Faces the Highest Bar in Tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Microsoft might be planning to do more with less. Investors expect it to do a lot more. The software giant is heading into its second fiscal quarter earnings report on Tuesday facing a slumping PC market, a slowing corporate software market and even unclear demand for its once-hot cloud computing services.

☆ Netflix’s New Look Is Already Catching On
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Netflix viewers love a good mystery, but the streaming giant wisely isn’t keeping investors completely in the dark as it enters a new phase of life. The company’s fourth-quarter report Thursday afternoon contained a few pleasant surprises. About 7.7 million net new subscribers were added during the period—70% more than the company had previously forecast. Revenue also slightly exceeded its projection, suggesting that the new advertising-based service tier launched during the period didn’t spark a massive trade-down among current subscribers from more expensive plans. The recent quarter benefited from strong programming that includes the popular Addams family spinoff series “Wednesday” and the movie “Glass Onion.” The latter, a quasi-sequel to “Knives Out,” is now the fourth most popular movie ever on Netflix despite a weeklong run in movie theaters before its streaming release.

When I looked at how much we were spending on my dad, I wondered if I could list him as a dependent. Tax dependents are more than just childrenFirst, a little tax 101: A dependent is a qualified person whose living expenses you pay for. You can "claim" dependents on your taxes, which lower the amount of taxes you have to pay. "Generally, parents who live in a nursing home cannot be claimed as dependents," Gallagher told me. I won't be claiming my dad on my taxes, but I will be paying more attention to how much I spend on him.

☆ Microsoft and Google Will Both Have to Bear AI’s Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Competition for Google has long been just a click away. But even Microsoft might find the cost of serving those clicks to be quite high in an AI-driven world—especially when even highly profitable tech giants have to closely mind their bottom lines. Microsoft said Tuesday that it is moving quickly to incorporate artificial intelligence tools from OpenAI into its products and services. This includes OpenAI’s chatbot called ChatGPT, which launched just over a month ago and has skyrocketed in popularity as users have flocked to the tool, which spits out conversational answers to queries and—much to the chagrin of educators everywhere—can also pen full essays and even poems.

☆ The Most Vital Clothing Item of the Moment Is…the Tuxedo?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/milan-mens-fashion-week-tuxedos-11673980081

☆ We asked House lawmakers about scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos. Most Republicans want nothing to do with him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

But Santos is clearly a problem for House Republicans. But three days later, Miller — who actually represents Ohio's 7th district — became the eighth House Republican to publicly call for Santos to resign. said Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who said that Santos "seems nice" even as he appeared unaware of the extent of his controversies. At a press conference on Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pointedly declared that Santos was "an issue that Republicans need to handle." Santos and Ocasio-Cortez briefly spoke on the sidelines of a gaggle of GOP lawmakers on the House floor on Wednesday, January 4.

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