New York, January 24, 2026, 09:44 ET — Market closed. Amazon shares rose 2.06% on Friday to close at $239.16. (Google) A report said Amazon could begin another round of corporate layoffs next week. (GeekWire) Nasdaq’s earnings calendar lists Feb. 5 as Amazon’s next earnings date. (Nasdaq) Amazon.com (AMZN.O) shares closed Friday up 2.06% at $239.16, as investors weighed a report that the company w...
New York, January 24, 2026, 09:44 ET — Market closed. Amazon shares rose 2.06% on Friday to close at $239.16. (Google) A report said Amazon could begin another round of corporate layoffs next week. (GeekWire) Nasdaq’s earnings calendar lists Feb. 5 as Amazon’s next earnings date. (Nasdaq) Amazon.com (AMZN.O) shares closed Friday up 2.06% at $239.16, as investors weighed a report that the company was preparing another round of corporate layoffs. (Bloomberg) The timing matters. Amazon has scheduled a Feb. 5 conference call for its fourth-quarter and full-year results, putting costs and hiring back on the front burner for the stock. (Amazon News) Wall Street heads into Monday’s open with a crowded calendar: a Federal Reserve rate decision due Wednesday and a wave of megacap tech earnings next week, including Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Tesla. “Earnings are the driver,” Franklin Templeton strategist Chris Galipeau said. (Reuters) Reuters reported Amazon is planning a second round of corporate job cuts next week as part of a broader effort to trim about 30,000 corporate workers, citing two people familiar with the matter. Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has described prior reductions as “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven,” adding: “You end up with a lot more layers,” as the company tries to shed bureaucracy. (Reuters) The backdrop is jumpy. Friday’s session ended with the Dow down 0.58% while the Nasdaq edged higher, with investors looking for proof that heavy spending on artificial intelligence is translating into revenue. Focus Partners Wealth’s Jason Blackwell said “we feel pretty good about where we are today,” while Janus Henderson’s Julian McManus called it a “show-me” period for results. (Reuters) On the tape, AMZN traded between $234.57 and $240.45 on Friday and logged about 33.78 million shares in volume, data showed. (Investing) The stock is about 7% below its 52-week high of $258.60 set on Nov. 3, 2025, according to FT market data. (FT Ma...
New York, January 24, 2026, 09:33 (ET) — Market closed Alphabet’s non-voting Class C shares (GOOG) slipped 0.7% on Friday, closing at $328.43 New legal and regulatory challenges have emerged for Google, linked to its search business and Waymo. Investors are eyeing the Fed next week and Alphabet’s Feb. 4 earnings for fresh insights into AI monetization Alphabet Inc’s Class C shares (GOOG.O) dipped ...
New York, January 24, 2026, 09:33 (ET) — Market closed Alphabet’s non-voting Class C shares (GOOG) slipped 0.7% on Friday, closing at $328.43 New legal and regulatory challenges have emerged for Google, linked to its search business and Waymo. Investors are eyeing the Fed next week and Alphabet’s Feb. 4 earnings for fresh insights into AI monetization Alphabet Inc’s Class C shares (GOOG.O) dipped 0.7% on Friday, finishing at $328.43 as the market wrapped up for the weekend. Investors weighed a batch of fresh news about Google’s core search unit and Waymo. The timing is crucial. Wall Street reopens Monday, kicking off a week loaded with earnings from major mega-cap tech firms and a Federal Reserve meeting set for Jan. 27–28—events that can jostle the big index movers. “You have to actually put up the revenue growth to justify the run-up in stocks,” said Julian McManus, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, in an interview with Reuters. (Reuters) Alphabet will release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on Wednesday, Feb. 4, with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern, the company announced. Investors will be watching closely to see if AI-driven spending is impacting ad pricing and cloud revenue, beyond just flashy product demos. (Alphabet Investor Relations) A U.S. judge in California ruled that Google must face a consumer antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of striking deals with major tech firms to stifle search competitors. While the judge dismissed claims related to conduct before 2017, the key allegations will move forward for now. Google denies any wrongdoing. (Reuters) Google rolled out a new addition to its AI-driven search this week. The company announced it’s broadening “Personal Intelligence” within AI Mode in Search. U.S. subscribers to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra can now opt in to link their Gmail and Google Photos accounts, letting responses tap into their personal data. (Blog) That push for personalization raises privacy concerns...
Modera Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM - Free Report) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 264,253 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 8,150 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Taiwan Semiconducto...
Modera Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM - Free Report) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 264,253 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 8,150 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $73,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in TSM. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 174.1% in the second quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 159 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get TSM alerts: Sign Up Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Trading Up 2.2% NYSE:TSM opened at $334.73 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $277.04. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. has a one year low of $134.25 and a one year high of $351.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-t...
Peachtree Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,863 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the period. Palantir Technologies accounts for about 1.5% of Peac...
Peachtree Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,863 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the period. Palantir Technologies accounts for about 1.5% of Peachtree Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Palantir Technologies were worth $4,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PLTR. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Palantir Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $450,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 17,130 shares of the company's stock worth $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 4,667 shares during the period. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 17,147 shares of the company's stock worth $1,447,000 after acquiring an additional 4,722 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 39.7% in the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 7,597 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,158 shares during the period. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Palantir Technologies in the second quarter valued at $306,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.65% of the company's stock. Get Palantir Technologies alerts: Sign Up Wall Street Analyst Weigh In PLTR has been the subject of several research reports. ...
Donald Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports if the North American country makes a trade deal with China. Beside that tariff threat, another Trump foreign policy maneuver to make news on Saturday involved the president announcing the US had taken the oil that was on recently seized Venezuelan tankers. The US president wrote on social media that if the Canadia...
Donald Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports if the North American country makes a trade deal with China. Beside that tariff threat, another Trump foreign policy maneuver to make news on Saturday involved the president announcing the US had taken the oil that was on recently seized Venezuelan tankers. The US president wrote on social media that if the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken”. “China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the [US].” Trump has repeatedly invoked tariffs in a bid to bend countries to his will – with some success, though he also repeatedly backed down from his most extreme tariff-related threats. Meanwhile, in a New York Post interview published on Saturday, Trump said US refineries will process the oil which his administration had taken from seized Venezuelan tankers. “Let’s put it this way – they don’t have any oil,” Trump told the Post. “We take the oil.” The oil is being refined in “various places” including Houston, he said. The US military has seized seven Venezuela-linked tankers since the start of Trump’s month-long campaign to control Venezuela’s oil flows. Trump said on Tuesday that his administration had taken 50m barrels of oil out of Venezuela and was selling some of it in the open market. The intercepted vessels either were under US sanctions or said to be part of a “shadow fleet” of ships that disguise their origins to move oil from major sanctioned producers – Iran, Russia or Venezuela. Trump’s Latin American foreign policy has homed in on Venezuela, initially aiming to push the Venezue...
President Trump has once again threatened tariffs of up to 200 percent on French wine, putting pressure on an industry that relies heavily on imports. Wine importer Victor Schwartz, US Wine Trade Alliance president Ben Aneff, and California grape grower Stuart Spencer explain how tariffs could raise prices, reduce choice, hurt restaurants and distributors, and reshape both foreign and domestic win...
President Trump has once again threatened tariffs of up to 200 percent on French wine, putting pressure on an industry that relies heavily on imports. Wine importer Victor Schwartz, US Wine Trade Alliance president Ben Aneff, and California grape grower Stuart Spencer explain how tariffs could raise prices, reduce choice, hurt restaurants and distributors, and reshape both foreign and domestic wine markets. The story reveals why wine has become a pawn in a broader trade battle and what it could mean for American businesses and consumers. (Source: Bloomberg)
This week has been a rollercoaster ride in the tech and auto industry. From Tesla Inc.’s Full Self-Driving system price hike to General Motors’ production shift, there’s a lot to catch up on. Let’s dive into the top stories of the week. Tesla’s FSD Price Hike Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk announced that the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system will see a price increase as the technology improves. M...
This week has been a rollercoaster ride in the tech and auto industry. From Tesla Inc.’s Full Self-Driving system price hike to General Motors’ production shift, there’s a lot to catch up on. Let’s dive into the top stories of the week. Tesla’s FSD Price Hike Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk announced that the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system will see a price increase as the technology improves. Musk shared on social media that the $99/month subscription fee for supervised FSD will rise as the system’s capabilities enhance. The significant value increase will occur once Unsupervised FSD comes into play, allowing users to be on their phone or even sleep during the entire ride. Read the full article here. GM’s Production Shift General Motors Co. is reportedly ending production of its most affordable EV, the Chevrolet Bolt and moving Buick production from China to Kansas. The Detroit-based automaker will also shift production of the Gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox and the upcoming Buick Envision from Mexico and China, respectively, to its facility in Fairfax, Kansas. Read the full article here. Boeing’s Contract Surge U.S. companies, led by Boeing Co., have secured foreign government procurement contracts worth $244 billion in 2025, nearly tripling the total in 2024. The U.S. Commerce Department's International Trade Administration reported that the contracts include about $206 billion in U.S. export content and are expected to support roughly 844,000 American jobs. Read the full article here. NHTSA’s GM Probe The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched a probe into nearly 600,000 General Motors Co. vehicles following engine failure reports. The probe details problems with the company’s L87 6.2L V8 engines, affecting models including the 2021-2024 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, along with the 2021-2024 Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban, and Tahoe, and the 2021-2024 GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, and Yukon XL. Read the full article here. Tesla’s Q4 E...
In south Minneapolis, a special education student logged on for their online class from the basement. They were hiding because immigration agents were banging at the door. A second grader started having a panic attack in the middle of art class because agents had arrested his dad. His teacher had to ask a colleague to watch the other students, bring him outside, and hold him for half an hour to he...
In south Minneapolis, a special education student logged on for their online class from the basement. They were hiding because immigration agents were banging at the door. A second grader started having a panic attack in the middle of art class because agents had arrested his dad. His teacher had to ask a colleague to watch the other students, bring him outside, and hold him for half an hour to help calm him. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained preschooler Liam Ramos and his father when they returned home from school and then flew them to a detention center in Texas. Ramos was one of four students in his school district who have been detained in recent weeks. A photo of him being detained, in his blue bobbled winter hat, has become a symbol for the indiscriminate nature of the Trump administration’s deportation operation. The Trump administration has mobilized 3,000 federal agents who have pervaded the region, arresting people at school bus stops, on morning commutes, at grocery stores and outside churches. The operation has upended the education system, parents and teachers said. Students are struggling to carry on with their lessons, while also carrying grief and fear that they, or their friends, families and caregivers could be taken away. “This is causing so much harm that is going to carry on for decades,” said Kate*, an early childhood educator in Minneapolis who works with mostly Spanish-speaking children and their families. “This is a generational trauma.” ‘How do I explain any of this to her?’ On a recent Thursday morning, at around 7.30am, Jennifer Arnold and her seven-year-old son ducked out of their home in south Minneapolis and knocked on a neighbor’s door to pick up their kid. Arnold shuffled alongside the two children, who crunched and skidded down the ice-coated sidewalk toward their bus stop. Normally, about 20 kids and their parents gather at that stop each morning. “There’s a lot of families with kids in this neighborhood,” Arnold s...
The UK is expected to reduce the amount of foreign steel it allows in tariff-free, as the government looks to protect its domestic industry amid a global glut and a rise in protectionism. Ministers are considering changing the quota system that allows a quantity of the metal to be imported before imposing a 25% levy on anything above that level. Lower tariff-free quotas could be announced in April...
The UK is expected to reduce the amount of foreign steel it allows in tariff-free, as the government looks to protect its domestic industry amid a global glut and a rise in protectionism. Ministers are considering changing the quota system that allows a quantity of the metal to be imported before imposing a 25% levy on anything above that level. Lower tariff-free quotas could be announced in April, for implementation from 1 July, according to three people with knowledge of discussions. The development comes amid a surfeit of steel driven by supplies from China, which is by far the world’s largest producer. Chinese steel exports hit yet another all-time high in December, while other producers such as Vietnam, Korea and Turkey are also trying to find customers. Donald Trump first responded to the glut in March 2018 during his first presidential term with steel tariffs of 25%. He then doubled them to 50% in June last year. The levies, which effectively shut off much of the US market to steel imports – kicked off a wave of protectionism, as producers scrambled to find new buyers, whatever the price, and markets such as the EU and Canada reacted by putting up their own barriers. Imports of steel into the UK are covered by quotas known as safeguards, but these are due to expire in June. The UK is thought to be supportive of new quotas with lower import limits. The government retains control over the British Steel and Speciality Steel steelworks that would be left exposed if the steel safeguards are not replaced. The steel safeguards were first imposed by the EU in 2018 – when the UK was still a member – to prevent a flood of cheap steel redirected from the US. In 2021 the UK adopted the same measures after Brexit and extended them until the end of June 2026. However, World Trade Organization rules mean the measures cannot be extended again. The EU said in October that it would replace its safeguards with 50% tariffs and smaller duty-free quotas. The UK has been forced to ...
Heavy snow and rainfall kill 61, injure 110 over 3 days in Afghanistan toggle caption Mohammad Amin/AP KABUL, Afghanistan — Heavy snow and rainfall over the past three days have killed more than 60 people and injured over 100 across Afghanistan, the country's disaster management authority said Saturday, as authorities in the impoverished country struggled to open roads and gain access to cut-off v...
Heavy snow and rainfall kill 61, injure 110 over 3 days in Afghanistan toggle caption Mohammad Amin/AP KABUL, Afghanistan — Heavy snow and rainfall over the past three days have killed more than 60 people and injured over 100 across Afghanistan, the country's disaster management authority said Saturday, as authorities in the impoverished country struggled to open roads and gain access to cut-off villages. National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Yousaf Hammad said 61 people had died and 110 were injured, while 458 homes had been completely or partially destroyed and hundreds of animals had died in 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The numbers, he said, could change as authorities gathered more information from the provinces. Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, with snow and heavy rain that triggers flash floods often killing dozens, or even hundreds, of people at a time. In 2024, more than 300 people died in springtime flash floods. Sponsor Message Decades of conflict coupled with poor infrastructure, a struggling economy, deforestation and the intensifying effects of climate change have amplified the impact of such disasters, particularly in remote areas where many homes are built of mud and offer limited protection against sudden deluges or heavy snowfall. The country's eastern provinces are also still struggling to recover from devastating earthquakes that struck last year, in late August and again in November, destroying villages and killing more than 2,200 people. Those displaced by the quakes are particularly vulnerable to the extreme cold and bad weather conditions. In December, UNICEF said an estimated 270,000 children in the areas affected by the quakes were at "severe risk of life-threatening diseases related to the cold." Earlier this month, the United Nations said Afghanistan would "remain one of the world's largest humanitarian crises in 2026." The U.N. and its humanitarian partners launched a $1.7 billion appeal to assis...
I’ll confess, with no shame whatsoever, that I really love ads. Artsy ones, funny ones, weird ones, emotional ones — TV commercials were my childhood TikTok before any of us were using terms like “short-form video.” But like most creative things in my life, AI is sucking the joy out of it. And it’s only going to suck harder this year. Ads are mini-movies, posters, illustrations, and photoshoots wi...
I’ll confess, with no shame whatsoever, that I really love ads. Artsy ones, funny ones, weird ones, emotional ones — TV commercials were my childhood TikTok before any of us were using terms like “short-form video.” But like most creative things in my life, AI is sucking the joy out of it. And it’s only going to suck harder this year. Ads are mini-movies, posters, illustrations, and photoshoots with an underlying purpose: to burn whatever product they’re flogging into your brain as quickly as possible. It requires a great deal of creativity, and in some cases, a substantial production budget. And while the creative in me loves to see the fruits of that labor, it also makes ads the ideal testing ground for generative AI technology, as brands race to make content creation faster and cheaper. Many image and video generator models saw huge visual improvements last year, prompting more advertisers to adopt them in campaigns. According to a Marketing Week study, more than half of 1,000 polled brand marketers used some variant of AI in their creative campaigns in 2025. Another study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found that 90 percent of advertisers were using, or planning to use, generative AI for video ads in 2025, and projected that such tools would be used in 40 percent of all ads by 2026. That’s why we’re increasingly seeing AI ads on TV, in magazines, and across social media. Some are upfront about using generative AI, such as Coca-Cola’s sloppy holiday ads, but many aren’t — leaving us to be suspicious of everything we see that appears slightly “off.” Sometimes, that can be humans who give off uncanny valley vibes, like the ads we’ve seen from McDonalds and DoorDash where the people look too polished and move in unnatural ways. Or perhaps CGI and visual effects that morph inconsistently in ways that would be weird for a VFX artist to do intentionally, like this ad for Original Source shower gel. Why does that man’s face keep changing? Why does it keep t...
A Hong Kong travel agency has withdrawn from its role in a trip to Taiwan that centred on a private screening of a movie banned in the city on national security grounds. Jetport Travel on Saturday also distanced itself from promotion of the tour, which was organised by e-commerce platform As One and advertised as a HK$7,199 (US$923) four-trip to the self-ruled island departing late February that i...
A Hong Kong travel agency has withdrawn from its role in a trip to Taiwan that centred on a private screening of a movie banned in the city on national security grounds. Jetport Travel on Saturday also distanced itself from promotion of the tour, which was organised by e-commerce platform As One and advertised as a HK$7,199 (US$923) four-trip to the self-ruled island departing late February that included private screenings of Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai’s films Deadline and A Foggy Tale. “Two films, which cannot be screened in Hong Kong, getting to know human rights development in Taiwan and its cultural landscapes – this is the first time As One is travelling with everyone,” a now-removed post for the tour read. Advertisement Chow, whose past works include Revolution of Our Times, a documentary on the 2019 anti-government protests, revealed last December that Deadline, starring Anthony Wong Chau-sang, was banned in the city after waiting for more than four months for approval. Hong Kong’s Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration refused to elaborate on whether A Foggy Tale could be shown in the city, saying it could not comment on the applications of individual films. Advertisement As One announced on Friday night that Hong Kong’s Travel Industry Authority had asked it to remove online posts promoting the tour.
NEW YORK, Jan 24, 2026, 09:34 (EST) — Market closed. Shares of Nvidia Corporation rose on Friday after Bloomberg News reported Chinese officials told some of the country’s biggest tech firms they could prepare orders for the company’s H200 artificial intelligence chips. With U.S. markets shut on Saturday, traders head into Monday looking for any sign the prep work turns into a formal green light. ...
NEW YORK, Jan 24, 2026, 09:34 (EST) — Market closed. Shares of Nvidia Corporation rose on Friday after Bloomberg News reported Chinese officials told some of the country’s biggest tech firms they could prepare orders for the company’s H200 artificial intelligence chips. With U.S. markets shut on Saturday, traders head into Monday looking for any sign the prep work turns into a formal green light. (Bloomberg) China has become a swing factor for Nvidia’s newest data-center chips. Investors treat every hint out of Beijing as a demand signal — or as a warning that sales could stay boxed in. That matters now because next week brings a flood of results from the “Magnificent Seven” — the biggest U.S. tech stocks — and investors will listen for any change in data-center budgets. Nvidia often trades as a proxy for that spending. Nvidia (NVDA.O) closed up $2.83, or about 1.5%, at $187.67 on Friday. The stock traded between $183.50 and $189.45 during the session. Wall Street ended a volatile week with the Dow down 0.58% on Friday, while the S&P 500 was nearly flat and the Nasdaq rose 0.28%. Intel tumbled 17% after a downbeat forecast, but most megacap tech shares rose, and a Janus Henderson portfolio manager called it a “show-me” period for the AI trade. (Reuters) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was in Shanghai on Saturday, a person briefed on the matter said, as the U.S. chip giant faces tougher scrutiny in China and rising competition from local rivals. Nvidia is waiting for Beijing to decide whether the H200 can be sold to Chinese customers, and customs agents have been told the chip is not permitted to enter China, though it was unclear whether that amounted to a formal ban or a temporary step. (Reuters) The H200 is an advanced graphics-processing chip used in servers that train and run large AI models, and it sits near the top of Nvidia’s data-center line-up. Any clearer path for shipments to China would give investors another read on demand, not just for one product but for the ...