Regional Bank Stocks Fall After New York Community Bancorp Cuts Dividend, Posts Loss - The Wall Street Journal

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1. Regional Bank Stocks Fall After New York Community Bancorp Cuts Dividend, Posts Loss  The Wall Street Journal
2. New York Community Bancorp Stock Plunges 38%, Reigniting Fears for Regional Banks  The Wall Street Journal
3. NY Community Bancorp's (NYCB) Surprise Loss Is a Warning to Real Estate Lenders  Bloomberg
4. US bank stocks sink after New York Community Bancorp cuts dividend  Reuters
5. Moody's puts New York Community Bancorp on review for downgrade  Yahoo Finance

Regional Bank Stocks Fall After New York Community Bancorp Cuts Dividend, Posts Loss - The Wall Street Journal
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Child Safety Hearing: Tech Chiefs From Meta, TikTok and Others to Testify on Child Safety Online - The New York Times

Hours before Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, was set to testify on Wednesday about child safety online, lawmakers released internal documents showing how his company had rejected calls to bulk up on resources to combat the problem.

In 90 pages of internal emails from fall 2021, top officials at Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, debated the addition of dozens of engineers and other employees to focus on children’s well-being and safety. One proposal to Mr. Zuckerberg for 45 new staff members was declined.

The documents, which are being released in full for the first time, were cited in a lawsuit last year by 33 state attorneys general who accused Meta of getting young users hooked on its apps. They contradict statements from company executives, including the head of global safety and the head of Instagram, who testified in congressional hearings on child safety during that period that they prioritized the well-being of their youngest users and would work harder to combat harmful content on their platform.

Mr. Zuckerberg, who will be testifying before Congress on Wednesday for the eighth time, is in the hot seat to defend Meta’s lack of investment in child safety amid rising complaints of toxic and harmful content online, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, who released the emails with Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee.

“The hypocrisy is mind-boggling,” Mr. Blumenthal said in an interview. “We’ve heard time and time again how much they care and are working on this but the documents show a very different picture.”

Meta has created more than 30 tools to help protect teens, and it has a “robust” team overseeing youth well-being, Andy Stone, a Meta spokesman, said in a statement, adding that “these cherry-picked documents do not provide the full context of how the company operates or what decisions were made.”

Included in the emails were Mr. Zuckerberg; the former chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg; and Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs, though they didn’t always reply. The emails show senior executives quibbling over budgets and head counts while also acknowledging regulatory threats related to their handling of teenage users.

One incident revealed in the documents was a request by Mr. Clegg in August 2021 for the 45 new staff members. It was rejected and he returned to Mr. Zuckerberg in November with a scaled-down proposal for 32 new hires. It is unclear what Mr. Zuckerberg decided.

Mr. Clegg wrote that the company was failing to meet goals to prevent bullying and harassment and other harmful activities on Instagram and Facebook and warned that global regulators could take action.

He said the investment in staff would enable the company to “stand behind our external narrative of well-being on our apps.”

Before the release of these documents, Mr. Zuckerberg’s plans for the hearing included speaking about the difficulties of being a parent in the digital age, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. He also planned to defend Meta by pointing to the dozens of tools the company had rolled out over the past eight years to give parents more control.

Meta has roughly 40,000 people working on safety and security issues across its apps, according to the prepared testimony, and it has invested more than $20 billion in those efforts since 2016. Nearly a quarter of that investment was spent over the past year. It is unclear how much of the $20 billion is dedicated to child safety.

A major line of questioning on Wednesday is expected to focus on how apps verify users’ ages, since the company bars users younger than 13.

At the hearing, Mr. Zuckerberg plans to suggest that Apple bear the responsibility for verifying ages via its App Store, according to his prepared remarks. He also plans to encourage legislation that will require teenagers to seek parental approval for downloading apps.

Mr. Zuckerberg has long positioned Meta — and the internet writ large — as a place for both good and ill. He has said that his company’s job is to elevate the good while doing its best to mitigate the harms. He also plans to emphasize how the internet can be a positive place for people, including children, according to his prepared remarks.

“They use our apps to feel more connected, informed and entertained, as well as to express themselves, create things and explore their interests,” he plans to say according to his prepared remarks. “Overall, teens tell us this is a positive part of their lives.”

A correction was made on 

Jan. 31, 2024

: 

An earlier version of this article incorrectly described a proposal to add 45 staff members at Meta. It is less than 1 percent of Meta’s total employees, not 1 percent.

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Child Safety Hearing: Tech Chiefs From Meta, TikTok and Others to Testify on Child Safety Online - The New York Times
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New York sues Citibank for alleged failure to reimburse fraud victims - CNBC

In this article

• C

A Citibank branch in the central business district of Singapore on Feb. 12, 2018.

Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday sued Citibank for allegedly failing to protect and reimburse victims of electronic fraud.

The suit claims that Citi does not have strong protections in place to prevent unauthorized account takeovers, misleads victims of fraud and illegally denies reimbursements, according to a release. The attorney general's office said the alleged failure on Citi's part has cost New York account holders millions of dollars, and in some cases, their entire life savings.

"Banks are supposed to be the safest place to keep money, yet Citi's negligence has allowed scammers to steal millions of dollars from hardworking people," James said in a statement. "Many New Yorkers rely on online banking to pay bills or save for big milestones, and if a bank cannot secure its customers' accounts, they are failing in their most basic duty."

Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, has struggled with risk management and controls in the past. Former executives have said the bank — the product of decades of mergers that created a patchwork of technology systems — underinvested in its infrastructure. That was evident when Citigroup accidentally sent almost $900 million to Revlon's lenders in 2020.

Later that year, banking regulators fined Citigroup $400 million and ordered the firm to improve its risk management systems. Since taking over in 2021, CEO Jane Fraser has pushed to improve the bank's technology and appease regulators.

The New York lawsuit includes specific people who had thousands of dollars stolen from their accounts and said the bank did not reimburse them.

In a statement, Citi said the bank "works extremely hard" to prevent threats and assist customers who become victims of fraud.

"Banks are not required to make customers whole when those customers follow criminals' instructions and banks can see no indication the customers are being deceived. However, given the industry-wide surge in wire fraud during the last several years, we've taken proactive steps to safeguard our clients' accounts with leading security protocols, intuitive fraud prevention tools, clear insights about the latest scams, and driving client awareness and education," the company said in a statement. "Our actions have reduced client wire fraud losses significantly, and we remain committed to investing in fraud prevention measures to help our clients secure their accounts against emerging threats."

James alleged in the lawsuit that Citi must reimburse victims of fraud under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.

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What To Watch: Federal Reserve Meeting - Yahoo Finance

A busy January ends with a Fed decision high on expectations, despite zero chance of any actual move on rates. The central bank is likely to hold its benchmark rate steady at a 22-year high of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent for the fourth straight meeting. Here’s what you need to know:

#1 The Economic Backdrop:

The Fed’s first meeting of 2024 comes at a time of economic expansion. It may be backwards looking, but 3.3 percent GDP growth in the fourth quarter has us asking yet again: what recession? Then there’s inflation, we know it’s finally heading back down toward that much sought after 2 percent level. Sounds like the perfect recipe for cuts - but is it?

#2 March is the Word:

Investors have put the second meeting of 2024 on the table for the first rate cut, but will the Fed nod in that direction? The Cleveland Fed’s Loretta Mester says that’s "probably" too early. Fed Governor Christopher Waller seems to agree, this month effectively saying ‘fools rush in’ - and cuts should be implemented ‘methodically and carefully.’ Then there’s Austan Goolsbee of the Chicago Fed; he needs to see more data…

#3 The Balance Sheet:

It may not be the most exciting part of the Fed’s activities, but it does have potentially serious implications for investors. At the start of the pandemic the Fed started boosting its balance sheet - in part through buying lots of treasuries. That’s known as Quantitative Easing. The reversal of that process - known as QT or quantitative tightening started in 2022. Now the future of that policy is increasingly becoming a talking point for investors. We’ll be across all the action in a critical meeting for the Fed right here on Yahoo Finance. Don’t miss it.

Video Transcript

- A busy January ends with a Fed decision high on expectations despite zero chance of any actual move on rates. The central bank is likely to hold its benchmark rate steady at a 22-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% for the fourth straight meeting. Here's what you need to know.

Number one, the economic backdrop. The Fed's first meeting of 2024 comes at a time of economic expansion and may be backwards-looking, but 3.3% GDP growth in the fourth quarter has us asking yet again, what recession? Then there's inflation. We know it's finally heading back down toward that much sought after 2% level. Sounds like the perfect recipe for cuts, but is it?

Number two, March is the word. Investors have put the second meaning of 2024 on the table for the first rate cut. But will the Fed nod in that direction? The Cleveland Fed's Loretta Mester says that's probably too early. Fed Governor Christopher Waller seems to agree, this month, effectively saying, fools rush in and cuts should be implemented methodically and carefully. Then there's Austan Goolsbee of the Chicago Fed. He needs to see more data.

Number three, the balance sheet. It may not be the most exciting part of the Fed's activities, but it does have potentially serious implications for investors. At the start of the pandemic, the Fed started boosting its balance sheet in part through buying lots of treasuries. That's known as quantitative easing. The reversal of that process, known as QT, or Quantitative Tightening, started in 2022. Now the future of that policy is increasingly becoming a talking point for investors.

We'll be across all the action and the critical meeting for the Fed right here on Yahoo Finance. Don't miss it.

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Burger King adding new Candied Bacon Whopper, Fiery Big Fish to menu - USA TODAY

Burger King will soon offer more options to "have it your way" - this time with lots of bacon.

Burger King confirmed the release of two new menu items to USA TODAY, with more "big" news to come next week. One limited-time product, a sweet, bacon-heavy twist on the classic Whopper, is already available at restaurants as of Jan. 29, while a spicy update to its crispy fish sandwich is set for next month.

News of the new items was anticipated by fans after popular food and snack news account Snackolator posted about the upcoming burger, along with food influencer Markie Devo.

Burger King's official social media is also teasing more announcements to come on Feb. 5, leaving fans to wonder what else is in store.

For now, here's what we know about the new Candied Bacon Whopper and Fiery Big Fish sandwiches.

Burger King Candied Bacon Whopper

A Burger King representative told USA TODAY about the Candied Bacon Whopper, which features the classic Whopper flame-grilled beef patty, tomatoes, lettuce and sesame seed bun. Crispy fried onions, garlic aioli, sweet bacon jam and brown sugar candied bacon top the new sweet, meaty sandwich.

The new Candied Bacon Whopper will be available at participating restaurants nationwide starting Monday, Jan 29. The item is limited edition and only while supplies last, so visit a store in person soon if you want to get your hands on it.

National Croissant Day 2024:Burger King's special breakfast offer plus other deals

Fiery Big Fish

Wendy's breakfast items:Wendy's adds breakfast burrito to morning menu

Burger King also told USA TODAY that the classic Big Fish sandwich will be getting the spicy treatment for a limited time just in time for Lent. At participating locations, customers can get the Fiery Big Fish, a twist on the classic that comes with lettuce, pickles, tartar sauce and a spicy glaze on a brioche-style bun, starting Feb. 14.

The classic Big Fish will also be part of a special for Royals Perks members. From Feb. 14 - March 28, subscribers to the free loyalty program can get a Big Fish for $2 with the purchase of a full-price item.

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Trump vs. Biden: How the 2024 election could affect Exxon, Nvidia, and other stocks - Yahoo Finance

A likely Biden-Trump rematch is top of mind for investors, as former president Donald Trump moves closer to clinching the GOP nomination.

For investors, history suggests a strong pre-election year will carry over into the following year. Analysis from Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick found the S&P 500 has recorded gains every election year after a 20%-plus gain in the pre-election year.

And while history shows stocks usually go up regardless of which party is in the White House, analysis from Goldman Sachs found that tech is usually the worst performing sector in the year leading up to the general election, while utilities and consumer staples tend to outperform.

In the near term, President Biden’s green energy push, crackdown on fossil fuels, and escalating tech war with China are among top issues for investors. For Trump, the former president’s trade agenda, along with his pledge to "drill baby, drill," have different implications for stock portfolios.

Record profits for big oil

Energy policy will likely be a priority for both side of the aisle in November.

Though critics of Biden’s renewable energy push argue he's waged a war on fossil fuels, the sector has performed quite well under the current administration. Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) have reported record profits, and US oil production has hit record levels.

But Trump’s campaign promise to deregulate energy production and abolish current renewable energy subsidies will be another boon to the oil industry, according to Keith Bliss, global head of markets and strategy for BloxCross.

"Big oil will be able to export as much as possible to new markets," Bliss told Yahoo Finance. "When you sum up the reduction in cost, the access to new markets, the reduction in regulation costs, and the ability to produce additional products with increased feedstock, then Big Oil will make even more money."

On the other hand, Bliss warns oil giants will "struggle" if President Biden is re-elected, arguing the administration will likely become "more aggressive."

Crackdown on China

No matter who wins, some industries will be facing an uphill battle.

Both Trump and Biden’s aggressive stances towards China have the potential to "rattle investors and corporate decision makers," warned China Beige Book’s Shehzad Qazi.

"I think we're going to see a lot of aggressive maneuvers on the China front," Qazi told Yahoo Finance.

Trump’s decision to target China with tariffs as high as 25% during his first term put investors on edge, while Biden's initiatives to crack down on China’s technological advancements placed chip giants in the crosshairs.

Portfolio Wealth Advisors president Lee Munson warns that while neither candidate is good news for chipmakers like Nvidia, Trump could pose a bigger risk.

"Biden has not been friendly to China, but Trump's going to be even worse," Munson told Yahoo Finance Live. "When you look at Trump, he's mercurial and could just cut off the tap…. And tell Nvidia they can’t sell anything."

A total ban could be a massive hit to American chip giants. China accounted for about one-third of the sector’s global sales in 2023, with AI leaders like Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD) generating at least 20% of their revenue from the country.

"Companies that rely on China for sales or for supply chains are going to have to adapt," Munson added.

Automakers struggle with EV costs

Since Biden took office, electric vehicles sales have more than quadrupled, as automakers jumped on board with the administration's ambitious EV-sales goals. But the transition is proving costly for traditional automakers.

Ford (F) recorded a $1.3 billion loss in its EV division in its most recent quarter; General Motors (GM) is also losing money on its EVs.

"They haven't figured out the EV market yet, and if Biden comes back in, the government will keep pushing the EV story," Bliss said. "The Big Three could continue to struggle."

Higher manufacturing costs have driven up EVs' price tags, making affordability an issue. Ford CEO Jim Farley told Yahoo Finance earlier this month that the company needs to lower their costs to succeed.

"We're seeing mainstream customers who are interested in EVs, but they're not convinced, and they're not going to pay a big premium," Farley said. "So what it means for the [manufacturers] is cost — we have to dramatically reduce the cost."

Trump targets ESG

Investments that take into account environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have become a top target for Republicans ahead of the 2024 election.

Trump has been vocal about his opposition to ESG initiatives in the past, promising to support "a law to keep politics away from Americans’ retirement accounts forever."

During the final months of his term, he pushed to discourage employers from considering ESG issues for retirement plans, a rule later reversed by Biden.

The increased skepticism and scrutiny of sustainable funds from politicians and regulators has had a chilling effect on fund flows. Investors pulled a total of $13 billion from US sustainable funds in 2023, the worst year on record according to Morningstar's data.

Seana Smith is an anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Smith on Twitter @SeanaNSmith. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email seanasmith@yahooinc.com.

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Icon of the Seas: World's largest cruise ship to set sail from Miami - BBC.com

Tribune News Service via Getty Images

The 20-deck Icon of the Seas boasts seven swimming pools, six waterslides, and more than 40 restaurants, bars and lounges

The world's largest cruise ship is due to set sail from Miami, Florida, on its maiden voyage, amid concerns about the vessel's methane emissions.

The 365m-long (1,197 ft) Icon of the Seas has 20 decks, and can house a maximum of 7,600 passengers on board. It is owned by Royal Caribbean Group.

The vessel is going on a seven-day island-hopping voyage in the tropics.

But environmentalists warn that the liquefied natural gas-powered ship will leak harmful methane into the air.

"It's a step in the wrong direction," Bryan Comer, director of the Marine Programme at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

"We would estimate that using LNG as a marine fuel emits over 120% more life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions than marine gas oil," he said.

Earlier this week, the ICCT released a report, arguing that methane emissions from LNG-fuelled ships were higher than current regulations assumed.

LNG burns more cleanly than traditional marine fuels such as fuel oil, but there is a risk of leakage.

A powerful greenhouse gas, methane in the atmosphere traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over 20 years. Cutting these emissions is seen as crucial to slowing down global warming.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson is quoted by media outlets as saying that Icon of the Seas is 24% more energy efficient than required the International Maritime Organization for modern ships. The company plans to introduce a net-zero ship by 2035.

On Thursday, Argentina's World Cup winning captain Lionel Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami, took part in the ship's naming ceremony. He was seen placing a football on a specially-built stand to trigger the traditional "good luck" breaking of a champagne bottle against the vessel's bow.

Icon of the Seas cost $2bn (£1.6bn) to build. It now boasts seven swimming pools, six waterslides, and more than 40 restaurants, bars and lounges.

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Post Office chairman Henry Staunton steps down - BBC.com

By Kathryn ArmstrongBBC News

BBC

Henry Staunton had been the Post Office chairman since December 2022

The Post Office chairman has stepped down amid ongoing tensions after the Horizon IT scandal that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said she and Henry Staunton parted ways with mutual consent, as the Post Office was under heightened scrutiny and she "felt there was a need for new leadership".

But the Post Office said in a statement that he had been asked to leave.

An interim chair is expected to be appointed shortly.

Mr Staunton had been in the role at the state-owned company since December 2022.

Prior to this, he had worked on the board of companies ranging from ITV to WH Smith.

The Post Office spokesperson said: "On Saturday afternoon, the Post Office was informed that the business and trade secretary had asked Henry Staunton to stand down as chairman of the Post Office.

"We have been advised by the government that they will appoint an interim chairman shortly."

The government has not responded to requests from the BBC to provide a reason for Mr Staunton's dismissal.

It comes as the Post Office is reeling from the fallout from the Horizon scandal, which has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history.

More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty accounting software Horizon made it look as though money was missing from their shops.

Many of those affected were financially ruined.

The issue recently came to wider public attention after it was depicted in an ITV drama. and public anger led to the former Post Office boss Paula Vennells handing back her CBE.

Senior figures from the Post Office and the technology firm Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon software, are currently facing questions at a public inquiry over what happened.

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JetBlue Says It May Back Out of Deal to Acquire Spirit Airlines - The New York Times

Spirit said it saw “no basis” for termination. Just last week, both airlines said they intended to appeal a judge’s decision blocking the deal.

JetBlue Airways said on Friday that it might back out of a $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit Airlines after a federal judge blocked the deal.

The announcement came just a week after JetBlue and Spirit had said they would appeal the decision, which was made in an antitrust case brought by the Justice Department.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, JetBlue said the deal could be terminated after Sunday if certain conditions weren’t met. Spirit said in its own filing that it disagreed with JetBlue and believed “there is no basis for terminating” the deal.

A federal judge in Boston blocked the proposed merger on Jan. 16, ruling that Spirit plays an important role in keeping airline fares low and that a takeover by JetBlue would hurt travelers. The ruling was a win for the Justice Department, which under President Biden has sought to limit corporate consolidation across the economy.

The agreement has an expiration date of Jan. 28, and if certain conditions are met that date is automatically extended to July 24. JetBlue appears to be arguing that Spirit has not met its end of the bargain, allowing JetBlue to walk away from the deal on or after Sunday.

As part of the merger agreement, JetBlue agreed to pay Spirit and its shareholders a combined $470 million if regulators blocked the deal.

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Cruise Says Hostility to Regulators Led to Grounding of Its Autonomous Cars - The New York Times

A law firm’s review found that executives had failed to fully explain an October crash, which the Justice Department is also investigating.

Cruise, the driverless car subsidiary of General Motors, said in a report on Thursday that an adversarial approach taken by its top executives toward regulators had led to a cascade of events that ended with a nationwide suspension of Cruise’s fleet and investigations by California and federal authorities, including the Justice Department.

The roughly 100-page report was compiled by a law firm that Cruise and G.M. hired to look into whether Cruise’s executives had misled California regulators about an October crash in San Francisco in which one of its vehicles dragged a woman 20 feet. The review found that while the executives had not intentionally misled state officials, they had failed to explain key details about the incident.

In meetings with regulators, the executives let a video of the crash “speak for itself” rather than fully explain how one of its vehicles — part of Cruise’s autonomous taxi service in the city — severely injured the pedestrian. The executives later fixated on protecting Cruise’s reputation rather than giving a full account of the incident to the public and media, according to the report, which was written by the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan law firm.

Cruise also said the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as state agencies and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, were investigating how it had handled the incident.

The report is central to Cruise’s efforts to regain the public’s trust and eventually restart its business. Cruise has been largely shut down since October, when the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended its license to operate because its vehicles were unsafe and the company misrepresented the incident. It responded by pulling its driverless cars off the road across the country, laying off a quarter of its staff and replacing Kyle Vogt, its co-founder and chief executive, who resigned in November, with new leaders.

Cruise didn’t name Mr. Vogt in a blog post summarizing the law firm’s review, but he was named throughout the report. Mr. Vogt declined to comment.

The summary of the report was a long list of reasons to explain why regulators accused Cruise of misleading them. The law firm found that an engineer who had provided video of the crash to regulators had a poor internet connection that prevented the regulators from seeing a complete and clear version. Some senior Cruise leaders also didn’t know the details of the incident before a meeting with state officials.

Last month, Cruise dismissed nine employees, including most of those who had met with the D.M.V. Its vice president of communications later departed. The company eliminated about 900 of 3,800 positions, mostly corporate and commercial roles that were less important after it suspended its operations.

Cruise hopes that the investigation will help repair its reputation and clear a path for it to restart its self-driving business. It believes that its problem was the outgrowth of a leadership team that made quickly building out a business a priority over the safety of its operations.

Cruise is providing the report to the D.M.V. and the California Public Utilities Commission, which authorizes driverless car programs in the state. It said it would make it available to the public as well.

The report will be closely scrutinized by everyone with an interest in the future of driverless cars. Cruise’s troubles have stoked concern among the tech and auto companies that have poured billions into developing the technology. It also amplified the safety concerns of regulators and people who have been worried about the risks created when robots take to the road.

In Cruise’s absence, Waymo, which was started by Google, has become the only self-driving car operation offering taxi rides in San Francisco. Though Waymo’s fleet of roughly 250 cars has had few major incidents, the City of San Francisco sued the State of California last month for allowing Waymo and Cruise vehicles to operate without tighter regulations.

Cruise has been largely shut down since October, when the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended its license to operate in the state.Jim Wilson/The New York Times

“We know our license to operate must be earned and is ultimately granted by regulators and the communities we serve,” Cruise said in its blog post. “We are focused on advancing our technology and earning back public trust.”

Cruise is the latest tech company to tap a law firm to review its business. Uber hired former Attorney General Eric H. Holder to examine issues of sexual harassment and wrongdoing under co-founder Travis Kalanick.

How Cruise responded to the Oct. 2 crash inflamed regulators’ concerns over the crash itself. Another car hit the woman in a San Francisco intersection and flung her into the path of one of Cruise’s vehicles. The Cruise car stopped and then drove forward 20 feet, dragging the woman as it pulled to the curb.

The report said that although the Cruise leadership team and personnel did not try to deceive or mislead regulators during key meetings with a variety of government officials the day after the incident, they did not explain that a technical problem had caused the car to drag the pedestrian after she was struck.

Rather than share with the D.M.V. a full video of the crash taken by the Cruise vehicle, state officials said, Cruise shared an abbreviated version that ended with its car stopping. It omitted footage of the car dragging the woman. The D.M.V. said it had learned of the full video from another agency.

The report described Cruise as a disorganized company embroiled in disagreement and confusion over what had happened and how to handle it. Though engineers and dozens of people inside the company knew that its car had dragged the woman, key senior executives, including the chief legal officer, said they hadn’t known before meeting with the D.M.V.

During Quinn Emanuel’s review, the employees who had met with the D.M.V. disagreed about whether the company had shown the complete video to regulators. The bigger problem was that Cruise didn’t tell regulators about what had happened, the law firm said.

“We were lucky they didn’t pick up on the dragging,” one employee said a participant in the D.M.V. meeting had said afterward.

The report said that Cruise had shared the video with some regulators, but that when an employee showed the video during the Oct. 3 meetings, “transmission issues” impeded or prevented regulators from seeing that the car had dragged the pedestrian.

“They could have survived this if they had been honest, but they took a different approach and wound up destroying their reputation,” said Matthew Wansley, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York who specializes in emerging automotive technologies. “To recover, they had to have a fully transparent autopsy of what happened.”

G.M., which bought Cruise in 2016 for $1 billion, has stepped in to steer the company. It installed its general counsel, Craig Glidden, as president of Cruise and made him responsible for overseeing the investigation and helping to evaluate how the business should proceed. Mr. Glidden is trying to change the culture of the company to put more emphasis on safety and transparency with regulators and the public.

Even before the Oct. 2 accident, Cruise’s cars were generating headlines for other issues, including a collision with a fire truck and an incident in which one of its cars drove into wet concrete and got stuck.

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S&P 500 closes higher for a sixth day, powered by strong GDP data: Live updates - CNBC

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 22: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on January 22, 2024 in New York City. The Dow Jones and S&P both hit all time highs with the Dow Jones closing over 38,000 points for the first time ever as stocks continue to rise. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The S&P 500 rose for a sixth straight day, overcoming a slump in Tesla as data indicated continued economic growth.

The broad index rose 0.53% to 4,894.16, clinching another all-time closing record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 242.74 points, or 0.64%, to 38,049.13. The Nasdaq Composite increased by just 0.18% to 15,510.50, weighed down by a post-earnings tumble in Tesla shares.

Despite Thursday's muted gains, the technology-heavy Nasdaq has outperformed this week, tracking to finish up 1.3%. The S&P 500 has advanced 1.1%, while the blue-chip Dow is 0.5% higher on the week.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have finished higher for the past six trading days. The benchmark S&P 500 has closed at a record high for five sessions in a row, the longest streak since November 2021.

Gross domestic product data showed the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 3.3% in the fourth quarter. That's much higher than the 2% expectation from economists polled by Dow Jones, underscoring continued economic resiliency despite interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

Thursday's report also included encouraging data on the inflation front. The personal consumption expenditures price index posted a quarterly gain of 2% when excluding food and energy, a core gauge that the Fed prefers when assessing inflation. Headline inflation increased just 1.7%.

"That was a really healthy mix of data," said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab. "That's pretty much as close to nirvana as you can get for the Fed in looking for non-inflationary growth."

But a sell-off in Tesla, a retail investor favorite, weighed on the market. Shares plunged more than 12% after the electric vehicle maker posted disappointing fourth-quarter results and warned of lower vehicle volume growth for 2024.

On the other hand, IBM jumped more than 9% after the technology company posted adjusted earnings and revenue that beat analysts' predictions.

More than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies have reported financials this earnings season, according to FactSet. Nearly 74% of those have surpassed Wall Street expectations, the firm's data shows.

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Tesla stock falls 12% as EV maker warns production growth will be 'notably lower' than 2023 - Yahoo Finance

Tesla stock (TSLA) fell 12% on Thursday after the company reported fourth quarter earnings late Wednesday that missed estimates and issued a downbeat full-year production outlook.

For the fourth quarter, Tesla reported top-line revenue of $25.17 billion against $25.87 billion expected; revenue rose approximately 3% from a year ago. Tesla reported adjusted EPS of $0.71 against $0.73 expected. Adjusted net income totaled $2.48 billion against the $2.61 billion expected by the Street.

In terms of its full-year production, Tesla said its "vehicle volume growth rate may be notably lower than the growth rate achieved in 2023, as our teams work on the launch of the next-generation vehicle at Gigafactory Texas," indicating it would not reach Street estimates of 2.19 million for 2024, which would have been a 21% increase from 2023.

Tesla stock has lost more than 26% this year.

On a call with analysts, CEO Elon Musk did confirm that the company's next-gen vehicle will be coming in the second half of 2025. In its earnings release and later on the earnings call, Tesla also mentioned progress on its next-gen manufacturing platform.

"We are focused on bringing the next-generation platform to market as quickly as we can, with the plan to start production at Gigafactory Texas," the company said. "This platform will revolutionize how vehicles are manufactured."

"We're very far along on our next-gen low-cost vehicle. We're really excited about this. This is a revolutionary manufacturing system, far more advanced than any other in the world," Musk said on the earnings call, clarifying that the company's current schedule has this vehicle hitting production in the second half of 2025. This echoes a report from Reuters earlier Wednesday that said Tesla told suppliers it wants to start production of a new mass-market EV codenamed "Redwood" in mid-2025.

Tesla's drop in profitability is likely due to downward pressure on margins since Tesla began its cost-cutting efforts late in 2022. Tesla reported a Q4 gross margin of 17.6% vs. 18.1% estimated, a big drop compared to a year ago and a sequential decline from the 17.9% achieved in Q3.

Headlines like rental car firm Hertz shedding thousands of EVs, Tesla cutting prices in China, a two-week production halt in Berlin, and CEO Elon Musk's ill-timed demand for more stock have also weighed on Tesla.

Earlier this month, Tesla reported 484,507 deliveries in Q4, beating Street estimates of 483,173, per Bloomberg. That figure represents an all-time record quarter for Tesla, nearly 20,000 units higher than its past record quarter of 466,000 units delivered in Q2 of last year.

For the year, Tesla said that vehicle deliveries grew 38% year over year to 1.81 million and production grew 35% year over year to 1.85 million. While its 38% delivery growth rate was below its 50% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) target, Tesla previously said it would not attain that goal due to factory shutdowns and improvements that occurred in Q3.

Also of note are Cybertruck deliveries. Tesla did not break out this total in its Q4 delivery update, though the company did say the Cybertruck production ramp would take longer than other models.

"[Cybertruck] demand is off the hook," Musk said on the call, repeating similar comments that made last year.

Tesla's new Cybertruck is shown on display at a Tesla store in San Diego, Calif., Nov. 20, 2023. (Mike Blake/REUTERS/File Photo) (Reuters / Reuters)

Musk also addressed his comments from last week, claiming that he would need to secure greater control of Tesla if the company is going to meet its wide-reaching AI ambitions.

Musk said on the earnings call that his concern would be, given his current shareholding, that he will have "so little influence" in the future that some major shareholder could strip away his control or make a bad decision.

Elon Musk is speaking at the symposium about antisemitism, organized by the European Jewish Association, in Krakow, Poland, on Jan. 22, 2024. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"I could be voted out by some random shareholder advisory firm," he said, citing Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, two major shareholder proxy advisory companies, as an example.

"[A] lot of activists infiltrate shareholder rights organizations," Musk said, adding that he's "not looking for additional economics; I just want to be an effective steward of powerful technology."

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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Humana (NYSE:HUM) Nosedives on Q4 Loss, Grim Outlook - TipRanks.com - TipRanks

Humana (NYSE:HUM) shares plummeted over 15% in the early session today after the insurance and healthcare services provider dished out disappointing fourth-quarter numbers and a dismal outlook.

In Q4, revenue jumped by 17.9% year-over-year to $26.4 billion. However, EPS of -$0.11 was a surprise versus the Street’s estimates of $0.76. In comparison, the company generated an EPS of $1.97 in the year-ago period. Humana’s fourth-quarter performance was marked by increases in Medicare Advantage medical cost trends as inpatient utilization remained higher than anticipated.

Further, its benefits expense ratio, measured as insurance coverage costs divided by revenue earned from insurance premiums, increased to 90.7% from 87.3% in the year-ago period. Days in claims payable, on the other hand, dropped to 41.4 from 45.9. The company’s Centerwell segment generated $387 million in operating income. Its Insurance segment, in contrast, witnessed $426 million in operating losses compared to an operating profit of $46 million a year ago.

For Fiscal Year 2024, Humana expects an adjusted EPS of $16. The figure stood at $26.09 for 2023. The company expects higher Medicare Advantage medical costs to persist throughout 2024.

Is HUM a Good Stock to Buy?

Overall, the Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on Humana alongside an average price target of $539.61. In contrast, the stock is currently trading at $343.3 at the time of writing.  

Read full Disclosure

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Memo: eBay announces 1,000 job cuts, 9% of workforce - Business Insider

Tech

eBay is laying off 1,000 employees — about 9% of its workforce. Read the memo its CEO sent to staff.

Jyoti Mann

2024-01-24T10:55:19Z

CEO Jamie Iannone announced the layoffs Tuesday in a memo.

Harry Murphy/ Getty

• eBay is laying off 1,000 employees — about 9% of its workforce. 
• CEO Jamie Iannone announced the cuts Tuesday in a memo sent to staff and shared on its website. 
• The online retailer blamed the move on head count and expenses outpacing its business' growth.

eBay is cutting 1,000 jobs — a reduction of about 9% of its workforce. 

CEO Jamie Iannone told employees in a memo Tuesday that it would make the latest round of layoffs so it could be "more nimble."

In the memo, shared on the company's website, Iannone pointed to eBay's expenses and head count eclipsing the growth of its business. He added that it would also "scale back" the number of contractors it hired. 

The e-commerce giant laid off 500 workers in February, which was about 4% of its workforce. In November, the company posted third-quarter revenue of $2.5 billion, up 5% year over year.

The eBay chief said in the memo: "Despite facing external pressures, like the challenging macroeconomic environment, we know we can be better with the factors we control. While we are making progress against our strategy, our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business." 

Iannone told investors in a post-earnings call in November that the company was witnessing "softening consumer trends" early in its fourth quarter. He added that it could see a "more muted seasonal uptick over the holidays."

eBay's latest job cuts come amid a fresh wave of mass layoffs in the tech industry. Google axed over 1,000 workers this month, and Amazon let go of hundreds of employees at Prime Video and MGM Studios and a further 500 people at its streaming platform Twitch.

Read the full memo the CEO sent to employees below.

Team, 

We are on a path to building a stronger eBay for the future — one that is growing, and resilient in the face of any challenge. Over the past three years, we made fundamental changes in our experiences across categories and accelerated the pace of innovation at eBay. In areas where we're investing, we are seeing consistent increases in customer satisfaction and a meaningful improvement in our growth relative to the market.

Our strategy is the right one, but there is more we can do to ensure our success. We need to better organize our teams for speed — allowing us to be more nimble, bring like-work together, and help us make decisions more quickly. Today, I am sharing news about changes we are implementing to better position eBay for long-term, sustainable growth. 

The most significant and toughest of these decisions is to reduce our current workforce by approximately 1,000 roles or an estimated 9% of full-time employees. Additionally, we plan to scale back the number of contracts we have within our alternate workforce over the coming months. These are not actions we take lightly — and we recognize the impact they will have on all eBayers. We have to say goodbye to people who have made so many important contributions to the eBay community and culture, and this isn't easy. 

The Need for Change 

Despite facing external pressures, like the challenging macroeconomic environment, we know we can be better with the factors we control. While we are making progress against our strategy, our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business. To address this, we're implementing organizational changes that align and consolidate certain teams to improve the end-to-end experience, and better meet the needs of our customers around the world.  

Next Steps 

Shortly, we will begin notifying those employees whose roles have been eliminated and entering into a consultation process in areas where required. Leaders will communicate the news directly via Zoom, and your VP or eLT member will send an email once the notifications in their group have been completed. 

We request that all U.S. employees work from home on January 24th to provide some space and privacy for these conversations. We're committed to treating everyone with respect and empathy through this transition and providing impacted employees with support and resources.    

Looking Ahead

These changes are difficult, but I'm confident that by working together we will become stronger than ever. In the months ahead, you will see a more focused, agile, and responsive eBay — one that is better positioned to advance our purpose of creating economic opportunity for all.  

Thank you,  
Jamie 

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