The concentration of advanced semiconductor manufacturing in Taiwan has raised fears in the United States about the vulnerability of this supply chain should China blockade or invade the island. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act seeks to address that vulnerability with $52 billion in subsidies to encourage semiconductor manufacturers to relocate to America. But the legislation, as designed, will fall short of its objective; it may even weaken Taiwan’s most important industry, further threatening the island’s s ...

In the 1980s, Japan appeared to have the world by the tail, only to see its economy collapse into a “lost decade” and general malaise. A similar fate for the U.S. seems unimaginable nowadays. The U.S. is scoring big wins in the latest, fast-growing technologies: artificial intelligence, including Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI; Alphabet, Amazon.com and Meta Platforms leading the tech giants exploiting the internet; and Elon Musk’s Neuralink and SpaceX pushing the limits of innovation.Yet misguided governm ...

Leave Oprah alone.Yes, Oprah Winfrey is in the news again — in this case, for her decision to sell her stake in WW International WW, +8.33% (formerly known as WeightWatchers) and leave the company’s board. The decision came after Winfrey announced, to considerable backlash, that she was taking a weight-loss drug to help her in her longtime battle to lose some pounds and keep them off, in addition to hiking, drinking plenty of water and other methods.The company’s stock fell in the aftermath of the news. At ...

You are probably aware that Nvidia Corp. shares have soared over the past year. But you might not know that as this has happened, the stock has become much more attractive by the most commonly used price-valuation metric.Shares of Nvidia NVDA closed at $788.17 on Friday, up 233% from a year earlier. The shares traded for 31.3 times the consensus earnings-per-share estimate of $25.20 among analysts polled by FactSet. Nvidia’s forward price-to-earnings ratio is high when compared with that of the S&P 500 , wh ...

Five years ago, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. ranked as the 222nd largest company in the S&P 500. Now, it stands at No. 22. The company finished Thursday with a market value above $300 billion for the first time, marking the latest milestone in an impressive run for the chip maker. AMD’s stock AMD, +5.25% rose 9% in Thursday afternoon trading, translating to a market value of $311 billion. ...

“Streamflation” has been a hot topic with streaming subscribers recently amid a slew of price hikes by media companies like Walt Disney Co., which raised the price of its Disney+ and Hulu streaming services yet again in August. Yet escalating prices don’t seem to be scaring away consumers; in fact, they’re subscribing, and spending, more than ever. Spending on streaming services in January 2024 spiked more than 70% from 2021, while the share of households paying over $100 a month has more than doubled, a ...

Microsoft Corp. continues to pull away from Apple Inc. in terms of market capitalization — so much so that the gap between them is the widest it’s been in over two decades. Based on intraday action, Microsoft MSFT, +0.13% has a $3.063 trillion market cap Friday, while Apple’s AAPL, -1.28% clocks in at $2.754 trillion. If the corresponding stock-market action carries through to the close, that would translate to a $309.4 billion margin, the largest between these two companies since Oct. 21, 2003, according t ...

Shares of Autodesk Inc. rose after hours on Thursday after the developer of 3-D design software reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped expectations. The company, whose software is used by architects and engineers to plan out projects, reported fourth-quarter net income of $282 million, or $1.31 a share, compared with $293 million, or $1.35 a share, in the same quarter last year. Adjusted for stock-based compensation, amortization, acquisition-related costs and other matters, Autodesk ADSK, ...

Group 1: Investment Banking Revenue Growth - A surge in equity capital markets and debt market activity is boosting investment banking revenue growth at the big five Wall Street banks, surpassing analyst estimates for the first quarter [1] - Bank of America leads with over 25% increase in investment banking revenue compared to the previous year, followed by JPMorgan Chase (15%), Citigroup (10%), Morgan Stanley (7%), and Goldman Sachs (3%) [1] - Collectively, the five banks are on track to deliver 13% revenue growth over the year-ago period, exceeding the 10% consensus analyst estimate [2] Group 2: Market Performance and Trends - Equity capital markets revenue is up 39% as companies issue stock, despite a slow rebound in the IPO market [2] - Debt capital markets revenue has increased by 42% year-over-year and jumped 81% from the previous quarter, with Citigroup leading at a 113% increase over the last quarter [2] - Trading revenue remains mixed, with strength in fixed income potentially offset by muted volatility across other products [2] Group 3: Stock Performance - Year-to-date stock performance shows Bank of America up 1.2%, Citigroup up 7%, JPMorgan Chase up 8.4%, Morgan Stanley down 7.7%, and Goldman Sachs up 1.9% [3] - The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 3.3% and the S&P 500 is up 6.3% so far in 2024 [3]

Videogame maker Electronic Arts Inc. said Wednesday it will cut about 5% of its workforce and plans to cancel some games in development.In a letter to employees, Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said “we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans.”He said the layoffs will affect about 5% of the company’s global workforce, which would be around 670 people, based on a staff of 13,400 as of last March, according to an SEC filing. “We are also sunsetting games an ...