“Americans like to think that they have the most dynamic economy the world has ever seen. The data refute such claims.”Competition is what makes markets work (when they do). But firms don’t like competition because it tends to drive down profits. For the typical businessperson, whose objective is reaping gains above the normal return on capital, that is no fun. As Adam Smith observed 250 years ago, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in ...

Shares of Intuitive Surgical Inc. rallied 9.5% Wednesday to lead S&P 500 gainers, after the maker of robotic surgical equipment updated guidance for fourth-quarter sales with some bullish numbers, buoyed by a recovery in China. The stock ISRG, +10.16% was on track for its biggest one-day gain since April 19, 2023, when it rose 10.9%, and has gained for four of the last five days.The company said late Tuesday it expects fourth-quarter revenue of around $1.93 billion, up 17% and above FactSet forecasts for $1 ...

Tech layoffs are continuing, with Amazon.com Inc. cutting “several hundred” roles across its Prime Video and MGM Studios organization, according to an email sent to staff Wednesday morning. In a separate announcement, Twitch, the Amazon-owned live-streaming platform, said it is cutting over 500 jobs.“Throughout the past year, we’ve looked at nearly every aspect of our business with an eye towards improving our ability to deliver even more breakthrough movies, TV shows, and live sports in a personalized, eas ...

Core Viewpoint - Zillow Group Inc. shares declined following a Wall Street analyst's recommendation to stop buying, indicating that current prices already reflect a recovery in the housing market [1]. Group 1 - BofA Securities analyst Curtis Nagle expressed concerns about uncertainties related to lawsuits regarding commissions paid to real estate agents, which could exert downward pressure on Zillow's stock in the upcoming months [1].

American Express Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. marked the largest of six financial firms to draw downgrades at BMO Capital Markets on Wednesday.After a rally by banks and specialty finance stocks from October lows, the sector faces headwinds, even if a recession is avoided in 2024, said BMO analyst James Fotheringham.“Bottom Line: Banks and specialty finance stocks appreciated by almost +40% into year-end (versus S&P 500 SPX ) and now look vulnerable to an impending credit cycle (soft lan ...

Shares of Home Depot Inc. rallied Wednesday, after Wedbush turned bullish on the home improvement retailer, citing the belief that housing-market fundamentals are bottoming.Analyst Seth Basham raised his rating on Home Depot’s stock to outperform, after being at neutral for at least the past two years. He bumped up his stock price target by 15%, to $380 from $330.The stock HD, -0.50% climbed 1.1% toward a three-week high in premarket trading. It has run up 15.7% over the past three months through Tuesday, w ...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) on Wednesday beat analysts expectations, despite reporting a drop in its revenues, by posting better than expected sales in the final quarter of 2023 amid signs the global slump in the chip market has now reached an end. TSMC 2330, -0.34%, which makes the microchips used in almost all electronic devices, reported Dec. 2023 sales worth NT$ 176.3 billion ($5.7 billion), representing an 8.4% drop compared to the same period in 2022 . The Hsinchu headquartered compan ...

Some billionaires are focused on the heavens above while others prefer to toil the fields below. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Meta Platforms META, -0.34%, took to the Instagram service his company operates to reveal he is raising cows in Hawaii on what could be considered a fratboy’s diet of beer and nuts. “Of all my projects, this is the most delicious,” he said. Some on social media jokes that at least he wasn’t raising llamas — a reference to the name of Meta’s artificial inte ...

LAS VEGAS — Walmart has unveiled plans to dive further into the world of artificial intelligence — and drones — to improve its customers’ shopping experiences. In a Tuesday keynote at the CES trade show in Las Vegas, the nation’s largest retailer announced it will be expanding its drone delivery to 1.8 million additional households in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area later this year. Drones aren’t new to Walmart — which has already completed 20,000 drone deliveries across seven states to date — bu ...

Twitch — the live-streaming platform run by Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +1.52% — plans to cut 500 jobs, or 35% of its workforce, amid worries about losses and steep costs of operations, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Bloomberg said the departures could be announced as early as Wednesday, and noted that they would come after other rounds of layoffs and after a handful of senior executives left the platform last year. Representatives for Amazon and Twitch did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The em ...