Increased profits for JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in the third quarter demonstrated the company’s resilience in the face of industry challenges this year. New York’s megacorp recorded $13.2 billion in profits, a 35% increase from the prior-year period. Its profit increased by 21% to $40.7 billion.
On Friday, when the third-quarter earnings season began with reports from UnitedHealth (UNH) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose. Meanwhile, Netflix (NFLX), the industry leader in streaming, fell on a downgrade from analysts. UnitedHealth (UNH), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC) were all Dow Jones stocks with significant earnings announcements on Friday.
After the United States increased sanctions against Russian petroleum shipments on Friday, driving up supply fears in an already expensive energy market, oil prices jumped by more than 4 percent.
Core inflation (excluding food and energy) came in hotter than predicted in the September consumer-prices report, causing a drop in stock prices. The possibility of a rate increase has investors concerned.
Residents of Gaza have voiced despondency since there is nowhere to go to avoid the over 6,000 bombs flown on the area by the Israeli Air Force, killing at least 1,537 Palestinians. Israel has blocked essential supplies including electricity and fuel, and the UN’s World Food Program has warned that food is “quickly running out” as a result of the siege. Israel has claimed it will not release the prisoners until the embargo is lifted.
Scalise abandons his bid for the House speakership. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Republican, has withdrawn his name from consideration for Speaker of the House, leaving the House paralyzed in the midst of a global catastrophe. He failed to win over enough voters to unseat his opponent, Representative Jim Jordan, who has the backing of conservative Republicans and even former President Donald Trump.
Blackmail was used on Adam Aron, CEO of AMC. After Aron submitted a catfish sexually graphic photos and texts, the catfish demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars. Aron, dubbed as “The Silverback” by AMC fans and investors alike, reported the attempted swindle to the FBI instead of paying off the woman responsible.
The merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, valued at $69 billion, has been approved by Britain’s competition watchdog.
As previously reported by Dollar General, former CEO Todd Vasos will once again be in charge of the company. Because of decreasing sales growth and stakeholder criticism that the corporation provides a dangerous workplace for employees and customers, the stock price has dropped by around 60% over the past year.
After a busy summer, Delta saw a 60% increase in quarterly profits, and it expects that trend to continue into the fall.
This week, the EU issued a warning to Meta, saying that the company risks steep fines if it fails to comply with the EU’s new moderation guidelines and remove pro-Hamas information. Users searching social media for combat updates have had to wade through a sea of misinformation, archived footage, and computer game snippets.
Although Walgreens’ bottom line fell short of projections, the company was able to reduce its losses by decreasing expenses. Sales of Covid test kits are down, and pharmacists are on strike because of poor working conditions.
Another new function is the ability to amend a thread after it has been posted. X, a competitor to Facebook founded by Mark Zuckerberg, has announced the addition of an edit button that will give users five minutes to make changes to their postings after they have been published. Most notably, this function does not cost anything. Another much-requested addition, voice threads, has recently begun rolling out.
Thousands of WALMART locations will be closed on Thanksgiving, the retailer has announced. In a video message posted to social media, Walmart US CEO John Furner broke the news.
After investors cancelled $467 million in pledges, Trump Media & Technology Group’s funding partner announced it would repay the remaining $533 million. In a regulatory filing, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) revealed that it had received cancellation requests from investors representing $467 million of the total capital.
Stocks to watch with positive momentum and Buy Rating:
SNDL Group (SNDL), Tesla (TSLA), Groupon (GRPN), Chase Bank (JPM), Microsoft (MSFT), GOOGL, Apple (AAPL), Pay Pal (PYPL), Walmart (WMT), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (META), Carnival Corporation (CCL), PepsiCo (PEP)
CWEB News Summarized Business and Stock Newsletter October 12, 2023
