- __[Wednesday](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/4Anxo2cnMEReQ6L4UxR1Za/articles/62GSVOtnhFGuX17dBbM6ow/):__ __[Netflix](https://robinhood.com/stocks/NFLX/)__ surged after reporting *3M* more new subs than expected. But its revenue and profits were nothing to celebrate, and the “one-number era” could be over. 
- __[420](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/6rSw3Ie5AUUIfYOAD2njtZ/):__ Elon Musk went to court over his infamous “funding secured” tweet about taking Tesla private. He’s used to ruffling feathers, but this trial could hit __[Tesla’s](https://robinhood.com/stocks/TSLA/)__ rep. 
- __[Swing](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/4Anxo2cnMEReQ6L4UxR1Za/articles/3ntwYcSOdZ6nSpvGmIOTol/):__ Saudi-backed __LIV Golf__ signed its first TV deal in the US with tween-fave network __CW__. LIV’s beef with the PGA has made it harder to secure revenue streams.

ICYMI

Last week's highlights

Snacks

November may historically be the best month for US stocks, but you wouldn’t know it from the start o...

Toby Bochan

Managing Editor

Luke Kawa

Markets Editor

Markets

The lack of bear cups is almost too much to bear. A $30 ursine coffee cup offered by Starbucks seems...

A popular  game being developed for the big screen could test the limits of the recent success of vi...

Max Knoblauch

Culture

 is expanding its low-cost Amazon Haul experience to a new stand-alone app called Amazon Bazaar. Ama...

Rani Molla

Tech

Holiday cheer turned into chaos this week for  after the coffee giant’s new “Bearista” holiday cup s...

Nia Warfield

Business

This week,  announced plans for “Fastnet,” a new undersea transatlantic fiber-optic cable running fr...

Jon Keegan

Tech Reporter

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its wors...

Target just rolled out a new rule for store employees: “smile, make eye contact, and greet or wave” ...

Hyunsoo Rim

Data Reporter

 more than reversed its 11% drop in the wake of its post-close earnings report Thursday, after brief...

Matt Phillips

Senior Markets Correspondent 

Your inbox is ready

Subscribe and thrive

 Report: US Army will buy 1 million drones

As  once again dipped under $100,000 Friday morning, down 20% from its October 6 all-time high, some...

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Contributing Reporter

Crypto

Air taxi maker  is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after...

Nuclear power plant operator  reported Q3 earnings Friday before the start of trading in New York th...

Roughly half of new US startups make it to their fifth birthday — and the most recent ones have even...

Make hay while the sun is shining, or so the saying goes. And that’s exactly what America’s quantum ...

Claire Yubin Oh

Data Journalist

Shares of  leapt in early trading Friday after the travel platform posted a strong third quarter.  A...

Expedia Group headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA

Over the past few months, the biggest catalyst for quantum computing stocks has been the prospect of...

Shares of  climbed 5% after the bell on Thursday, and held most of those gains into early trading on...

Millie Giles

 reported Q3 earnings that were not well received by the market, with shares cratering in after-hour...

 shareholder meetings are like no other. Where else does a man, just awarded a $1 trillion pay packa...

__Reaching for the grocery-brand peas…__ After years of stimulus-fueled spending sprees, consumers are finally starting to pump the breaks. Last month, US retail sales posted their biggest monthly drop since 2021 as shoppers cut back on holiday splurges. From __[McDonald’s](https://robinhood.com/stocks/MCD/)__ to __[Amazon](https://robinhood.com/stocks/AMZN/)__, most companies have hiked prices to offset higher costs. But as consumers rein in spending, the hiking spree could lose steam:

- __Pantry staple__ __[Conagra](https://robinhood.com/stocks/CAG/)__ said it plans to *stop* raising prices for kitchen faves like Chef Boyardee, Slim Jims, and Birds Eye — but that could change if inflation sticks.
- __Booze giant__ __[Constellation Brands](https://robinhood.com/stocks/STZ/)__ has raised prices of brews like Corona and Modelo more than usual, but is planning “more muted” increases this year as demand slows.
- __Aisle all-star__ __[Procter & Gamble](https://robinhood.com/stocks/PG/)__ saw sales and profit fall last quarter while shoppers cut back on price-hiked brands like Tide, Charmin, and Crest as they opted for cheaper alts. 

__Charging it to the card…__ Despite stubborn inflation, consumer spending has stayed strong during the pandemic — thanks partly to padded stimulus savings. But Americans are running out of cash, and a fifth of adults say their monthly expenses are higher than their earnings. US credit-card debt is at an all-time high, and the personal-savings rate fell to a 17-year low in October. Meanwhile, big biz leaders like __[Chase’s](https://robinhood.com/stocks/JPM/)__ Jamie Dimon and Elon Musk are warning of a global recession this year.

Skipping the name brands (Matt McClain/Getty Images)

Pinched

__It could get worse before it gets better…__ While spending’s slowing and prices are *finally* cooling, inflation’s not where the Fed wants it to be (read: still abnormally high). Plus, the labor market is still going strong. While the central bank has started to reduce the size of rate hikes, officials like Fed Chair Jerome Powell doubled down on their hawkish stance last week. A quarter-point hike is expected next month, and it could take until the end of the year (or later) for the Fed to actually start *cutting* rates.

From Tide to Slim Jims, consumers are cooling their spend — but rates could keep heating up

__Cloudy with a chance of growth stalls…__ __Microsoft__ kicks off Big Tech earnings tomorrow during a *rough* time for tech titans. Seemingly everyone from Amazon to Google has announced mass layoffs this year — __Amazon’s__ even ending its charity program to cut costs. Last week Microsoft said it was slashing 10K workers to prep for a recession. It’s expected to report its slowest sales growth in five years and its first earnings drop in *eight*. It’s not alone: __[Apple](https://robinhood.com/stocks/AAPL/)__, __Google__, __Amazon__, and __[Meta](https://robinhood.com/stocks/META/)__ are also expected to release lower quarterly earnings. 

__Big Gas energy…__ From __[Exxon](https://robinhood.com/stocks/XOM/)__ to __[Marathon Petroleum](https://robinhood.com/stocks/MPC/)__, oil giants raked it in last year as gasoline prices soared, notching historically huge profits. In the first quarter, __[Chevron’s](https://robinhood.com/stocks/CVX/)__ earnings more than *quadrupled*. Energy was the only stock sector that ended last year in the green. But prices at the pump have been falling: US gas prices fell 9.4% in December from November, and were down for the year. Still, *overall* energy prices were up 7% from last year. Chevron and Valero are expected to report revenue growth this week — but at a slower pace than last year.

Events

Coming up this week

__IOU anxiety…__ The US hit its $31.4T debt limit last week, risking a scenario where the US government can’t pay its bills. Refresher: the govt spends more than it collects in taxes, so it constantly borrows. But there’s a limit to how much the Treasury can borrow through bonds/bills. Now the US risks defaulting on its debt, which would be disastrous. A default has never happened since lawmakers passed legislation to raise or suspend the ceiling every time (100 times since WWII). Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to use “extraordinary maneuvers” until June to give lawmakers more time to agree on a solution. 

__AI lawsuits are here.…__ Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E are trained on billions of texts or images scraped from the internet — many of which are copyrighted by human creators. Last week artists [sued](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/31MZjQaxwyvgzBaiazKUYy/articles/6JYfIJADVE53b21M5kUtl1/) AI-art generators __Stability AI__, __Midjourney__, and __DeviantArt__, arguing they unlawfully used their copyrighted images. __[Getty Images](https://robinhood.com/stocks/GETY/)__ sued Stability AI over the same thing. There aren’t clear rules around genAI use, but suits could set precedents for how to handle these cases. It could get thorny for companies like __Microsoft__, which plans to integrate genAI into its products. 

Last week's highlights

Get Your News

Subscribe and thrive

Latest Stories