Investors Digest FED Minutes (Futures Are Flat)
Amazon Layoffs
- To reduce expenses, $AMZN has increased the number of employees it intends to lay off from its corporate personnel to "just over 18,000," according to chief executive Andy Jassy.
- The company's Stores segment, which comprises its primary e-commerce business, and its human resources division, known as People, Experience, and Technology, or PXT, would take the brunt of the cuts, according to a blog post written by Jassy on Wednesday.
Source: Photo by Bryan Angelo on Unsplash
Interest Rates & Inflation
- The Federal Reserve's monetary tightening policies remain the dominant market influencer, at least for the time being. The minutes of the most recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting were made public yesterday. The report demonstrated that the leading bank would persevere in its fight to control inflation.
- The FOMC advises investors not to underestimate its commitment to containing inflation. As central bank policies diverge, sellers are dumping GBP like hotcakes in favor of JPY.
Oil Drops
- Investors were concerned about fuel demand as the global economy slowed and COVID-19 cases increased in China on Wednesday, sending the price of oil down by more than $4 a barrel and registering the worst percentage drop in the first two trading days of any year in more than three decades.
- The decreases stand in stark contrast to the beginning of last year when costs skyrocketed due to worries about energy supply following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. Following Russia's shutdown of almost all of its pipeline exports to the region, European natural gas received much attention.
Labor Market Remains Hot
- On the other hand, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 10.46 million job opportunities in the U.S. in November, a little decrease from the upwardly revised 10.51 million for October.
- The fact that the number and percentage of persons departing the jobs of their own free will remain stable month over month at 4.2 million and 2.7%, respectively, is another indication that the labor market is still hot. These numbers demonstrated how much work still has to be done by the central bank.
Other News
- A restructuring plan, including a 10% reduction in staff and a reduction in office space, has been disclosed by Salesforce $CRM.
- $MSFT dropped due to UBS' downgrading because of the possible risks related to Office and Microsoft's Azure business.
- Toyota lost the top spot in U.S. sales to $ G.M. in 2022, when 2.27M vehicles were sold, an increase of 2.5%. Toyota sold 2.1M, a 9.6% decrease. Analysts anticipate an 8–10% decline in overall auto sales in the U.S.
- Due to the belief that the BOE won't be as strict as other central banks because of the weakening British economy, investors have been selling GBP. Since the BOJ changed its policy, the exchange rate fell by 3% against the yen.
- Tuesday marked the day after $TSLA released Q4 vehicle production and delivery numbers for 2022 that fell short of analysts' estimates and the company's declared targets. As a result, the shares of Tesla continue on a downward trajectory.
Source: Yahoo Finance