Millennial-focused content site Mic has laid off most of its staffers amid a rumored acquisition by Bustle Digital Group, whose brands include Bustle and Elite Daily.
Why it matters: Mic has been struggling to survive in the wake of Facebook's 2017 algorithm change, which essentially stopped driving traffic to publishers.
Dick's Sporting Goods saw its in-store and online sales fall 3.9% in the quarter ending Nov. 3, driven by losses in its hunting and electronics departments, per the Wall Street Journal.
Why it matters: The chain announced a change in its firearm sales policies earlier this year after the Parkland shooting that included ending the sale of high-capacity magazine sales and assault-style rifle sales as well as a ban on firearms sales to people under 21 years old. Dick's executives attributed the decline to both the new policy and the fact that a general slowdown in gun sales tends to occur under Republican presidents.
Over the past few years, Acadia Healthcare has saddled itself with huge amounts of debt, and top executive insiders have sold off stock in droves — a situation that doesn't inspire confidence in the future of the company.
Why it matters: Acadia is one of the largest operators of behavioral health facilities in the country, making it an important part of the nation's response to the opioid epidemic as well as broader mental health and drug addiction treatment.
Millennials aren't the only ones ditching the suburbs for the cities. Some iconic retailers — fighting to stay relevant as Amazon looms — are downsizing and shifting to city centers.
The big picture: As the density of the world's biggest cities keeps increasing, hopping in a car to drive out to a big-box suburban store 8 or 10 miles away is becoming a thing of the past.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 618 points on Wednesday, its best one-day gain since March (per CNBC), while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose over 2% following a highly anticipated speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in New York.
The big picture: There's no single reason for markets' surge, but some market-watchers say investors misinterpreted Powell's comment that interest rates were "just below" the neutral level to mean fewer interest rate hikes were on the horizon.
Margaret Atwood will release a sequel to her novel "The Handmaid's Tale" titled "The Testaments" next September, she announced on Twitter Wednesday morning.
The big picture: The gender-driven political commentary of "The Handmaid's Tale" became an inspiration for women resisting the Trump administration and protesting patriarchal norms. Atwood's publicist told NPR last year that the book had seen a 200% increase in sales since the 2016 presidential election, and its television adaptation won the Emmy for Best Drama Series in 2017, becoming the first show on a streaming service to take home the top prize.
Reality check: The chicken tax did indeed prompt Japanese automakers to open plants on U.S. soil. Since then, of course, Japanese carmakers have made the U.S. their second home, becoming models of efficiency that has been difficult for U.S. carmakers to compete with. But there's no reason to think new tariffs on imported cars would have changed GM's decision. It's not replacing vehicles built at the closed plants with imports; it's eliminating them because no one wants to buy them.
