Axios

Shares in Snap Inc. fell more than 13% in after-hours trading Tuesday, after the company said it missed Wall Street expectations for revenue growth in the fourth quarter and offered a somewhat bleak outlook for the current quarter.

Why it matters: Snap typically serves as a bellwether for other ad-supported internet stocks, like Meta and Pinterest, which are scheduled to report earnings in the next week.

The maybe-things-won't-be-so-bad-after-all narrative is playing out in earnings season, with a slew of major American companies remaining resilient despite fears of a downturn.

Why it matters: The recession watch has become positively obsessive as observers look for clues that the economy is growing increasingly wobbly.

People aren't moving to big city centers like they used to, even as employers ramp up calls to return to the office.

Why it matters: Affordability is still drawing folks to less dense and cheaper areas, particularly those in the booming Sun Belt.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman announced on Tuesday that the company will lay off around 2,000 employees, the latest tech giant to slash jobs this year.

The big picture: This would come on top of the 68,000 tech workers who already have lost their jobs so far in 2023, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

Whole Foods Market is looking to cut prices, which could help it shake its longtime nickname “Whole Paycheck.”

Driving the news: The Amazon-owned grocery store chain is asking its suppliers to help cut costs on packaged groceries as consumers continue to deal with inflation, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Federal Reserve Board's unanimous rejection of a digital-assets-focused bank's 27-month effort to gain entry to the club came with an exclamation point.

Why it matters: If Custodia Bank was meant to serve as an example, crypto firms in the throes of playing "Mother, May I" with [name your banking regulator] are likely to be disappointed, regardless of standing.

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn unveiled his plans for a reboot of the DC Comics cinematic universe on Tuesday, announcing a slew of new movies and television shows set to drop in the near future.

Why it matters: DC Studios — a branch of Warner Bros. dedicated to superhero content — is rebooting DC Comics' intellectual property after fans endured years of disconnected, confusing, and polarizing projects.

A major undercurrent of last year's entire economic policy debate has been this question: Is compensation for American workers spiraling upward because of a tight job market destined to fuel inflation?

• New data points decidedly toward "no."

The Threshold Network has announced plans for a new decentralized bitcoin bridge to Ethereum, allowing the original cryptocurrency to be used on the largest programmable blockchain.

Why it matters: As holders of the oldest and most valuable cryptocurrency, many bitcoin investors want to use it to earn yield in decentralized finance (DeFi), something they can't do on the Bitcoin blockchain. But they also want to avoid the counterparty risk of trusting a single company to provide a bitcoin derivative that works on Ethereum.

The Department of Justice has asked Tesla for information about its self-driving car system, the automaker confirmed Tuesday.

Why it matters: Tesla's Autopilot technology — which enables cars to steer, brake and accelerate on their own — has drawn a legion of fans as well as scrutiny from regulators over what it can and can't do.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is closing more stores, including all of its Harmon beauty shops, after defaulting on its debt while not yet filing for bankruptcy.

Driving the news: The company confirmed to Axios on Monday that it is closing another 87 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and five buybuy Baby locations in addition to the 50 Harmon stores and the 120-plus closing stores it previously announced.

Lotus Technology, a luxury electric vehicle maker majority owned by China's Geely, agreed to go public at an implied $5.4 billion enterprise value via a blank check company sponsored by private equity firm L Catterton.

Why it matters: This suggests that Geely hasn't soured on EV SPACs, despite the poor stock market performance of its Polestar unit.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek will pivot his focus towards increasing the company's margins this year, but he doesn't plan to hold back on new investments in growth areas like audiobooks, he told Axios in an interview.

Why it matters: Heavy investments in technology, marketing and content helped fuel Spotify's top-line revenue and user growth in 2022, but weighed on the company's profits, frustrating investors.

Lusaka, Zambia — The first test for African debt restructuring in a post-COVID world is playing out in Zambia, a land-locked country bigger than Texas, rich in copper and loaded with Chinese debt — and so poor that most of its population lives on less than $2 dollars a day.

Why it matters: If Zambia, China and international creditors cannot come to an agreement on how to restructure Zambia's debt, other African countries might get a glimpse of their fate. It's not pretty.

Paramount Global on Monday said it plans to combine its Showtime streaming service and linear TV network with its main subscription streaming brand, Paramount+.

The big picture: More entertainment companies are bundling services as the streaming market becomes more saturated.

You have to actually be broke to file for bankruptcy protection — at least that's what a federal appellate court ruled Monday.

Driving the news: The court dismissed the bankruptcy filing by a subsidiary of corporate giant Johnson & Johnson. J&J created the unit — dubbed LTL Management — for the express purpose of holding legal liabilities and then filing for Chapter 11.

Boeing's last commercial 747 is set to be delivered today, more than 50 years after the iconic plane helped change air travel forever.

Driving the news: The last "Queen of the Skies," as they're sometimes called, is a freighter variant made for cargo operator Atlas Air.

The International Monetary Fund raised its 2023 global growth outlook Monday, driven by easing inflation, China reopening its economy and resilient demand in the U.S. and Europe.

What to expect: The IMF expects global growth to slow from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.9% this year — up from the 2.7% it predicted in October when it said "for many people 2023 will feel like a recession."

Former President Trump on Monday filed a lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward for $49 million, alleging that recordings of interviews the pair did were released "without President Trump's permission."

The latest: Woodward and lawsuit co-defendant Simon & Schuster, publisher of his book "Rage," in a joint statement called Trump's suit "without merit" and vowed to "aggressively defend against it."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday defended the Biden administration's new border policy designed to curb illegal border crossings in the face of a lawsuit from Florida and 19 other states challenging the program.

Why it matters: The states argue in the suit against the Department of Homeland Security that the program allowing up to 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua to live and work in the U.S is an executive power overreach and in violation of federal immigration law.

A New York federal judge ruled on Monday that the identities of the two individuals putting up collateral for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's bail bond (in addition to his parents) should be unsealed, pending any appeals.

Why it matters: Several news organizations asked the court to unseal their identities, arguing it's in the public's interest.

Mental health professionals are seeing an increase in requests from companies for trauma support training.

Why it matters: From self-care practices to recognizing the physiological impacts of trauma, more organizations have realized that workers can't just be expected to handle the trauma on their own, according to Ruth Yeo-Peterman, a resilience programming trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture.