Investors weren't sure what to think after a good-news-bad-news earnings report by Macy's on Thursday.
Driving the news: Macy's first-quarter sales tumbled below pre-pandemic levels and the company lowered its 2023 outlook, illustrating the retailer's lingering challenges despite beating expectations on earnings.
Corporate America's commitment to LGBTQ+ causes, messages and products is under an intense spotlight during Pride Month this year.
Why it matters: Companies like Target and Bud Light — which both caved after right-wing backlashes to LGBTQ-themed products and promotions — suddenly face extreme pressure after years of supporting Pride events without issue.
Pride Month has arrived, but the feeling of celebration may not be extending inside America's corporations where it matters most.
Why it matters: Forty-five percent of employed LGBTQ+ Americans feel being “out” at work could hurt their careers, the number dropping only two percentage points over the past four years, according to a new survey commissioned by Glassdoor.
The White House on Thursday announced several measures designed to combat racism in the home appraisal process, targeting algorithmic bias and underrepresentation in the profession.
Why it matters: Homeownership is essential to wealth accumulation for many Americans, and below-market home appraisals can reduce access to home loans, limit refinancing options and hurt selling prices.
Twitter has not removed recent posts from verified subscribers that violated the social media platform's hateful conduct policy, according to a new report released on Thursday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Why it matters: The findings suggest the company has either disregarded or overlooked posts from Twitter Blue subscribers — who pay the company $8 a month or $84 a year — that contained hateful content, even though such posts are prioritized in conversations and searches on the platform.
Online review site Yelp is closing two offices that very few employees have actually been using — affirming its commitment to a remote-first workplace, the company announced Thursday.
Why it matters: While employers like Amazon are grabbing headlines by pushing unwilling employees back to the office, many others are leaning into remote work — making permanent changes to the way they operate.
Anyone that messes with cryptocurrencies almost certainly sometimes uses MetaMask, the ubiquitous browser wallet most closely associated with Ethereum.
Driving the news: Demox Labs aims to build the next-generation wallet (among other things), and to that end it has raised $4.5 million led by HackVC to support development of various products for the privacy-oriented Aleo blockchain.
On Tuesday, the markets gave the Fed only a 33% probability of holding rates steady on June 14. By Wednesday, that probability had spiked to 74%, with the chances of a rate hike plunging to 26%.
Why it matters: The Fed made concertedattempts Wednesday to talk up a so-called skip, bolstered by a WSJ article from "Fed whisperer" Nick Timiraos.
The markets are now persuaded — at least until Friday morning — that the central bank is willing, in the jargon of finance, to preserve optionality at its next meeting.
The May jobs report hasn't even been released yet, but already Fed officials are signaling the central bank is willing to skip a rate hike later this month.
Why it matters: As a result, investors have now all but unwound bets of a hike at the June 13-14 policy meeting.
A company's employer brand — the way its culture and employee experience is perceived — has a major impact on its overall reputation, according to this year's Axios Harris Poll 100 ranking.
Why it matters: Consumers increasingly care about the internal workings of a company and favor those that are ethical, exhibit good citizenship and have a strong company culture.
Top communication professionals have not only secured a seat at the proverbial table, they are also securing big paychecks that are on par with their C-suite counterparts, according to a new Korn Ferry report.
Why it matters: The volatility of the past three years has highlighted the importance of effective communications — and the paychecks are starting to match the responsibility of the job.
Universal Music Group is in talks to buy Queen's music catalog from Disney for more than $1 billion, according to multiplereports.
Why it matters: Disney is denying that it intends to sell off its British rocker royalties, let alone for a record amount, but even just the chatter is reflective of how music deals have become a thriving, cottage industry.
Schmid Group, a German provider of manufacturing equipment and processes for advanced electronics, agreed to go public through a blank-check company led by the former CEO of Jaguar Land Rover.
Why it matters: Schmid is a profitable, family-owned business created 159 years ago as an iron foundry. Almost all of that is rare in the world of SPAC mergers, which has been dominated by money-losers and moonshots.
This is what it looks like when the bond market exhales.
Driving the news: Yields plunged on U.S. Treasury securities set to mature immediately in the wake of the X-date, or June 5, when the government estimates it won't have enough cash on hand to pay its obligations.
Amazon has more than doubled the number of first-aid items stored within its Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta ahead of this year's hurricane season, which starts today.
Why it matters: The company has grown its relief inventory by nearly 4x since 2021 in an attempt to supply nonprofits and first responders aiding affected areas as quickly as possible.
A hypertrophied tech sector is carrying the stock market once again.
The big picture: The S&P 500 is up 8.9% so far in 2023, or 9.7% including dividends. But the lion's share of that increase is due to the surging prices of a few of the largest companies.
There's a big disconnect between employers and women over a somewhat taboo topic: menopause.
Driving the news: 76% of human resources benefits managers said they discuss menopause-related issues with employees, but just 3% of women employees would say they've talked about these issues with HR, finds a pair of surveys released by Bank of America on Thursday morning.
A California judge on Wednesday dismissed all criminal charges against Pacific Gas & Electric in the deadly Zogg Fire and PG&E agreed to a $50 million civil settlement with Shasta County officials over the matter.
The big picture: The utility was charged with manslaughter and other crimes in connection with the Northern California wildfire that killed four people, including an 8-year-old girl, and burned hundreds of homes in 2020 after investigators found the blaze was sparked by a tree that fell onto a PG&E transmission line.
Meta on Wednesday threatened to pull news links from Facebook and Instagram in California if state lawmakers moved forward with a bill that would tax them for news content.
Why it matters: History suggests that it's not an empty threat. Meta pulled news from Facebook in 2021 in response to an Australian law that similarly forced it to pay for news content. It reversed the ban days later after the government agreed to change some of the terms of the law.
Hundreds of corporate Amazon workers protested Wednesday against the company's progress on its climate goals and over its mandatory return to in-person work.
Driving the news: The movement was organized by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a climate change advocacy group founded by the company's workers, along with an informal group of workers who oppose the changes in remote work rules, per the Washington Post.
