<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="80487" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="walmart" source="Orion">Walmart</keyword> is cutting corporate jobs and asking remote workers to relocate to central hubs: WSJ </li><li>The retail giant is reducing its site presence, further to closing multiple stores this year.</li></ul>Walmart is cutting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-sweeping-us-these-are-companies-making-cuts-2024#discord-is-laying-off-170-employees-3">hundreds of corporate jobs</a>, asking remote employees to move to offices, and relocating workers in smaller sites, The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/walmart-to-lay-off-and-relocate-workers-d1c909a7?st=nguncth6t3csx3y&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">Wall Street Journal </a>reported Monday.Along with axing jobs, the retail giant is directing workers in small offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto to move to central hubs like Walmart's corporate headquarters in Arkansas or New Jersey, people familiar with the matter told the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/walmart-to-lay-off-and-relocate-workers-d1c909a7?st=nguncth6t3csx3y&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">Journal.</a>Previously-remote staff can work hybrid schedules, the Journal reported.Walmart did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment sent outside standard business hours.Last week, the retailer announced it will close<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-store-closings-openings-2024-full-list#:~:text=Walmart%20will%20close%20eight%20locations,14%20new%20locations%20this%20year"> two more stores</a>, bringing the number of closures this year to eight. The company quietly reduced its US store count by more than 100 locations between January and August last year — a repositioning <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-closing-smaller-stores-smart-strategy-2024-2">celebrated by Wall Street</a>. The company operated 4,615 US stores as of January 31, according to its <a target="_blank" href="https://stock.walmart.com/financials/unit-counts-and-square-footage/default.aspx">website</a>.Walmart, the country's largest employer, has <a target="_blank" href="https://corporate.walmart.com/askwalmart/how-many-people-work-at-walmart">1.6 million workers</a> in the US. It is one of several companies that have been pushing a<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-flexible-return-to-the-office-memo-2021-10"> return to office</a> mandate — a tactic career experts say is a way of getting rid of employees without conducting mass layoffs.The move has been called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bosses-quiet-firing-staff-avoid-public-backlash-layoffs-2024-2">quiet firing</a>. It's a subtle way to make roles <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-staff-criticize-rto-mandate-not-enough-office-space-2024-2">less appealing</a>, motivating workers to quit rather than slashing jobs only through layoffs, BI previously reported.Major companies across the US have enforced <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-making-workers-employees-return-to-office-rto-wfh-hybrid-2023-1">RTO mandates</a> in the past year, including Meta, Google, and Salesforce. May 14, 2024: This story has been updated to reflect a correction in The Wall Street Journal's report that was added after its publication. The original report mistakenly listed Southern California as one of the locations that Walmart workers in smaller offices were being directed to move to.If you work for Walmart and were affected by this news, please contact reporter <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="mailto:dreuter@businessinsider.com">Dominick Reuter via a non-work email and device</a> or text/call/Signal at 646-768-4750. Responses will be kept confidential.

Walmart is axing hundreds of corporate jobs and bringing remote employees into the office

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Walmart has announced closures for nine locations across five states in 2024 so far.</li><li>The company cited financial underperformance as the reason for the decisions.</li></ul>Walmart will close Neighborhood Markets in Aurora, Colorado, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as a Bay Area store, bringing the number of confirmed closures so far this year to nine.Layoff notices filed with the states of Colorado, Wisconsin, and California follow the closures earlier this year of four stores in California, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/12/customers-react-towson-walmart-closing/">one</a> in Maryland, and one in Ohio. In those cases, the company said the stores were not meeting financial performance expectations."We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our San Diego and El Cajon stores," Walmart spokesperson Brian Little said in a statement to Business Insider in January. "We look forward to continuing to serve them at any of our many locations across the area, on Walmart.com, and through <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-will-automatically-restock-your-fridge-using-ai-2024-1">delivery to their home or business</a>."In each case, the company said workers are eligible for transfer to another location, and Walmart will continue to operate over a dozen stores and warehouse clubs in each local market.Walmart had over <a target="_blank" href="https://corporate.walmart.com/about/location-facts/united-states">4,600 retail locations</a> in the US as of February, a figure that includes 3,560 supercenters, 360 discount stores, and 675 neighborhood markets. It also owns nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sams-club-will-scan-cart-instead-of-checking-receipt-2024-1">600 Sam's Club warehouses</a>.The company said in January it will <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-new-stores-expansion-2024-1">build or up-size over 150 stores</a> in the next five years, starting with 14 new locations this year. Four of the new locations will be in Texas, with three in the Dallas area and one near Houston, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/2024/04/19/walmart-to-build-four-new-stores-in-texas-as-it-follows-residential-growth/">Dallas Morning News</a> reported.In addition, some 650 locations will be renovated to the brand's "Store of the Future" concept.Last year, Business Insider tracked the closures of at least 22 Walmart locations across the US, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-closing-chicago-stores-sparks-outrage-2023-4">four in Chicago</a>. Financial performance was cited in those cases as well.<h2 id="e74b573e-a3f9-4681-be37-593bc9fff852">Here are the latest Walmart closings:</h2><h3 id="9b240d19-0bf8-4b8d-aab6-67a3116351fe">California:</h3><ul><li class="li1">2121 Imperial Ave. in San Diego</li><li class="li1">605 Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon</li><li class="li1">2753 E. Eastland Center Dr. in West Covina</li><li class="li1">4080 Douglas Blvd in Granite Bay (Neighborhood Market)</li><li class="li1">40580 Albrae St. in Fremont</li></ul><h3 id="67d1d9fb-802f-4ff1-8de5-8d9b6d13fa4d">Colorado</h3><ul><li>10400 E Colfax Ave. in Aurora</li></ul><h3 id="490edc49-c628-4709-965b-d12749e497e5">Maryland:</h3><ul><li>1238 Putty Hill Ave in Towson</li></ul><h3 id="4264cc0b-1c2c-4b61-83d9-7a37b9161227">Ohio:</h3><ul><li class="li1">3579 S. High St. in Columbus</li></ul><h3 id="40cb8867-71f7-45a1-9582-3978d19400d2">Wisconsin</h3><ul><li>7025 W Main St. in Milwaukee (Neighborhood Market)</li></ul><h2 id="e7a8a14b-65d8-489a-80b4-2b3bd024184a">Here are the confirmed new locations:</h2><h3 id="8b764d19-4b87-4d37-be29-1b0a74b41fd8">Georgia:</h3><ul><li>Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta (Neighborhood Market)</li></ul><h3 id="0aa69736-d274-414a-a2f9-ef0a760f4b5f">Florida:</h3><ul><li>U.S. Highway 98 East in Santa Rosa Beach (Neighborhood Market)</li></ul><h3 id="8d2f7979-84d7-46a8-ab01-5225eae3bc59">Texas</h3><ul><li>Preston Road in Celina (Dallas area)</li><li>16600 FM 423 in Frisco (Dallas area)</li><li>McKinney Street in Melissa (Dallas area)</li><li>8927 Fry Road in Cypress (Houston area)</li></ul>8 additional locations are planned to be announced this year.Do you work or shop at one of the Walmart stores above and want to share your thoughts? Contact reporter Dominick Reuter from a non-work email at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:dreuter@businessinsider.com">dreuter@businessinsider.com</a> or call/text/Signal at 646.768.4750.

Walmart is shuttering 9 US locations in 2024. See the list.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Walmart quietly reduced its store count in 2023 even though the company was doing really well.</li><li>In addition to closing underperforming stores, the retailer sold 79 Moosejaw and Bonobos locations.</li></ul>Last year was unquestionably a good one for Walmart, with the retail giant showing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-sales-boom-target-slides-as-shoppers-shift-to-groceries-2023-8">respectable performance</a> across nearly every aspect of its business.The coming year is also set to be a big one for the company, due in large part to the kickoff of an expansion plan that will see <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-new-stores-expansion-2024-1">150 new or upsized Walmart locations</a> over the next five years.But one figure has gotten noticeably smaller last year: the number of US stores.The company quietly reduced its fleet by more than 100 locations between January and August last year, according to data from the company's investor <a target="_blank" href="https://stock.walmart.com/financials/unit-counts-and-square-footage/default.aspx">website</a>.Walmart reported a combined 4,717 supercenters, discount stores, and smaller format locations at the start of its fiscal year, and declined to 4,616 in the span of two quarters. No closures were reported in the third quarter, and one discount store was reported closed in the fourth quarter.Over most of last year, BI tracked the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-store-closings-2023-full-list">major Walmart closures</a> across the US through federally required layoff notices filed with state workforce agencies.Of the combined 23 supercenters, stores, and neighborhood markets that fell off the company's tally during the year, spokespeople said the locations' <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-store-closings-openings-2024-full-list">financial performance was not meeting expectations</a>.As it happens, the reduction of 79 small format locations was not due to closure per se, but the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-sells-moosejaw-bonobos-eloquii-in-post-marc-lore-era-2023-4">sale of the Moosejaw and Bonobos brands</a>, which at the time had 14 and 65 stores, respectively.Dick's Sporting Goods, which bought Moosejaw, went on to close most of those stores.In addition, Walmart's 20 remaining small-format stores are a comparatively tiny 2,500 square feet on average, and may not typically employ enough workers to trigger the layoff notice requirement if they were to close.Those locations are primarily standalone fuel stations and pharmacies, according to a new footnote that was included with the fourth quarter counts, which were released after initial publication of this article.Given <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-and-target-are-looking-increasingly-similar-these-days-2023-12">what Walmart has planned for the next few years</a>, the move away from smaller locations makes sense. Analysts told BI that both the closing of underperforming stores and the pivot away from unsuccessful formats are smart moves for a company that wants to stay in good financial shape.Walmart under <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-bio-career-life-salary-first-job-2021-6">CEO Doug McMillon</a> has shown a willingness to experiment with different retailing ideas, to let them go if they don't perform well, and to reinvest the savings in other areas of the business, said Scot Ciccarelli, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Truist Securities."It's a repositioning more than anything, and good retailers are going to do the same with their store portfolio," Ciccarelli told BI.Small stores simply weren't working for Walmart, GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders told BI."Walmart has always struggled with smaller stores," Saunders said. "Partly because they don't really know what to put in them — it's not really what Walmart is known for and the economics are much more challenging."Large retailers — and Walmart is of course the <a target="_blank" href="https://fortune.com/company/walmart/">largest</a> of them all — typically are more concerned with the total square footage of their physical footprint than they are with the number of locations.In other words, big box brands care more about floors than doors, Ciccarelli said.By that metric, Walmart will offset last year's square-footage reductions from closing dozens of small-format stores with the opening of just one new supercenter, and the company has plenty more of those in the queue.In addition to new stores, many existing locations are being upgraded to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/visiting-walmart-recently-renovated-supercenters-in-wisconsin-2023-11">Walmart's "store of the future" concept</a>, including 650 projects this year.These bigger buildings are far better aligned with Walmart's omni-channel retailing strategy than their itty-bitty counterparts. The extra space is especially important when it comes to offering a broad selection of food and non-food products, as well as<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-going-after-amazon-with-ecommerce-strategy-from-target-2023-12"> fulfilling e-commerce orders</a>.In short, Walmart's paring back in 2023 set the stage for its expansion in 2024 and beyond." US store remodels continue to perform well," CFO John David Rainey said in the company's earnings call on Tuesday. "We're also excited to be returning to store growth in the US."Correction, February 19, 2023: After the publication of this article, Walmart clarified that the reduction in 79 small format stores was a result of the sales of Moosejaw and Bonobos, not location closures as stated in the original headline and story text.Update, February 20, 2023: This story was revised to include final full-year figures and quotes from Walmart's earnings call Tuesday.

Walmart reduced its store fleet by 102 locations last year &mdash; a smart move for what's next

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Welcome back! Mark Zuckerberg got plenty of attention at UFC 298, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-gets-meme-treatment-over-awkward-ufc-clip-2024-2">including getting the meme treatment again</a>. In today’s big story, we’re looking at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-fed-interest-rate-cuts-wall-street-markets-investors-2024-2">chances of there being no rate cuts this year</a>, and how <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-fed-stocks-bonds-commecial-real-estate-mortgages-banks-2024-2">the markets would react</a>.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Capital One is set to snap up Discover Financial in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/capital-one-set-to-acquire-discover-wsj-2024-2">deal worth more than $35 billion</a>.</li><li>Tech: Meet the 58 Black investors looking to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-venture-capital-investors-firms-invest-diverse-underrepresented-startup-founders">back underrepresented startup founders</a>.</li><li>Business: A suggestion for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-firings-tech-hr-tiktok-cloudflare-employee-morale-bad-business-2024-1">new way to lay people off</a>. </li></ul>But first, a scary market proposition.<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><h2>The big story</h2><h3>Cuts are canceled</h3><div type="image" title="Fed chair Jerome Powell" height="1279" width="1920" msid="107859450" hostid="261" sizebytes="62592"></div>Don't count your chickens before they hatch and don't price in your rate cuts before they materialize.“When will the Federal Reserve cut rates this year?” has been the prevailing question for months as investors and companies seek relief from the central bank’s 23-month war on inflation.But mixed economic data coupled with a stock market that just won’t quit has brought whispers of a scarier question: Will the Fed cut rates this year at all?It’s a shocking potential turnaround. Last December, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rates-fed-pauses-increases-december-rate-cuts-powell-inflation-2023-12">three cuts were on the table for 2024</a>, which he reiterated <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/powell-60-minutes-interview-fed-interest-rate-cuts-before-election-2024-2">earlier this month</a>.But some market experts say <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-fed-interest-rate-cuts-wall-street-markets-investors-2024-2">cutting rates this year is “essentially optional,”</a> Business Insider’s Phil Rosen reports.Investors have already had to adjust their expectations in 2024.There's now just a 10% chance that the central bank slashes borrowing costs in March, according to CME's Fedwatch tool, down from 77% earlier this year.<div type="image" title="deep impact tsunami tidal wave" height="855" width="1500" msid="107859451" hostid="261" sizebytes="199180"></div>As surprising as it would be for the Fed to skip cuts this year, it wouldn't be a disaster for everyone.BI’s Yuheng Zhan has a rundown of <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-fed-stocks-bonds-commecial-real-estate-mortgages-banks-2024-2">how different markets would react if rates stayed elevated</a>.Broadly speaking, large stocks should be alright, according to experts. After all, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zirp-end-of-cushy-big-tech-job-perks-mass-layoffs-2024-2">Big Tech companies' year-plus efficiency kick</a> has made them a lot less vulnerable to higher rates.Bonds could struggle, though, with further delays on rate cuts raising the risk that debt markets suffer another <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/news-today-october-24-treasury-yield-bond-market-stocks-recession-2023-9">meltdown like they did last fall</a>. The area with the most to lose is real estate. The residential market needs some rate relief to help spur sales after a quiet 2023, but the commercial sector holds the most risk.The market has quickly devolved into a dumpster fire, with $2.1 trillion of debt tied to commercial real estate assets <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/banks-commercial-real-estate-loan-sales-debt-interest-rates-2024-1">set to come due by the end of 2025</a>. It remains to be seen how contagious failures in that sector would be to other industries. Regional banks <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/commercial-real-estate-big-trouble-crash-bank-crisis-2024-2">have plenty of exposure</a>, as demonstrated by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nycb-regional-bank-fears-commercial-real-estate-turmoil-fears-2024-2">NYCB’s struggles earlier this year,</a> but bigger lenders are fairly well capitalized in case defaults ramp up.So while rates staying higher for longer isn't the ideal scenario, it also wouldn't be a death knell for financial markets.What would prove disastrous, though, is a rate hike. The chances are slim — a senior economist at JPMorgan Private Bank puts the odds at just 15% or less — but it’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rate-outlook-hikes-cuts-fed-policy-inflation-jobs-growth-2024-1">not entirely out of the question for some</a>.<hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="Capital One and Discover Financial" height="1500" width="3000" msid="107859452" hostid="261" sizebytes="181036"></div>1. Two of the US’s largest credit-card issuers are merging. Capital One is buying Discover Financial <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/capital-one-set-to-acquire-discover-wsj-2024-2">for just over $35 billion in an all-stock deal</a>, the two companies said Monday. The transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025.2. How did we get here? Four years after the pandemic crashed financial markets and drove inflation to four-decade highs, the US economy is going from strength to strength, even as peers like the UK and Japan slip into recession. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economic-outlook-pandemic-stock-market-crash-inflation-recession-rates-ai-2024-2">Nobody’s quite sure what comes next</a>.3. Sell Nvidia. That’s the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cathie-wood-says-nvidia-has-become-check-the-box-stock-2024-2">advice of Ark's Cathie Wood</a>, who believes the chipmaker stock has become overvalued. Nvidia’s shares have already surged nearly 50% year-to-date, powering it past Alphabet and Amazon to become the US’s third most-valuable listed company.<hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="Black VCs list 2024" height="1081" width="1440" msid="107859454" hostid="261" sizebytes="74390"></div>1. These Black venture capitalists are changing the VC industry. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have been heavily scrutinized recently, including in the business world. But <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-venture-capital-investors-firms-invest-diverse-underrepresented-startup-founders">Black VCs who specifically back startup founders of color</a> remain undeterred.2. The race to address the AI chip shortage is on. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is reportedly trying to raise $100 billion to finance a chip production venture amid a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-leaders-ready-to-build-hardware-that-powers-future-ai-2024-2">frenzied scramble for supply across the tech sector</a>.3. Google just upped the ante in the AI war. Google is developing a new large language model that hopes to challenge OpenAI’s GPT-4. Called Gemini 1.5, the tool can process more than one type of data, including images, audio, and video. It also underwent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-gemini-1-5-retools-ai-into-one-advanced-model-2024-2">enhanced safety testing</a>.<hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Someone being laid off with an American flag in the background" height="1334" width="2000" msid="107859455" hostid="261" sizebytes="143594"></div>1. There’s a better way to handle layoffs. While some job cuts are unavoidable, that doesn’t mean companies have to be cruel about them. Layoffs may seem like a way to boost the bottom line, but they can wind up <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-firings-tech-hr-tiktok-cloudflare-employee-morale-bad-business-2024-1">being bad for business</a>. 2. Russia’s wartime economy still looks resilient. Subsidies and government spending projects have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-how-moscow-pays-war-economy-afloat-sanctions-ukraine-2024-2">kept growth afloat</a> in the two years since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, while Moscow is still bringing in revenue through its oil exports. But economists warn Russia could become “addicted” to military spending if the conflict drags on much longer.3. The lab-grown diamond boom is over. Prices for man-made gems are <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/lab-grown-diamond-prices-engagement-rings-carat-value-outlook-jewelry-2024-2">likely to tumble this year</a>, analysts told BI. Lower-priced retailers like Walmart and Pandora have started aggressively pushing lab-grown stones, creating a glut in supply.<hr />In other news<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navalny-death-letters-trump-second-term-agenda-really-scary-2024-2">In Navalny's last letters, the Russian dissident called Trump's agenda for a second term 'really scary'</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/looksmaxxing-starvemaxxing-tiktok-trend-guy-face-2024-2">Why young men are 'starvemaxxing' to look like their chiseled, masculine idols</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-interest-rate-mortgage-affordable-housing-prices-market-cost-2024-2">If you are waiting to buy an affordable home when rates drop, you're out of luck</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-influencer-posts-photo-of-sam-bankman-fried-in-prison-2024-2">A crypto influencer has posted what she says is the first photo of Sam Bankman-Fried hanging out with his fellow inmates</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-helicopter-pilot-who-defected-to-ukraine-shot-dead-spain-2024-2">The Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with an Mi-8 helicopter was shot to death in Spain</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-calls-employees-friends-of-friends-trouble-jimmy-donaldson-youtube-2024-2">MrBeast is asking for trouble by calling his employees 'friends of friends' instead of giving them job titles, HR experts say</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/college-football-recruiting-athletes-locker-rooms-training-facilities-texas-florida-2024-2">College football teams are dropping millions on state-of-the-art locker rooms. Here are some of the most jaw-dropping upgrades</a>.</li></ul><hr />What's happening today<ul><li>Today’s earnings: Walmart, Home Depot, and <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">other companies are reporting</a>.</li><li>Former President Donald Trump participates in Fox town hall. </li></ul><hr />The Insider Today teamDan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago.Get in touch<a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="mailto:insidertoday@insider.com">insidertoday@insider.com</a>To read unlimited articles, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription">subscribe</a> to Insider.

The odds of no interest-rate cuts in 2024 are growing

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Hi! In a story that seems straight out of a sitcom, a local politician lost an election by one vote <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/political-candidate-didnt-vote-lost-election-one-ballot-thurston-washington-2023-12">after failing to vote for himself</a>. In today's big story, we're looking at the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-and-target-are-looking-increasingly-similar-these-days-2023-12">rising similarities between Target and Walmart</a>. What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets: Meet the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-top-hedge-funds-11-experts-2023-11">AI experts leading the charge</a> at nine top hedge funds.</li><li>Tech: What does the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/broadcom-vmware-new-era-begins-2023-11">future of VMware look like</a> under Broadcom?</li><li>Business: Elon Musk's <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-cybertruck-apocalypse-inequality-2023-12">apocalypse-driven pitch</a> for the Cybertruck.</li></ul>But first, can I borrow that idea?<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><h2>The big story</h2>Retail déjà vu<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-and-target-are-looking-increasingly-similar-these-days-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Side by side images of Walmart's new Dollar Shop and Target's Bulleseye's Playground" height="933" width="1918" msid="105760931" hostid="261" sizebytes="275966"></div>If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Walmart and Target are embarking on some serious tributes to each other. Two of the country's largest retailers are taking pages from each other's playbooks as they adjust to a <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-slowdown-recession-shopping-retail-spending-expectations-us-economy-outlook-2023-11">changing economic landscape</a>. From the vibes at Walmart's "<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/visiting-walmart-recently-renovated-supercenters-in-wisconsin-2023-11">store of the future</a>" to the proliferation of Target's new low-priced deals, the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-and-target-are-looking-increasingly-similar-these-days-2023-12">similarities between the two stores are becoming undeniable</a>, writes Business Insider's Dominick Reuter. The commonalities go beyond physical appearance or types of deals, Dominick points out. Their executives even sound like one another.Christina Hennington, Target's chief growth officer, recently said the retail giant wants to be a "holiday destination for affordable joy," thanks to Target's "everyday low prices." If that phrase sounds familiar, it's because it's been a key part of Walmart's pricing strategy <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.walmartmuseum.com/content/walmartmuseum/en_us/timeline/decades/1970/artifact/2480.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for decades</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-and-target-are-looking-increasingly-similar-these-days-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Side-by-side images of the fresh produce sections at Walmart (left) and Target (right)." height="1096" width="1915" msid="105761018" hostid="261" sizebytes="323148"></div>It's not uncommon for retail chains to borrow ideas from one another. Home Depot and Lowe's have been cribbing ideas from one another for decades. And Walmart founder Sam Walton openly admitted <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/founding-history-of-costco#sam-walton-liked-what-price-and-sinegal-were-doing-with-fedmart-in-california-so-much-that-he-opened-the-first-walmart-in-arkansas-1962-2">he stole borrowed plenty of ideas from Sol Price</a>, the originator of the wholesale club model. But what makes the Walmart-Target dynamic so interesting is the distinct type of consumer they typically serve. While there is bound to be some overlap, shoppers tend to gravitate toward one of the two stores. The dividing line is often economic status. Historically, upper-middle-class consumers opted for Target, while lower-income shoppers headed to Walmart. However, stubborn inflation forced consumers to be <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-is-so-bad-wealthy-shopping-at-dollar-stores-2023-9">more diligent with their shopping decisions</a>. That's led Walmart to see an increase in higher-income clientele, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-retains-wealthy-customers-thanks-to-inflation-low-grocery-prices-2023-5">a trend they're leaning into</a>.Meanwhile, Target is offering more competitive promotions in a bid to meet consumers at a more comfortable price point for them.But both companies going after each other's target audience isn't about crushing the competition, Dominick told me. It's more a representation of the current economic landscape. Even if it's about swapping customers, that's a tricky strategy. A shift in a company's core offering could alienate <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/typical-shoppers-leading-retail-brands">its most loyal customers</a>. After all, more than beating up on one another, these rivals have a bigger fish to worry about: Amazon.<hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-top-hedge-funds-11-experts-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Head shot compilation of Balyasny Asset Management's Charlie Flanagan, AQR Capital Management's Bryan Kelly, Vatic Investments' Li Deng, and Two Sigma's Mike Schuster" height="1500" width="3000" msid="105761020" hostid="261" sizebytes="273510"></div><ul><li>The people leading hedge funds' AI era. Investment firms have been scooping up AI talent to help boost productivity and performance while cutting costs. We identified <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-top-hedge-funds-11-experts-2023-11">11 experts running AI teams</a> at top funds like Millennium, AQR, and Point72.</li><li>What can we expect from the Fed regarding rate cuts next year? A recent note from Barclays is projecting four rate cuts next year. But analysts at ING believe central bankers will make six cuts in 2024. <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-interest-rate-cut-outlook-economy-inflation-bond-yields-2023-12">More on where interest rates are headed next year</a>.</li><li>Israel is reportedly investigating claims of increased short-seller activity ahead of the Hamas attacks. A research paper highlighted <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/israel-hamas-war-short-selling-stock-research-paper-oct-7-2023-12">a spike in bets against the MSCI Israel Exchange Traded Fund and hundreds of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange securities</a> before the terrorist attacks. The Israel Securities Authority told Reuters the matter "is under investigation by all relevant parties."</li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-companies-that-have-raised-at-least-50-million-this-year-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Sam Altman" height="1548" width="2064" msid="105761021" hostid="261" sizebytes="124274"></div><ul><li>The AI startups that attracted the most investment this year. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Starlink AI topped the list of AI startups that raised money in 2023. But <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-companies-that-have-raised-at-least-50-million-this-year-2023-11">more than 200 startups</a> have raised at least $50 million this year.</li><li>Leaked memo: Spotify CEO's message announcing layoffs. The company is <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-layoffs-read-memo-ceo-sent-employees-announcing-cuts-2023-12">cutting 17% of its headcount</a> — around 1,500 employees. CEO Daniel Ek wrote in his email that "being lean is not just an option but a necessity."</li><li>VMware's future under Broadcom could see "change" and "uncertainty." Insiders and leaked memos point to <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/broadcom-vmware-new-era-begins-2023-11">drastic changes at the company</a>. Competitors are eyeing VMware's customers, and VMware employees are facing a bit of culture shock under Broadcom.</li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-cybertruck-apocalypse-inequality-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Elon Musk laughing in a Cybertruck surrounded by flames" height="1000" width="2000" msid="105761022" hostid="261" sizebytes="237988"></div><ul><li>Elon Musk's Cybertruck apocalypse. The Tesla CEO says its long-awaited truck is built for the apocalypse. In reality, that's silly. But his belief in a truck that can survive suggests an <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-cybertruck-apocalypse-inequality-2023-12">even more dystopian mindset</a>.</li><li>A millennial who rushed into being a manager in her 20s shares her regrets. She said that it's important for managers to help their direct reports with their development and career trajectories. But at 26, she was still <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-becoming-manager-regret-job-career-advice-2023-12">navigating her own career trajectory</a>.</li><li>Gen Z is opting out of working for others. Instead, they want to work for themselves. One in three Gen Zers believes the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-self-employed-build-wealth-instagram-traditional-work-job-2023-12">best way to build wealth</a> is to be self-employed, according to a new survey. Gen Z is the "hustle generation," and they reject a lot of millennial attitudes about careers.</li></ul><hr /><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaving-california-moving-to-las-vegas-living-in-seattle-2023-12">People are fleeing California. Here's where they're plotting to move to</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aging-secrets-longevity-advice-japan-supercentenarian-2023-12">Four aging secrets of Japanese supercentenarians, from a longevity researcher whose great-grandmother lived to 115</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-and-worst-states-to-find-a-job-ranked-2023-11">The best states to find a job, ranked</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-soldier-marines-trying-defend-dnipro-river-cant-swim-bbc-2023-12">Ukrainian soldier admits some of the marines trying to defend a key river against Russian attack "can't even swim.</a>"</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/klarna-freezes-hiring-shrink-the-company-relies-on-ai-chatgpt-2023-12">Klarna is freezing hiring and turning to AI tools such as ChatGPT to pick up the slack</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-aws-reinvent-xxl-meeting-biggest-customers-2023-12">Amazon holds an exclusive meeting at its cloud conference to give "XXL" customers like Salesforce a forum to air grievances</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-grew-salary-after-pivoting-tech-data-privacy-2023-12">I got a tech job and quadrupled my salary to $400,000 after leaving law. You don't need a traditional tech background to succeed in the industry</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-lesson-for-founders-be-a-control-freak-2023-12">Sam Altman's biggest lesson for founders: control freaks win</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-affordable-places-to-visit-next-year-2023">I traveled to over seven countries in 2023. Here are four of the most affordable cities I visited</a>.</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-sp500-bull-rally-indicator-bear-rebound-resistance-2023-12">CHART OF THE DAY: The S&amp;P 500 is running into an obstacle that could make or break the bull rally</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>The "Dancing With The Stars" season finale is tonight on ABC. The stars in contention for gold are Xochitl Gomez, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Mraz, Charity Lawson, and Ariana Madix.</li><li>The 2024 Major League Baseball Draft Lottery will be broadcast live. It'll air on the MLB Network. The lottery will give teams that didn't make the playoffs a chance to land their top picks.</li><li>Earnings today: AutoZone, Asana, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">and other companies</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>For your bookmarks</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-burglar-reveals-how-she-picked-homes-target-alarms-useless-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Burglar entering house with crowbar" height="1414" width="1885" msid="105761024" hostid="261" sizebytes="74768"></div>Home safety tipsFormer burglar shares advice on how to keep your home safe. She said security systems indicate there's <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-burglar-reveals-how-she-picked-homes-target-alarms-useless-2023-12">something valuable and worth stealing inside</a>.<hr />The Insider Today team: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

Walmart and Target borrowing ideas from each other shows we're in a new economic landscape

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6377922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="starbucks">Starbucks</keyword> CEO Kevin Johnson called for the government to pass a new <keyword id="45304" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Stimulus">stimulus</keyword> package on Wednesday. </li><li>"We need Congress to take action," Johnson said at Starbucks' investor day. </li><li>In an open letter to Congress, Johnson highlighted Starbucks' efforts to support workers, including plans to pay all employees in the US <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-plans-for-15-minimum-wage-across-us-stores-2020-12">at least $15 per hour within the next two to three years. </a></li><li>Negotiations over a new stimulus package have dragged on for months, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-document-bipartisan-deal-liability-mcconnell-2020-12">with a bipartisan group of lawmakers introducing a $908 billion coronavirus stimulus deal last week. </a></li></ul>Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson is calling for a new stimulus package to save small businesses - including independent coffee shops across America. "We need Congress to take action," Johnson said at Starbucks' investor day on Wednesday. Later on Wednesday, Johnson released an <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/supporting-americans-in-unprecedented-times/">open letter to Congress,</a> encouraging lawmakers to pass a second stimulus package. In the letter, Johnson highlights Starbucks' efforts to support workers, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-plans-for-15-minimum-wage-across-us-stores-2020-12">plans to pay all employees in the US at least $15 per hour within the next two to three years. </a>"Starbucks urges Congress to take immediate bipartisan action to pass new COVID relief legislation to address the urgent needs in our communities, especially for the millions of Americans out of work, small businesses facing economic uncertainty and the public health needs of state and local governments on the front lines of the pandemic," Johnson wrote. Johnson joins the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-ceo-chris-kempczinski-calls-for-stimulus-2020-11">chief executives of McDonald's and Walmart</a> in calling for further aid. "I think it's important that we all understand in some ways we are having a shared experience because we are in a pandemic together, but we are having a very different experience," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-ceo-calls-for-stimulus-a-likely-holiday-spending-boost-2020-10">said at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in late October. </a>"If you have been let go and don't have income, you really need help," McMillon continued. "The voice we have at Walmart is to say to Congress and the administration we need you to help those people who need help." Stimulus negotiations have dragged on for months, with Congress running out of time to pass a proposed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-document-bipartisan-deal-liability-mcconnell-2020-12">$908 billion bipartisan proposal</a> before the new year. "The slow negotiations over COVID-19 relief have in recent days boiled down to two major sticking points: the scale of funding to state and local governments, and protections for businesses from litigation by employees who get the virus," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-stimulus-porter-rips-mcconnell-over-corporate-protections-2020-12">reports Insider's Mia Jankowicz. </a>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-908-billion-munchin-romney-collins-2020-12">The $908 billion coronavirus stimulus deal could be the next one Trump signs: Here's what you need to know about the relief package and its chances of passing.</a><h2>Experts say Starbucks will cash in on the closures of independent coffee shops </h2>Starbucks sales declined during the pandemic, with comparable sales down 9% in the US in the fourth quarter.However, analysts say that Starbucks is likely to win over customers with the closures of independent coffee shops, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/thousands-us-restaurants-closed-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-12">as roughly 110,000 restaurants have already closed across the US. </a>On Tuesday, Cowen analyst Andrew Charles named Starbucks as one of his four favorite stocks best suited to capitalize on the $39 billion in restaurant sales that are "up for grabs due to the closure of independents." Johnson said on Wednesday that a stimulus package is necessary to prevent closures of small businesses. Starbucks does not want these independent coffee shops to close, Johnson said. "This is not a competition," Johnson said. "We are grounded in humanity."Starbucks executives expressed optimism about the future of the company, announcing Starbucks expects outsized non-GAAP earnings per share growth of at least 20% in fiscal year 2022. Starbucks updated its fiscal year 2023 and 2024 expectations for ongoing annual non-GAAP EPS growth rate to a range of 10% to 12%, up from at least 10%. <h2>Read Johnson's full letter to Congress here: </h2>Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy,Over the course of the past 11 months, all of humanity has united behind our common cause to contain and mitigate the COVID-19 virus. I have found, in our collective resilience and determination, a lot to be optimistic about. However, as we look to the future, it's clear that this global pandemic has presented the world and its leaders with unprecedented challenges that must be addressed both in the near- and long-term.People around the world and in every American community are struggling with hardships caused, exacerbated, or simply made more visible by the pandemic. We share in the hope that the COVID-19 vaccines bring, but we know that until vaccines are broadly distributed in 2021, American families and small businesses will continue to face insurmountable hardships. Navigating this pandemic is intertwined with ensuring American prosperity; both must be addressed in tandem.This moment will require all leaders-from governments, businesses and communities-to come together to help address a common cause, just as we have done many times throughout American history. Starbucks urges Congress to take immediate bipartisan action to pass new COVID relief legislation to address the urgent needs in our communities, especially for the millions of Americans out of work, small businesses facing economic uncertainty and the public health needs of state and local governments on the front lines of the pandemic. At Starbucks, we will continue to navigate this pandemic as we have since January, guided by three principles: 1) prioritizing the health and well-being of our partners (we refer to all Starbucks employees as "partners") and customers; 2) playing a constructive role in supporting health and government officials as they work to mitigate the spread of this virus and 3) showing up in positive and responsible ways to serve our communities.I have been awed and inspired by the way my Starbucks partners have shown up for their communities in the face of extraordinary circumstances. In return, we have taken action to support our partners because they are the heartbeat of our company. We provided catastrophe pay and service pay for partners whose stores were closed due to the pandemic and those unable to work due to effects of COVID, without any involuntary layoffs. We also recently shared one of our biggest wage investments of at least a 10 percent pay increase for our partners, all of whom already earn more than the minimum wage. With these investments, more than 30 percent of our U.S. <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword> partners are currently at or above $15/hour and we continue on our path to ensure all U.S. partners will be making at or above $15/hour within the coming two to three years. And as we always do, we will continue explore what more we can do to provide compensation and benefits in support of our partners.Starbucks will also continue supporting customers and the communities we serve. Since the onset of COVID-19, Starbucks has remained close to national, state and local health officials to ensure our business decisions are anchored to and guided by facts and science. The store changes we have made prioritize customer safety while providing familiar experiences. The nearly 2 million cups of coffee we have provided to front-line healthcare workers and first-responders-as well as the 5 million meals we have donated through our FoodShare program and the $9 million The Starbucks Foundation has donated to COVID-19 relief efforts-have, I hope, set an example of putting people above profit. Starbucks remains committed to the work ahead. We stand ready to partner with government officials at all levels to address the next phase of this pandemic recovery and serve as a beacon of warmth and welcome for all communities.Together, we have the opportunity to inspire the human spirit and demonstrate the resilience and courage that highlight the best of our people - and the best of our country.Thank you for your work on behalf of American families, businesses and communities.With respect and gratitude,Kevin

Starbucks joins McDonald's and Walmart in calling for Congress to pass stimulus package, as CEO announces plans for $15 minimum wage

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Halfway to the weekend! What do you get when you create a livestream video portal connecting New York and Dublin? In a word, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/livestream-portal-between-new-york-and-dublin-descends-into-chaos-2024-5">chaos</a>.In today's big story, we're looking at Google's big event that's pitching <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-future-ai-agents-project-astra-2024-5">all the ways AI agents can make our lives easier</a>.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Meme stocks <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/meme-stock-rally-gamestop-amc-short-squeeze-gains-blackberry-sunpower-2024-5">haven't given up just yet</a>.</li><li>Tech: Sam Altman gracefully thanked his OpenAI cofounder who quit. Then <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-leadership-shakeup-jan-leike-ilya-sutskever-resign-chatgpt-superalignment-2024-5">another exec quit hours later</a>.</li><li>Business: Punching a clock has never been cooler as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-collar-job-demand-growth-white-collar-layoffs-ai-2024-5">blue-collar jobs are booming</a>.</li></ul>But first, AI can help with that.<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><h3 id="3b31b1d5-e52f-4df4-84dd-49e586014778">The big story</h3><h2 id="53937b15-188a-41f7-b111-0d80c3a8235c">In our AI agent era</h2><div type="image" title="An eye with the Google logo in the iris" height="1500" width="2000" msid="110152648" hostid="261" sizebytes="452180"></div>Forgot where your glasses are? Need to return some shoes? Want to add stuff to your calendar? AI can help with that.Yes, I know you've heard some iterations of these pitches before. Since OpenAI's ChatGPT graced us with its presence, all anyone can seem to talk about is how AI is going to change everything.But now Google is saying these things in a very real way. And when a company that's historically been at the forefront of tech talks, people tend to listen.Google I/O, the tech giant's biggest developer conference, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-future-ai-agents-project-astra-2024-5">was heavy on the rise of so-called AI agents</a>, writes Business Insider's Hugh Langley, who was there in person.Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI agents "think multiple steps ahead and work across software and systems all to get something done on your behalf and most importantly, with your supervision."Tuesday's event wasn't just about the new and shiny.Google's faithful, old search engine <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-ai-announcement-gemini-io-event-2024-5">got a noticeable facelift with the help of AI</a>, writes BI's Geoff Weiss. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-gmail-of-the-future-looks-incredible-integrated-ai-assistant-2024-5">Gemini-powered updates</a> were also on display for Gmail.AI Overviews — AI-generated answers at the top of Google Search results — combines what previously would have been a bunch of steps to answer a complex question into a single search.But what's good for the user could spell trouble for the rest of the internet. That type of feature could upend businesses built around search engine optimization.At the center of this movement sits Project Astra, which is what Hugh succinctly describes as "what the Google Assistant should have been all along."BI's Alistair Barr, who was also at I/O, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/project-astra-google-ai-agent-dancing-gemini-2024-5">got to test out Project Astra</a>, and chatted with Gregory Wayne, the head of the project.<div type="image" title="Google logo in a crystal ball" height="1500" width="2000" msid="110152650" hostid="261" sizebytes="87950"></div>The stakes for Google are high, as nailing AI agents opens up a massive business opportunity.For all the chatter AI has received, there hasn't been a singular application that has grabbed consumers' attention yet, writes Alistair. But Google's demos at the event give it a real shot at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-killer-ai-app-consumers-2024-5">finally creating a killer AI app</a>.But Google's AI ambitions also require people to let the tech giant into their lives in a big way.Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis described AI agents "that can see and hear what we do better, understand the context we're in and respond quickly in conversation making the pace and quality of interaction feel much more natural."That concept is equally impressive and terrifying.For AI agents to be so intuitive, they'll need access to seemingly every aspect of our lives. And with people getting increasingly protective over their data, that might be a tough sell.<hr /><h2 id="667ee87b-b0d5-4400-b989-eef47c30a1e1">3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="gamestop" height="1333" width="2000" msid="110152651" hostid="261" sizebytes="352964"></div><ol><li>Meme stocks keep memeing. GameStop and AMC Entertainment <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/meme-stock-rally-gamestop-amc-short-squeeze-gains-blackberry-sunpower-2024-5">have continued their massive rallies</a>, finishing Tuesday up more than 59% and 30%, respectively, following the re-emergence of Keith Gill, aka "Roaring Kitty." But not everyone is impressed, with one market guru calling it a "<a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gamestop-meme-stocks-roaring-kitty-wall-street-bets-jim-chanos-2024-5">speculation orgy</a>."</li><li>Another inflation report is coming. Here's how the market could react. All eyes are on today's April CPI report, which could dictate the timeline for interest rate cuts. A hot report might lead the S&amp;P 500 to drop as much as 2.5%, according to JPMorgan, while cooler data could mean June rate cuts are a possibility. Here are <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-april-cpi-report-trading-scenarios-inflation-this-week-2024-5">six scenarios the bank sees playing out</a>.</li><li>The head of Citi's fastest-growing wealth business is leaving. Naz Vahid, who heads a division devoted to serving rich law-firm partners and other rich executives, is exiting the bank after 38 years, according to a memo seen by BI. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-wealth-unit-mehrnazz-naz-vahid-leaving-sieg-2024-5">Check out Citi wealth boss Andy Sieg's announcement</a>.</li></ol><hr /><h2 id="9619e410-5c39-4a7c-8185-0fd6504b61be">3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="AWS step down" height="1000" width="2000" msid="110152652" hostid="261" sizebytes="134456"></div><ol><li>Adam Selipsky is out at AWS. According to an internal memo, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aws-amazon-adam-selipsky-ceo-steps-down-2024-5">Amazon Web Services CEO is stepping down</a>, effective June 3. Selipsky's tenure was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aws-insiders-mixed-views-ceo-adam-selipskys-tenure-daparture-2024-5">marked by slow growth rates, major layoffs, and challenges in AI</a>. He'll be succeeded by Matt Garman, AWS's senior vice president of sales, marketing, and global services.</li><li>Mental health startups could face a reckoning this year. Facing tight funding conditions, the market is due for more deals. Healthcare analysts shared the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/13-mental-health-startups-ipo-acquisition-merge-buyout-2024-5">13 mental health startups that could IPO, make acquisitions, or get bought</a> this year.</li><li>Ilya Sutskever is leaving OpenAI. The OpenAI cofounder said in a post on X on Tuesday that he's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ilya-sutskever-leaving-openai-6-months-after-failed-altman-ouster-2024-5">stepping away from the company</a> after nearly a decade — and just hours later, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-leadership-shakeup-jan-leike-ilya-sutskever-resign-chatgpt-superalignment-2024-5">another top exec announced he'd also resigned</a>. Sutskever's position at the ChatGPT developer had been in doubt for the past six months after reports indicated he'd played a key role in last year's attempt to oust CEO Sam Altman.</li></ol><hr /><h2 id="796bfd12-a6c9-4555-a5f3-f94925f6b466">3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Photo illustration of a tombstone with a Peloton bike." height="2000" width="3000" msid="110152653" hostid="261" sizebytes="186410"></div><ol><li>Peloton might be headed for the fitness-fad graveyard. The connected-fitness company is struggling. Its CEO, who joined in 2022, is stepping down. It recently announced layoffs of 400 people. The stock is near a record low. In short, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-earnings-stock-price-problems-ceo-leaves-layoffs-fitness-fads-2024-5">the road ahead is a rocky one</a>.</li><li>Blue-collar jobs are booming. The jobs, which don't require sitting in front of a screen, have again assumed a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-collar-job-demand-growth-white-collar-layoffs-ai-2024-5">competitive position within the American labor market</a>. Demand is high, opportunities abound, and companies like Walmart and UPS are offering six-figure salaries and flashy benefits.</li><li>Big TV isn't dead just yet. That's according to Nielsen, which has a new way of tracking attention among media companies, including digital upstarts. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nielsen-tv-new-ratings-streaming-traditional-peter-kafka-2024-5">BI's Peter Kafka breaks down the data</a>, which shows legacy TV companies are still drawing in viewers across various platforms.</li></ol><hr /><h2 id="c8d5dfc4-cfba-484b-b640-7a4833799981">In other news</h2><ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/all-that-lori-beth-denberg-nickelodeon-dan-schneider-2024-5">'All That' star Lori Beth Denberg says Nickelodeon's Dan Schneider showed her porn, initiated phone sex, and lashed out on set</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-creator-economy-startup-jellysmack-lost-its-way-2024-5">Jellysmack raised a 9-figure war chest as the creator economy soared. Insiders say it bit off more than it could chew</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-lobster-chapter-11-bankruptcy-filing-closed-stores-wsj-2024-5">Red Lobster could file for bankruptcy this month following the closure of 50+ stores: WSJ</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-really-love-targeting-your-food-delivery-accounts-2024-5">Hackers really, really like trying to take over your food delivery apps</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guy-fieri-weight-loss-healthy-aging-fat-burning-rucking-workouts-2024-5">Guy Fieri says rucking — the hot, new fat-burning workout — helped him lose 30 pounds</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rsa-conference-us-national-security-5g-infrastructure-ai-anne-neuberger-2024-5">5G and 6G are among 'the most strategic sectors' in the AI age, a national security advisor says</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photographer-nikita-teryoshin-offers-look-into-global-defense-industry-2024-5">Behind the curtain of the global arms trade</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-and-worst-outfits-at-the-cannes-film-festival-2024-5">4 of the best looks worn at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival so far, and 3 that missed the mark</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-michael-cohen-hush-money-trial-cross-examination-2024-5">Kindergarten court: Trump lawyer grills Michael Cohen on insulting ex-president as a 'Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.'</a></li></ul><hr /><h2 id="ed1052f2-73f1-4e7b-9edd-3088925f8569">What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Today's earnings: Cisco Systems and <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">other companies are reporting</a>.</li><li>Warner Bros. Discovery is hosting its upfront presentation, unveiling its 2024- 2025 program lineups.</li><li>Uber is holding its Go/Get product showcase, revealing new products across the platform.</li></ul><hr />The Insider Today team: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jordan-parker-erb">Jordan Parker Erb</a>, editor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, senior editor, in London. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/george-glover">George Glover</a>, reporter, in London.

An AI agent may soon be at your beck and call, but it might cost you a bit of your privacy

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Almost Friday! We're fully functional at Insider Today, unlike a popular AI chatbot that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-giving-users-unhinged-answers-no-one-knows-why-openai-2024-2">recently went off the rails</a>. Consider that a win for the humans.In today's big story, we're looking at why <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deals-mergers-acquisitions-comeback-walmart-truist-capital-fed-rates-recession-2024-2">M&amp;A could be staging a comeback</a> and which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-investment-bankers-biggest-deals-goldman-jpmorgan-evercore-2024-2">bankers made the most of 2023</a>.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Nvidia's stock price skyrockets after a blowout earnings report shows a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-earnings-ai-chips-demand-jensen-huang-allocate-fairly-stock-2024-2">surge in demand for its AI chips</a>.</li><li>Tech: Rivian workers have been waiting all night to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rivian-workers-must-wait-hours-to-learn-layoff-2024-2">find out whether they've been laid off</a>.</li><li>Business: There's a way to fix dining out, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-america-eating-out-crisis-your-fault-labor-shortage-tipping-2024-2">but you're probably not going to like it</a>.</li></ul>But first, let's make a deal.<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><h2>The big story</h2><h3>Dealmaker's delight</h3><div type="image" title="A graphic of two people shaking hands, against a green background." height="1000" width="2000" msid="107920257" hostid="261" sizebytes="156774"></div>Three monster deals announced in less than a week has Wall Street wondering: Is M&amp;A back?The deals market was one of the biggest casualties of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in a bid to clamp down on inflation. (Real estate would also like a word.)But after a dreadful 2022 and 2023, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deals-mergers-acquisitions-comeback-walmart-truist-capital-fed-rates-recession-2024-2">dealmaking is showing signs of life,</a> Business Insider's Theron Mohamed writes. Capital One, Truist, and Walmart announced acquisitions totaling $53 billion this week, leaving bankers hopeful the good times (and fees) are back.M&amp;A's comeback isn't just a 2024 phenomenon. As bad as last year was — and it was bad, with global deal value dropping to a 10-year low — there were signs of hope.The FTC's failure to stop Microsoft's $69 billion bid for Activision Blizzard proved that the Biden administration's pledge to crack down on corporate dealmaking was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/news-today-december-6-dealmaking-mergers-deals-biden-antitrust-bankers-2023-12">more bark than bite</a>. A few months later, ExxonMobil and Cisco announced big-ticket deals of their own.BI's Alex Morrell and Reed Alexander have a breakdown of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-investment-bankers-biggest-deals-goldman-jpmorgan-evercore-2024-2">20 bankers who topped the M&amp;A charts last year</a> amid a difficult market.Dealmaking's return isn't just about lining bankers' pockets with advisory fees. Deals represent an exit opportunity for companies, giving their investors (some of whom are employees) a chance to cash out.The M&amp;A drought has delayed that process, forcing companies and their workers into a holding pattern as they wait for an escape plan to materialize. M&amp;A ramping up means the wider landscape might shift.<div type="image" title="A graphic of a cardboard box filled with office supplies, a symbol of being laid off." height="500" width="1000" msid="107920346" hostid="261" sizebytes="37910"></div>But dealmaking's return isn't good news for everyone.Show me a deal, and I'll show you the synergies (see: layoffs). Acquisitions tend to create redundancies, and companies are quick to address them. The ink was barely dry on Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-activision-xbox-gaming-job-cuts-2024-1">before heads started to roll</a>.Unfortunately, it's an approach that's not going away anytime soon. As BI's Emily Stewart writes, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-layoffs-stock-market-reaction-meta-spotify-wall-street-investors-2024-2">Wall Street loves layoffs these days</a>. Companies can't stop talking about their plans to reduce head counts, and investors are egging them on.The latest layoff love affair isn't surprising when you consider how well it's working for those on top. Big Tech embraced job cuts last year as part of its push for efficiency, and it's paid off (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-efficiency-year-earnings-apple-amazon-tech-2024-2">at least for companies' bottom lines</a>).So yes, your employer might get acquired. But don't bank on getting acquired with it.<hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="Graphic of CEO Jensen Huang" height="1500" width="2000" msid="107920347" hostid="261" sizebytes="191692"></div><ol><li>Nvidia's latest problem is a good one to have. Demand for the semiconductor giant's AI chips is so high that CEO Jensen Huang has had to give assurance that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-earnings-ai-chips-demand-jensen-huang-allocate-fairly-stock-2024-2">it's allocating them "fairly"</a>. He made those comments on a call with analysts after Nvidia posted a blowout quarterly earnings report.</li><li>Signs of trouble in the bond market. ING Economics highlighted <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-fed-rate-cuts-us-economy-indicator-hard-landing-2024-2">how correlated US Treasury yields and Bund yields in Europe are</a>. When those two are in tandem, it's a sign the US could be headed towards a recession since European central bankers will look to cut interest rates quickly if the US tips into a downturn, ING said.</li><li>Here's what hedge funds are betting on. Amazon and Microsoft are two of the <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/hedge-fund-stock-ownership-10-most-popular-market-goldman-sachs-2024-2">10 most commonly held stocks by hedge funds</a>, according to regulatory filings analyzed by Goldman Sachs. But funds might be falling out of love with the Magnificent 7, as data also shows them <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ai-stock-market-trends-outlook-magnificent-seven-tech-hedge-funds-2024-2">trimming their exposure</a> to Big Tech.</li></ol><hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe" height="1350" width="2000" msid="107920348" hostid="261" sizebytes="92352"></div><ol><li>Rivian left its workers in limbo. The EV maker announced plans to lay off 10% of its salaried staff yesterday — but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rivian-workers-must-wait-hours-to-learn-layoff-2024-2">employees have had to wait until this morning to find out whether they're impacted</a>, per a copy of an email obtained by BI. It's the third time Rivian has cut its head count in the past two years.</li><li>Music labels are still suing internet companies over illegal downloads, which is bad news for the AI industry. Lawsuits about digital piracy are playing out years after the debate hit its peak in the early 2000s. It's a reminder the current legal fights about intellectual property and generative AI <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/music-labels-still-sue-internet-providers-warning-ai-openai-2024-2">could last a very, very long time</a>.</li><li>Google employees are roasting the company's several AI models and names. Google has launched — or renamed — several different AI models, and even employees are getting confused. Googlers have begun <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-employees-memes-ai-brand-strategy-2024-2">posting internal memes poking fun</a> at the company's iterations.</li></ol><hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="A graphic of a cracked plate with an image of Benjamin Franklin on it." height="1000" width="2000" msid="107920349" hostid="261" sizebytes="47424"></div><ol><li>You might be killing your favorite restaurant. It's not just you: Dining out has been worse lately. Facing a labor shortage, restaurants can be slow and disorganized. In order to survive, these businesses need to evolve — but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-america-eating-out-crisis-your-fault-labor-shortage-tipping-2024-2">change-averse diners could make it even harder to do</a>.</li><li>Amazon and Walmart's points-based attendance system is giving them legal headaches. In three recently filed lawsuits, fired workers accuse the companies of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-amazon-lawsuits-employee-attendance-tracking-points-system-policy-2024-2">violating their employment rights</a> by terminating them after they took legally protected time for sick, medical, or pregnancy-related leave.</li><li>Walgreens-backed VillageMD is shutting down all its clinics in Florida. The primary care company confirmed to BI on Wednesday that it's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/villagemd-closing-50-florida-locations-walgreens-cuts-costs-2024-2">closing over 50 locations in the Sunshine State</a>. Walgreens, which holds a majority stake in VillageMD, is trying to cut spending by at least $1 billion, as the pharmacy giant's healthcare business struggles to turn a profit to compete with CVS.</li></ol><hr /><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dan-ariely-duke-fraud-investigation-2024-2">Duke's 3-year fraud investigation into Dan Ariely has ended, and the star professor still has a job. Does he want it?</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/one-medical-former-ceo-new-vc-investments-healthier-capital-2024-2">One Medical's former CEO is making his first VC investments. Here are the 5 things a startup needs to get his backing</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sports-streamer-disney-warner-fox-espn-how-much-streaming-cost-2024-2">This chart shows why the new sports streamer is going to cost $50</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dinks-buy-homes-parents-spend-most-income-on-mortgage-childcare-2024-2">Parents who want to buy a house this year are pretty much screwed</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/national-zoning-map-home-prices-down-real-estate-new-houses-2024-2">America isn't building enough homes. A new map may fix that</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-ceo-jane-fraser-pay-increase-to-26-million-2024-2">Citigroup just boosted its CEO's pay to $26 million even as it plans to slash thousands of jobs</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-50-million-amazon-shares-sell-off-is-complete-2024-2">Jeff Bezos' great big February stock sell-off is complete</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/thousands-reddit-users-could-buy-stock-in-ipo-report-2024-2">Loyal Reddit users could win big from its IPO</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Today's earnings: Intuit, Nestle, Square, and other <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">companies are reporting</a>.</li></ul><hr />The Insider Today team: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jordan-parker-erb">Jordan Parker Erb</a>, editor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/george-glover">George Glover</a>, reporter, in London.

Dealmaking is showing signs of life, but it comes with some downsides

A popular YouTuber's negative video of Humane's AI Pin raises questions about critical reviews in the age of innovation

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Hi! Be prepared to start scheduling your trips to Wendy's during off hours if you want to save money. The fast-food joint is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wendys-surge-pricing-burgers-fries-2024-2">rolling out surge pricing</a> as early as next year. (More on why it could be a win for customers below.)Meanwhile, Donald Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, following a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wins-michigan-gop-presidential-primary-results-haley-2024-2">win over Nikki Haley</a> in the Michigan primary.In today's big story, we're looking at Apple <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-shutting-down-its-ev-project-2024-2">scrapping its plans for an electric car</a> after a decade of work.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: The engine driving stocks up <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-signal-corporate-profit-margins-weaken-inflation-recession-risk-2024-2">might be about to stall</a>.</li><li>Tech: Elon Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-google-war-x-gemini-ai-chatbots-2024-2">has picked a fight with Google</a>.</li><li>Business: Wall Street <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/home-equity-investments-heloc-refinance-loan-investors-homeownership-housing-market-2024-2">wants a stake in your house</a>.</li></ul>But first, 10 years of EV work down the drain.<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><h3>The big story</h3><h2>Fallen Apple</h2><div type="image" title="A graphic of a fictional Apple Car." height="1334" width="2000" msid="108080779" hostid="261" sizebytes="129146"></div>Apple is calling it quits on its electric-vehicle ambitions after a decade of work.The tech giant <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-shutting-down-its-ev-project-2024-2">blindsided the nearly 2,000 employees</a> on its EV team with the news, Business Insider's Aaron Mok writes. Many workers will transfer to Apple's artificial intelligence division to work on generative AI projects.There will reportedly be an opportunity for hardware engineers and car designers to apply for open roles at Apple, but layoffs are also in the cards.The ending is abrupt, but Apple's EV ambitions weren't easily realized.The project had multiple changes in leadership and strategy since it launched in 2014, according to Bloomberg, which first broke the news. The most recent goal for launching an EV was 2028.Never one to miss a chance to chime in, Tesla CEO Elon Musk quoted a tweet about the news on X <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-car-dead-elon-musk-speaking-at-its-funeral-2024-2">with a salute and cigarette emojis</a>. (I'm all ears for your interpretations.)<div type="image" title="Graphic of an EV" height="1000" width="2000" msid="108080781" hostid="261" sizebytes="117168"></div>Apple's departure shows <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-sales-prices-problem-transportation-2024-1">how challenging the once red-hot EV market</a> has become.EV demand has slowed considerably, forcing manufacturers to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-cars-evs-biggest-discounts-2024-2">cut costs</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/automakers-back-to-the-drawing-board-ev-plans-2024-2">rethink plans</a>. That's been evident in two of the biggest players in the space this year.Rivian <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rivian-cutting-10-of-workforce-faces-slower-growth-than-predicted-2024-2">recently cut 10% of staff</a>, and its CEO evaded a question about whether it had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rivian-ceo-seemed-evasive-whether-enough-cash-for-r2-cnbc-2024-2">enough money to build its next vehicle</a>. Tesla's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-stock-earnings-report-q4-call-tsla-price-live-updates-2024-1">Q4 earnings disappointed</a> as Chinese automakers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jinping-crush-tesla-elon-musk-american-ev-industry-2024-2">pose a serious threat</a> to Musk's company, which has seen its stock plummet this year.So, while Apple invested plenty of resources into the space, it's better to get out now than slip into the sunk-cost fallacy.Besides, Apple has no shortage of other issues to deal with. Tensions are sky-high between its two biggest markets (US and China), and it's less than a month removed from its biggest product launch in eight years (Vision Pro). And then there's that whole AI race.Investors seemed to agree with the move, at least initially, as Apple's stock surged as much as 2% in the immediate aftermath of the news.In the long run, Apple's exit could even be spun as a win for the EV market.Less competition is rarely good, but some of Apple's employees could land at rival EV makers, providing a much-needed boost. For others, a departure from Apple might be a launching pad for their endeavors in the space.<hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on October 20, 2023." height="999" width="2000" msid="108080782" hostid="261" sizebytes="151600"></div><ol><li>What's driving stocks higher might be slowing down. (And no, it's not AI.) Corporate profit margins might have peaked, and that's bad news for stocks, according to JPMorgan equity strategist Mislav Matejka. Interest rates and inflation are <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-signal-corporate-profit-margins-weaken-inflation-recession-risk-2024-2">starting to catch up with companies</a>.</li><li>The economy needs to brace for impact, according to Morgan Stanley's top US economist. Ellen Zentner said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-economy-inflation-fed-rate-cuts-hard-landing-2024-2">a hard landing is guaranteed</a>, as high rates and geopolitical risks remain prevalent. "We are in the camp that we haven't seen all of the tightening impacts of monetary policy," Zentner added.</li><li>Jamie Dimon shares his perspective. The JPMorgan CEO pegged the chances of a soft landing at half of the 70% to 80% odds many market commentators predict. But he's not worried about commercial real estate becoming a crisis…<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-commerical-real-esate-crisis-soft-landing-economy-jpmorgan-2024-2">unless the economy falls into a recession</a>.</li></ol><hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="A photo of Elon Musk against a green background." height="867" width="1300" msid="108080783" hostid="261" sizebytes="187536"></div><ol><li>Elon Musk is at odds with Google. Since the launch of Google's Gemini image generator, he's shared and replied to more than 100 posts about the company, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-google-war-x-gemini-ai-chatbots-2024-2">many of which were critical</a>. The tech billionaire also had issues with his new PC laptop, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-calls-out-microsoft-ceo-laptop-issues-2024-2">took the matter straight to the top: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella</a>.</li><li>Why is Reddit losing so much money? One big answer: It's been hiring a lot of engineers. Last year, Reddit spent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-reddit-loses-money-ipo-research-development-revenue-2024-2024-2">55% of its revenue</a> on research and development.</li><li>OpenAI fires back at The New York Times. In response to the Times' lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company, OpenAI's lawyers alleged the Times <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-accuses-new-york-times-hiring-someone-hack-its-products-2024-2">hired someone to "hack" its platforms</a>. They also wrote that the Times gamed the system to produce misleading evidence for the case.</li></ol><hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="A graphic of a mailbox with images of dollar bills on it." height="1500" width="2000" msid="108080785" hostid="261" sizebytes="234362"></div><ol><li>Wall Street wants a stake in your house. American homeowners have seen the value of their houses boom over the past few years, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/home-equity-investments-heloc-refinance-loan-investors-homeownership-housing-market-2024-2">investors are offering some people big bucks</a> for a piece of their place. But home-equity investments come with risks and could be a better deal for investors than homeowners.</li><li>AI is fueling a culture clash inside hedge funds. Like the rest of the world, hedge funds are eager to join the generative AI bandwagon. But AI leaders are used to a level of collaboration among peers that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-artificial-intelligence-talent-culture-clash-citadel-2024-2">isn't welcomed in the cutthroat world of finance</a>.</li><li>WTF, Wendy's? The fast-food chain announced it would start surge pricing its menu items, causing instant frustration across the internet. Even though Wendy's botched the announcement, variable pricing is the norm across industries, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wendys-surge-dynamic-pricing-controversy-fast-food-cost-uber-airlines-2024-2">isn't as crazy as it sounds</a>.</li></ol><hr /><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tumblr-selling-user-data-ai-trianing-openai-midjourney-weird-2024-2">Tumblr is selling user data to train AI. Things could get weird</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-china-no-limits-partnership-yuan-bank-loans-sanctions-2024-2">2024 is already straining the seams of China and Russia's 'no limits' partnership</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-parents-sentencing-submission-danger-2024-2">Sam Bankman-Fried's parents are begging a judge to keep him out of prison, warning their son's social awkwardness could put him in 'extreme danger'</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-arab-nato-israel-gaza-palestine-work-experts-doubt-2024-2">Jon Stewart says the Israel-Gaza solution could be a DMZ governed by an Arab NATO. Some experts say it's a pipe dream</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-is-the-ultimate-american-tourist-in-japan-2024-2">Mark Zuckerberg is the ultimate American tourist in Japan</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ralph-drollinger-capitol-ministries-trump-advisers-is-ready-for-2024-2">God's Man in Washington</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-disasters-faa-no-presence-ed-pierson-interview-2024-2">FAA had 'no presence' in Boeing's factory, despite its headquarters being 20 minutes away, former employee says</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oldest-living-american-elizabeth-francis-lifestyle-longevity-tips-secrets-2024-2">A 114-year-old Texan is now the oldest living American. Here are 6 lifestyle choices that may have helped her stay healthy for so long</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-overtime-grew-revenue-to-projected-100-million-advertising-sponsorships-2024-2">How Overtime is turning new sports leagues with young athletes into a $100 million business</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-spark-accounts-hit-by-hackers-2024-2">Walmart says hackers took over some Spark drivers' accounts and had access to their Social Security numbers</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Today's earnings: Paramount, HP, and other <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">companies are reporting</a>.</li></ul><hr />The Insider Today team: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jordan-parker-erb">Jordan Parker Erb</a>, editor, in New York.

Apple's EV exit shows the challenges of the once red-hot market

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-pivots-race-for-ai-supremacy-inside-google-tumultuous-2023-2023-12"></a><ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Happy Friday! If you're going to the airport for some holiday travel, check out these tips from an expert<a href="https://www.insider.com/tsa-precheck-security-etiquette-to-get-through-fast-2023-10"> so you don't hold up the security line</a>.In today's big story, we're looking at how Google's rocky year left some wondering if<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-pivots-race-for-ai-supremacy-inside-google-tumultuous-2023-2023-12"> the tech giant's culture has changed forever</a>.What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-bobby-jain-has-hired-jain-capital-hedge-fund-launch-2023-12"> Everyone Bobby Jain has hired</a> ahead of his massive hedge fund launch.</li><li>Tech: In a tough year for startups, only<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-unicorn-startups-created-this-year-2023-12"> 44 companies reached unicorn status</a>.</li><li>Business: If you want to work multiple jobs,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/overemployed-remote-jobs-full-time-workers-advice-find-second-role-2023-12"> look for these roles</a>.</li></ul>But first, it's not like it used to be.<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><h3>The big story</h3><h2>Searching for a solution</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-pivots-race-for-ai-supremacy-inside-google-tumultuous-2023-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="A graphic that shows the Google logo being slowly pixellated away" height="500" width="1000" msid="106217306" hostid="261" sizebytes="8196"></div>The company synonymous with search had to do some soul-searching in 2023. Google's tumultuous year included layoffs and participation in a hyper-competitive AI race. Now, some current and former staffers wonder if the past 12 months have changed<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-pivots-race-for-ai-supremacy-inside-google-tumultuous-2023-2023-12"> the company's iconic culture forever</a>, Business Insider's Hugh Langley reports. The<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-jobs-alphabet-work-employees-staff-sundar-pichai-2023-1"> January job cuts</a>, which some perceived as being handled<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-employees-psychological-safety-2023-1"> unusually coldly</a> by Google, have been one sticking point. Coupled with how Google<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-document-bureaucracy-slime-mold-staff-frustration-2023-1"> scrambled to respond to OpenAI's ChatGPT</a>, some view what was long considered the best place to work in Silicon Valley<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-pivots-race-for-ai-supremacy-inside-google-tumultuous-2023-2023-12"> in a much different light</a>. "It's pretty disappointing to see Google really make the final transformation into a typical big company, focused on short-term shareholders above all else," a former long-time Google employee who was laid off in January told Hugh.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-pivots-race-for-ai-supremacy-inside-google-tumultuous-2023-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Google CEO Sundar Pichai" height="666" width="888" msid="106217307" hostid="261" sizebytes="26178"></div>But Google employees' losses have been investors' gains. Google's year of efficiency has been a boon for its stock.Shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company, are up more than 55% this year. That's far better than the S&amp;P 500 — up roughly 24% — and on par with how fellow Big Tech companies Apple and Microsoft have fared. Focusing on the bottom line might be a tough pill to swallow for some Googlers, but it's the natural progression for a company. Microsoft, for example,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-employees-did-not-want-to-work-for-microsoft-2023-12"> might not be some engineers' dream job</a>, but it's still managed<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-amazon-google-ai-aws-artificial-intelligence-cloud-sales-2023-10"> to stay ahead of the curve in many ways</a>.Meanwhile, the buzzy companies that tout their innovative ways aren't always a shining example of stability, as demonstrated by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/news-today-november-22-sam-altman-openai-return-tech-ai-2023-11">OpenAI's shocking ouster-turned-reversal</a>.<hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-bobby-jain-has-hired-jain-capital-hedge-fund-launch-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Bobby Jain" height="500" width="1000" msid="106217308" hostid="261" sizebytes="47558"></div><ol><li> Bobby Jain is planning a monster hedge fund launch in 2024. Here's who he's hired so far. Jain Global's launch next summer has been highly anticipated by the industry.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-bobby-jain-has-hired-jain-capital-hedge-fund-launch-2023-12"> We've got a running list of the executives he's scooped up</a> from top firms like Goldman Sachs, Citadel, and Morgan Stanley.</li><li> Investors are enthusiastic about the market. But can it last? Stocks hit record highs during an eight-week rally. But the bullish perspectives might be going overboard and could be<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-enthusiasm-turns-excessive-amid-rally-to-record-highs-2023-12"> a sign the market is topping out</a>.</li><li>US banks are on pace to take an absolute bath on commercial real estate. The industry could face a massive crash, leading to<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/commercial-real-estate-crash-bank-losses-interest-rates-2024-2023-12"> as much as $160 billion in additional losses for banks</a>. According to a new paper, 44% of office loans are underwater, and 20% of all commercial real estate loans could default.</li></ol><hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-unicorn-startups-created-this-year-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Sam Altman presenting onstage." height="699" width="1024" msid="106217309" hostid="261" sizebytes="15904"></div><ol><li> The full list of unicorn startups in North America this year. Only<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-unicorn-startups-created-this-year-2023-12"> 44 startups reached unicorn status</a> ($1 billion) this year, compared to 195 in 2022. The newest unicorns include OpenAI and Liquid Death.</li><li> How startups are creatively celebrating the holidays amid an industry-wide cash crunch. Some are<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-cutting-back-on-holiday-parties-celebrations-2023-12"> scaling back their holiday parties</a> or foregoing them entirely. Meanwhile, others are offering PTO, planning work retreats, or attending industry events instead.</li><li>To make the most money working in tech, live in San Francisco. Pay in cities like Austin, Portland, and Denver increased during the pandemic but has since dropped. New data shows that<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/make-most-money-tech-san-francisco-salary-sf-bay-area-2023-12"> San Francisco tech pay</a> is up the most.</li></ol><hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-predict-top-adtech-martech-acquirers-in-2024-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="A little girl wearing sunglasses and holding shopping bags" height="749" width="999" msid="106217310" hostid="261" sizebytes="45128"></div><ol><li> Experts predict which companies will be the most active acquirers of advertising businesses. After a slow 2023, advertising M&amp;A is<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-predict-top-adtech-martech-acquirers-in-2024-2023-12"> expected to rebound next year</a>. And industry experts predict that companies like Accenture and Walmart will lead the way.</li><li> The top jobs for people working multiple roles. Secretly<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/overemployed-remote-jobs-full-time-workers-advice-find-second-role-2023-12"> working multiple remote jobs</a> has helped some Americans earn well over six figures a year. Roles that accommodate flexible schedules can make this juggling act easier.</li><li>This year's housing market was the least affordable since 2013. Only 15.5% of homes were affordable for the typical household, according to new data. That's down from 20.7% in 2022 — and the<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-outlook-home-prices-affordable-record-mortgage-rates-investors-2023-12"> lowest ever for around a decade</a>.</li></ol><hr /><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sexual-abuse-schools-inappropriate-student-teacher-relationship-predators-2023-12">An epidemic of sexual abuse in schools</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-cleaning-fee-too-high-what-is-included-rules-hosts-2023-12">Are Airbnb cleaning fees too high? Tell us what you think</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bipoc-creators-influencer-management-firms-talent-agencies">18 influencer management firms and talent agencies with BIPOC leaders helping creators from underrepresented backgrounds</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-president-plagiarism-concerns-attribution-antisemitism-claudine-gay-university-2023-12">Harvard's president looked like she was in the clear — but there are new concerns about attribution in her work</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-johnson-took-teenage-daughter-to-purity-ball-2023-12">Check out this video of Mike Johnson taking his teenage daughter to a purity ball, where she signs a pledge to him not to have sex until marriage</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gig-economy-jobs-uber-lyft-driving-pay-tipping-doordash-instacart-2023-12">Five Uber and Lyft drivers share why they plan to keep their ride-hailing jobs, even as pay declines</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dan-loeb-third-point-marketing-leadership-hedge-fund-2023-12">Dan Loeb shakes up Third Point's marketing department amid outflows and a private credit push</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-rising-stars-event-photos-2023">Cheers to Wall Street's rising stars: take a look at photos from Business Insider's celebration of finance's finest</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/armory-acquired-startup-harness-7-million-2023-12">Insight Partners-backed startup Armory, once valued at more than $200 million, is selling itself to rival Harness for just $7 million</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rise-and-fall-olaplex-bond-building-haircare-brand-2023-12">The rise and fall of Olaplex</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-bankruptcy-millions-owed-defamation-chapter-11-2023-12">Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy. It won't get him off the hook for the $148 million he owes</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>"Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is set to be released in theaters today. The "Aquaman" sequel is directed by James Wan.</li><li>The FIFA Club World Cup final is today. Fluminense and Manchester City will face off in Saudi Arabia.</li><li>Happy birthday, Latto! Meghan Trainor, DaBaby, and Joshua Bassett were also born on this day.</li></ul><hr /><h3>News Quiz</h3><h2>How well do you know the news?</h2>Test your knowledge of the week's top stories with Insider's news quiz.<ul><li>From Monday: What is the name of Elon Musk's chatbot hoping to rival ChatGPT?</li><li>From Tuesday: This tech giant has marketed itself as a trustworthy AI company.</li><li>From Wednesday: A new law could require this popular chain to be open on Sundays.</li><li>From Thursday: Which Wall Street bank is contemplating overhauling its management committee?</li><li>From Friday: This hedge fund shook up its marketing department amid outflows from investors.</li></ul>Check Saturday's edition of Insider Today for the answers.<hr />The Insider Today team: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jordan-parker-erb">Jordan Parker Erb</a>, editor, in New York. <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/33739711.1210015/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVzaW5lc3NpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9hdXRob3IvaGF5bGV5LWh1ZHNvbj91dG1fbWVkaXVtPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1TYWlsdGhydSZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249SW5zaWRlcl9Ub2RheQ/6388bd81e7b7ccd0ba0929daB5b9051cd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hayley Hudson</a>, director, in Edinburgh. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

Google's culture shock

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Welcome back! We're fully in the holiday season, and I've got the perfect place. This <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://businessinsider.com/airbnb-christmas-decorations-all-year-long-lake-placid-new-york-2023-11">year-round Christmas Airbnb</a> is a dream destination for holiday fanatics.Speaking of the holidays, today is Cyber Monday, so check out all the great deals <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-cyber-monday-deals-and-sales-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Business Insider's Reviews team uncovered</a>. By the way, we're still running our <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription?blackfriday2023&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=2023-Q4-Subscriptions&amp;utm_content=InsiderToday&amp;term_utm=BF">biggest sale of the year</a> for a Business Insider subscription. In today's big story, we're looking at why the rate cuts investors have been praying for <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11">might not be the godsend they imagined</a>.What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets: Here's how six HENRYs — high earners, not rich yet — <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henrys-saving-for-retirement-inflation-student-loans-credit-card-debt-2023-11">handle their finances</a>.</li><li>Tech: Meet the women <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-18-women-who-made-partner-vc-firms-in-2023-2023-11">who made partner or higher this year</a> at top venture capital firms. </li><li>Business: Many Americans who left big cities during the pandemic <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-regretting-moves-from-city-to-suburbs-housing-crisis-millennials-2023-11">have some regrets</a>.</li></ul>But first, this might not be the relief you're hoping for.<hr /><h2>The big story</h2><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Federal Reserve Building" height="1666" width="2222" msid="105539231" hostid="261" sizebytes="329142"></div>Rate cuts' double-edged sword<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today"></a>Start cutting rates, they said.It will be fun, they said.The <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-consumer-price-index-economic-outlook-food-gas-prices-october-2023-11">Federal Reserve's fight against inflation is taking hold</a>, and that could mean central bankers finally lower rates next year. But rate cuts won't necessarily be the win markets are hoping for, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11">Business Insider's Jennifer Sor writes</a>. Investors have been begging the Fed to consider cutting rates for the better part of a year. Even as <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-bank-svb-biggest-bank-failure-since-2008-crisis-2023-3">banks failed</a>, the Fed held firm on its war against sticky inflation.A <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-consumer-price-index-economic-outlook-food-gas-prices-october-2023-11">cooler-than-expected inflation report</a> was enough for <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cpi-inflation-october-outlook-economy-markets-fed-rate-hike-bofa-2023-11">banks</a> and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-october-inflation-drop-cpi-gamechanger-2023-11">market experts</a> to declare an end to the Fed's tightening policy. But <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stocks-house-prices-commercial-real-estate-fed-economists-mortgages-outlook-2023-11">minutes released from the Fed's most recent meeting</a> didn't indicate cuts were imminent. The notes stated central bankers were comfortable <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20231101.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keeping their monetary policy "restrictive" to clamp down on inflation</a>.Still, some interest rate traders are predicting rate cuts coming as soon as this March, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CME's FedWatch Tool</a>. But it's important to remember why central bankers cut rates. It's not simply to let the market off the leash. A rate cut is likely in response to a slowing economy, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11">Jennifer writes</a>. And if the Fed were to get as aggressive as UBS suggests it might — <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-full-accommodation-economic-contraction-unemployment-2023-11">lowering rates nearly three percentage points by the end of 2024</a> — that could be because we're already experiencing a full-blown recession.Another key piece of the economy facing headwinds complicates the case for rate cuts being a boon for investors. The Fed has long touted its <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/america-greased-pig-economy-higher-inflation-stock-market-crash-recession-2023-9">goal of a soft landing</a>: lower inflation while not cratering the economy. It's primarily made good on that promise. The process hasn't always been smooth (see: <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-bank-failure-long-term-impact-tech-vc-finance-2023-3">SVB</a>,<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-big-tech-companies-laying-off-spoiled-workers-perks-2023-2"> Big Tech layoffs</a>, etc.), but the wheels haven't ultimately come off. However, a key factor in keeping the economy afloat — consumers — is losing steam.Retail giants Walmart and Target noted during recent earnings calls they <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-signal-consumer-spending-shift-amid-economic-pressures-2023-11">were seeing consumer spending dip</a>, Business Insider's Dominick Reuter writes. It's another sign that US consumers have blown through most of the savings they <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economy-consumer-spending-credit-card-debt-delinquencies-retail-hiring-2023-11">accumulated during the pandemic</a> and are wracking up debt. And now the pullback comes on the cusp of the biggest season for consumer spending: the holidays.So yes, rates will ultimately be a win for the market. But it'll take plenty of sacrifice to get there.<hr /><h2>Your Monday headline catchup</h2>A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-santos-expulsion-badge-honor-drunk-colleagues-michael-guest-2023-11">George Santos says he'll treat expulsion as a 'badge of honor' as he claims his colleagues are drunkenly having sex with lobbyists 'every night'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-fights-confrontations-2023-mccarthy-mullin-gaetz-2023-11">'We're not here to talk about fights': Drama in Congress is starting to spill over</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-pardon-kushner-drug-smuggler-jonathan-braun-doj-predatory-lending-2023-11">Trump's pardoning of a Kushner-linked drug smuggler undercut a larger DOJ investigation</a></li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henrys-saving-for-retirement-inflation-student-loans-credit-card-debt-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Miles Goodloe (left), Domenic Boresta (middle), and Robert Oszust Jr. (right) are all HENRYs." height="612" width="816" msid="105539233" hostid="261" sizebytes="33658"></div><ul><li>How HENRYs save and invest. High earners, not rich yet have plenty of financial concerns despite making over $100,000. Six HENRYs from across the country detailed their approach to saving — <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henrys-saving-for-retirement-inflation-student-loans-credit-card-debt-2023-11">with some socking away as much as 70% of their income</a> — and how they approach short-term investing. </li><li>Hedge funds come up short, literally. Funds have lost roughly $43 billion <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-rally-short-sellers-hedge-funds-sp500-november-performance-2023-11">trying to short the market in recent days</a>, according to the Financial Times. Their bet against stocks comes as the S&amp;P 500 is on track for its best month since July 2022.</li><li>You know what they say about one person's trash... Junk bonds have become a hot investment with rising optimism that the Fed is done raising rates. In the month leading up to November 20, bond funds saw inflows of more than $16 billion, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/junk-bonds-high-yield-corporate-debt-fed-pivot-interest-cuts-2023-11">the vast majority of which went to junk bonds</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/amazon-cyber-monday-deals-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="A PS5, a cake mixer, an Echo dot, and Bose earphones on a blue gradient background." height="900" width="1200" msid="105539234" hostid="261" sizebytes="31458"></div><ul><li>Amazon is rolling out some big Cyber Monday deals. Some of the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/amazon-cyber-monday-deals-2023-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best discounts right now</a> include savings on Echo speakers, PS5 bundles, and kitchen appliances. Our deal hunters have organized discounts by product category to make them easier for you to browse.</li><li>These 20 women in venture capital made partner or higher this year. In an overwhelmingly male industry, these women <a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #000000;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-18-women-who-made-partner-vc-firms-in-2023-2023-11">claimed a seat at the table this year</a>. The list includes Khosla Ventures' Alice Brooks and Founders Fund's Jennifer Campbell. </li><li>Meet the founder of the Failure Museum. Sean Jacobsohn started collecting objects from failed businesses a year ago. Since then, he's collected more than 500 items that sit in glass display cases in his office. Plus, Jacobsohn said it <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/failure-museum-vc-norwest-venture-partners-startups-sean-jacobsohn">helped him understand why businesses and startups fail</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-regretting-moves-from-city-to-suburbs-housing-crisis-millennials-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="A keychain containing a house, sad face and covid virus." height="1000" width="1333" msid="105539236" hostid="261" sizebytes="98868"></div><ul><li>Americans ditched big cities during the pandemic. Many are now regretting it. They're further away from the communities and social network they spent years cultivating. Some have struggled to assimilate to their new communities. And <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-regretting-moves-from-city-to-suburbs-housing-crisis-millennials-2023-11">many feel cut off</a> from their identities, hobbies, and the friends they left behind. </li><li>Bet your career on these five trends. Generative AI is fueling <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-trends-fueling-great-careers-include-infrastructure-experiential-and-artificial-intelligence-2023-11">a lot of job changes</a>, but it's not the only factor. Legislation, for example, is fostering a boom in infrastructure roles. And creators are a $250 billion industry. </li><li>The latest workplace request from Gen Z: legal services. More young workers say they want <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-legal-advice-workplace-benefit-financial-help-2023-11">legal help as a workplace benefit</a>, according to a new survey. This desire comes as more Gen Zers are stressed about finances — and they expect to use the services within a year.</li></ul><hr /><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-it-like-to-work-for-mrbeast-biggest-youtuber-world-2023-11">What's it like to work for MrBeast, the biggest YouTuber in the world, according to five former staffers</a>.</li><li><a href="https://businessinsider.com/leaving-texas-political-freedom-property-taxes-housing-costs-2023-11">People are leaving Texas over rising costs, partisan politics, and a sense of disenchantment</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/book-reading-recommendations-break-into-hollywood-wme-agent-bradley-singer-2023-11">These five essential books and articles are required reading for Hollywood up-and-comers, according to a top WME TV agent</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hr-performance-improvement-plans-pip-pivot-had-to-quit-2023-11">I worked in HR at Amazon and put people on Pivot. Then I got put on a PIP myself</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>It's Cyber Monday. Many online companies have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-cyber-monday-deals-and-sales-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special promotions and discounts</a> on their products.</li><li>The Gotham Awards for independent filmmaking is tonight. Honorees for the 33rd annual celebration include Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, and Greta Gerwig.</li><li>Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill — happy birthday to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Manolo Blahnik, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Bannon, and Bruce Lee were also born on this day.</li></ul><hr />The Insider Today team: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

Rate cuts are likely coming next year, but investors shouldn't bank on them saving the market

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Welcome back! We're fully in the holiday season, and I've got the perfect place. This <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://businessinsider.com/airbnb-christmas-decorations-all-year-long-lake-placid-new-york-2023-11">year-round Christmas Airbnb</a> is a dream destination for holiday fanatics.Speaking of the holidays, today is Cyber Monday, so check out all the great deals <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-cyber-monday-deals-and-sales-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Business Insider's Reviews team uncovered</a>. By the way, we're still running our <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription?blackfriday2023&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=2023-Q4-Subscriptions&amp;utm_content=InsiderToday&amp;term_utm=BF">biggest sale of the year</a> for a Business Insider subscription. In today's big story, we're looking at why the rate cuts investors have been praying for <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11">might not be the godsend they imagined</a>.What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets: Here's how six HENRYs — high earners, not rich yet — <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henrys-saving-for-retirement-inflation-student-loans-credit-card-debt-2023-11">handle their finances</a>.</li><li>Tech: Meet the women <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-18-women-who-made-partner-vc-firms-in-2023-2023-11">who made partner or higher this year</a> at top venture capital firms. </li><li>Business: Many Americans who left big cities during the pandemic <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-regretting-moves-from-city-to-suburbs-housing-crisis-millennials-2023-11">have some regrets</a>.</li></ul>But first, this might not be the relief you're hoping for.<hr /><h2>The big story</h2><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Federal Reserve Building" height="1666" width="2222" msid="105544734" hostid="261" sizebytes="329142"></div>Rate cuts' double-edged sword<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today"></a>Start cutting rates, they said.It will be fun, they said.The <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-consumer-price-index-economic-outlook-food-gas-prices-october-2023-11">Federal Reserve's fight against inflation is taking hold</a>, and that could mean central bankers finally lower rates next year. But rate cuts won't necessarily be the win markets are hoping for, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11">Business Insider's Jennifer Sor writes</a>. Investors have been begging the Fed to consider cutting rates for the better part of a year. Even as <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-bank-svb-biggest-bank-failure-since-2008-crisis-2023-3">banks failed</a>, the Fed held firm on its war against sticky inflation.A <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-consumer-price-index-economic-outlook-food-gas-prices-october-2023-11">cooler-than-expected inflation report</a> was enough for <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cpi-inflation-october-outlook-economy-markets-fed-rate-hike-bofa-2023-11">banks</a> and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-october-inflation-drop-cpi-gamechanger-2023-11">market experts</a> to declare an end to the Fed's tightening policy. But <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stocks-house-prices-commercial-real-estate-fed-economists-mortgages-outlook-2023-11">minutes released from the Fed's most recent meeting</a> didn't indicate cuts were imminent. The notes stated central bankers were comfortable <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20231101.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keeping their monetary policy "restrictive" to clamp down on inflation</a>.Still, some interest rate traders are predicting rate cuts coming as soon as this March, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CME's FedWatch Tool</a>. But it's important to remember why central bankers cut rates. It's not simply to let the market off the leash. A rate cut is likely in response to a slowing economy, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rate-cuts-2024-recession-inflation-stock-market-outlook-federal-reserve-2023-11">Jennifer writes</a>. And if the Fed were to get as aggressive as UBS suggests it might — <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-full-accommodation-economic-contraction-unemployment-2023-11">lowering rates nearly three percentage points by the end of 2024</a> — that could be because we're already experiencing a full-blown recession.Another key piece of the economy facing headwinds complicates the case for rate cuts being a boon for investors. The Fed has long touted its <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/america-greased-pig-economy-higher-inflation-stock-market-crash-recession-2023-9">goal of a soft landing</a>: lower inflation while not cratering the economy. It's primarily made good on that promise. The process hasn't always been smooth (see: <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-bank-failure-long-term-impact-tech-vc-finance-2023-3">SVB</a>,<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-big-tech-companies-laying-off-spoiled-workers-perks-2023-2"> Big Tech layoffs</a>, etc.), but the wheels haven't ultimately come off. However, a key factor in keeping the economy afloat — consumers — is losing steam.Retail giants Walmart and Target noted during recent earnings calls they <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-signal-consumer-spending-shift-amid-economic-pressures-2023-11">were seeing consumer spending dip</a>, Business Insider's Dominick Reuter writes. It's another sign that US consumers have blown through most of the savings they <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economy-consumer-spending-credit-card-debt-delinquencies-retail-hiring-2023-11">accumulated during the pandemic</a> and are wracking up debt. And now the pullback comes on the cusp of the biggest season for consumer spending: the holidays.So yes, rates will ultimately be a win for the market. But it'll take plenty of sacrifice to get there.<hr /><h2>Your Monday headline catchup</h2>A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-santos-expulsion-badge-honor-drunk-colleagues-michael-guest-2023-11">George Santos says he'll treat expulsion as a 'badge of honor' as he claims his colleagues are drunkenly having sex with lobbyists 'every night'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-fights-confrontations-2023-mccarthy-mullin-gaetz-2023-11">'We're not here to talk about fights': Drama in Congress is starting to spill over</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-pardon-kushner-drug-smuggler-jonathan-braun-doj-predatory-lending-2023-11">Trump's pardoning of a Kushner-linked drug smuggler undercut a larger DOJ investigation</a></li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in markets</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henrys-saving-for-retirement-inflation-student-loans-credit-card-debt-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Miles Goodloe (left), Domenic Boresta (middle), and Robert Oszust Jr. (right) are all HENRYs." height="612" width="816" msid="105544735" hostid="261" sizebytes="33658"></div><ul><li>How HENRYs save and invest. High earners, not rich yet have plenty of financial concerns despite making over $100,000. Six HENRYs from across the country detailed their approach to saving — <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henrys-saving-for-retirement-inflation-student-loans-credit-card-debt-2023-11">with some socking away as much as 70% of their income</a> — and how they approach short-term investing. </li><li>Hedge funds come up short, literally. Funds have lost roughly $43 billion <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-rally-short-sellers-hedge-funds-sp500-november-performance-2023-11">trying to short the market in recent days</a>, according to the Financial Times. Their bet against stocks comes as the S&amp;P 500 is on track for its best month since July 2022.</li><li>You know what they say about one person's trash... Junk bonds have become a hot investment with rising optimism that the Fed is done raising rates. In the month leading up to November 20, bond funds saw inflows of more than $16 billion, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/junk-bonds-high-yield-corporate-debt-fed-pivot-interest-cuts-2023-11">the vast majority of which went to junk bonds</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in tech</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/amazon-cyber-monday-deals-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="A PS5, a cake mixer, an Echo dot, and Bose earphones on a blue gradient background." height="900" width="1200" msid="105544736" hostid="261" sizebytes="31458"></div><ul><li>Amazon is rolling out some big Cyber Monday deals. Some of the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/amazon-cyber-monday-deals-2023-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best discounts right now</a> include savings on Echo speakers, PS5 bundles, and kitchen appliances. Our deal hunters have organized discounts by product category to make them easier for you to browse.</li><li>These 20 women in venture capital made partner or higher this year. In an overwhelmingly male industry, these women <a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #000000;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-18-women-who-made-partner-vc-firms-in-2023-2023-11">claimed a seat at the table this year</a>. The list includes Khosla Ventures' Alice Brooks and Founders Fund's Jennifer Campbell. </li><li>Meet the founder of the Failure Museum. Sean Jacobsohn started collecting objects from failed businesses a year ago. Since then, he's collected more than 500 items that sit in glass display cases in his office. Plus, Jacobsohn said it <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/failure-museum-vc-norwest-venture-partners-startups-sean-jacobsohn">helped him understand why businesses and startups fail</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>3 things in business</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-regretting-moves-from-city-to-suburbs-housing-crisis-millennials-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="A keychain containing a house, sad face and covid virus." height="1000" width="1333" msid="105544738" hostid="261" sizebytes="98868"></div><ul><li>Americans ditched big cities during the pandemic. Many are now regretting it. They're further away from the communities and social network they spent years cultivating. Some have struggled to assimilate to their new communities. And <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-regretting-moves-from-city-to-suburbs-housing-crisis-millennials-2023-11">many feel cut off</a> from their identities, hobbies, and the friends they left behind. </li><li>Bet your career on these five trends. Generative AI is fueling <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-trends-fueling-great-careers-include-infrastructure-experiential-and-artificial-intelligence-2023-11">a lot of job changes</a>, but it's not the only factor. Legislation, for example, is fostering a boom in infrastructure roles. And creators are a $250 billion industry. </li><li>The latest workplace request from Gen Z: legal services. More young workers say they want <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-legal-advice-workplace-benefit-financial-help-2023-11">legal help as a workplace benefit</a>, according to a new survey. This desire comes as more Gen Zers are stressed about finances — and they expect to use the services within a year.</li></ul><hr /><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-it-like-to-work-for-mrbeast-biggest-youtuber-world-2023-11">What's it like to work for MrBeast, the biggest YouTuber in the world, according to five former staffers</a>.</li><li><a href="https://businessinsider.com/leaving-texas-political-freedom-property-taxes-housing-costs-2023-11">People are leaving Texas over rising costs, partisan politics, and a sense of disenchantment</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/book-reading-recommendations-break-into-hollywood-wme-agent-bradley-singer-2023-11">These five essential books and articles are required reading for Hollywood up-and-comers, according to a top WME TV agent</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hr-performance-improvement-plans-pip-pivot-had-to-quit-2023-11">I worked in HR at Amazon and put people on Pivot. Then I got put on a PIP myself</a>.</li></ul><hr /><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>It's Cyber Monday. Many online companies have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-cyber-monday-deals-and-sales-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special promotions and discounts</a> on their products.</li><li>The Gotham Awards for independent filmmaking is tonight. Honorees for the 33rd annual celebration include Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, and Greta Gerwig.</li><li>Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill — happy birthday to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Manolo Blahnik, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Bannon, and Bruce Lee were also born on this day.</li></ul><hr />The Insider Today team: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/567900c872f2c14d028b744b-1348/china chinese folk artists stilts festival ceremony.jpg" alt="China Chinese Folk Artists Stilts Festival Ceremony" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon" data-mce-caption="Folk artistes on stilts dance during a folk art performance to celebrate the traditional Chinese Spring Festival on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which welcomes the Year of the Horse, at the Happy Valley amusement park in Beijing January 31, 2014." />REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon</div></div></div>Stocks closed higher but little changed on Thursday. The S&amp;P 500 closed just a hair below its all-time high of 2,190.15.But Treasurys continued to sell-off, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to a new 2016 high.First, the scoreboard:<ul><li>Dow: 18,888.38, +20.24, (0.11%)</li><li>S&amp;P 500: 2,186.08, +9.14, (0.42%)</li><li>Nasdaq: 5,329.00, +34.41, (0.65%)</li><li>US 10-year yield: 2.283%, +0.060</li></ul><ol><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/criminal-probe-into-valeants-philidor-could-lead-to-charges-soon-2016-11">The CEO of Valeant's secret pharmacy was arrested and charged with </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/criminal-probe-into-valeants-philidor-could-lead-to-charges-soon-2016-11">"engaging in a multimillion-dollar fraud and kickback scheme</a>." Andy Davenport heads Philidor, the pharmacy whose discovery led to a crisis at Valeant. Valeant hadn't told investors about the pharmacy, which Valeant had an option to acquire and which accounted for at least 5% of the company's sales. Valeant quickly ended its relationship with Philidor after it became known. </li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yellen-congress-joint-economic-committee-trump-election-2016-11">Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she isn't leaving her job before her term is up in 2018</a>. When asked in a Congressional testimony if there was any circumstance in which she could imagine not serving out her term, the Chair replied, "No I cannot." Some <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-presidential-election-federal-reserve-janet-yellen-2016-11">analysts had questioned whether Yellen</a> would stay given Trump's criticism of her policies during his campaign.</li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-jobless-claims-november-17-2016-2016-11">Initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped to their lowest level since 1973</a>. Claims, which count people applying for unemployment insurance for the first time, fell to 235,000. The number has not been more than 300,000 for 89 straight weeks. This trend reflects a relatively low number of layoffs.</li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/housing-starts-and-building-permits-october-2016-2016-11">Groundbreaking on houses in the US increased more than expected in October and to a nine-year high</a>. Housing starts rose by 25.5% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.323 million, the biggest increase in nine years. Building-permit issuance rose 0.3% at a rate of 1.229 million.</li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cpi-consumer-price-index-october-2016-2016-11">Inflation rose slower than expected in October</a>. The core consumer price index (CPI,) excluding the volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.1% from the month before, less than the 0.2% expected by economists. Gas accounted for half of the increase in non-core CPI. Compared to October 2015, core CPI rose 2.1% (2.2% projected.) Surprisingly, the index for medical care - which has been a substantial driver of inflation over the past year - was flat month-over-month.</li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/philly-fed-manufacturing-outlook-november-2016-2016-11">Manufacturing activity in and near Philadelphia fell more than expected in November amid weak labor-market conditions</a>. The Philly Fed's monthly index of current activity came in at 7.6, compared to the prior's month's reading of 9.7.</li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-new-accounts-cratered-after-accounts-scandal-2016-11">Wells Fargo has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of new accounts opened at the bank in the aftermath of its fake-accounts scandal</a>. In a release Thursday, the bank announced that the number of new accounts opened in October fell by 27% from September and by 44% from October 2015.</li></ol>Additionally:<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yellen-says-interest-rate-hike-is-coming-relatively-soon-2016-11">YELLEN: An interest rate hike is coming 'relatively soon'</a><a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/The-Bank-of-Mexico-says-the-US-election-has-made-the-global-economy-more-complex-1001531323">Here's how money managers at an $813 billion investment giant tweaked their strategy after Trump won</a><a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/The-Bank-of-Mexico-says-the-US-election-has-made-the-global-economy-more-complex-1001531323">The Bank of Mexico says the US election has made the global economy 'more complex'</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-valeant-after-the-philidor-arrests-2016-11">The market is ignoring a massive elephant in the room at Valeant</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-earnings-beat-as-ecommerce-grows-2016-11">Walmart beats on earnings, thanks to the internet</a>. Also, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-buy-q3-2016-earnings-2016-11">Best Buy knocked earnings out of the park</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-fbi-putin-comey-2016-11">KRUGMAN: It's looking more and more like the election was swung by the FBI in virtual 'alliance with Putin'</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-unveils-solar-roof-solarcity-video-2016-10">Elon Musk just unveiled something that could revolutionize how you power your home </a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ZtcHQzNzE6rJiNVeNBtErYRi4yljUmMb" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'ZtcHQzNzE6rJiNVeNBtErYRi4yljUmMb',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

You Searched For "walmart layoffs 2024" and got 14 results

Walmart is axing hundreds of corporate jobs and bringing remote employees into the office

Shubhangi Goel

Walmart is shuttering 9 US locations in 2024. See the list.

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Walmart reduced its store fleet by 102 locations last year a smart move for what's next

Dominick Reuter

The odds of no interest-rate cuts in 2024 are growing

Dan DeFrancesco

Walmart and Target borrowing ideas from each other shows we're in a new economic landscape

Dan DeFrancesco

Starbucks joins McDonald's and Walmart in calling for Congress to pass stimulus package, as CEO announces plans for $15 minimum wage

Kate Taylor

An AI agent may soon be at your beck and call, but it might cost you a bit of your privacy

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Dealmaking is showing signs of life, but it comes with some downsides

Dan DeFrancesco

A popular YouTuber's negative video of Humane's AI Pin raises questions about critical reviews in the age of innovation

Dan DeFrancesco

Apple's EV exit shows the challenges of the once red-hot market

Dan DeFrancesco

Google's culture shock

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Rate cuts are likely coming next year, but investors shouldn't bank on them saving the market

Dan DeFrancesco

Rate cuts are likely coming next year, but investors shouldn't bank on them saving the market

Dan DeFrancesco

STOCKS RISE: Here's what you need to know

Akin Oyedele