STOCK MARKET NEWS: Stocks strong ahead of CPI report, Barney returning, Cuban on ChatGPT

Palantir Technologies said it expects 2023 to be its first profitable year as the maker of data analytics software benefits from cost cuts and the artificial intelligence boom, sending its shares up 15% in trading after the bell.

The company has reduced employees' stock-based compensation and cut back on cloud expenditure in recent months in response to lower spending from recession-wary businesses, finance chief David Glazer told Reuters on Monday.

It has also slowed hiring to cut expenses, with headcount rising just 3% sequentially in the December quarter, compared with 31% for the whole of 2022. The move underlines a trend of greater frugality by tech firms after rapid hiring during the pandemic left them with a bloated workforce.

The demand weakness, however, weighed on Palantir's 2023 revenue forecast , which at between $2.18 billion and $2.23 billion was below the $2.29 billion estimated by analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Still, company executives said the AI surge sparked by the rise of ChatGPT was proving to a be bright spot and would help its business in 2023, mirroring remarks from Big Tech firms.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (CAR) on Monday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $423 million.

On a per-share basis, the Parsippany, New Jersey-based company said it had net income of $10.10. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions and non-recurring costs, were $10.46 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $6.85 per share.

The car rental company posted revenue of $2.77 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.71 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $2.76 billion, or $57.16 per share. Revenue was reported as $11.99 billion.

Angi is lower in extending trading.

The home service online marketplace and database missed Wall Street revenue and profit estimates.

Fourth quarter revenue rose 4% to $441.4 million. Analysts expected $444.99 million.

The net loss widened to $53.3 million. The diluted loss was 11 cents, deeper than the 6 cents expected by Wall Street.

Paxos, the leading regulated blockchain and tokenization infrastructure platform, received a Wells notice from the SEC on February 3, 2023. The Wells notice states that the staff of the SEC is considering recommending an action alleging that BUSD is a security and that Paxos should have registered the offering of BUSD under the federal securities laws.

Paxos has issued the following statement:

Paxos categorically disagrees with the SEC staff because BUSD is not a security under the federal securities laws. This SEC Wells notice pertains only to BUSD. To be clear, there are unequivocally no other allegations against Paxos. Paxos has always prioritized the safety of its customers' assets. BUSD issued by Paxos is always backed 1:1 with US dollar-denominated reserves, fully segregated and held in bankruptcy remote accounts. We will engage with the SEC staff on this issue and are prepared to vigorously litigate if necessary.

To learn more about Paxos' commitment to transparency and regulation, visit the website.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc has delayed finalizing the budgets of multiple teams as it prepares a fresh round of job cuts, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

In recent weeks there had been a lack of clarity surrounding budgets and future head count, the FT reported, citing two Meta employees familiar with the situation.

Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of normal business hours.

Earlier this month, Meta announced that it expects its 2023 expenses at between $89 billion and $95 billion, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling the period a "Year of Efficiency."

For those who are worried about the power of large-cap tech companies such as Google and Facebook, billionaire Mark Cuban says there is a bigger force to be concerned about.

Toymaker Mattel is poised to bring back a purple, fan favorite.

The Federal Reserve is predicted to continue raising interest rates to cool inflation, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Monday.

Reuters reported that Bowman, addressing an audience at a conference of the American Bankers Association, said that even once rates reach their height, they will have to remain there for "some time," so that prices stabilize.

Rate are already between 4.5% and 4.75%. Bowman did not say how high she expects the rates to eventually get, nor did she specify how long she expects the eventual high point to remain in place.

The United States still has a ways to go to reach the preferred 2% inflation level, as the current level is about 5%.

The Fed voted earlier this month to raise interest rates to 4.75%. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon  predicted last week that additional rate hikes could be coming.

Camilla, the wife of Britain's King Charles and queen consort, has tested positive for COVID-19, Buckingham Palace said on Monday.

"After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the Covid virus," the palace said in a statement about the health of the 75-year old royal.

The palace added that she has cancelled all her public engagements for this week.

Both Charles and Camilla had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including a booster shot, and Camilla had contracted the virus once in February last year.

Qatari investors are preparing to make a bid to buy Premier League club Manchester United "in the coming days", Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the deal.

The report added that the consortium will submit an initial bid for the club by the end of the week, and that officials from the Qatar Investment Authority are helping with preparations for the bid.

Reuters has contacted Manchester United for comment.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail newspaper reported that Qatari investors are planning to make a huge bid to buy Premier League club Manchester United.

The Daily Mail report stated the interested investors are separate from Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which owns Paris St Germain, and that the money will come from an "individual fund" rather than a sovereign wealth fund.

United, managed by Erik ten Hag, are third in the league on 46 points after 23 games, two points behind Manchester City and five adrift of leaders Arsenal.

TreeHouse Foods Inc. on Monday reported a loss of $23.4 million in its fourth quarter.

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said it had a loss of 41 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 98 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 91 cents per share.

The food maker posted revenue of $996.2 million in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.03 billion.

For the year, the company reported a loss of $146.3 million, or $2.61 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.45 billion.

Mexican cement producer Cemex posted an unexpected fourth-quarter loss Monday, logging hefty one-off charges for impairment of goodwill and fixed assets.

It swung to a net loss of $99.1 million from a profit of $194.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Analysts had expected profit to climb after the company hiked product prices by double-digit percentage figures.

Revenue did increase, surging 8% to $3.87 billion with robust sales growth seen in Mexico and the United States, although overall volumes dipped.

Blaming the global high inflationary environment and increasing interest rates, it recognised a goodwill impairment charge of $365 million. Impairment losses for property, machinery and equipment came to $77 million.

Payments conglomerate Fidelity National Information Services Inc said on Monday it would spin off its merchant payments business, following shareholder pushback against the company's structure.

Much of the merchant banking business consists of Worldpay, a corporate payments processor that Jacksonville, Florida-based Fidelity bought in a $43 billion deal four years ago.

Since the acquisition, the company's shares have lost more than half their value, leaving it with $45 billion, as investors became frustrated with how its three main businesses were linked.

The spinoff, resulting from a strategic review undertaken in December at shareholder D.E. Shaw Group's behest, is expected to be tax-free and close in the next 12 months.

Economists are now bantering around the real probability of a so-called "rolling recession" here's what it means for the U.S. economy.

As tech stocks move up and down, the major U.S. benchmarks are picking up where they left off before the opening bell, as all three begin the regular session in the green.

The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are trading above the redline as commodities like oil and gold slip in early trading, with the yellow metal off roughly 0.37% to $1,867.50 an ounce and oil off almost 0.69% to $79.17 a barrel.

Meanwhile, tech stocks are wobbling on Monday as shares of Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple flip-flop between small gains and losses.

Year-to-date, tech stocks are making a comeback, with all five trading at least 12% in positive territory after disaster in 2022.The U.S. Tech 100 is also up in 2023, rising roughly 13%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has risen approximately 12.5% since Jan.1. 

Former Republican South Carolina governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is expected to throw her hat in the ring this week for the next president of the United States.

Wednesday will see Nikki Haley step up for the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Former President Trump is the only other candidate to have officially announced, although speculation abounds that Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin and Kristi Noem could join the race.

Also on Wednesday, the CBO will release its 2023 baseline budget, economic forecast and a special report on federal debt limit.

In January, Haley slammed President Biden's comments that Republicans are "fiscally demented" calling out the President for signing off on a $6 trillion spending package amid a looming debt ceiling deadline and crushing inflation.

The national debt when Biden took office was $27.7 trillion. As of the time of this publication, it was $31.4 trillion, an increase of $3.7 trillion in two years.

This week, Wall Street investors will take in more Fed speeches, new CPI data and earnings across industries from energy to hospitality.

The stock market is coming off a somber week with the Nasdaq Composite unable to escape the bear market it's been stuck in since March 2022. The Nasdaq lost 1.56% last week, and the S&P lost just 0.71%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed from the previous week.

On Monday, earnings are expected from cybersecurity firm Check Point Software and food processing company Treehouse Foods, while after the bell, investors will hear from Angi, Avis Budget Group, Denny’s and Palantir Technologies, a data analytics firm that has been instrumental in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Microsoft will permanently disable Internet Explorer after 25 years, while Later in the week investors will hear from the Dallas Fed's Lorie Logan and the New York Fed's John Williams, Cisco Systems, Marathon Oil, Roku, Shopify, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Zillow Group will report quarterly earnings.

Investors will also be looking out for the NFIB business optimism index, which is expected to climb slightly, as well as the Consumer Price Index. The CPI is expected to rise to 298, up from 296.8.

U.S. stock futures are up on Monday ahead of another week of quarterly earnings and Fed speeches,

The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are all trading above the redline as commodities like oil and gold slip in early trading, with the yellow metal off roughly 0.09% to $1,872.80 an ounce and oil off almost 0.06% to $79.67 a barrel.

Meanwhile, tech stocks are priming for the regular session with Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple all in green territory pre-market.

In other stock futures, blue-chip shares like Home Depot, Nike, American Express and Boeing are wobbling between small gains and losses as the Dow struggles for breathing room on Monday.