STOCK MARKET NEWS: President’s Day, Biden’s surprise Ukraine visit, Walmart, Home Depot earnings

BHP Group Ltd on Tuesday reported a steeper than estimated 32% drop in profit for the first half, citing weak iron ore prices, but forecast a positive demand outlook on strengthening activity in China.

However, its interim dividend of 90 U.S. cents per share, while lower than last year's 150 cents per share, beat Vuma Financial's estimate of 88 cents.

Last year miners wrestled with surging costs, a tight domestic labor market and lower iron ore prices due to China's strict zero-COVID policy. But the reopening of the world's second-biggest economy and a policy shift for its debt-ridden property sector has BHP upbeat on the commodity demand outlook.

The world's largest listed miner said underlying profit attributable to continuing operations was $6.60 billion for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with $9.72 billion a year earlier. That missed a Vuma Financial estimate of $6.82 billion.

Cargill announced the appointments of Joanne Knight as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Philippa Purser as Head of Strategy and Global Process Leader.

Knight is currently serving as Cargill's acting CFO. Before this role, Knight was Vice President of Finance for Cargill's Agriculture Supply Chain enterprise, including Ocean Transportation and the World Trading Group.

Before Cargill, she spent ten years in finance, marketing, and business leadership roles at General Mills that included P&L responsibility, as well as roles in supply chain finance, sales finance, and financial planning and analysis.

Purser is a 32-year Cargill veteran. She currently serves as Cargill's Agriculture Supply Chain Group Leader in EMEA, leading significant transformation and operational improvements.

Cargill connects farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with food.

JPMorgan strategists warn that an economic recession is still possible.

"It might be premature to believe that recession is off the table now, when Fed will have done 500bp+ of tightening in a year, and the impact of monetary policy tended to be felt with a lag on the real economy, of as much as 1-2 years," wrote Mislav Matejka, Head of Global and European Equity Strategy.

The note comes as stocks rise. The S&P 500 is up 6.67% year-to-date.

The strategists note the stock market is unlikely to bottom until Fed starts to cut interest rates.

British cyber security company Darktrace said on Monday it had commissioned a third-party review of its finances by EY, weeks after a short-seller questioned its results.

Darktrace said the appointment of the auditor EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young, was a sign of its confidence in its financial processes.

Those were criticized by New York-based Quintessential Capital Management in a 70-page report on Jan. 31. The group said it was "deeply skeptical about the validity of Darktrace's financial statements," prompting Darktrace to issue a rebuttal.

“The appointment of E&Y will do little to quieten the bears in the short term but assuming said review gives Darktrace a clean bill of health it would at least allow the AI-driven cyber security firm some breathing space to re-establish some credibility with the market,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Darktrace's chief executive Poppy Gustafsson said then the company was run with "the greatest integrity.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Meta Platforms on Sunday announced that it is testing a monthly subscription service, called Meta Verified, which will let users verify their accounts using a government ID and get a blue badge, as it looks to help content creators grow and build communities.

The subscription bundle for Instagram and Facebook, to be launched later this week, also includes extra protection against impersonation and will be priced starting at $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 a month on Apple's iOS system and Android.

Meta Verified will be rolled out in Australia and New Zealand this week, with gradual launches in other countries to follow.

Meta's foray into subscription services follows Twitter, which announced last month that Twitter Blue will be priced at $11 per month.

United Airlines is improving its family seating policy, making it easier for children under 12-years old to sit next to an adult in their party for free — including customers who purchase Basic Economy tickets.

United's new policy is made possible through a series of investments in a new seat map feature that dynamically finds available adjacent seats at the time of booking. The online seat engine first reviews all available free Economy seats and then opens complimentary upgrades to available Preferred Seats, if needed.

Customers traveling with children under 12 will start to see more adjacent seat options immediately and the complete policy change will go into effect in early March.

Millions of Americans received multiple stimulus payments to help survive in the pandemic. Are these taxable?

Read on for more tax tips.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta , is making big changes to his platforms in an effort to boost revenue.

The stock and bond markets are closed in observance of President's Day as our most U.S. banks.