Stocks may have put the debt ceiling behind them, but here are more risks to the 2023 market rally

Stocks may have put the debt ceiling behind them, but here are more risks to the 2023 market rally

Fraught negotiations in Washington have yielded a deal on raising the U.S.’s borrowing capacity without sending the stock market into a tailspin, as some on Wall Street had feared they might. But more risks may lie ahead. Investors who spent the better part of the past month fixated on the welter of debt-ceiling related headlines…

Opinion: Why Alphabet is a better bet than Meta Platforms if you’re investing in AI

Opinion: Why Alphabet is a better bet than Meta Platforms if you’re investing in AI

With shares more than doubling this year, Meta Platforms META, +0.18% seems to be a stock that just won’t quit. But given the choice, investors may want to consider digital-advertising competitor Alphabet GOOGL, -0.75% GOOG, -0.63% instead. Sure, Facebook parent Meta Platforms topped earnings expectations and posted bullish guidance. Yet just after celebrating those results, investors…

Wall Street tech darling Nvidia unveils more AI products — including a new supercomputer

Wall Street tech darling Nvidia unveils more AI products — including a new supercomputer

Wall Street clearly hasn’t seen anything yet. Nvidia Corp., the chip manufacturer that investors can’t seem to get enough of, announced a flurry of dazzling AI-related products over the weekend, including a new supercomputer, alongside plans to make online gaming figures come alive. “We’re now at the tipping point of a new computing era with…

‘Most jobs are vehicles and not destinations:’ Entry-level hiring slows, but these jobs are on the rise for new graduates

‘Most jobs are vehicles and not destinations:’ Entry-level hiring slows, but these jobs are on the rise for new graduates

Entry-level hiring is slowing.  Hiring for entry-level positions in the U.S is down 32% on the year in April for jobs that require a college degree and down 22% in April for jobs that do not require a college degree, according to a LinkedIn report released Monday. Hiring slowed across all industries in April. It…

Social media poses ‘profound risk’ to kids’ mental health, surgeon general warns

Social media poses ‘profound risk’ to kids’ mental health, surgeon general warns

Social-media platforms pose “a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children,” and there is not enough evidence “to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents,” according to an advisory note from the U.S. surgeon general. Tuesday’s 25-page advisory comes as the possible effects of social media…

Where did laid-off tech and media workers go? They’ve found jobs in these industries.

Where did laid-off tech and media workers go? They’ve found jobs in these industries.

Americans are job hopping, although not always by choice. More than 199,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the website Layoffs.fyi. The number of global tech layoffs has risen almost eightfold since mid-January.  Facebook owner Meta META, +2.61% is one of a number of…

Lowe’s, PacWest, Yelp stocks rally while BJ’s and Zoom Video shares fall, and other stocks on the move

Lowe’s, PacWest, Yelp stocks rally while BJ’s and Zoom Video shares fall, and other stocks on the move

Here are some of the more prominent movers on Tuesday: Stock gainers: Lowe’s Companies Inc.’s stock LOW, +2.18% jumped 1.7% in afternoon trading, after the home improvement retailer beat fiscal first-quarter profit expectations. While same-store sales fell more than forecast, they outperformed rival Home Depot Inc. HD, +1.75%, and the lowered full-year profit guidance range…

U.S. stocks kick off week on cautious note as debt-ceiling talks continue

U.S. stocks kick off week on cautious note as debt-ceiling talks continue

U.S. stocks saw a mixed start to the week ahead of more government debt-ceiling talks later on Monday, though the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite managed to remain near 2023 highs. Meanwhile, investors were weighing remarks by Federal Reserve officials about whether it would be appropriate to hold interest rates steady at the central bank’s…

Megacap tech stocks out of control? Big Tech still has the power to extend the rally and weather an economic storm, analysts say.

Megacap tech stocks out of control? Big Tech still has the power to extend the rally and weather an economic storm, analysts say.

Megacap technology stocks have dominated the U.S. stock market performance this year, powering the Nasdaq Composite to a new nine-month high this week as investors have loaded up on them in a “safe-haven play” on concerns over a potential recession, a federal debt-ceiling breach and more stress in regional banks. The tech-focused Nasdaq-100 index NDX,…

How to invest in one of the hottest stock market sectors while cutting your risk

How to invest in one of the hottest stock market sectors while cutting your risk

Here’s a summary of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 SPX, -0.14% have performed his year and how forward price-to-earnings ratios compare to valuation levels at the end of 2021: Sector or index 2023 return 2022 return Return since end of 2021 3-year return 5 year return Forward P/E Forward P/E at end…

20 AI stocks expected to post the highest compound annual sales growth to 2025

20 AI stocks expected to post the highest compound annual sales growth to 2025

Things move quickly in the world of artificial intelligence. It is easy to sit back and complain about developments that could be disruptive, but sometimes investors are best served by putting emotions aside and observing new developments and how they affect markets. Could AI developments and related trends make you a lot of money? Below…

Ovulation tracker app Premom charged with sharing users’ personal information

Ovulation tracker app Premom charged with sharing users’ personal information

U.S. regulators said late Wednesday that Easy Healthcare Corp.’s ovulation tracker app Premom shared users “sensitive” personal information with third parties, and users’ health data with Google and a mobile marketing-analytics company. The app also failed to notify consumers of those unauthorized disclosures, the Federal Trade Commission said. The FTC has proposed that Easy Healthcare,…

The ‘end of the runway’ is nearing for lofty tech and soggy banks. Get ready, says this strategist

The ‘end of the runway’ is nearing for lofty tech and soggy banks. Get ready, says this strategist

A new week is pointing to a perky start for Wall Street, with stock futures in the green. But one might wonder “What gives?” as old worries — banking sector concerns and a debt-ceiling standoff — lurk, and some market observers assure the S&P 500 SPX, -0.16% is going nowhere until those are resolved. But…

Who will win the race for best AI assistant: Google, Apple, Meta or Amazon?

Who will win the race for best AI assistant: Google, Apple, Meta or Amazon?

Personal assistants such as Alexa and Siri are being offered by the biggest names in technology, and Morgan Stanley analysts said Wednesday that one company should be favored to take a big chunk of that market as artificial intelligence adds to their capabilities. Morgan Stanley analysts think Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG, +0.87% GOOGL, +0.81% Google is…

Meta climbs into ‘AI Sandbox’ with tools for advertisers

Meta climbs into ‘AI Sandbox’ with tools for advertisers

Meta Platforms Inc. jumped into the “AI Sandbox” on Thursday, its set of new artificial intelligence-powered tools and services it calls a “testing playground” for advertisers. Facebook’s parent company META, +1.16% said it’s working with a small batch of advertisers on three tools: text variation that generates several versions of an advertiser’s copy; background generation,…

Opinion: Stocks are trying to break out of a trading range but resistance is too strong

Opinion: Stocks are trying to break out of a trading range but resistance is too strong

The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.72%, has failed to overcome resistance at 4200. That is bearish, and SPX has backed off sharply since the most recent attempt to challenge 4200 occurred late last week. That attempt was spurred by positive earnings from Meta Platforms META, -1.48% and others. Now…

Senator’s long battle to protect kids online reaches new stage — ‘Big Tech is knowingly fueling a mental-health crisis in this country’

Senator’s long battle to protect kids online reaches new stage — ‘Big Tech is knowingly fueling a mental-health crisis in this country’

Amid an escalating bipartisan outcry about the need to protect kids’ safety online, punctuated by President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, a sequel to one of the last major pieces of tech legislation was reintroduced in the Senate on Wednesday. Sen. Ed Markey’s Children and Teens’ Only Privacy and Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0,…