Stocks fluctuate as earnings season kicks off, wholesale inflation cools

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• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 12:02 PM MST

  OpenAI’s copyright conundrum

  It’s not stealing if it’s innovating.

  That’s one prickly way of describing the position of AI companies that rely on the internet’s copyrighted works to inspire their models.

  This week, OpenAI, the company behind the culture-shifting AI chatbot ChatGPT, elaborated on its public case for rethinking intellectual property in the age of AI.

  In response to the New York Times’ copyright infringement lawsuit against it and Microsoft (MSFT), OpenAI sought to clarify its business and motives, writing in a blog post: “Training AI models using publicly available internet materials is fair use, as supported by long-standing and widely accepted precedents. We view this principle as fair to creators, necessary for innovators, and critical for US competitiveness.”

  In a submission responding to an inquiry of the UK Parliament late last year, the company wrote: “Because copyright today covers virtually every sort of human expression — including blogposts, photographs, forum posts, scraps of software code, and government documents — it would be impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials.”

  What makes OpenAI’s arguments interesting and consequential is the novelty of the debate.

  It’s unclear to what extent existing copyright law speaks to AI and the process of ingesting existing material to train powerful models that aim to generate and capture new types of value.

  But in a tech industry move that by now seems familiar, AI companies are acting as if their permissive interpretation of the law is the natural mode of engagement and as if restrictions don’t apply to them until they are proven wrong.

  The maneuver resembles social media companies dodging accountability from real moderation responsibilities while reaping the rewards of publishing other people’s content. It also brings to mind the early days of ride-sharing and the gig economy, when popular apps rushed to claim market share while operating in a legal void.

  And with both industries continuing to thrive while the law remains unsettled, AI companies must ask: Why tread lightly when inevitability is on your side?

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 11:15 AM MST

  Stocks trending in afternoon trading

  Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page during afternoon trading on Friday:

  Meta (META): The social media platform is trading near all-time highs, pulling off a stunning reversal from 2022 when some investors lost faith in the company’s pivot to the metaverse and the stock plummeted as interest rates rose aggressively. The company has since refocused, enacted dramatic layoffs, and has jumped into the race to develop a new generation of AI tools. Shares rose 1% Friday afternoon, reaching a 52-week high in intraday trading.

  UnitedHealth Group (UNH): Shares fell more than 3% after the health insurance provider reported fourth quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates as investors appears to focus on medical costs that were higher than expected.

  Delta Air Lines (DAL): The airline’s shares sank more than 7% after it cut its 2024 earnings forecast and as investors downplayed its fourth quarter beat for revenue and profits. Delta reported generating $13.66 billion in revenue and gains of $1.28 per share. The negative sentiment spread to other airlines. United Airlines (UAL) fell by more than 9% while American Airlines (AAL) stock fell by more than 8%.

  JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Shares of the largest US bank rose 1% after it reported a 12% boost in revenue to $39.94 billion and beat analysts’ expectations. All told, the bank posted almost $50 billion in annual profits for 2023. Among the large banks that reported results on Friday, JPMorgan led the gainers during the morning session.

  Major US lenders showed sinking profits for the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo (WFC) fell nearly 3% and Bank of America (BAC) slid more than 1%.

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 10:39 AM MST

  Stocks fall in afternoon trading

  Stocks lost ground Friday afternoon, reversing earlier gains as reports from big banks failed to lift hopes for a robust quarterly earnings season.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lost 0.5%, or close to 200 points. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) shed close to 0.2%.

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 9:48 AM MST

  Citigroup reveals plans for 20,000 job cuts by 2026

  Citigroup (C) is on its way to becoming the smallest of the big four US banks by staff,= as CEO Jane Fraser bets on a dramatic restructuring to boost the company’s stock price.

  The New York bank said that it expects to eliminate 20,000 positions by 2026, which will save it $2.5 billion, reports Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith. Citigroup also intends to shed another 40,000 when it lists its Mexican consumer unit Banamex in an initial public offering.

  The cuts would leave Citigroup with 180,000 workers, which would likely make it the smallest of the big four banks in the US and reduce the overall size of its workforce by 25%. It ended 2023 with 240,000.

  The announcement arrived as Citigroup reported a net loss of $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter resulting from an FDIC assessment of $1.7 billion and other charges and reserves it previously disclosed.

  Shares were down more than 1% around midday.

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 9:04 AM MST

  Oil prices rise after US airstrikes in Yemen

  Tensions in the Middle East continue to rise as US-led airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels escalate the threat of further hostilities and fuel more volatility in the market.

  Oil prices jumped 2% higher during morning trading on Friday after the airstrikes, which were coordinated by the US and UK military. The strikes came in response to Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea, which have forced global shipping companies to reroute their ships, extending the length of the voyages and increasing their cost.

  The Red Sea flows to the Suez Canal, offering vessels the shortest passage between Europe and Asia. Roughly 10% of all global trade travels through the key international sea lane.

  The airstrikes drew threats of reprisals from the Iran-backed group behind the Red Sea attacks, heightening the possibility of further disruptions to global trade.

  Brent futures (BZ=F) were trading around $80 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) were just under $74.

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 8:25 AM MST

  Stocks trending in morning trading

  Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page during morning trading on Friday:

  BlackRock (BLK): Shares of the money manager ticked just over the flatline Friday morning after it beat earnings expectations and disclosed that its assets under management exceeded $10 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023. The company also announced it was acquiring infrastructure fund manager GIP for $12.5 billion. GIP has over $100 billion in assets under management.

  Delta Air Lines (DAL): The airline’s shares sank more than 7% after it cut its 2024 earnings forecast and as investors downplayed its fourth quarter beat for revenue and profits. Delta reported generating $13.66 billion in revenue and gains of $1.28 per share.

  JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Shares of the largest US bank rose 1% after it reported a 12% boost in revenue to $39.94 billion and beat analysts’ expectations. All told, the bank posted almost $50 billion in annual profits for 2023. Among the large banks that reported results on Friday, JPMorgan led the gainers during the morning session.

  Major US lenders showed sinking profits for the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo (WFC) fell nearly 3%, Bank of America (BAC) slid more than 2%, and Citigroup (C) ticked up about 0.3%.

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 7:37 AM MST

  Stocks gain slightly, moving past bank earnings

  Stocks edged up Friday morning as investors largely looked past big bank results that failed to thrill

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) ticked up 0.1% or about 50 points. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced about 0.3%.

• Fri, January 12, 2024 at 6:34…