The main highlights in a holiday-shortened week will be US earnings and retail sales as investors closely watch to see if US companies can beat estimates amid fears that higher costs are squeezing profit margins.

Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s life sciences unit, Verily, is cutting 15% of jobs in a restructuring move as it strives for financial independence, according to an email to employees on Wednesday.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. climbed another 69% to $3.49 a share in Wednesday trading, bringing this week's gains to 166%, erasing the share-price slump last week.

Sparking a sharp move lower in its shares in premarket trading, Lululemon Athletica Inc. tightened its fourth-quarter earnings forecast and increased its revenue target but warned it expects a drop in margins.

In the latest sign that a technology slump is worsening, Amazon.com Inc. is laying off more than 17,000 employees, a much more significant number than the 10,000 cuts the retailer previously anticipated.

For the first time since March 2021, Apple's market value slid below $2 trillion after the company's shares closed down 3.7% in Tuesday's trading session over investor concerns that the Tim Cook-led company will continue to struggle with iPhone 14 Pro shipments during the holiday season.

This week, Micron Technology Inc., the largest memory chipmaker in the US, reported fiscal first-quarter results that reached the low end of its guidance for both revenue and profits.

Following a Bloomberg News report that merger partner Microsoft is "ready to fight" to complete its acquisition of the video game maker, shares of Activision Blizzard gained 3% in pre-open trading Monday.

Walt Disney shares fell 4.8% on Monday following a disappointing opening box office weekend for James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water."

In the latest sign that staff layoffs are accelerating across Wall Street, a source familiar with the matter said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is planning to cut thousands of employees to navigate a challenging economic environment.

As Warner Bros. Discovery tries to pare down operations, the company on Wednesday said it expects to face charges as much as $5.3 billion related to its acquisition of AT&T's WarnerMedia.

On Tuesday, shares of Moderna Inc. and Merck & Co. rose after the two companies said a potential mRNA vaccine they are developing helped reduce deaths in melanoma patients.

In a week when Tesla's CEO lost his title as the world's wealthiest man on Bloomberg's ranking, Elon Musk unloaded more than $3.5 billion worth of shares over three days, a regulatory disclosure revealed Wednesday.

On Monday, US tech giant Microsoft agreed to take 4% ownership of the London Stock Exchange Group and shift the exchange's financial data platform onto the tech giant's cloud computing platform.

Shares of Carvana drastically plunged on Wednesday following news that the online car retailer signed an agreement with its largest creditors to act together in negotiations with the company.

Chief Executive Tim Cook of Apple Inc. said Tuesday that the company would build chips again in the US after a nearly decade-long hiatus, a critical step in reducing its reliance on Asia-based manufacturing.

As China continues to grapple with the impact of on-and-off recurrences of COVID-19, Tesla Inc. is offering further incentives to the country's customers who buy and take delivery of new cars this month.

In the latest leadership shakeup, the cloud-based software-provider Salesforce.com announced the departure of Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield, effective 31 January.

ETFs provide a straightforward, cost-effective way for investors to access diverse markets, blending the convenience of stock trading with broad exposure. Major funds like Invesco QQQ (Nasdaq-100), Vanguard S&P 500, and iShares MSCI EAFE (Europe and Asia) allow access to various sectors, while iShares STOXX Europe 600 targets top European firms. Due to European regulations, U.S.-listed ETFs are restricted, but European investors can find equivalents on local exchanges. With over 12,000 ETFs worldwide, these funds offer flexible trading options via online and traditional brokers.

Walmart's stock surged on Tuesday after the world's largest retailer by sales reported quarterly earnings that smashed expectations, indicating demand for groceries holds up despite higher prices.

In a sign that Warren Buffett thinks Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has bottomed out of a selloff of more than $250 billion, the legendary investor's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. took a stake of over $4.1 billion in the world's leading chipmaker.

It's been a challenging week for Roblox, with its stock plunging more than 20% Wednesday after the online video game company reported a larger-than-expected loss for the third quarter.

On Wednesday, Amazon shares hit a new 52-week low, closing at $86.14 a share and making it the first-ever public US company to lose more than $1 trillion in market capitalization.

After Walt Disney Co. reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday and wiped out about $15 billion in market value, the company said it plans to cut marketing and content budgets.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to begin widespread job cuts, joining Salesforce Inc. as it cut hundreds of workers from sales teams, seeking to improve profitability while facing slowing demand. Elsewhere, Billionaire Elon Musk unloaded another batch of Tesla Inc. shares to help fund his Twitter Inc. buyout.