Several major US companies have announced a combined reduction of over 52,000 jobs, including Amazon (AMZN.US), UPS (UPS.US), Dow Chemical (DOW.US), NIKE (NKE.US), and Home Depot (HD.US), according to a report from the Financial Times.

Some of these companies stated the need to streamline organizational structures due to ongoing economic uncertainty and increasing pressure from AI investments. Analysts believe that discussions about layoffs have increased among companies, and their interest in using AI to reduce labor costs is growing.
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OpenAI is paving the way for an IPO in the fourth quarter of this year amidst escalating competition with rival Anthropic, the Wall Street Journal, citing people with the knowledge of the matter, reported.

OpenAI is having informal discussions with major Wall Street firms regarding its IPO plans and is expanding its financial team, sources divulged.

The company's executives privately expressed concerns that Anthropic may proceed with an IPO ahead of them, as Anthropic reportedly informed its financial partners of its openness to going public by the end of this year, having already talked with banks assisting in the IPO process.
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Tesla (TSLA.US) has been transitioning from an EV company to a physical AI company over the past few years, UBS issued a research report saying. However, its spending does not resemble that of an AI company.

Over the past 3 years, the Company's average capital expenditure was about US$10 billion annually, and it is expected to double to US$20 billion in 2026, pushing the Company into a cash burning mode. The broker anticipated a cash burn of US$6 billion in 2026, excluding a US$2 billion investment in xAI.

UBS raised its 2026/ 2027 EPS forecasts from US$1.74/ US$2.04 to US$1.93/ US$2.34 each, and elevated its target price from US$307 to US$352, with rating kept at Sell.
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Tesla (TSLA.US) has announced its 4Q25 results, showing that its revenue and non-GAAP net profit reached USD24.9 billion and USD1.76 billion, respectively, according to a CICC research report. The QoQ improvement in its 4Q25 gross margin made its results better than expected.

CICC has kept an Outperform rating on Tesla. Given its positive progress in AI transformation, the broker has also kept its target price at USD500, implying about 16% upside potential from the current stock price.
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Elon Musk's SpaceX is considering the possibility of merging with Tesla (TSLA.US), while also evaluating alternative integration with AI startup xAI, Bloomberg quoted sources as saying. Tesla's share price leaped 2.9% in after-hours trading session.

SpaceX has explored the feasibility of merging with the EV manufacturer Tesla, a concept driven by some investors, the report added. Sources stated that, any deal could attract significant interest from infrastructure funds and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
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Apple (AAPL.US)'s 1FQ results beat expectations with a YoY growth of 16% in revenue.

According to CFO Kevan Parekh, Apple estimates its revenue to increase by 13-16% YoY in 2FQ, equivalent to USD107.8-110.66 billion, compared to market expectations of USD104.84 billion.

That said, Apple also expects iPhone supply to be constrained in 2FQ. CEO Tim Cook explained that Apple is currently experiencing supply chain tensions, making it difficult to predict when supply and demand will reach equilibrium.

One of the limiting factors, as Cook stressed, is that Apple's processors require advanced chip manufacturing processes, and memory prices are likely to have a significant impact in 2FQ.
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Microsoft (MSFT.US) saw its stock price tumble by approximately 10% on Thursday following its earnings announcement, marking the deepest single-day downswing since March 2020. Microsoft's market cap shrank by about USD357 billion in one day, closing at USD3.2 trillion on Thursday.

The UBS analyst team questioned Microsoft's strategy of reserving computing power for AI products like Microsoft 365 Copilot, noting that the success of these products has not yet matched that of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The revenue growth of Microsoft 365 has not accelerated due to Copilot, and various surveys show limited increase in Copilot usage. The AI model market is highly competitive and capital-intensive, UBS said, opining Microsoft needs to justify the rationale behind these investments.
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Apple (AAPL.US) announced on Thursday after market close that for the first fiscal quarter ended December 27, 2025, its net profit grew by 16% YoY to USD42.1 billion, with EPS at USD2.84, surpassing the expected USD2.67.

Revenue also added by approximately 16% to USD143.76 billion, topping the expected USD138.48 billion. The stock hiked 1% in after-hours trading.

Thanks to the robust sales of the iPhone 17 released last September, iPhone revenue swelled 23% YoY to USD85.27 billion, above the expected USD78.65 billion.

iPad revenue gained 6% to USD8.6 billion, surpassing the expected USD8.13 billion. CEO Tim Cook stated that half of the iPad buyers were first-time iPad owners last quarter. Mac revenue mounted 6.7% to USD8.39 billion, below the expected USD8.95 billion.
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Amazon (AMZN.US) is in discussions to invest up to USD50 billion in OpenAI, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is leading negotiations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. If the deal is nailed, the specific terms of the transaction may still change.

OpenAI is seeking up to USD100 billion in new capital from investors, which could raise its valuation to as much as USD830 billion, according to earlier reports. SoftBank is also in talks to invest up to USD30 billion in OpenAI as part of this financing round.
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The US stock market was on a bumpy ride on Thursday, as the market eyed the quarterly results of major techs. The DJIA ended up 55 points or 0.1% at 49,071. The Nasdaq, initially dented by a plunge in Microsoft (MSFT.US) and software stocks, slumped by as much as 624 points or 2.6% before narrowing its loss to close down 172 points or 0.7% at 23,685. The S&P 500 dipped 9 points or 0.1% to 6,969.

Microsoft's 2FQ profit grew 60%, but its cloud services revenue fell short of expectations, leading to a 10% collapse in its stock price, marking the steepest single-day decline since March 2020. Meta (META.US)'s revenue forecasts beat, with its stock price surging by 10.4%.

Tesla (TSLA.US) reported a 61% drop in 4Q net profit, still beating expectations, although its full-year revenue shrank for the first time on record. Tesla's stock initially soared 2% before giving up gains to close down 3.5%. Apple (AAPL.US), which is set to release its quarterly results after the market close, rose by 0.7%.
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