Salesforce to cut about 10% of staff (3 min read)

Salesforce will cut 10% of its workforce and reduce its real estate as the company aims to slash expenses amid economic uncertainty. Co-CEO Marc Benioff admitted they grew headcounts too quickly during the pandemic as revenue accelerated, leading to too many people entering this downturn it's facing now. Other tech companies had announced layoffs in recent months for a similar reason. Shares of Salesforce were up 3.74% on Wednesday but suffered a steep loss of about 38% last year.

GE HealthCare Jumps in Trading Debut After Spinoff (2 min read)
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Shares of GE HealthCare Technologies rose 8% on Wednesday after it debuted on the Nasdaq. GE HealthCare, now an independent company, was formerly the medical-equipment business of General Electric. The company makes imaging machines, diagnostic tools and digital products used in the medical field. The business separation was part of GE's broader plan to break up the industry icon. The next split up will be GE’s Renewable Energy and Aerospace division.

Job openings hold strong despite rate hikes; manufacturing in contraction (2 min read)
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The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) shows that demand for workers is still high in the US despite the Fed’s effort to soften the labor market. Available jobs in November were at 10.46 million which is just fractionally lower than the previous month. The ISM report also shows the labor market for the manufacturing sector is solid, although it has been contracting for two consecutive months. The current ratio of available jobs to workers is 1.7 to 1.

Fed officials see higher rates for ‘some time’ ahead (4 min read)

According to minutes from the Fed’s December meeting, the central bank is committed to bringing inflation down to 2% and sees interest rates remaining high even after the increases cease. The pace of rate hikes slowed to 0.5% last month, but the Fed reiterated that it was not an indication of weakness in taming inflation. None of the Fed officials expect rate cuts in 2023 despite the market pricing it for this year.

5 Tips for Trading ETFs (6 min read)

A common best practice for trading ETFs is to use limit orders because it’ll ensure trades won’t get executed at an unreasonable price. If you are trading international ETFs, it’s better to trade when the underlying market is open to avoid wide spreads. An ETF tends to be less accurately priced near market opens or closes so it's best to trade outside of those times. For larger trades, it would be more appropriate to contact your broker or market makers for execution.

Pimco Ranks as 2022’s Biggest Loser in $6.5 Trillion ETF Market (2 min read)
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Pimco lost a net of $3.6 billion in assets across 20 funds last year, the biggest cumulative outflows in the firm’s history and the largest among US issuers in 2022. The Pimco Enhanced Short Maturity Active ETF (MINT) was the largest active ETF and it lost about half of its assets. Despite the brutal year for bonds, fixed income ETFs still attracted billions but the majority of it was in passive funds. Given Pimco’s dominance in active bond funds, investors were quick to exit.

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Thanks,
Thomas

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