STOCK MARKET NEWS: Netflix rises, T-Mobile breach, home sales due

Alphabet is reportedly eliminating 12,000 jobs, its chief executive said in a staff memo shared with Reuters.

The job cuts affect teams across the company including recruiting and some corporate functions, as well as some engineering and products teams.

The layoffs are global and impact U.S. staff immediately, Google said.

The cuts mark the latest to shake the technology sector and come days after rival Microsoft Corp said it would lay off 10,000 workers.

U.S. equity futures bounced between gains and losses in the early hours of Friday, following a third day of losses in which the Dow Industrials slipped into negative territory on the year.

Oil prices traded higher Friday morning, adding to gains for the week.

U.S. crude futures traded around $80.00 per barrel.

Brent futures traded around $86.00 a barrel.

Oil is heading for a second straight weekly gain.

The National Association of Realtors will report existing home sales for the month of December. 

Sales of previously owned homes are expected to fall 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million units.  That would be the eleventh straight monthly drop, the most on record.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.4%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.1% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6%.

On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.8% on Thursday to 3,898.85.The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.8% to 33,044.56. The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 1% to 10,852.27.

Netflix shares are more than 5% higher in premarket trading after the company gained 7.7 million subscribers during the October-December period.

The company also announced its co-founder Reed Hastings
will relinquish its title of co-CEO.Programming chief, Ted Sarandos will be co-CEO along with Greg Peters, Netflix’s chief operating officer.

Hastings will become executive chairman.

The company earned $55.3 million, or 12 cents per share, during the fourth quarter, a 91% decline from the same time in the prior year. Revenue rose 2% from the previous year to $7.85 billion.

The earnings fell below the predictions of analysts, but investors appeared to be more focused on the subscriber gains that were far above projections. 

Nordstrom shares are down more than 4% in premarket trading after the company reported declining holiday sales.

The department store says sales declined 3.5% from year ago figures, causing the  company to adjust its full-year forecast, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Nordstrom now expects 2022 revenue growth, including retail sales and credit-card revenue, at the low end of its previously issued outlook of 5% to 7%. 

The National Association of Realtors will report existing home sales for the month of December. 

Sales of previously owned homes are expected to fall 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million units. That would be the eleventh straight monthly drop, the most on record.

The report follows other data this week showing a housing market that’s under great pressure from high mortgage rates, inflation, and rising home prices.

Homebuilder sentiment inched up from the lowest in more than a decade but is still at a very depressed level; while housing starts and building permits continue to retreat.

Retailers are taking drastic measures to prevent theft.

Numerous pharmacies, grocery stores and other retailers have shortened store hours or been forced to close permanently as locked-up merchandise becomes commonplace to protect against shoplifters and smash-and-grab thieves.

Crime has weighed heavily on retailers across the country, costing businesses about $94.5 billion, the National Retail Federation reported last month.

Another cryptocurrency-related firm has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The lending unit of crypto firm Genesis filed on Thursday.

Genesis Global Capital froze customer redemptions on Nov. 16 after FTX stunned the financial world with its bankruptcy, fueling concern that other companies could implode, according to Reuters. 

The company is owned by venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG).

Genesis’ lending unit said it had both assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion in its filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Genesis Global Holdco, the parent group of Genesis Global Capital, also filed for bankruptcy protection, along with another lending unit Genesis Asia Pacific.

Genesis Global Holdco said it would contemplate a potential sale or a equitization transaction to pay creditors, and that it had $150 million in cash to support the restructuring.

Bitcoin was trading around $20,000, after gaining in 15 of the last 16 days.

For the week, Bitcoin was higher
by more than 11%.

For the month, the cryptocurrency has gained more than 26%, but is down more than 49% from a year ago.

Ethereum was trading around $1,500, after gaining more than 9% in the past week.

Dogecoin was trading at 8 cents, after gaining more than 1% in the past week.

T-Mobile says 37 million customers have been affected by a security breach.

According to a regulatory filing the wireless carrier revealed on Thursday that its network was breached in late November and it was discovered on Jan. 5.

The stolen data included addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth.

The theft did not include passwords, PINs, bank account or credit card information, Social Security numbers or other government IDs.

The nationwide price for a gallon of gasoline gained on Friday to $3.392, according to AAA.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline on Thursday was $3.379.

A year ago, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.320.

One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.285. A month ago, that same gallon of gasoline cost $3.123.

Gas hit an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14.

Diesel gained, but remained below $5.00 per gallon to $4.614, but that is still a far from the $3.643 of a year ago.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed on Thursday that contract personnel “unintentionally deleted files,” disrupting a key computer system on Jan. 11.

That caused a communication outage that disrupted more than 11,000 flights.

The FAA said it “has so far found no evidence of a cyber-attack or malicious intent.”

Oil prices traded higher Friday morning, adding to gains for the week.

U.S. crude futures traded around $80.00 per barrel.

Brent futures traded around $86.00 a barrel.

Oil is heading for a second straight weekly gain.

Both closed 1% higher on Thursday, near their highest closing levels since Dec. 1.

Oil prices were supported by Chinese demand and hopes the U.S. central bank will soon end its tightening cycle, according to Reuters.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Thursday the U.S. central bank is seeing signs of inflationary pressures cooling off from torrid levels.