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Toy manufacturer Mattel has outlined the steps it is taking to limit the effects of President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China. The company said it would rely on its global supply chain and potentially consider increasing prices. Mattel has said it plans to have no singular country account for more than a quarter of its total productions by 2027. Chief executive Ynon Kreiz added that the firm has spent years building out a supply chain that isn’t overly reliant upon any one country, which will help it to play a key role in navigating any tariffs. His comments came alongside the company's fourth-quarter results, showing revenues of $1.65bn, up 1.6% on an annual basis, and a profit of $140.9m, or 42 cents per share, down from $147.3m. Among its main brands, Barbie posted a 14% drop in gross billings, which measures sales to retailers before adjustments. The loss was offset by a 15% increase for Hot Wheels and a 3% raise for Fisher Price.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

Google's digital ad sales experienced significant growth during the holiday season, with a reported $72.5bn in sales, an 11% increase from the previous year. However, concerns about the effectiveness of Google's substantial investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have left investors uneasy. Alphabet Inc. reported fourth-quarter earnings of $26.5bn, and revenues of $96.47bn, surpassing analyst expectations, but revenue growth in the Google Cloud division fell short of predictions. Despite this, Google's ongoing legal challenges and regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. could impact future revenue. A federal judge's ruling last year deemed Google's search engine an illegal monopoly, leading to potential consequences for the company.

 

New York Times

Reuters

US News and World Report

Discount retailer Essex Technology Group, which does business as Bargain Hunt, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing assets of $10m-$50m and liabilities of $50m-$100m. Bargain Hunt operates 91 stores across 10 states, selling everything from heaters to popcorn, according to its website. Separately Liberated Brands, an apparel seller under labels that include Volcom, Billabong and Spyder, has filed for bankruptcy and plans to shut more than 120 stores in North America after struggling as shoppers shift to fast fashion.

 

Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal

Walmart is eliminating some roles and closing its office in North Carolina, as part of its move to relocate employees from offices including Hoboken, New Jersey, to its main hubs in Sunnyvale, California and Bentonville, Arkansas. The moves are part of Walmart's broader relocation strategy that began last year and comes as several other U.S. corporates mandate employees return to office three to five days a week.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Reflecting a steep drop by orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing new orders for U.S. manufactured goods decreased by more than expected in the month of December. Factory orders tumbled 0.9% after a revised 0.8% decline in November. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders would fall 0.7% after a previously reported 0.4% drop in November. On an annual basis, orders were unchanged. Civilian aircraft orders decreased 45.7% in December, contributing to the 7.4% decline in orders for transportation equipment. Excluding transportation equipment, orders rose 0.3%. The government also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, gained 0.4% in December. 

 

Nasdaq

Reuters

Job openings slid in December while hiring, voluntary quits and layoffs held steady, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) found that available positions increased to 7.6m, a drop of 556,000 from November and 1.3m fewer than 12 months earlier. The decline left the ratio of open jobs to available workers at 1.1 to 1. Decreases were heaviest in the professional and business services sector, down by 225,000, and health care and social assistance, where 180,000 fewer positions were available. Finance and insurance lost 136,000 jobs. The hiring rate held at 3.4%, among the lowest in the past decade, while the quits rate, which measures the percentage of people voluntarily leaving their jobs each month, stayed at 2%. “Looking ahead, we continue to expect payroll growth to moderate over 2025 but look for labor supply to be an increasingly important driver of the slowdown,” said Sam Bullard, managing director and senior economist for Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment banking group. He added that "tentative signs of stabilization in the job openings rate, small business hiring plans and purchasing managers’ indices suggest demand is not continuing to weaken. These factors should help keep the unemployment rate only a little over 4% this year, even as payroll growth moderates to a monthly pace of about 130K.”

 

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Chief information officers say that despite the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence tools, companies have yet to establish a way of charging for them as they seek to make the tools cheap enough that people want to buy them but expensive enough to cover costs. While vendors have typically used monthly subscriptions, some are looking at different models in an attempt to gain more users and more adoption, including per use payments and plans that allow enterprises to toggle their spend minimums. Jared Spataro, chief marketing officer of AI at Work for Microsoft, says: “A per user per month charge can sometimes be difficult for them if they’re trying to go to broad scale because they’re just not sure how to value something.”

 

The Wall Street Journal

In today's data-driven world, accountants must evolve from traditional number crunchers to skilled storytellers. This Accounting Today article emphasizes that merely recording transactions is insufficient; accountants need to interpret and communicate financial data effectively. This shift is crucial for the next generation of accountants, who must connect data to strategic decisions. Educational institutions are urged to integrate data visualization and analytics into their curricula, ensuring future accountants can not only analyze but also narrate the implications of their findings. This approach fosters transparency and trust, ultimately leading to better decision-making and enhanced corporate accountability.

 

Accounting Today

U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, has announced the formation of a bipartisan working group aimed at fostering the digital assets industry. The initiative involves lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, signalling a unified effort to develop policies that support this emerging sector. New legislation will deliver "clarity for a regulatory framework", Mr Hill said at a Capitol Hill news conference, where he was joined by White House crypto and artificial intelligence leader David Sacks as well as other lawmakers. The leaders said their first priority is supporting a stablecoin bill introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), who has proposed new rules for stablecoins to create a “clear regulatory framework” for their use. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a real-world asset, such as the U.S. dollar. Relatedly, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, now leading the agency’s newly established Crypto Task Force, published a statement titled The Journey Begins. Priorities include clarifying which crypto assets fall under securities laws, crafting a path for token issuers to gain regulatory approval and ensuring compliance measures don’t stifle innovation.

 

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

CNBC

Reuters

Pam Bondi will become U.S. attorney general after the Senate approved her by a 54-46 vote. All Republican senators voted to confirm Bondi, with Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman the only Democrat to vote in favor. Born in Tampa, Florida, Bondi studied criminal justice at the University of Florida and then received a degree from Stetson University College of Law. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1991. A longtime Donald Trump ally who has criticized the criminal cases against him, she was elected as Florida's first female attorney general in 2010. Bondi has sought to reassure Democrats that politics would play no part in her decision-making, but she has also refused to rule out potential investigations into Trump's adversaries. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said Bondi was “accomplished and competent” but said his "grave concern is really about President Trump and what he is clearly demanding . . . That clearly is a loyalty oath to him as opposed to a demand for straightforward, candid advice, including if the president is asking for something to be done like the prosecution of a political adversary.”

 

Los Angeles Times

NPR / National Public Radio

U.S. News

A federal prosecutor appointed by President Donald Trump has asked Elon Musk for information about anyone trying to hinder the work of the billionaire's Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration's efficiency effort. In a missive that was posted on his personal account on Musk's social media platform X, Edward Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., said any action to threaten or confront employees of the department "may break numerous laws." Martin added: "Let me assure you of this: we will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people." Musk posted a thank you in response to Martin's message.

 

The Globe and Mail

U.S. News

Target is facing a proposed class action lawsuit led by the City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund, alleging that the retailer concealed risks associated with its diversity and social initiatives. The lawsuit claims that Target, chief executive Brian Cornell, and other officials misled shareholders into supporting management's use of investor funds for political goals, resulting in a significant drop in stock price. The lawsuit seeks damages for shareholders from August 26th 2022, to November 19th 2024, and highlights Target's underperformance compared to rivals like Walmart. Target is one of a number of U.S. companies to scale back diversity initiatives in the wake of Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office. 

 

Bloomberg

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The U.S. is contemplating adding Chinese e-commerce retailers Shein and Temu to the Department of Homeland Security's "forced labor" list, according to a report by Semafor. The Trump administration has yet to make a definitive decision, with sources indicating that it may choose not to list either company. This consideration follows China's imposition of targeted tariffs on U.S. imports and warnings to several companies, including Alphabet's Google, in response to U.S. tariffs that took effect this week. Additionally, the U.S. Postal Service has suspended the acceptance of incoming international parcels from China and Hong Kong until further notice.

 

CNN

New York Times

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Wall Street Journal

Tempur Sealy International expects to close its previously-announced $4bn acquisition of mattress specialty retailer Mattress Firm later today, following a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas denying the motion by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for a preliminary injunction to halt the deal. The FTC has indicated that it will not seek emergency relief from the Fifth Circuit, and won’t prevent the transaction from closing.

 

Houston Chronicle

Market Watch

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