For the first time since 2016, Energy is the top-performing sector on the S&P 500 (with Devon Energy leading the way).

Amazon settles with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to allow its workers to more easily organize union activity at the warehouse.

Since 1950, the S&P 500 has had an average return of +1.3% across the last 4 trading days of the year and the first 2 days of January.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr can teach anyone teamwork and creativity.

Oracle was late to the cloud. But it's showing signs of life, and a big health care acquisition (Cerner ) may shepherd a new chapter for the firm.

Peloton stock fell sharply after an unflattering feature in HBO’s “Sex and the City” reboot, and the company may be able to take legal action.

BuzzFeed is down 39% as a public company. But it now has public stock for acquisitions.

Celeb collabs are a great way for fast-food chains to drive app downloads and appeal to Gen-Z.

Intel acquired Mobileye for $15B in 2017. With markets hungry for next-gen auto tech, its spinning off the self-driving unit at a potential $50B valuation.

Despite other brands struggling to succeed with AR glasses, Apple is poised to bring them to the masses.

Emojis were popularized in Japan in the late 1990s. The precursor to 😂 was created by Japanese telecom SoftBank.

Apple follows the rule of “charm pricing,” which uses odd numbers to demonstrate value to customers. Its $19 polishing cloth fits into this strategy.

Capital One is the biggest bank to eliminate overdraft fees, which make the company $150m annually.

After 16 years at Twitter, Jack Dorsey -- one of the social platform’s co-founders -- resigns as CEO.

Twitter replies can be funny, add value and help keep the platform fresh.

Star Wars and Marvel films have made Disney $34B. There are dozens more projects in the pipeline, but do people actually want to watch?

Thanksgiving prices are up for meats and sides while there’s a shortage of pie crust, cream cheese and -- please no -- liquid gravy.

Walmart -- the $400B retailer -- is using its size to manage inflation and supply chain issues.

Meta is spending $10B on AR/VR and metaverse hardware this year. One project: a prototype VR glove that uses inflatable pads to simulate touch.

Facing pressure from Apple’s privacy policy and Amazon’s retail dominance, Alphabet is making a push into ecommerce with YouTube “shoppable videos.”

J&J is splitting its consumer products (~$15B sales) division from its pharma and medical devices ($77B) divisions.

Rivian has spiked 50%+ on its first 2 trading days and -- at $120B+ -- is now worth more than Ford or GM.

A roundup of companies doing metaverse stuff: Facebook/Meta, Microsoft, Dropbox, Autodesk, Nike, Niantic

Helion Energy raised $500m (with $350m coming from Sam Altman) to create a workable nuclear fusion reactor.

Isomorphic Laboratories is Alphabet’s play for the $110B+ drug discovery market.

TikTok has hit 1B+ monthly active users. Can a move to Amazon’s Fire TV app grow that audience?

Adobe rolls out new tools to take on Figma (online collaboration) and another to help NFT artists (via a content verification program in Photoshop).

Video startup Loom is worth $1.5B and -- with 14m users already -- wants to be “email on camera.”

Microsoft passed Apple to become the world’s most valuable firm. How? Unlike other Big Tech firms, it largely avoided supply chain and advertising issues.

Facebook is now Meta.