Unity Software Inc. U, a developer of 3-D tools for virtual reality, said on Tuesday that it planned to close corporate offices in around 14 locations, as it aevaluates its real estate footprint.a The company a whose software is used by artists and developers in industries such as film, videogames and engineering a said in a filing that staff affected by the closures awill have the option to become fully remote, with the exception of specific roles which are location-dependent.a Unity Software said it couldnat yet gauge the costs of that plan, but said it expected to incur them in the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year. Shares rose 0.8% after hours on Tuesday. The company also said it aterminated its obligations to provide certain servicesa to Weta FX, a visual effects company controlled by aLord of the Ringsa director Peter Jackson, and amended some intellectual property rights between the two. Unity bought Weta Digitalas technology and engineering talent in 2021. At that time, Unity said Weta Digitalas visual effects teams would continue as Weta FX. Unity, in the filing, said it would arecognize deferred revenue and additional consideration in connection with the amendments of approximately $114 million, and will expense the recorded cost of a related contract intangible asset of approximately $131 million, which will occur in the fourth quarter of 2023.a

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Apple Inc. AAPL is calling it quits on its credit-card partnership with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, ending the Wall Street bankas push into consumer lending, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday. The iPhone maker sent a proposal to Goldman to leave the contract within 15 months, according to people briefed on the matter. The exit would cover the companiesa consumer partnership, which includes the credit card the companies launched in 2019 and the savings account rolled out in 2023. It is unclear if Apple has lined up a new issuer for the card.

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Luxury fashion e-commerce company Farfetch Ltd. FTCH said late Tuesday it wonat announce its third-quarter financial results on Wednesday as scheduled, saying only it will provide a amarket update in due course.a Shares of Farfetch rose 15% in the extended session after a 22% jump in the regular session. Earlier Tuesday, the Telegraph reported that the companyas founder Jose Neves was considering taking the company private and was in talks with top shareholders. Farfetch, which became public in 2018 and rode a wave of larger online sales during the pandemic, also said Tuesday that it wonat provide guidance, and that any previous aforecasts or guidance should no longer be relied upon.a Farfetch in August reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter. At that time, the company called for revenue of approximately $2.5 billion for this year, up from $2.3 billion in 2022.

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Textron Inc. TXT, the company that makes Cessna airplanes and other aircraft, said on Tuesday that it would cut around 725 positions, or 2% of its global staff, following reduced product demand for some of its businesses. The company, in a filing, cited alower demand for certain of our powersports products which we anticipate will continue,a along with areduced demand for fuel systems from European automotive manufacturers.a Textron said it expected the plan to be asubstantially completeda in the first half of 2024. It said it expects gross annualized savings of around $75 million after the plan. The filing said Textron expected to book charges of between $115 million to $135 million in the fourth quarter as a result of the cuts. Shares were unchanged after hours.

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Shares of Leslieas Inc. LESL fell 15% in the extended session Tuesday after the supplier of spa and pool products reported fourth-quarter earnings below expectations and called for 2024 revenue and profit also below Wall Street forecasts. Leslieas earned $16.5 million, or 9 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $57.9 million, or 31 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 14 cents a share. Revenue dropped 9.1% to $432.4 million, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 16 cents a share on sales of $419 million. aFollowing three years of unprecedented growth, the pool industry and Leslieas faced multiple transitory headwinds in 2023 that impacted our financial results through the fiscal fourth quarter,a Chief Executive Mike Egeck said in a statement. For 2024, the company said it expects revenue between $1.410 billion and $1.470 billion and adjusted EPS between 25 cents and 33 cents. That compares with FactSet consensus of revenue of $1.5 billion and adjusted EPS of 46 cents for the year. In July, Leslie lowered the outlook for this year, saying that its customers were affected by higher prices.

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Shares of NetApp Inc. NTAP jumped 9.7% after hours on Tuesday after the data and storage software company forecast more upbeat profit and sales trends for its full fiscal year. Management said it expected revenue for the full year to be down aapproximately 2%,a compared with FactSet forecasts for a 3.5% decline and earlier expectations for a alow-to-mida single digit decrease. The company forecast full-year adjusted earnings per share of $6.05 to $6.25, compared with estimates for $5.73 and a prior forecast from the company for a range of $5.65 to $5.85. Fiscal second-quarter results beat expectations.

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Intuit Inc.as INTU stock inched up nearly 1% in extended trading Tuesday after the software company reported quarterly results that topped analyst revenue and earnings estimates. Intuit reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $241 million, or 85 cents a share, compared with net income of $40 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted net income was $2.47 a share. Revenue was $2.98 billion, compared with $2.6 billion during the same quarter a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net earnings of $1.98 a share on revenue of $2.88 billion. Intuitas stock has propelled 45% this year, while the broader S&P 500 index SPX has increased 19%.

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U.S. stocks posted modest gains on Tuesday, resuming a strong rally in November that has been propelled by tumbling U.S. bond yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA closed up about 83 points, or 0.2%, ending near 35,416, according to preliminary FactSet data. The S&P 500 index SPX was 0.1% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP closed up 0.3%. Equity investors were emboldened after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday that a cooling economy could help bring inflation down to the central bankas 2% yearly target, even though he also said itas unclear if more interest rate hikes were warranted. The 10-year Treasury yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y slipped to 4.335%, its lowest yield in about two months.

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U.S. oil futures climbed on Tuesday, logging their first gain in five sessions as traders continued to weigh potential outcome scenarios for Thursdayas meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies. The group of major oil producers are expected to announce their latest decision on oil production quotas. Traders also await a weekly report from the Energy Information Administration due Wednesday. On average analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights expect the EIA to report a decline of 700,000 barrels in U.S. commercial crude stocks for the week ended Nov. 24. January West Texas Intermediate crude CLF24 rose $1.55, or 2.1%, to settle at $76.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Amazon.com Inc. AMZN and Nvidia Corp. NVDA said Tuesday they will expand their AI partnership. Under the accord, Nvidia and Amazon Web Services will team up to design what they claim is the worldas afastest GPU-powered AI supercomputer,a which will be used by Nvidia to help further the companyas AI products. AWS also introduced a new Trainium2 AI chip and Graviton4 processor.

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Walt Disney Co. DIS Chief Executive Bob Iger on Tuesday downplayed his previous comments that suggested some major assets might be for sale. aI knew that there were a myriad of challengesa|I must say there were many more of them than I expected,a Iger said in an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir at a companywide town hall at New Yorkas New Amsterdam Theatre. Iger admitted the task of turning around the company was harder than expected when he took the reins a year ago. He said he plans to spend the next year building the amodern version of the Walt Disney Company,a but offered few new details of what that would entail. Iger faulted himself for a proclivity to arun things up flagpoles to see how they will flya and athink out louda to signal to the investment community that the company is open-minded about its future.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has slapped Bank of America Corp. BAC with a $12 million fine for reporting false mortgage lending data, the agency said Tuesday. The CFPB said that Bank of America failed to ask some required demographic questions of mortgage applicants for at least four years, while falsely indicating that those applicants declined to respond to the questions. aIt is illegal to report false information to federal regulators, and we will be taking additional steps to ensure that Bank of America stops breaking the law,a CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a release. Bank of America shares are off fractionally in afternoon trading Tuesday.

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Merck & Co. Inc. MRK said Tuesday its board has raised its quarterly dividend to 77 cents. The dividend was previously 73 cents. The new dividend is payable Jan. 8 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 15. The stock has fallen 9% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18%.

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Tuesday afternoonas sale of 7-year Treasury notes was met with poor to lukewarm demand. The $39 billion auction was a afairly ugly auction based on where things were at 1 p.m. Eastern time,a with primary dealers taking a larger-than-usual chunk of the allocation, according to Tom di Galoma, co-head of global rates trading for BTIG in New York. Most Treasury yields remained broadly lower immediately after the auction results came in, led by a decline in the 2-year rate. The sale followed Mondayas relatively soft $54 billion sale of 2-year notes and a solid $55 billion sale of 5-year maturities.

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Shares of Crocs Inc. CROX jumped 4.5% toward a 3 1/2-month high in morning trading Tuesday, after Raymond Jamesa Rick Patel said he was even more bullish on the footwear maker, citing valuation and aincreasing confidencea that results will keep improving next year. The stock has climbed 8.6% amid a four-day win streak, which would be the longest such streak since the four-day stretch that ended Aug. 23, and has soared 30% since it closed at a one-year low of $77.27 on Nov. 13. Patel raised his rating on the stock to strong buy from outperform, boosted his price target to $115 from $98 and added it to the aAnalyst Current Favoritesa list. Earlier this month, Crocs reported third-quarter results that beat expectations, but the stock sank because of a downbeat fourth-quarter outlook. aThe stock being higher since then shows how low the bar was for [Crocs] and we see further upside ahead,a Patel wrote in a note to clients. aWe raise estimates slightly upon a further review of our model and believe [Wall] Street 2024 estimates reflect the low-end of likely revenue outcomes for Crocs and Heydude.a The stock has has tacked on 3.8% over the past three months while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 3%.

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S&P Global Ratings downgraded Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.as GT issuer credit rating by one notch to B+ on Tuesday after the company announced a two-year strategic overhaul aimed at bolstering profitability. aWhile we view the strategic initiatives as a positive step forward for Goodyear as it tries to increase margins closer to peers and reduce leverage, the cost of the restructuring is significant and will take an extended period of time, during which we expect Goodyearas margins will be lower and free operating cash flow (FOCF) will remain negative, leading to overall weaker credit metrics than previously expected,a the rating agency said in a statement. The outlook is stable, meaning S&P is not expecting to downgrade again in the near term. Goodyear will have negative free cash flow for several years, but it should maintain strong liquidity and is planning asset sales and debt reduction, said S&P. It also expects the company to sustain leverage below 6.5x. The stock was down 0.8% Tuesday, but has gained 37% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18.7%.

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Getty ImagesFederal Reserve Gov. Chris Waller said recent signs of a slowdown in the economy could help return inflation to the central bankas 2% target, but he said itas unclear if further interest rate hikes are off the table.

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Shares of Boise Cascade Co. BCC fell 0.8% in morning trading Tuesday, to pull back from the previous sessionas record close, after the wood products maker announced an aindefinite curtailmenta of lumber production at Chapman, Ala. plant. The company said 80 jobs will be affected by the curtailment. a[A] a combination of of challenges, including required future investments and overall profitability, has led to this decision,a said Chris Seymour, senior vice president of manufacturing operations. aIt was a difficult and unfortunate decision, but after evaluating a number of factors over the past year, it is not feasible to continue operating at an efficient level.a The company said it is talking to the affected employees about job opportunities within the company as well as about resources available to them. The stock has rocketed 66.6% year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has advanced 18.4%.

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U.S. stocks opened mostly lower Tuesday, with the S&P 500 heading for a potential back-to-back decline, as investors await remarks from Federal Reserve officials.A The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was up less than 0.1% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 SPX slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP shed 0.1%, according to FactSet data, at last check. Federal Reserve officials including Fed Governor Christopher Waller, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman and Fed Governor Michael Barr are scheduled to speak on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, investors will get a reading on consumer confidence at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

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Shares of Micron Technology Inc. MU took a 3.4% dive in premarket trading, even after the memory chip maker updated its fiscal first-quarter outlook, which included improved guidance for revenue and earnings per share. Just before the guidance update, the stock was down 0.5% in the premarket. The company said it now expects adjusted per-share losses of aapproximatelya $1.00, compared with previous guidance for a per-share loss of $1.07, plus-or-minus seven cents, and the FactSet loss consensus of $1.04. Revenue is now expected to be aapproachinga $4.7 billion, compared with previous guidance of $4.4 billion plus-or-minus $200 million, and the FactSet consensus of $4.4 billion. Micron said the improved outlook is a result of aimproved supply and demand balance and improved pricing.a The stock has run up 18.7% over the past three months through Monday, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX has advanced 5.7% and the S&P 500 SPX has gained 2.6%.

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Shares of Shopify Inc. SHOP fell 1.2% in premarket trading Tuesday, to pull back from the previous sessionas 20-month closing high, even as the e-commerce software company said its retail merchants enjoyed record sales over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend. Shopify said BFCM sales at its merchants totaled $9.3 billion, up 24% from a year ago. The company said more than 61 million consumers bought from its merchants globally from early Friday to late Monday, with sales-per-minute reaching a peak of $4.2 million at 12:01 p.m. Eastern on Friday. The average cart for the weekend was $108.12, which was down from $110.71 on Black Friday. The best-selling categories were apparel and accessories, health and beauty and home and garden. Shopifyas stock has rocketed 56.4% month to date through Monday, putting it on track for its best monthly performance since going public in 2015. In comparison, the S&P 500 SPX has rallied 8.5% this month.

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Shares of PG&E Corp. PCG powered up 2% toward a four-year high in premarket trading Tuesday, after the California-based gas and electric utility said it was reinstating its dividend. The company said shareholders of record on Dec. 29 will receive a penny for each share they own on Jan. 15. The last time PG&E paid a dividend of 53 cents a share in September 2017; the company had suspended the dividend in December 2017 because of liabilities for the Northern California wildfires. aDeclaring a dividend enables PG&E Corporation to attract new sources of capital from the financial markets, which are critical to funding PG&Eas safety and reliability infrastructure work,a the company said in a statement. The stock has advanced 10.1% year to date through Monday, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF XLU has dropped 10.9% and the S&P 500 SPX has rallied 18.5%.

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Macyas Inc. M said Tuesday it has named Sharon Otterman as its chief marketing officer, effective Dec. 11. Otterman comes to the role from Caesars Entertainment Inc. CZR, where she also served as CMO and was responsible for launching the casino operatoras sportsbook, a betting brand. The executive has also done stints at Madison Square Garden Co. MSGS and NBCUniversal. Macyas stock has fallen 28% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18.5%.

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Shares of Nio Inc. NIO bounced 0.8% off a more than three-year low in premarket trading Tuesday. The China-based electric vehicle makeras stock had dropped 7.8% amid a four-day losing streak to close Monday at the lowest price since June 26, 2020. The stock was supported by a 0.2% gain in the Shanghai Composite Index CN:SHCOMP overnight, which bucked the weakness seen in Hong Kong and Japanas markets. Among Nioas peers, Li Auto Inc.as stock LI rose 1.6% ahead of Tuesdayas open and Xpeng Inc. shares XPEV tacked on 1.1%. And shares of Tesla Inc. TSLA, the Texas-based EV giant that generated 21.5% of its third-quarter revenue from China, edged up 0.1%. Nioas stock has tumbled 34.8% over the past three months through Monday, while XPeng shares have lost 4.1%, Li Auto shares have eased 0.3% and Teslaas stock has given up 1.2%. Meanwhile, the iShares MSCI China ETF has declined 3.4% the past three months while the S&P 500 has gained 2.6%.

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Shares of Adobe Inc. ADBE fell 0.6% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the U.K.as Competition & Markets Authority said the California-based software companyas proposed $20 billion deal to buy design tools maker Figma was expected to result in a asubstantial lessening of competitiona in a number of markets. The markets which could be hurt include all-in-one product design software for professional users, vector editing software and raster editing software. The CMA also found that the merger isnat expected to result in an SLC for the video editing software and motion design software markets. The CMA said a full report of its investigation into the merger will be published ashortly.a The deadline for submitting responses to the provisional finding of competition concerns is Dec. 19, 2023 and the deadline for submitting responses to the notice of possible remedies is Dec. 12. Adobeas stock has run up 16.9% over the past three months through Monday, while the SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF XSW has gained 2.9% and the S&P 500 SPX has tacked on 2.6%.

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Tesla Inc.as stock TSLA was up 0.4% premarket, as investors braced for the unveiling this week of its much-awaited Cybertruck, which should show doubters that Chief Executive Elon Musk can expand the companyas halo effect. Thatas according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. aThis is another historical moment for Tesla and Musk with the Cybertruck unveil as the Street is excited to see the formal vehicle launch featuring the dual-motor trim and its top-level tri-motor AWD performance model along with updates regarding production and scaling of the Cybertruck platform which is expected to be ~250k units per year by FY25,a Ives wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. The event is planned for Thursday afternoon and Ives is expecting the company to churn out 2,000 to 3,000 units this quarter. The first 10,000-unit quarter is expecting to come in the first half of 2024, while the reservation count and pre-orders have reportedly already topped 2 million units, suggesting strong demand. aWe believe updated pricing will come out at Thursdayas event on each of the trim levels as the company scales the Cybertruck production story to give more clarity to the Street,a wrote Ives. aWhisper numbers for the single motor are in the ~$50k range, with prices for the dual and tri-motor variants likely to be in the $60k a $80k range.a Wedbush has an outperform rating on Tesla and $310 price target. Teslaas stock has gained 92% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18.5%.

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Shares of Citi Trends Inc. CTRN plunged 12.9% in premarket trading Tuesday after the urban fashion apparel retailer reported that it swung to a much wider-than-expected fiscal third-quarter loss on sales that fell more than forecast, as a more selective customer navigates higher costs of living. The net loss for the quarter to Oct. 28 was $3.9 million, or 47 cents a share, after net income of $24.6 million, or $3.02 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, the adjusted per-share loss of 54 cents was wider than the FactSet loss consensus of 17 cents. Sales declined 6.7% to $179.5 million, below the FactSet consensus of $186.2 million, as same-store sales fell 6.2% to miss expectations of a 5.4% decline. aOur primarily low-income customer base is being more selective and purchasing much closer to need as they navigate higher costs of living, a buying pattern further impacted by unseasonably warm weather throughout the quarter,a said Chief Executive David Makuen. For fiscal 2023, the company now expects sales to be down in the mid-single digit percentage range, compared with previous guidance of negative mid-single digits to negative low-single digits. The stock has rallied 14.7% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 2.6%.

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Canada Goose Holdings Inc.as stock GOOS rose 2.8% premarket Tuesday, after the maker of luxury outerwear said itas acquired itas first manufacturing facility in Europe. The plant called Paola Confectii is based in Romania and has been a partner in making luxury knitwear for Canada Goose since its launch in 2017. The plan already makes best-selling products such as the HyBridge Knit Jacket, said Canada Goose. Knitwear is one of the companyas leading segments in its apparel category and exceeded $70 million in annual sales in fiscal 2023. aOur core down-filled products will continue to be proudly made in Canada, while apparel production will continue to be concentrated within best-in-class European facilities,a the company said in a statement. Paola Confectii will continue to be led by Giannino Lessi, general manager, and Paola Zaffalon, technical director, as a standalone entity. The stock has fallen 40% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18.5%.

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Shares of PDD Holdings Inc. PDD were soaring 16% in premarket trading Tuesday after the Chinese e-commerce company blew past expectations for its latest quarter. The company reported third-quarter net income of RMB15.5 billion ($2.1 billion), or RMB10.60 per American depositary share, whereas it recorded net income of RMB10.6 billion, or RMB7.34 per ADS, in the year-earlier period. On an adjusted basis, the company earned RMB11.61 per ADS, whereas analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling RMB8.94 per ADS. Revenue surged 94% to RMB68.8 billion, while analysts had been looking for RMB55.2 billion. aUnder our ahigh-quality developmenta strategy, we increased our investment in technology and further deepened user mindshare in the third quarter,a Jun Liu, the companyas vice president of finance, said in a release.

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Avidity Biosciences Inc. RNA said Tuesday itas expanding its cardiovascular collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. BMY in a deal that will see Avidity receive $100 million upfront with the potential to earn up to $2.2 billion in milestone payments. The news sent Avidityas stock up 21% in premarket trade. Avidity will receive a $60 million cash payment and Bristol Myers will acquire about $40 million of Avidityas stock at a purchase price of $7.88 a share. The company is developing a new class of RNA therapeutics called Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates, or AOCs. AOCs aare designed to combine the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the precision of oligonucleotide therapies to target the root cause of diseases previously untreatable with RNA therapeutics,a the company said in a statement. Bristol Myers will fund all future clinical development, regulatory and commercialization activities stemming from the collaboration. Avidityas stock has fallen 72% in the year through Mondayas close, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18.5%.

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