MORNING NEWS

Volkswagen said it had agreed to a deal with its union to reduce its workforce by more than 35,000 and cut billions of dollars a year in costs, while averting immediate factory closures in Germany.

FedEx has decided to spin off its freight trucking division, moving to streamline its structure and unlock value that some shareholders argue has been lost inside the delivery giant.

The Federal Reserve signalled greater doubt over how much it would continue to cut rates after agreeing to a reduction on Wednesday that Chair Jerome Powell conceded had been a close call. The latest cut, approved by 11 of 12 Fed voters, will lower the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, a two-year low. The Fed reduced rates at its two previous meetings, beginning with a half-percentage-point reduction in September amid signs the labor market might be weakening. Officials approved a quarter-point cut last month. New projections released Wednesday show officials expect inflation to be somewhat stickier next year than previously anticipated, possibly because of policy changes by President-elect Donald Trump.

Pfizer (+4.7%) forecast 2025 revenue and earnings in line with market expectations, despite an expected $1 billion hit from the redesign of federal drug benefits. The guidance comes less than two months after the New York pharmaceutical giant posted positive third-quarter results and raised its outlook for the current year, punching back at activist investor Starboard Value, which has said poor investments in research and dealmaking helped destroy billions of dollars in market value. Last week, the company raised its quarterly dividend in a move Chief Executive Albert Bourla said underscored the company’s strong financial performance, execution and commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Donald Trump and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son jointly announced Monday that SoftBank plans to invest at least $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years, as the president-elect seeks to project enthusiasm over his return to power. The Japanese internet and telecommunications company estimates that its U.S.-based investments will create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies and plans to complete the work before Trump leaves office in 2029.

One artificial intelligence chip maker’s earnings have landed with a bang. It was Broadcom, not Nvidia, who jolted the market this time. Broadcom shares were up 24.4% at $224.80 on Friday following its fourth-quarter earnings report, pushing its market value above $1 trillion for the first time. The stock needs to close at or above $214.11 to hold that level. Broadcom makes processors across the networking, broadband, server storage, and wireless sectors, as well as owning software business VMware. However, the part of Broadcom’s business that is getting the market excited is its position in high-end ASICs - application specific integrated circuits - that can be used as custom AI chips.

Lonza said it will focus on its core business including drug development, with restructuring and a divestment planned to boost growth.

TUI shares fell after the company guided for a lower rate of growth in the current fiscal year, despite posting a jump in profit for fiscal 2024 on strong demand. The German travel operator said it was targeting a 5% to 10% increase in revenue and underlying earnings before interest and taxes growth of 7% to 10% for fiscal 2025. The marks a slowdown compared with revenue growth of 12% and underlying EBIT growth of 33% for fiscal 2024. Shares in midday European trading were down 2.7% at €8.23, recovering some ground after falling as much as 8.5% earlier in the session.

Jeep maker Stellantis and Chinese battery maker CATL said they will invest up to 4.1 billion euros ($4.33 billion) to build a low-cost EV battery plant in Spain, seeking to bring more affordable electric cars to the market.

Oracle stock slid late Monday, after the database software giant reported fiscal second quarter earnings and sales that were just shy of consensus estimates.