3. Bard's bad day
Investors didn't appear to like Google's event Wednesday to show off its Bard artificial intelligence chatbot. Shares of parent company Alphabet slid 7% during the trading session. It's the latest stumble for online search leader Google. Rival Microsoft has outmaneuvered it with its support for OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has seized the buzz in the early going of the AI wars. This week, as well, Microsoft announced that it would use ChatGPT to augment its Bing search engine and Edge internet browser. Still, while analysts got the impression that Google was rushing in a bid to seize some of the heat from Microsoft, they also think the company's AI offering may well be as good as their competitors'.
4. Southwest showdown at the Senate
Southwest Airlines isn't going to forget its holiday meltdown any time soon. The government sure won't, either. The Biden administration is investigating the snafu, which resulted in more than 16,000 flight cancellations between Dec. 21 and 31. And on Thursday, the airline's operating chief will appear before senators on Capitol Hill to take heat on behalf of the company. "In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operational resilience," Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said in written testimony, which was reviewed by CNBC ahead of the Senate Commerce Committee's hearing. The hearing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET. Despite all the controversy, however, shares of Southwest are still up more than 4% this year headed into Thursday, as persistent demand and high fares buoy airlines' results.
5. Mattel's scary earnings
Santa Claus didn't deliver for toy makers. Mattel posted earnings Wednesday, and they weren't pretty. The Barbie and Hot Wheels maker delivered top and bottom line numbers that fell well below Wall Street's expectations as inflation weighed on consumer spending during the holiday quarter. Sales of dolls, action figures and Fisher Price toddler toys all dragged down results. "Our fourth quarter results were below our expectations, as the macro-economic environment was more challenging than anticipated," CEO Ynon Kreiz said Wednesday. The lackluster Mattel results came about two weeks after rival Hasbro warned of a weak holiday quarter and said it would cut 15% of its workforce.
— CNBC's Mike Calia wrote this newsletter. Sarah Whitten, Lillian Rizzo, Tanaya Macheel, Ashley Capoot, Leslie Josephs and Rebecca Picciotto contributed.
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