The S&P 500 rose to its highest level in five months on Thursday as better-than-expected Meta results further improved sentiment around technology shares, which led the market lower last year.
The broader market index jumped 1.4%, or its best level since August. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced about 3% to its highest level since September. The gains come ahead of a trio of Big Tech results after the bell in Apple, Amazon and Alphabet.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average underperformed, falling 102 points, or about 0.3%. The major index was dragged by Merck shares after the pharmaceutical firm issued a weak outlook in its latest earnings results, despite beating estimates on the top and bottom lines.
Meta surged more than 25% in its best day since 2013 after reporting a fourth-quarter beat on revenue and announcing a $40 billion stock buyback. That helped investors look past losses in the business unit overseeing the metaverse.
Other mega-cap tech stocks rose on the back of those results. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet were up more than 6%, while Amazon jumped more than 6%. Apple shares gained more than 3%.
Tech stocks have outperformed in 2023, buoyed by recent signals of cooling inflation that investors expect could lead to a pause from the Federal Reserve in its aggressive rate hiking campaign. The S&P 500 information technology sector is up more than 14% this year after a decline of more than 28% last year.
“It’s showing that growth is outperforming value as it unwinds some of the pressures that hawkish rhetoric brought to risk markets over the course of 2022,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.
Wall Street is coming off a winning session after the Fed on Wednesday announced a 0.25 percentage point interest rate hike. While the central bank gave no indication of an upcoming pause in rate hikes, investors were encouraged by the smaller increase and Chair Jerome Powell’s comments recognizing easing inflation.
Traders are awaiting the latest jobs report Friday that will give further insight into the labor market. Any signs of cooling could suggest to investors that further rate hikes are off the table.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., center, departs from federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 20, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
With one simple slogan, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg temporarily quelled investor discontent with his company’s multibillion-dollar investment into the futuristic metaverse.
“Our management theme for 2023 is the ‘Year of Efficiency’ and we’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization,” Zuckerberg said as part of the release of Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings report.
Following a 64% plunge in Meta’s share price in 2022, Wall Street cheered the report, sending the stock up almost 20%, extending a rally that began late last year. Based on after-hours pricing, Meta is trading at its highest since July.
Growth is not what’s getting investors excited. Meta reported better-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter, but sales still sank 4% from a year earlier, marking the third straight quarterly decline. And the forecast range for the first quarter suggests that year-over-year revenue could increase, but it could also fall again.
Rather, Zuckerberg’s commitment to cost cuts and efficiency is a sign that increasing profitability is important to Meta, which was known as a growth machine prior to last year’s slump.
“The first 18 years I think we grew it 20%, 30% compound or a lot more every year,” Zuckerberg said on the earnings call. “And then obviously that changed very dramatically in 2022, where our revenue was negative for growth, for the first time in the company’s history.”
In looking to the future, Zuckerberg struck a realistic tone.
“We don’t anticipate that that’s going to continue,” he said, regarding the recent drop in revenue. “But I also don’t think it’s going to go back to the way it was before.”
Meta lowered its estimates for total expenses in 2023 to be in the range of $89 billion to $95 billion, down from its prior outlook of $94 billion to $100 billion. In November, the company announced it would lay off over 11,000 workers, or 13% of its staff.
Zuckerberg said Meta will be more “proactive on cutting projects that aren’t performing or may no longer be crucial” and that it will emphasize “removing layers of middle management to make decisions faster.”
Meta is also reducing spending as it builds new data centers that are intended to be more efficient while still able to power the company’s various artificial intelligence technologies. Capital expenditures are now expected to be in the range of $30 billion to $33 billion for 2023 instead of $34 billion to $37 billion.
Zuckerberg is selling investors on a story they want to hear, acknowledging that the company got bloated and needed more financial discipline. One of Zuckerberg’s top deputies, technology chief Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, wrote a personal essay just a few days ago echoing that sentiment.
Still, Meta has plenty of challenges ahead, in terms of both costs and reviving its core ad business.
Meta’s Reality Labs unit, which is responsible for developing the nascent metaverse, lost $13.7 billion in 2022. Finance chief Susan Li told analysts that the company isn’t planning for any reduction in that unit anytime soon. Zuckerberg still sees it as the company’s future.
Digital advertising, meanwhile, is suffering from a struggling economy, and Li gave no indication that companies are planning to dramatically increase their spending in 2023.
Meta has also yet to recover from Apple’s 2021 iOS privacy update that made it harder to target users with ads. Li said the company has been improving its online advertising system, but Apple’s update is “still certainly an absolute headwind to our revenue number.”
During the question and answer part of the call, Zuckerberg was asked about Meta’s progress in generative artificial intelligence, which has become the latest hot thing in Silicon Valley. His answer indicated that Meta is pursuing opportunities there, but will be cautious in how quickly it proceeds. Running these programs is expensive, and Meta needs to ensure it can develop them affordably, he said.
Zuckerberg said that while Meta is researching how best to incorporate the new technology, he wants “to be careful not to get too ahead of the development of it.”
Correction: Meta’s earnings report and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comments occurred after the market close on Wednesday. An earlier version misstated the day.
WATCH:Meta grows in daily active users, shares pop on revenue beat
The world’s biggest iPhone factory, located in China and run by Foxconn, faced disruptions in 2022. That is likely to filter through to Apple’s December quarter results. Meanwhile, analysts questioned demand for the iPhone 14 from Chinese consumers.
Nic Coury | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple will slow the pace of iPad releases for the rest of 2023, with an eye towards releasing a foldable iPad by 2024, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote on Monday.
“I’m positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix,” Kuo wrote on Twitter. Kuo’s prediction aligns with a report from analyst firm CCS Insight, which wrote in Oct. 2022 that the Cupertino company would launch a foldable iPad before a foldable iPhone.
Several other manufacturers, including Lenovo and Samsung, make laptops or phones with full-size foldable displays. Apple has so far shied away from taking advantage of OLED technology in the same way. Rival Samsung has released multiple foldable phones but Apple has maintained the rectangular shape of the iPhone since its launch.
“Right now it doesn’t make sense for Apple to make a foldable iPhone. We think they will shun that trend and probably dip a toe in the water with a foldable iPad,” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight told CNBC in a 2022 interview.
In 2021, Kuo had predicted the release of a foldable iPhone in 2024, the same year he now predicts a foldable iPad to launch instead.
Kuo expects that a foldable iPad to feature a carbon fiber kickstand sourced from Chinese manufacturer Anjie Technology.
A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kuo is one of the most prolific and respected Apple analysts. The analyst has predicted multiple details on the iPhone SE 3, the 2021 MacBook Pro, and on numerous iPad releases which have been substantiated at launch. Most recently, Kuo predicted a delayed launch for Apple’s highly-anticipated mixed reality headset.
Customers wearing protective masks looks at the interior of a vehicle for sale at a Ford Motor Co. dealership in Colma, California, Feb. 1, 2021.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
DETROIT — As automakers chase Tesla-like profits on new electric vehicles, they face an existential question: how best to bring franchised auto dealers along with them as they transition to EVs.
Some, such as General Motors, are asking luxury dealers to go all-in on EVs or get out of the business. Others like Ford Motor are offering dealers different “EV-certification” levels, while most other carmakers, or OEMs, know they need to change the sales process to fit the evolving industry, but are still try to figure out how to do it.
“I think we’re all building this airplane as we fly,” Michael Alford, president of the National Auto Dealers Association, a trade association that represents more than 16,000 U.S. new franchised dealers, told CNBC. “Depending on the OEM, the level of engagement or the intensity of the engagement varies.”
Automakers and franchised dealers have a complex relationship that is backed, in many states, by laws that make it difficult, if not illegal, to bypass franchised dealers and sell new vehicles directly to consumers. (Tesla and other newer EV startups have worked around such regulations to cut costs.)
Both automakers and franchised dealers want to maximize profits, but they’re separate businesses that heavily rely on one another to succeed. Dealers rely on automakers for product to fill and move off lots, and the carmakers in turn rely on dealers to sell and service vehicles as well as serve as concierges for customers.
How that historical relationship fits into an all-electric future is expected to be at the forefront of discussions between automakers and dealers at the National Auto Dealers Association Show occurring through Sunday in Dallas. The event attracts thousands of franchise dealers annually to hear from their respective automotive brands.
For dealers — from mom-and-pop shops to large publicly traded chains — EVs will mean new employee training, infrastructure and substantial investments in their stores to be able to service, sell and charge the vehicles. Depending on the size of the dealer, those upgrades could easily cost hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars. Of course, they want to make sure their investments will pay off.
“The tone and tenor of this subject matter has evolved, and I think it’s very, very clear this year that our legacy OEMs absolutely realize that we are essential going forward,” said Alford, who runs Chevrolet and Cadillac dealerships in North Carolina.
Competing with Tesla
As more automakers introduce EVs, they’re rethinking the sales process, including selling new vehicles largely, if not fully, online. Tesla was among the first automakers to embrace online sales for a large portion of its business, though it still has physical dealerships, information sites and service shops.
A greater shift online may limit the role of dealers to strictly processing, maintenance and as delivery centers going forward and eliminate the need for large lots of cars that they then sell to consumers.
“By and large, the franchise system remains in place even for EVs by traditional automakers, although they all seem to be looking at ways to tweak it to be more competitive, so they say, with the Teslas of the world,” said Michelle Krebs, Cox Automotive executive analyst.
Automakers believe doing so will provide consumers a more streamlined and cohesive sales process, but they also consider the dealers to be their partners and to offer “strategic advantages” when it comes to other sales and maintenance issues.
A Tesla dealership in Colma, California, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Honda Motor has said it plans to move more sales online, including 100% online sales for its luxury Acura brand for EVs. Mamadou Diallo, American Honda vice president of sales, said the plan is to facilitate the ordering process online, but with the vehicle being picked up or delivered by dealers. Those procedures are still being worked out, though, he said.
“We want to proceed with ensuring that we provide convenience with what customers are looking for, with no intention of bypassing our dealer body,” Mamadou said Tuesday during a media call.
Jay Vijayan, who assisted in building out Tesla’s digital and IT systems, doesn’t believe selling EVs exclusively online will pan out. He said a mix of sales points is best, which is why Tesla and newer EV startups are selling online as well as opening new showrooms and service centers.
“Apple still opens new stores, right? And every company you think is going to go direct is also opening new stores in the automotive space,” said Vijayan, founder and CEO of Tekion, a cloud-based dealer service provider.
Wall Street analysts have largely viewed direct-to-consumer sales as a means to optimize profit. However, there have been growing pains for Tesla when it comes to servicing its vehicles.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he wants the automaker’s dealers to cut selling and distribution costs by $2,000 per vehicle to be competitive with Tesla’s direct-to-consumer model.
Automaker approaches
Ford is among the automakers receiving the most pushback from dealers for its EV push, which includes EV-certification tiers that could cost more than $1 million per store, depending on the size of the dealership.
The Detroit automaker is facing legal challenges to the certification program from dealers who argue that the plan violates franchise laws. A group of 27 dealerships in Illinois filed a protest with the state’s motor vehicle review board, and four dealers in New York filed suit against the automaker last month, according to Automotive News.
Ford dealer Marc McEver said he signed on for the highest EV-certification tier at his dealership near Kansas City, Kansas, but he worries about the cost and timing of the program.
“I think we’re all concerned that what they’re having us put in now, by the time we really get some vehicles, will be outdated and need to be upgraded or replaced,” McEver, who also owns a Lincoln dealership, said.
Aside from the investments, dealers who opt into selling Ford EVs will need to abide by five standards to stay within good standing: clear and nonnegotiable pricing; charging investment; employee training; and improved vehicle purchasing and ownership experience for customer, both digitally and in person.
Ford on Saturday plans to outline some changes to its EV-certification tiers, according to two people familiar with the plans. The changes, as first reported by Automotive News, would narrow the differences between the program’s two tiers. The bottom tier comes with lower capital investment but also a smaller allocation of EVs from Ford.
Ford, though, unlike archrival General Motors, is allowing dealers to opt out of selling EVs and continue to sell the company’s gas-powered cars.
GM has offered buyouts to its Buick and Cadillac dealers that don’t want to shell out to sell EVs. About 320 of Cadillac’s 880 retailers took buyouts. Buick’s buyouts are ongoing, according to a spokesman.
Toyota Motor, for its part, has no plans to overhaul its franchised dealership network as it invests in electrified vehicles, CEO Akio Toyoda told dealers to resounding applause in September.
“I know you are anxious about the future. I know you are worried about how this business will change. While I can’t predict the future, I can promise you this: You, me, us, this business, this franchised model is not going anywhere. It’s staying just as it is,” said Toyoda, who will step down as CEO to become chairman in April.
Target’s first exclusive electronic’s brand, Heyday, is having a 50% sale on many of their products right now—and you may notice that a lot of these products have a striking similarity to Apple products. So if you’re in the market for an Apple-like product and don’t mind not having the real deal, this might be the time to give Heyday a shot. These deals are online-only.
What is Heyday?
Heyday was first launched in 2018 by Target as a way to target millennials and Gen Z shoppers. The line includes headphones, earbuds, Bluetooth speakers, Lightning cords, Apple Watch bands, phone cases, and other accessories. Their main aim is to have affordable, quality tech accessories that Gen Z and millennials would want. Here are some of the best deals you can get right now from Target’s Heyday sale—and how they compare in price to their more expensive Apple counterparts.
This Heyday silicone case for AirPods with a clip is half off, and it’s comparable to Apple’s equivalent, which goes for $30 on their website. Honestly, nobody will know the difference.
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This Bluetooth keyboard is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Chrome (that’s two more than Apple’s keyboard). You can connect up to three different devices and switches between them with a tap, and it uses two AAA batteries. Or if you’d rather pay $100 for Apple’s equivalent, it’s your money.
Sure, Heyday’s iPhone stand will not hold your fancy Apple Watch along with your iPhone, but it will hold your phone just as well and charge it with the same MagSafe wireless charging. And it’s less than a fifth of the price to Apple’s (really Otterbox’s) equivalent at $130.
This charger, or wall adapter, gives you the ability to charge up to two devices at the same time. It’s compatible with Android, Apple, and personal computers. It also has surge and short circuit protection. Apple’s equivalent will run you $59.
Heyday’s charging pad has the same MagSafe technology to charge your phone wirelessly. It has a display charge indicator light to let you know the device is charging. Just place your phone on top and watch it magically juice up. Apple’s equivalent costs $39.
This one isn’t Heyday’s, but it’s still over 50% off on Target. The iPhone 13 Pro case has MagSafe technology just like Apple’s and will run you less than half the price as Apple’s equivalent.
OK, Heyday’s power bank is not nearly as good as Apple’s MagSafe battery pack, but look at those pretty colors. Also, it’ll run you a tenth of the price for the minor inconvenience of being a wired charger.
Straightforward win here: Unless Apple is getting their plastic for their Apple Watches’ band from a different planet, you’ll very likely to get a similar product for five times cheaper.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will take a more than 40% pay cut this year from a year earlier as the company adjusts how it calculates his compensation partly based on a recommendation from Cook himself.
Apple Inc. said in a regulatory filing late Thursday that Cook’s target total compensation is $49 million for 2023, with a $3 million salary, $6 million cash incentive and $40 million in equity awards.
Last March the Cupertino, California, company conducted an advisory shareholder vote on executive pay with 6.21 billion shares voting in favor of the executive pay package and 3.44 billion against. There were also abstentions and broker non-votes.
Apple said its compensation committee took into account shareholder feedback, the company’s performance and a recommendation from Cook, who was promoted to CEO in 2011, to adjust his compensation in light of the feedback received.
Apple said last year it sought feedback from shareholders about compensation and it received “overwhelming support for Mr. Cook’s exceptional leadership and the unprecedented value he has delivered for shareholders….Those shareholders we spoke with that did not support our 2022 Say on Pay proposal consistently cited the size and structure of the 2021 and 2022 equity awards granted to Mr. Cook as the primary reason for their voting decision,” the company said.
Cook has received a $3 million base salary for the past three years, but his total compensation — which includes the restricted awards — jumped from $14.8 million in 2020 to $98.7 million in 2021 and $99.4 million in 2022.
Apple said Cook supported the changes to his compensation.
The company plans to position Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentiles relative to its primary peer group for future years, according to the filing.
The company will hold its annual meeting March 10.
In midday trading, Apple shares edged down to $133. The stock has declined about 23% in the past year.
Attendees wait for the start of the Apple World Wide Developers Conference
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple‘s long-awaited mixed reality headset could be announced in spring at the earliest, top Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said on Twitter.
Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst at TF International, had initially predicted in June that Apple would announce a mixed reality headset by the end of January. But on Thursday, the widely respected analyst said he believes Apple will postpone “mass shipment” of any product to the second or third quarter of 2023, citing a combination of mechanical and software issues.
Kuo anticipates an announcement occurring in a “spring media event or WWDC based on current development progress.” WWDC is Apple’s annual developer conference, typically held in June.
Whenever it arrives, the product would create immediate competition for Meta, formerly Facebook, which is focused on building a digital world called the metaverse and sells its own Meta-branded virtual reality headsets.
Apple’s headset is expected to cost between $2,000 and $3,000 and will have more than 10 cameras on the exterior and interior of the device, according to Bloomberg. The mixed reality device will run on an operating system called xrOS, with mixed reality adaptations of Apple’s Messages, FaceTime and Maps apps, according to Bloomberg.
An announcement during WWDC makes sense if the company wants to show off the headset with the latest software tools that developers will use to build apps for it. WWDC is where Apple unveils the annual software updates and some new features for iPhones, iPads, Macs, the Apple Watch and more, and it has breakout sessions where developers can learn about the latest ways to integrate their apps into Apple’s hardware.
Kuo has broken scoops on Apple product releases before, including news on the size and design of the iPhone X in 2016 before the product launched. The Apple analyst also predicted the controversial removal of the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 series.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrates an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset and Oculus Touch controllers during the Oculus Connect 3 event in San Jose, California, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Over a year after changing his company’s name to Meta and committing to spend billions of dollars developing the metaverse, Mark Zuckerberg’s bet on virtual reality is no closer to paying off.
Sales of VR headsets in the U.S. this year declined 2% from a year earlier to $1.1 billion as of early December, according to data shared with CNBC by research firm NPD Group. Facebook’s advertising business generates that much revenue about every three days.
With the ad business mired in a slump, Zuckerberg has been looking to VR devices and related technology to pull Meta into the future. But data from analyst firm CCS Insight reveals that worldwide shipments of VR headsets as well as augmented reality devices dropped more than 12% year over year to 9.6 million in 2022.
Taken together, the estimates of VR headset sales and shipments create a problematic picture for Meta, whose stock price has lost about two-thirds of its value this year. Zuckerberg has said he’s playing the long game with the metaverse, expecting it take up to a decade to go mainstream and projecting it will eventually host hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce.
It’s not just Meta. Numerous venture firms and other tech companies have wagered big over the past decade on a futuristic world of virtual work, education, fitness and sports.
Meta’s Quest 2 headset, released in 2020, is by far the leader in the VR market, according to several analysts. Competing devices from companies like Valve, HP and Sony represent a small fraction of the market.
Sales of Meta’s flagship Quest device dropped in 2022, a decline that can be attributed to the device’s big year in 2021, said Ben Arnold, NPD’s consumer electronics analyst.
“VR had an amazing holiday in 2021,” Arnold said, referring to various promotions that helped boost sales of the devices at a time when gaming consoles like Sony’s PlayStation 5 were in short supply. “It was a great time last year to get one of these products, and VR totally crushed it.”
VR headset revenue in the U.S. doubled in 2021 from about $530 million in 2020, according to NPD.
A confluence of factors contributed to lower sales and shipments in 2022.
The Quest 2 has been around for a few years and, like any consumer electronics device, has lost some appeal as it’s aged. And while Meta released a new VR headset in fall, the Quest Pro, that device is geared toward businesses and costs $1,100 more than the Quest 2, pushing it even further out of reach for many VR enthusiasts.
Meta decided over the summer to raise the price of the Quest 2 by $100, citing inflationary pressures.
Leo Gebbie, an analyst at CCS Insight, said in an email that Meta’s price increase was a surprise “given that the company has been willing to sell the headset at such a low margin to try and drive uptake of VR and gain a high market share.”
Meta declined to comment about its VR headset sales or third-party estimates.
All eyes on Apple
Next year is expected to be another “slow year” for the VR market, CCS Insight said in its latest report, citing a weak economy and inflation.
Gebbie said “consumer budgets will be tightening,” and “non-essential purchases like VR headsets are likely to be the casualty of this.”
Sony’s next-generation VR headset will cost $550 when it debuts in February. Arnold said that while the PlayStation VR2 will “give the market kind of a shot in the arm,” it will likely not influence the overall VR market as much as the Quest 2 because Sony’s device requires owners to have a PlayStation 5 as way to power the headset.
Sony PlayStation VR2 headset
Sony
“The total addressable market of the PSVR2 is going to be PlayStation owners,” Arnold said.
A major question for next year remains whether Apple, as long rumored, will unveil a VR headset.
Apple could create a compelling VR headset with an accompanying software ecosystem, Arnold said.
Additionally, Apple’s reputation as a leader in consumer technology could provide a spark to the dim VR market, making the technology more attractive to the general public.
“If one company has the ability to transform the VR market overnight, it’s Apple,” said Gebbie. “With its hugely loyal fanbase, many of whom are comfortable with spending large amounts of money on technology, if Apple was to launch a headset we expect that it would perform very well.”
Apple is reportedly building a VR headset with AR features for a release as soon as 2023.
Eric Abbruzzese, a research director at ABI Research, said Apple could have success launching a VR headset geared toward businesses, which would likely help lure developers to the community. But the high price of an enterprise VR headset, which would likely retail for several thousand dollars, would still make it difficult for Apple to move the needle, Abbruzzese said.
“It probably won’t even ship 5 million units in its first year,” Abbruzzese said of an Apple enterprise VR headset. “But it is the first notable product from a huge tech incumbent.”
Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.
One major thing the VR world lacks is a breakout hit, or a killer app.
Some games have gotten traction, like the musical rhythm game Beat Saber and VR versions of popular titles like Resident Evil, Abbruzzese said. And some users are showing more interest in using VR for fitness activities.
But in the console market, blockbuster games like FIFA and Call of Duty are “shipping hundreds of millions of products,” he said.
Meanwhile Meta’s Horizon Worlds social VR platform is still in its experimental phase.
“The only metaverse product really is Horizon and it’s not good right now,” Abbruzzese said.
WATCH: Meta has a tremendous future if it can just stop making mistakes
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
Tesla (TSLA) – Tesla gained 1.6% in the premarket in a volatile session, following a seven-day losing streak and declines in ten of the past eleven sessions. Baird reduced its price target on Tesla to $252 per share from $316, but continues to rate the stock outperform.
AMC Entertainment (AMC) – AMC Entertainment rose 1.2% in premarket trading after CEO Adam Aron asked the movie theater chain’s board to freeze his salary. He also urged other top AMC executives to do the same.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) – Southwest Airlines fell 1.3% in premarket action as it continues to cancel flights in its struggle to return to a normal schedule. Southwest has canceled thousands of flights over the past week, following a severe winter storm, and is limiting bookings over the next few days.
Nvidia (NVDA), Micron Technology (MU) – These and other semiconductor stocks remain on watch as investors focus on an oversupply of chips. That is in sharp contrast to the global shortage during the pandemic, when demand was surging.
Apple (AAPL) – Apple is marginally higher in the premarket following its Tuesday close, which was the lowest since June 2021. Apple fell during the past three days and in eight of the past nine trading sessions.
Lyft (LYFT) – The ride-hailing company’s stock remains on watch after closing lower than $10 per share for the first time since going public in 2019. It rebounded by 1.1% in premarket trading.
Generac (GNRC) – The power equipment maker’s stock was rated buy in new coverage at Janney Montgomery Scott with a price target of $160, implying a 76% upside from current levels. Generac is the worst performer in the S&P 500 for 2022 with a 74.1% decline.
If you were received Apple‘s new second-generation AirPods Pro as a holiday gift, you made out well. These new AirPods were my favorite gadget Apple released this year. If you’re new to AirPods, or if you have an older generation, there are plenty of new features you’ll want to take advantage of with these earbuds.
Here are some AirPods Pro tips and tricks to get you started.
How to find your AirPods Pro if you lose them
There’s a built-in speaker in the new AirPods Pro that plays a sound so you can locate them.
Open the Find My app.
Tap the name of your AirPods (mine say Sofia’s AirPods Pro).
Tap Play sound to help you find them.
You can also see the location of your AirPods on a map by tapping Find.
Ways to charge your new AirPods
The new AirPods Pro come with a MagSafe charging case. This means you can simply plop your AirPods down on a MagSafe wireless charging pad and your headphones will start charging. They can also charge on an Apple Watch charger. Simply put your case face up on top of the Apple Watch charger to juice up.
You can now charge AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with your Apple Watch charger.
Sofia Pitt
How to control the volume directly on your AirPods
Touch control on the new Pros allows you to lower or raise the volume by lightly swiping up or down on the stem of the AirPods.
When your finger is on the stem of the AirPods, you’ll feel an area where the material is no longer slippery but a bit indented. That’s the pad where you’ll swipe up or down to control the volume. This is great for when you’re listening to something while exercising, or cleaning and you don’t have easy access to your phone to control the volume.
How to switch between noise cancellation mode and transparency mode
You can switch between noise cancellation mode, which blocks a lot of outside noise, and transparency mode, which amplifies some noises around you. The transparency mode on the new AirPods Pro is better than on the previous generation. You can hear more of what’s going on around you.
To change your AirPod settings on your iPhone:
Open Settings.
Tap your AirPods name, which will appear at the top of the menu.
Swipe between Noise Cancellation Off or Transparency Mode.
Noise cancellation and transparency settings for AirPods Pro (2nd generation).
Sofia Pitt
How to test the fit of your ear tips
When you open up your new AirPods, you’ll notice there are a few different ear tip sizes. To make sure you’re using the right ones, you can conduct a fit test.
Open Settings.
Tap Ear Tip Fit Test.
Tap Continue.
Place your AirPods in both ears so they’re comfortable. It’s best to do this test in a quiet environment.
Press the Play button.
Music will play for a few seconds and then you’ll receive the results which will let you know whether you have a good seal.
What are those two silver holes on the side of my new AirPods?
Those two silver holes on the side of your case are another nifty feature that will help you make sure you don’t lose your new AirPods. You can attach a lanyard to these holes so you can wear your AirPods on your wrist or even your neck. The lanyards aren’t included, so you’ll have to buy them separately. Here’s a pair on Amazon.
How to connect two AirPods to one iPhone or iPad
Connecting two AirPods to one device doesn’t just work for the new AirPods. You can try this trick with any generation of AirPods, and it’s great for holiday travel. Imagine both your kids want to watch the same movie on the iPhone or iPad, each using their own set of AirPods.
Two AirPods connected to one iPhone
Sofia Pitt | CNBC
Here’s how to connect two headphones to one Apple device:
Connect your AirPods or Beats to your iOS device and begin playing the content you’re hoping to share.
Tap the AirPlay button in Control Center on your iPhone or iPad, on the Lock Screen, or in the app that you’re using to watch content or stream music.
Tap Share Audio.
If you’re sharing with someone who has AirPods or AirPods Pro, have them keep their AirPods inside the case and open the lid while they’re close to your Apple device. If the person you’re sharing with has AirPods Max, these don’t need to be inside the case. If you’re sharing with a Beats user, put those Beats in sharing mode and hold them close to your device.
You should see your friend or family member’s headphones appear on your screen.
Tap Share Audio again.
That’s it! To stop sharing content, simply tap the check mark next to the headphones you want to disconnect.
