MORNING NEWS

Airbnb posted higher fourth-quarter revenue but lower profit, as investments in new business drive up expenses. The vacation rental company on Thursday posted a profit of $341 million, or 56 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $461 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts forecast 67 cents a share, according to FactSet. The decline in earnings was due to planned investments in new growth and policy initiatives, as well as a $90 million charge related to non-income tax matters. Total costs and expenses increased 22% from the year before.

McDonald’s shares stalled in after-hours trading (-0.4%) even though the fast-food chain handily beat expectations for fourth-quarter earnings and revenue. The company reported adjusted earnings of $3.12 a share and revenue of $7.01 billion. Global comparable sales rose 5.7%, and comparable sales in the U.S. rose 6.8%. Wall Street was expecting McDonald’s to show growth as the fast-food chain’s value-led strategies offset the challenge of a tough economy. For the quarter ended in December, analysts polled by FactSet expected McDonald’s to report that net revenue increased by 7% to $6.84 billion. Earnings were expected to come in at $3.04 a share, up from $2.83 a year ago.

Lift and escalator manufacturer Schindler generated slightly less revenue and orders last year, yet earned significantly more. In the new year, Schindler aims to continue growing moderately and become even more profitable. Overall, revenue fell by 2.6 percent to CHF 10.95 billion, as the Central Swiss group announced on Wednesday. Once again, the strong Swiss franc had a negative impact on the result. Foreign currency effects cost CHF 431 million in sales. In local currencies, sales would have grown by 1.3 percent. Adjusted operating profit (EBIT), on the other hand, increased by 8.2 percent to CHF 1.45 billion. The operating margin improved to 13.3 percent from 12.0 percent in the previous year.

Gucci owner Kering has reported accelerated sales growth for the final quarter of 2025. The group is pushing ahead with its restructuring plan to lure customers back into its boutiques. The Paris-based group posted sales of €3.905 billion ($4.65 billion) in the fourth quarter, an important shopping period with Black Friday and Christmas. Although the result represented a 9 percent decline on a year-on-year basis, it was an improvement on the previous quarter. At that time, the company had recorded a 10 percent decline in sales to €3.415 billion.

Roche presented new results from a pivotal study on the experimental drug fenebrutinib at the Actrims conference in California. In patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), the drug slowed the progression of disability at least as effectively as Ocrevus, the only Roche therapy approved to date.

Amazon.com shares fell sharply after the technology giant unveiled plans for a massive increase in AI-related spending and fourth-quarter growth in its cloud-computing unit that was slower than rivals. The company said it expects $200 billion in 2026 capital spending, a nearly 60% increase from last year and far above Wall Street expectations. Amazon’s stock fell by about 10% in after-hours trading. The results underscore investor angst about spending increases for artificial intelligence. Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Oracle, which are all scrambling to build and finance data centers because of a massive increase in AI-related computing demands, collectively plan to spend more than $700 billion in 2026, according to the companies and analyst projections.

Artificial intelligence is supercharging Google’s advertising and cloud-computing businesses, and the company is ramping up spending to unheard-of levels in its quest to win the AI race. Google parent Alphabet reported an 18% jump in fourth-quarter revenue and revealed plans to roughly double its spending on data centers and other capital projects. Sales exceeded analysts’ expectations at nearly $114 billion, driven by growth in the company’s digital-advertising and cloud-computing units. Net income was $34.5 billion, a 30% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.

UBS Group said it plans to buy back $3 billion of its own stock this year and that the amount of additional repurchases would depend on new banking rules being discussed in Switzerland. The Swiss bank said Wednesday that it aimed to do more buybacks, but that their amount would depend on clarity around Switzerland’s future regulatory regime and its financial performance.

The merger puts Elon Musk’s rocket and artificial-intelligence companies under one roof. Elon Musk said SpaceX acquired xAI, a deal that combines his powerful rocket-and-satellite business with his artificial-intelligence startup that is facing steep competition. SpaceX confirmed the deal, posting a memo Musk sent out about the arrangement on its website.

Friday's metals meltdown continues in Asia as gold, silver and copper rack up heavy losses. The question now is what happens next, says Pepperstone's Michael Brown. Like with the preceding rally, it'd be fair to say the pullback has run too far, too fast, the strategist says.