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U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to approve Nvidia to ship some of its more powerful AI chips to China is ruffling the feathers of Washington's China hawks. View More

In this article700-HKBABA9988-HKNVDAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Niphon | Istock | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to grant Nvidia licenses to ship some of its more powerful artificial intelligence chips to China is ruffling the feathers of some of Washington's most prominent China hawks, including members of his own party. The pushback intensified this week with the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee advancing a bill that seeks to expand congressional oversight of AI chip exports.The proposal, known as the AI Overwatch Act, was introduced last month by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., the committee chairman.It would require both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Banking Committee to approve any shipment licenses for advanced chips in 30 days, giving lawmakers the power to block sales through a joint resolution.The bill comes as the Trump Administration plans to grant licenses allowing Nvidia to sell its H200 chips to China, which are far more powerful than the processors previously permitted for export. If passed, the AI Overwatch Act would revoke existing licenses for such AI chip transfers and impose a temporary ban until the administration submits a national security strategy on AI exports. It includes exemptions for "trusted" U.S. companies shipping chips abroad under U.S. control, provided they meet security standards."Companies like Nvidia are requesting to sell millions of advanced AI chips, which are the cutting edge of warfare, to Chinese military companies like Alibaba and Tencent," said Chairman Mast, framing it as a national security risk. The bill was also cosponsored by the Republican Chairman of the Select Committee on China, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who called it a "critical step toward protecting America's technological edge."Still, it remains unclear the extent of support that the AI Overwatch Act can attract in the House and Senate. Disagreement in WashingtonThe act is likely to serve as a linchpin in a larger battle developing in Washington between lawmakers who see Nvidia chip exports as a national security risk and officials who argue that the exports help maintain U.S. technological dominance.Among the latter camp is White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, who has already criticized the AI Overwatch Act. The Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor recently reposted a viral social media claim that the bill would undermine Trump's authority over AI chip exports.Sacks and those in the Trump administration who support more Nvidia shipments overseas have argued that U.S. chip restrictions have been counterproductive and have ceded ground to Chinese competitors. Instead, they say it is advantageous for U.S.-designed chips to remain at the center of global AI infrastructure. This is consistent with arguments made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and industry lobbyists.Bipartisan lawmakers on the other side, however, have argued that Nvidia's H200s could bolster China's AI capabilities and be leveraged by its military. Current U.S. chip controls require individual licenses from the Commerce Department for any exports or transfers of high-performance AI chips to entities in "countries of concern," including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.These controls have covered Nvidia's H200, one of its most powerful AI chips. But last week, Trump confirmed his administration would approve sales of the processors to China, provided the U.S. receives a 25% cut of the proceeds. Mounting pushback Much of the pushback from lawmakers has come from the opposition party. In December, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., criticized Trump's approval of H200 exports as evidence of a "haphazard and transactional approach" lacking a coherent strategy against China. "American companies must remain the undisputed leader in AI hardware because our strategic competition with China on AI will boil down to whose ecosystem drives adoption and innovation globally," he said.Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has also warned that China seeks such chips for military modernization, weapons design and AI surveillance, citing Justice Department assessments.However, Trump has also faced bipartisan resistance. Before the H200, the president had also announced he would allow Nvidia to resume its sales of the H20 to China, a chip the President had restricted just months earlier. At the time, lawmakers had also responded with additional AI chip proposals, including the GAIN AI Act, introduced in November by a bipartisan group that included Warren and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. The bill would require U.S. firms to prioritize domestic sales of advanced chips before exporting to China. Despite Trump's policy shifts on chip exports, Chinese regulators have not allowed Nvidia's chips to flow back into the country freely. Reuters reported last week that Chinese customs authorities have been instructed to block imports of H200 chips and warned tech companies against purchasing them unless necessary. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on X that his EV company has removed human safety monitors from some of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin. View More

In this articleGOOGLBIDUTSLAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT A Tesla robotaxi drives on the street along South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, on June 22, 2025Joel Angel Juarez | Reuters Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that his company is now running a small number of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, without a human driver or safety supervisor on board."Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car," Musk posted on X. "Congrats to the @Tesla_AI team!" Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice president of software, wrote in a separate post that the Austin Robotaxi service included, "a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors." He said the ratio of driverless to supervised vehicles will increase over time in that market.Tesla shares rose 4.2% on Thursday to close at $449.36.Tesla lags behind several companies that are already operating commercial robotaxi services with no drivers or safety monitors present. Alphabet's Waymo leads the U.S. market, while Baidu's Apollo Go is out front in China with significant competition from W,eRide.Other players are joining the fray, as Amazon's Zoox is now operating limited driverless services in the U.S., and startups like May Mobility and Nuro are developing their driverless offerings. Elon Musk waves to the crowd during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. Denis Balibouse | Reuters Musk said in July that Tesla would likely have "autonomous ride hailing in probably half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year." The company fell far shy of that goal. However, Tesla drummed up excitement with the launch of its Robotaxi ride-hailing app, and its initial services in Austin and the San Francisco Bay area.In Texas, Tesla obtained a permit to run a transportation networking company, which allowed it to use "automated driving systems," or driverless vehicles, there. But in California, Tesla has yet to obtain permits that would allow it to conduct driverless testing or robotaxi rides without a human at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at any time.Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Musk said, "I think self-driving cars is essentially a solved problem at this point," adding that he expects his company's Robotaxi service will be "very widespread by the end of this year within the U.S." Musk is notorious for missing his self-imposed timelines for grand technical or business achievements.In 2019, he told investors that he was "very confident" the company would be able to turn its existing vehicles into robotaxis with a software update by the end of the following year.With its EV sales sliding, Tesla's ability to keep investors enthused may hinge on whether it can scale a driverless, ride-hailing service in the U.S. this year and upgrade the partially automated driving systems in its cars to a fully automated driving system. Today, its premium system is marketed as FSD (Supervised), and the company plans to sell an FSD Unsupervised system in the future.Surveys by the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report found a majority of U.S. consumers polled late last year did not want to ride in robotaxis, with particular concerns around safety.Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note this week that they anticipated "muted underlying volume growth" for Tesla and EV maker Rivian this year with "autonomy and physical AI driving the narrative." They also said, "Tesla will have to prove out FSD unsupervised and the scaling up of robotaxi (which in our view has been clearly tracking behind schedule) before garnering incremental valuation credit." Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment on Thursday.Late last year, California regulators found that Tesla had engaged in deceptive marketing and false advertising around their vehicles' driverless capabilities. And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating Tesla to determine how often the company's FSD systems may have caused traffic safety violations.According to TeslaDeaths.com, which draws on NHTSA data, legal filings and press reports to track fatal Tesla collisions, 65 people have died in Tesla crashes that involved the use of Autopilot, including two in which the company's FSD systems were engaged in the seconds leading up to the crash.Tesla is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. WATCH: Tesla takes Full Self-Driving feature to a monthly subscription watch nowVIDEO2:3602:36Tesla takes Full Self-Driving feature to a monthly subscriptionSquawk on the Street

The Senate will still have to pass the measures when it returns to Washington next week. View More

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., right, respond to a question during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center after a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the final set of outstanding government funding bills as a partial federal government shutdown looms on Jan. 30.The four bills account for the largest chunk of government spending, about $1.2 trillion in total. They would fund the departments of Defense; Health and Human Services; Homeland Security; Labor; Housing and Urban Development; Transportation; and Education. The Homeland Security bill passed 220-207, while the other three cleared 341-88 as part of a package known as a "minibus."The bills represent the final quartet of 12 annual appropriations bills required to fund the government and avoid a partial shutdown on Jan. 30. The Senate still needs to approve them, along with two other House-passed funding bills, before they head to President Donald Trump's desk for a signature. The Senate does not return until next week, and a winter storm closing in on Washington over the weekend threatens to complicate those plans. House lawmakers were widely expected to pass the bills on Thursday, with lawmakers desperate to avoid another shutdown after enduring a record 43-day shutdown last year. Despite bipartisan accord on avoiding another shutdown, some of the bills still face serious hurdles in the Senate. Read more CNBC politics coverageGreenland PM: Trump-NATO deal framework unclear, sovereignty is a red lineTrump sues Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase over debanking the suit calls 'political'Trump says he reached Greenland deal 'framework' with NATO, backs off tariffsTrump interview live updates: CNBC's Joe Kernen sits down with the president at DavosRussia watches as ally Iran edges closer to collapse. Here's why it matters for MoscowTrump's latest geopolitical gambits all lead back to ChinaTrump says anything less than U.S. control of Greenland is 'unacceptable' ahead of talks Democrats have warned they will not support a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent fatally shot a U.S. citizen in Minnesota earlier this month. The Homeland bill was being considered separately from the other three bills in the House due to the political peril. Meanwhile, Republicans from the Midwest demanded a provision be added to the spending package to allow year-round sale of gasoline with a heavy mix of ethanol, known as E15. The fuel is currently restricted in the summer months due to smog concerns, though that restriction is frequently waived.House Republican leadership agreed to create a congressional "E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council" instead to assuage those Republicans.Trump told Fox Business on Thursday that he "think[s] we're going to probably end up in another Democrat shutdown," but did not specify whether he was referring to the deadline at the end of this month.

While much of the tech sector has rallied due to the AI boom, software vendors have been laggards on concern that they'll eventually be displaced. View More

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, speaking on "Squawk on the Street" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2026.Oscar Molina | CNBC Cloud software stocks have started this year where they left off in 2025: sell-off mode. The continued downward spiral is setting the stage for a flurry of acquisitions, investors told CNBC. The WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund, which tracks cloud software, has dropped more than 8% so far this year, while the Nasdaq is slightly up. Leading software names like Salesforce, ServiceNow and Adobe are down more than 14% after badly underperforming the market a year ago. The overriding concern is that artificial intelligence will eventually displace key pieces of the enterprise stack, as IT buyers turn to AI agents to handle tasks currently handled by software vendors, both large and small. Those fears were amplified last week when Anthropic's Claude launched an AI agent tool named Cowork that is aimed at the enterprise customer. A senior investor at a large private equity fund who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly on the subject said the disruption in software is happening today and will force several midsized software companies to seek financing options, potentially spurring acquisitions by private equity. Orlando Bravo, co-founder of software-focused buyout firm Thoma Bravo, is looking to buy the dip, and sees value in companies that are building their own agentic solutions to work with their existing systems."We're seeing just incredible buying opportunities right now," Bravo told CNBC's Sara Eisen in Davos on Wednesday. He said his firm is doing deals and "will be a lot more active."While investors like Bravo remain bullish on software in an AI-dominated world, analyst Jackson Ader at KeyBanc sees real vulnerabilities. He conducted an analysis of the major threats facing software in August, and said then that seat-based application companies like Monday.com, Asana and Sprout Social are the most exposed. All three stocks have seen double-digit drops in 2026.In that same note to clients, Bader said those companies aren't tied to an anchor system of record like enterprise resource planning, or ERP, and customer relationship management, or CRM, and have yet to become multiproduct platforms. Representatives from Monday, Asana and Sprout didn't respond to requests for comment. Even companies with a wider breadth of products and more established enterprise footprint are facing significant market skepticism. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has spent months defending his company and trying to reassure investors that it is well-positioned in AI. In Davos, Benioff told Eisen that the company's latest quarter was "the best quarter we've ever had in our careers" and that "we're one of the largest cash-producing companies in the world.""But it's not enough," Benioff said, referring to the market action. "Because if you don't produce a large language model, you're evidently not in fashion right now." ServiceNow is responding to the pressure by joining the potential competition. On Wednesday, the company announced a deal with OpenAI to use its models to offer AI agents to business customers.The news didn't ease concerns. ServiceNow shares dropped for six consecutive trading days before rising on Thursday, and are down 17% in January. HubSpot, Atlassian and Braze are having an even worse start to the year, with shares of each down more than 20%. Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC that the recent pullback in software stocks could force certain companies to "explore strategic alternatives" and that any new deals that don't have a compelling AI angle won't gain much traction with investors. In a note published in late November, Jaluria highlighted Asana, Box and DocuSign as potential acquisition targets in software. The companies didn't respond to requests for comment. With tech earnings season kicking into high gear next week, Wall Street will start to get a clearer picture of where particular companies stand in adopting AI or getting swallowed by it. Luria said one of the crucial questions is how quickly AI agents like Claude's Cowork go beyond developing new code and actually automate different parts of the software lifecycle. That timeline will be critical in understanding the reality of the AI threat and how soon cloud software companies might feel the pain. — CNBC's Noah Broder contributed to this report.WATCH: AI challenging software incumbents watch nowVIDEO1:3301:33AI challenging software incumbentsHalftime Report AI coding enters the mainstream

Paramount is counting on European regulatory backlash to push the WBD deal away from Netflix. View More

In this articleWBDPSKYNFLXFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:4602:46Why Europe will be so important to a WBD dealDigital Original A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman, which brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.The future of the Warner Bros. Discovery company — its iconic movie studio, HBO Max and its cable networks, including CNN, TBS, TNT, Discovery and HGTV — may come down to what European regulators think about Netflix.That's a pretty crazy twist for a deal that will dictate the future of many valuable American sports rights — assets that, for the most part, have very little to do with Europe.A quick refresher: WBD owns many live U.S. sports rights, including those to March Madness, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR, the French Open, All Elite Wrestling, the College Football Playoffs and others. But those rights wouldn't go to Netflix under WBD's agreed-upon deal to sell some of its assets to the streaming giant.Netflix has agreed to pay $27.75 per share for the WBD movie studio and streaming business, but not the cable networks, which own the sports rights. If the deal is approved, those networks would get spun out into a separate publicly traded entity called Discovery Global, which would also own Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and WBD's other digital assets.If WBD shareholders accept a hostile takeover attempt from Paramount Skydance, however — and if that deal is approved — the cable networks and associated sports would all fall under the Paramount umbrella. Paramount has bid $30 per share for the entirety of WBD — an offer it has taken directly to shareholders after the WBD board rejected it.Paramount on Thursday extended the deadline on its tender offer — which expired Wednesday — giving WBD shareholders more time to weigh the option. WBD responded with a statement noting that less than 7% of all shareholders have tendered their shares thus far to Paramount. "Once again, Paramount continues to make the same offer our Board has repeatedly and unanimously rejected in favor of a superior merger agreement with Netflix. It's also clear our shareholders agree, with more than 93% also rejecting Paramount's inferior scheme," WBD said. "We are confident in our ability to achieve regulatory approval for the Netflix merger and look forward to delivering the tremendous and certain value our agreement will provide to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders."Most media attention has focused on what President Donald Trump might think about a Netflix-WBD deal. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met with Trump ahead of the deal to gauge his sentiment on a transaction. The Department of Justice — theoretically a body independent from the presidency — will ultimately decide whether or not the deal presents antitrust problems, and if those issues can be ameliorated with conditions or if they're simply too big for a deal to go through.There's been far less attention paid to Europe, which will also need to approve a deal. And that's where either deal could fall apart. Netflix is a global company, generating about $14.5 billion in revenue in the so-called EMEA region, or Europe, the Middle East and Africa, last year, or about 32% of total sales. WBD feels confident its Netflix deal will win EU approval, according to people familiar with the matter. A WBD source said there was a "95% certainty" that Europe would approve the transaction, though the person did acknowledge Netflix may need to agree to certain conditions, such as agreeing to produce a certain amount of local content in Europe and promising to release movies into theaters. The EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive already mandates that video-on-demand streaming services ensure at least 30% of programming in EU countries qualify as European works. Paramount disagrees and believes a Netflix deal has very little chance of making it past European regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. At the same time, it's working its own EU regulatory angles for its proposed takeover.It would be unusual but not unprecedented for European regulators to block a deal between two U.S.-based companies. Adobe dropped its $20 billion acquisition of cloud software company Figma in December 2023 after deciding there was "no clear path" to gaining antitrust approval in Europe and the U.K. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority also forced Meta's Facebook to sell Giphy, the largest supplier of animated gifs to social networks, in 2022. Get the CNBC Sport newsletter directly to your inboxThe CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media, delivered weekly to your inbox.Subscribe here to get access today. It's also worth noting the European Commission allowed Amazon to acquire MGM, perhaps the closest comparison in terms of comparative businesses to this deal.Paramount's confidence stems from the Continent's track record of being tough on tech companies, with antitrust crackdowns and penalties targeting Meta, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon in recent years. Paramount executives believe EU regulators view Netflix similarly, based on recent conversations they've had with European officials, according to people familiar with the matter. Given the chance to stop a Big Tech company from gaining even more market power, Paramount executives believe Europe will take it.The EU may also be more parochial in how it treats movie theater owners, viewing them as essential to culture and art. Both U.S. and European trade associations for the cinema industry have publicly expressed their displeasure with a Netflix-Warner combination.This week, Sarandos reiterated that Warner Bros. films will be released in theaters with a 45-day window — as they always have."We're working closely with WBD and the regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission. We're confident we're gonna be able to secure all the approvals," Sarandos said Tuesday during Netflix's earnings conference call. "When this deal closes, we will have the benefit of having a scaled, world-class theatrical distribution business with more than $4 billion of global box office. And we're excited to maintain it and further strengthen that business."The WBD board viewed two movie studios coming together — Paramount and Warner — as a bigger regulatory hurdle than any issue presented by Netflix, according to people familiar with the matter. Still, WBD's lawyers have determined both deals – Netflix-WBD and Paramount-WBD — would likely gain approval."The WBD Board carefully considered the federal, state, and international regulatory risks for both the Netflix merger and the [Paramount tender] Offer with its regulatory advisors," WBD said in a December corporate filing. "The WBD Board is of the view that each transaction is capable of obtaining the necessary U.S. and foreign regulatory approvals and that any difference between the respective regulatory risk levels is not material."On the movie theater issue, a Warner source told me WBD actually views Paramount as a potentially bigger issue than Netflix. That's because WBD's board and executives aren't sure Paramount will have the money to produce 30 or more movies a year (a Paramount CEO David Ellison promise) while also paying down billions of dollars in debt and targeting $6 billion in cost savings. This is why the structure of the Paramount deal is so important to WBD. To create a superior deal for WBD, Larry Ellison, David's father and one of the world's wealthiest men, would need to put up more money in equity to lower the leverage ratio of a combined company. The board doesn't trust Paramount can deliver on its synergies while also meeting its aggressive theatrical goals and moving forward with a leverage ratio over seven times estimated 2026 EBITDA.This week, Netflix changed its offer for WBD's assets from mostly cash to all cash. Simplifying the bid allows WBD to move its shareholder meeting to approve the Netflix offer earlier — possibly as early as March, according to a person familiar with the matter.Paramount is still considering if it wants to raise its bid or change the capital structure to reengage the WBD board, according to people familiar with the matter. It could also do nothing and wait to see if it's right about regulators — either European or American — blocking a Netflix deal.With so much attention on the importance of live sports to the TV industry, it's unusual to see them as such an afterthought. Paramount executives have argued the value of Discovery Global should be $0 based on its high leverage ratio and the early valuation of Versant, the parent company of CNBC, which has traded down almost 30% since it debuted on the public markets this month.In a corporate filing released Tuesday, WBD argued Discovery Global should be valued between $1.33 per share and $6.86 per share, depending on estimates. Correction: This story has been updated to correct that Adobe dropped its $20 billion acquisition of cloud software company Figma.

The retailer is trying to attract more store and website visits as the U.S. housing market remains sluggish and customers postpone projects. View More

In this articleLOWFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:5102:51Why Lowe's is betting on younger shoppersDigital Original Near expansive aisles of home improvement supplies, some of Lowe's tiniest shoppers worked this Saturday on do-it-yourself projects of their own.The children, some as young as 3, sported miniature versions of the retailer's signature red aprons while hammering together washing machine-themed piggy banks at the retailer's kids' workshop at the company's store in North Bergen, New Jersey.Lowe's is trying to attract a younger audience — though it hasn't suddenly found an untapped market for home improvement spending from preschoolers. When the retailer this month relaunched its Kids Club program and began handing out lollipops to children who visit its stores, it was really a step in a strategy to win more business from younger parents, especially those who aren't yet homeowners.It's not just young parents, though. Lowe's wants to reel in new shoppers from the Gen Z and millennial generations, which are buying homes later than their parents did. Other moves to win over the cohorts include adding a wider array of merchandise through its third-party marketplace and tapping into a network of influencers on social media.The company wants to attract more frequent store and website visits as the U.S. housing market remains sluggish, consumers put off homebuying until later in life and higher prices of everyday expenses cause more people to postpone big purchases and projects like kitchen renovations. It is adding some of the features through My Lowe's Rewards, a customer loyalty program for DIY shoppers, which the company launched two years ago and which has grown to over 30 million members. "What we've been challenged with from a marketing perspective and a total brand perspective is how to drive relevancy among consumers who aren't in the homeowner category or who desire to be in the homeowner category, but aren't financially able to do that," Lowe's Chief Marketing Officer Jen Wilson said. Lowe's relaunched its Kids Club, a free workshop where children can tackle their own do-it-yourself projects. The workshop was recently held at its store in Matthews, North Carolina.Courtesy of Lowe's She said that has encouraged the home improvement retailer to think about "driving relevancy in new ways," including adding more events and seeking out surprising or buzzy merchandise that may catch the attention of a potential shopper on TikTok.That's where kids fit in, too. She said one of Lowe's surprising findings from market research was the strong influence of children in shaping where their parents choose to shop, especially for millennial parents. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Home Depot and Lowe's storesGetty Images Putting off projectsAs home prices and borrowing costs have risen, more Americans have postponed homeownership, a life stage that tends to nudge people toward springing for purchases of paint or hardware, or hiring home improvement professionals like electricians or plumbers. The median age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old, an all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Home improvement sales have dropped off since the years of the Covid pandemic. Lowe's expects its total sales to be $86 billion this year. That would represent an increase from $83.7 billion a year ago, but it would be lower than each of the four years before that. Lowe's also expects comparable sales, an industry metric that excludes one-time factors like store openings and closures, to be flat compared to a year ago. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Compared to its rival Home Depot, Lowe's relies more heavily on DIY shoppers. About 70% of its sales come from those consumers, with the remainder from home professionals like contractors, roofers and electricians that homeowners typically hire, according to the company.Home Depot, on the other hand, has historically drawn about half of its sales from home pros and half from DIY shoppers.Executives from both Lowe's and Home Depot have said they have seen lower demand for big-ticket items and pricier projects, which they have chalked up to slower housing turnover and economic uncertainty. Housing turnover typically encourages projects, as homeowners spruce up their homes before a sale or fix it up when moving in. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); In the meantime, both companies have focused on drawing more pros, which tend to be bigger and more reliable spenders. Home Depot in 2024 acquired SRS Distribution, a Texas-based company that sells supplies to professionals in the landscaping, pool and roofing businesses, in the largest acquisition in its history at $18.25 billion. It's bought other companies, too, including building-products distributor GMS last year. Lowe's made two of its own pro-focused acquisitions last year. It bought Foundation Building Materials, a distributor of drywall, insulation and other interior building products for large residential and commercial professionals, and Artisan Design Group, which provides design services and installation of flooring, cabinets and countertops for homebuilders and property managers.In the coming year, however, Lowe's larger reliance on do-it-yourself shoppers may give the company an edge, said Chuck Grom, a retail analyst for Gordon Haskett Equity Research. He upgraded the company's stock earlier this month from a hold to a buy rating because of signs of an improving housing backdrop.While the housing market is still challenged, furniture sales have picked up in recent quarters and more consumers appear to be getting used to higher borrowing costs as the "new normal," Grom said. About 35% of consumers said in the equity research firm's most recent quarterly survey that they would be willing to buy a home at a 5.5% to 6% mortgage rate. That's up from about 25% in the third-quarter survey.The average 30-year mortgage rate has dipped slightly in recent months and was around 6.2% last week.Those are promising signs that consumers may dip their toes back into more DIY projects, even if recovery is gradual, he said.Shares of Lowe's have reflected some optimism about the coming year. Its stock has lagged the S&P 500's performance over the past year and last five years, but its stock is up about 22% in the past six months. That's compared to Home Depot, which has seen shares rise about 4% during the same period. Starting this month, Lowe's is handing out lollipops at stores in the hopes of drawing in more parents and families.Courtesy of Lowe's Lowe's leans younger One of the key goals of Lowe's strategy is giving customers more reasons to engage with its app or website, or make visits to stores part of their routine, even between DIY projects.Amanda Bailey, vice president of customer marketing and loyalty at Lowe's, said the company hopes free lollipops, for example, get kids to nudge their parents to stop by a store where they may purchase a few items or give parents a longer time to linger in peace when comparing appliances in the aisles.Lowe's is also trying to give shoppers more reasons to join or use its loyalty program. Customers must now sign up for the free monthly Kids Club workshop through the program, and children can collect digital badges on their parents' loyalty account for completing the projects. Customers can rack up points from purchases that become MyLowe's money, an incentive intended to get consumers to buy everyday items like household cleaning products or lightbulbs at the retailer.And Lowe's plans to expand kids' workshops, which cater to 3- to 10-year-olds, and add more complex projects for older children and teenagers, she said.It has also tested other free events for loyalty program members at select stores, including soccer clinics for kids, a ladies' night out with do-it-yourself projects like terrarium building and a family night out with games and hands-on activities."Traditionally, loyalty programs have been around rewarding the transaction," said Bailey, who previously worked to drive loyalty at brands including Hilton and Tory Burch. "And so now we think about, how can we engage with customers in different phases of their life, in different moments of their life?" Children participate in the Lowe's Kids Club at the retailer's store in Matthews, North Carolina.Courtesy of Lowe's Along with its typical home improvement items, Lowe's is trying to debut products that surprise customers or go viral on social media. Lowe's merchandising and marketing teams have started plotting out a 12-month plan of items that the company bets could become trending products, with about three to five items debuting each quarter, Wilson said. Loyalty program members get early or exclusive access to purchase some products, Wilson said.One of Lowe's first drops was its branded minibucket, which recently came out in light pink. Its mini-Kobalt toolbox kit, which comes in different colors, also gained traction on social media with customers using them to organize their makeup or store school supplies. Lowe's has other items in the works that it hopes will create buzz. These include a scented candle and tote bag that will drop in the spring, Lowe's busiest sales season, and a pet-themed Advent calendar for the holidays. "These are impulse buys that are affordable and are great ways to introduce our brands to consumers who wouldn't otherwise be thinking about us," Wilson said.Lowe's also launched a creator network in June to encourage more influencers to post their do-it-yourself projects or purchases. It also partnered with well-known social media creator MrBeast, who has a storefront on the retailer's website where customers can shop his favorite items. And its marketplace, which launched in late 2024, has been a way to add more brands and expand categories.Gordon Haskett's Grom said company initiatives to gain customer loyalty, especially among younger shoppers, are important, but "are not going to move the needle right away.""They are trying to control what they can control," he said. "The winds of the housing turnover are hard right now for them."Home Depot has also made moves of its own to attract customers, including launching a new platform for creators late last year and creating a new hub on its website with advice and ideas for new homeowners. It has also sped up customer deliveries. Over half of its deliveries are now same-day or next-day, more than triple the number in 2022, the company said at its investor day in December. And it also offers free kids' workshops at its stores. Yet as the home improvement retailers try to win a limited pool of business, they're also competing with independent and specialty home improvement shops, privately held Ace Hardware and retail giants like Walmart and Amazon, which carry some of the same merchandise. Though they may not yield immediate dividends, events will play a role in that competition moving forward. For families who came to Lowe's kids' workshop at the North Bergen store on Saturday, the activity was a welcome way to spend a snowy day and get their kids to work with their hands. Ivette Crisostomo, a mom from Fort Lee, New Jersey, brought her 3-year-old son, Kai, to the workshop. She coordinated with two friends, who also brought their kids. "This is like a set playdate for everyone," she said. "It builds his confidence, too."As the event wrapped, it illustrated the goal of Lowe's strategy. Many parents browsed the aisles after finishing the project. Crisostomo said she sometimes winds up shopping, too. "My eyes wander and if I do need something, I'll come to Lowe's," she said.

In 2025, Industrious increased its global footprint by 58%, now with more than 250 units open in over 100 cities. View More

In this articleCBREFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT An Industrious flexible office space.Courtesy: Industrious A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.One year ago, commercial real estate behemoth CBRE acquired Industrious, a flexible office company that opened its first space in 2013 and grew at an impressive pace in the aftermath of the pandemic. At the time, CBRE said in a release that Industrious' success was "the result of an ongoing investment into understanding what makes for a great workplace, paired with continuous operational improvement."And it was a fair bet. In 2025, Industrious increased its global footprint by 58% from 2024, now with more than 250 units open in over 100 cities, according to the company. It is projecting 100% growth in new signings in 2026. Industrious currently ranks third in its sector, by number of spaces and total square footage, behind International Workplace Group (owner of Regus) and WeWork. The global flexible office market is poised to grow from a value of $54.59 billion in 2025 to $147.2 billion by 2033, according to SkyQuest.While the mainstream office sector is still slowly recovering from the pandemic and the new work-from-home culture, flexible office, which encompasses coworking spaces, is benefiting from that slow recovery. Large companies want people back in the office, but they are also increasingly focused on the workplace experience for those not working at headquarters."I would say the biggest thing of all that's driving it is a focus on the part of companies to try to get their midsize and smaller offices up to the quality level of their headquarters city so people don't leave for a competitor, and they need help with that," said Jamie Hodari, founder and CEO of Industrious. "It's really hard for even JPMorgan or Google to run a really beautiful, engaging office experience for 43 people." Get Property Play directly to your inboxCNBC's Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox.Subscribe here to get access today. Hodari said there are large cities with too much office space, but there are also smaller cities and regions with too little space. That plays right into the flexible office model. "You have all of these people who want to basically work near where they live. They want to bike to work. They want to walk to work. They want to drive five minutes to work," said Hodari.Of Industrious' last 50 workspace openings, a disproportionate number are in neighborhoods, not in large central business districts. There is also a drive by landlords of Class B office buildings, which still have high vacancies, to refurbish their properties in order to attract new tenants. Industrious can benefit from that simply through its business model, which differs from other flexible office companies. Instead of renting entire buildings, Industrious acts more like a hotel management company. The company signs management agreements with landlords to run a portion of a building. Rather than paying a monthly rent to the landlord, it split the profits — and also the risk. This "asset-light" approach makes Industrious more resilient during economic downturns because it isn't locked into massive, long-term lease payments.Industrious specializes in a more hospitality-focused environment, building spaces that feel more like boutique hotels than traditional offices. It also attracts a more varied tenant."You just get a lot more people doing cool things into the building, and so we hear from landlords all the time, 'Hey, I have this whole building, say it's half leased, and I want to drive the rest of it. How do I make the lobby feel not like a no-man's land?'" said Anna Squires Levine, president of Industrious.Industrious is clearly building on better times in the office market right now, and Levine said it's not seeing any pain from weaker employment reports. The risks to flex, however, can be outsized. "It's a sector that overperforms in good times and underperforms in bad times," said Hodari. "So you're going to do better than long-term leasing when the going's good, and when you hit a recession or when something like Covid happens, long-term leasing might go down by 6% or 10% and flex might go down by 25%."

Mikayla McGhee moved to Bahrain in December 2022 after first visiting in 2020. View More

The child of parents who both served in the U.S. Navy, much of Mikayla McGhee's early life was spent moving from military base to military base. McGhee, 30, spent most of her time living abroad in Japan, which she says led her to realize she wanted to build a life for herself outside the United States."I was always working towards freedom, so I never knew exactly what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted the freedom to be able to live wherever I wanted to and travel whenever I wanted to," McGhee tells CNBC Make It."Once you've experienced growing up abroad and you're exposed to that, you continue to search for it. So moving back to the States after living in Japan, I always knew I wanted to live outside of the U.S. I just didn't know how." One of McGhee's amenities is having someone that takes care of the pool and landscaping.Prakhar Deep Jain for CNBC Make It In 2020, McGhee was living in Atlanta, Georgia, and went to visit her parents in Bahrain, where her dad was stationed at the time. The country is located in the Persian Gulf and is home to the Naval Support Activity, Bahrain, a U.S. military base. McGhee stayed in the country for three months and says she fell in love with it. As soon as she got back to Atlanta, she started planning a permanent move to Bahrain. "The culture shock was that, actually, things were better, not worse. Don't just believe what you're told or what you see in the media because it's nothing like that at all," she says."It's so calm. It's so peaceful. There was never a time where I didn't feel like I fit in or I was standing out as an expat. Every culture shock was a positive one." McGhee's house now is close to Bahrain's capital of Manama.Prakhar Deep Jain for CNBC Make It In December 2022, McGhee moved to Bahrain and lived in her parents' three-bedroom home for six months before moving out on her own. After leaving her parents' house, McGhee lived in a two-bedroom apartment in a luxury high-rise building. She lived there for over a year. Now, McGhee lives near the capital of Bahrain, Manama, in a three-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home with a pool and one-car garage that rents for $2,200 USD a month.The house also has a laundry room and is fully fenced in. The cost of monthly rent includes what McGhee calls a "watchman," or someone who comes by the house to clean the pool and take care of the landscaping. McGhee lives with her partner and she says he pays the majority of their expenses.Prakhar Deep Jain for CNBC Make It As a licensed realtor in Bahrain, McGhee conducted the housing search on her own and says she chose this one because of its proximity to the city center. She says she and her partner split expenses, though he pays the majority, while most of her money goes to savings and to the trips the couple take together. The couple signed a one-year lease last year and plan to renew another one-year lease this year too.McGhee works remotely as a senior performance marketing manager at an IT company, and has a dedicated space to work from home. She earns $140,000 a year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.Since McGhee earns her salary in USD, she still pays U.S. taxes. McGhee also uses the health insurance offered by her company, which allows her access to Bahrain's health-care system. McGhee's house has a private pool in the back.Prakhar Deep Jain for CNBC Make It When McGhee has free time during the day, she says she likes to work out, shop for groceries and create content. She shares a lot of her life in Bahrain on TikTok to her more than 65,000 followers."It is my duty to make sure that Americans know how great this country is," McGhee says.Although McGhee isn't sure if she will stay in Bahrain long-term, she says she knows she wants to buy property around the country as a real estate investment and have a permanent place for herself there, too. "My life is 10 times better here. My happiness has skyrocketed. Even the weather alone has increased my mood," she says."I will always want to have something that I can come back to, that I could call my home. Bahrain felt like home from the day I got here, so in order for me to leave, another place would need to do the same."Want to get ahead at work with AI? Sign up for CNBC's new online course, Beyond the Basics: How to Use AI to Supercharge Your Work. Learn advanced AI skills like building custom GPTs and using AI agents to boost your productivity today. Take control of your money with CNBC Select CNBC Select is editorially independent and may earn a commission from affiliate partners on links.Interest in credit cards is expected to heat up in 2026. What that means for cardholders Holiday debt hangover? 6 steps to recover fast in the new yearThe best personal loans for same-day fundingThe best credit cards for travel rewards, cash back, 0% APR and more

Consumers can use buy now, pay later plans for nearly everything these days, potentially including their rent soon. View More

Some renters will soon be able to pay their rent using a buy now, pay later plan through financial technology company Affirm, which offers installment-based payment plans for consumers at a wide variety of retailers.Affirm will partner with fintech company Esusu to provide renters with "a flexible option for managing one of their largest monthly expenses," an Affirm spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNBC Make It. Esusu offers memberships starting at $10 a month for services to help users build credit, including reporting rent payments to credit agencies. Eligible renters will be able to use Affirm through Esusu to pay their rent in two equal, biweekly payments with 0% interest and no late fees, the spokesperson said. The offering is rolling out through a pilot program, and the companies have not yet announced a launch date. Esusu's recently launched split pay option already allows its plus and premium membership subscribers to break up rent payments throughout the month after an initial down payment, according to its website. The partnership with Affirm will give Esusu members another option to split their rent into two payments. Plus and premium memberships, which cost $35 and $50 a month, respectively, are only available to residents at Esusu-partnered properties, according to its website.Nationally, rents in the U.S. were up about 3% in December 2025 compared with the previous year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. And nearly half of all renters spent more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing costs in 2023, according to the most recent Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-year estimates. A new payment option won't solve the 'underlying affordability issue' Some financial experts are skeptical of using buy now, pay later plans for fixed costs like monthly rent.Using a buy now, pay later plan for rent "could be useful in a true pinch or short-term emergency," says Chris Jackson, a certified financial planner based in South Carolina. However, "relying on it consistently would be a mistake, particularly for people who already struggle keeping up with rent payments."Borrowing to cover your rent won't solve the "underlying affordability issue," he adds. Douglas Boneparth, a CFP, founder of Bone Fide Wealth and member of CNBC's financial advisor council, encourages anyone struggling to pay rent to work directly with their landlord to work out a payment agreement, rather than turning to a lender.Boneparth has previously criticized installment plans for encouraging overspending and targeting consumers "who are most susceptible to borrowing when they shouldn't," he wrote on LinkedIn in 2025. Using buy now, pay later plans for rent could be a "slippery slope" that has consumers "falling into traps of fiscal irresponsibility," he says.Outside of temporary hardships or broader socio-economic conditions, "we have to get down to those fundamentals and put yourself in a position to afford your lifestyle," Boneparth says.Affirm's spokesperson said the new offer will be "a transparent option that offers flexibility for renters to align expenses with their paychecks." They added, "We underwrite every application individually and we only approve people for what we believe they can responsibly afford to repay."Want to get ahead at work with AI? Sign up for CNBC's new online course, Beyond the Basics: How to Use AI to Supercharge Your Work. Learn advanced AI skills like building custom GPTs and using AI agents to boost your productivity today. Take control of your money with CNBC Select CNBC Select is editorially independent and may earn a commission from affiliate partners on links.Interest in credit cards is expected to heat up in 2026. What that means for cardholders Holiday debt hangover? 6 steps to recover fast in the new yearThe best personal loans for same-day fundingThe best credit cards for travel rewards, cash back, 0% APR and more VIDEO8:3508:35I travel the world and live rent-free by pet sitting full timeMillennial Money

Schneider Electric India announced a Rs 623 crore investment to expand its Telangana facilities, boosting manufacturing for electrical safety products. Discussions also explored energy transition and grid modernization collaborations. Separately, Godrej Industries considered a Rs 150 crore investment for its Hyderabad dairy plant expansion and potential AI integration in oil palm agriculture. View More

Hyderabad: Schneider Electric India will invest Rs 623 crore to expand its two existing facilities in Telangana , enhancing manufacturing capacity for electrical safety products such as air circuit breakers, moulded case circuit breakers, contactors, and push buttons, sources said on Thursday. The Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy-led Telangana Rising delegation met Deepak Sharma, CEO of Schneider Electric India, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos , according to a press release. The meeting also focused on energy transition and storage projects, with discussions on collaboration in grid modernisation, energy efficiency and digital power management for industrial parks and urban infrastructure. Sharma said Schneider Electric operates 38 development centres for skilling in Telangana. The company specialises in energy management, industrial automation and digital transformation solutions, the release said. Live Events Meanwhile, Telangana Minister for IT and Industries D Sridhar Babu, along with Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, met Nadir Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director of Godrej Industries , at the WEF. The discussions covered potential AI integration in oil palm agriculture, expansion of the company's Creamline Dairy plant in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 150 crore, and the possibility of undertaking large infrastructure projects in the residential zone of the proposed Bharat Future City, a separate release said. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)