'We have a responsibility:' Trudeau urges global leaders to support pact for future
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is telling world leaders to either bury their heads in the sand or put differences aside for the sake of future generations.
Wall Street is convinced it's . But early bets on the "metaverse" are running into some turbulence.
What's the metaverse? It's a in which people hang out, attend meetings and play games as avatars.
It's generating tons of buzz. But shares of video game developer Roblox, an , are down 16% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company's earnings missed expectations.
While average daily active users hit 49.5 million, up 33% year-over-year, bookings — which measures the amount of virtual currency purchased by users to upgrade their avatars — fell short of forecasts.
The platform, which is super popular with kids, has been a go-to for investors looking to get in on the tech industry's push to make the metaverse the next big thing.
In a note to clients earlier this week, Bank of America analyst Omar Dessouky said the metaverse as an investment class "is now like social media at its dawn."
He said Roblox, which had a market value of more than US$42 billion as of Tuesday's close, "bears resemblance to a young tech giant," even though it was founded in 2004.
Driving the hype: Roblox has a head start on competitors, which Bank of America expects will be slower to reinvent themselves as metaverse companies. Roblox's control of the technology that underpins its platform, from development tools to graphics software and data centres, allows it to innovate quickly. And in the future, its immersive online world may not just be for children, as Roblox works to build a digital environment — and economy — that's "increasingly engaging and indistinguishable from the real world."
"We think teenagers, and potentially adults, could eventually view Roblox as a multi-purpose platform, similar to how social networks were viewed as such as they grew beyond their core university student demographic," Dessouky said.
That's the promise, at least. But it may require investors to have cast-iron stomachs as more speculative investments take a hit.
Shares of Roblox, which were given a when they made their stock market debut last year, finished Tuesday at $73.30 apiece.
But they've plunged 29% so far this year as Wall Street has soured on the tech sector, which looks less attractive as the Federal Reserve prepares to hike interest rates. Any weakness in earnings doesn't help.
It's not the only metaverse stock to pull back recently. Unity Software, a platform for creating 3D content, has seen its shares plummet 21% this year. They're down another 2% in premarket trading Wednesday.
And Facebook's Meta, which is taking steps to completely rebrand itself as a metaverse-focused company, has plunged 34% this year as disappointed investors note that the pivot . The company indicated Tuesday it would now refer to employees as "Metamates."
That doesn't mean Wall Street's metaverse frenzy has passed. But at a rocky moment for the market, some of the initial enthusiasm seems to have cooled.
Read this: Want to learn more about the metaverse? My CNN Business colleague Rachel Metz just wrote about about why you can't have legs in virtual reality — yet.
44%. That's how much the price of beef and veal rose between January 2021 and January 2022, according to the latest .
The data, released Tuesday, tracks average price changes that America's producers get paid for their goods and services over time. And it wasn't just meat that commanded a higher premium, including over the past month.
The price of grains was up 22%. Shortening and cooking oils climbed 36%.
Step back: We recently wrote about in 2022. Elevated costs for key ingredients — which aren't expected to come down in the near term — are a big reason why.
It's not just food. Energy remains a major sticking point, too, with the price of gasoline shooting up 53% over the past year and diesel fuel gaining 57%. Industrial chemicals remain 31% more expensive over the 12-month period.
Why it matters: Producer prices can be a leading indicator for consumer inflation, since they reflect higher costs that are later passed on to customers. The super-hot PPI reading — which showed overall prices rising 9.7% over the past year — indicates that inflation remains strong.
Markets looked past the data. But it could add to pressure on the Federal Reserve to act decisively at its meeting next month. Investors now think there's a nearly 60% probability that the Fed hikes interest rates by 0.5 percentage points, a supersized intervention.
"Inflation this hot suggests the Fed could kick off their rate raising cycle with a [0.5 percentage point] move," said Lindsey Bell, Ally Invest's chief investment strategist. "That would create significant volatility in stocks."
Airbnb continues to benefit from a rebound in travel and the rise of remote work during the pandemic, as people ditch city life and choose more picturesque spots for home offices.
The company said after markets closed on Tuesday that revenue during the last three months of 2021 reached $1.5 billion, up nearly 80% compared to the previous year and 38% above 2019 levels. It expects a solid start to 2022, and said it's already seeing "strong demand for the summer travel season."
"The fourth quarter was another record quarter and 2021 was the best year in Airbnb's history — despite the global pandemic," CEO Brain Chesky said.
Shares are up 4% in premarket trading.
Airbnb said the impact of Omicron on bookings and cancellations was lower than the company experienced when the Delta variant hit last summer.
It also said customers continue to book longer stays on the platform. Over the past two years, the average trip length has increased by about 15%, according to Airbnb. Stays longer than seven days now account for nearly half of gross nights booked, while stays of 28 nights or more are growing quickly.
"We're seeing that millions of people are not tethered to have to go back to an office five days a week," Chesky told analysts. "And what this means is guests are spreading out to thousands of communities all over the world, and they're also staying longer."
On the radar: As demand jumps, particularly in North America, Airbnb hosts are able to charge more. Average daily rates averaged $154 in the fourth quarter, a 20% increase from the same period in 2020 and 36% above 2019.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is telling world leaders to either bury their heads in the sand or put differences aside for the sake of future generations.
An Edmonton man says he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was injured by members of the Edmonton Police Service last year.
The head of the Air Canada pilots union says she'll step down if members opt not to approve a tentative deal with the airline, raising the stakes as aviators mull whether to accept hefty salary gains or drive an even harder bargain.
Unifor says workers at General Motors' CAMI assembly plant and battery facility in southwestern Ontario have ratified a new collective agreement.
The brother of a 27-year-old man who was fatally shot in Scarborough over the weekend has been arrested and charged in connection with his death, say police.
Comedian John Mulaney and actor Olivia Munn now have a second child, a daughter named Mei June Mulaney.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, made her first public appearance Sunday since she announced she had completed chemotherapy and would return to some public duties.
At least two students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have been suspended from the swim team after a report that a racial slur was scratched onto a student's body, officials said.
Body mass index, a long-time tool used to measure a person's health, may soon be out the door as some health professionals push for a system they say is more accurate.
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.