Several of the largest sportsbooks in the United States -- DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG), FanDuel (NYSE: FLUT), BetMGM (NYSE: MGM), Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN), Fanatics Betting & Gaming, Hard Rock Digital and bet365 -- on are forming a trade group to promote responsible gaming, the companies announced Wednesday. Called the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA), the members account for more than 85% of the legal online betting market in the U.S., with the firms committing $20 million in funding to ROGA as they work together on issues including education, responsible betting practices, as well as industry marketing and advertising. The ROGA will also create a certification program to assess companies' responsible gaming efforts and provide an incentive for other operators to join.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) on Tuesday announced its annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) will take place June 10-11, hosted both as a livestream on Apple's website, YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) and in-person on Apple's campus for select guests. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Apple SVP Greg Joswiak wrote the event is going to be "Absolutely Incredible!," hinting that Apple may reveal its long-awaited artificial intelligence strategy and consumer products. Back in February, CEO Tim Cook said the tech giant was ramping up its investments in AI and signaled that an AI-related announcement was coming soon. Apple said it will unveil the latest iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visonOS softwares at the event, as well as "insight into new tools, frameworks, and features."

Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) announced Monday the launch of a test of demand and use for educational video-based courses on its streaming platform in the United Kingdom, in a partnership with educational tech companies include BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso and Skillshare. The courses offered on Spotify cover a variety of topics within four main themes: creativity, music, business, and healthy living -- allowing content creators to reach a broader potential audience of engaged users; nearly half of Spotify Premium subscribers have listened to education or self-help podcasts, according to Spotify. "Many of our users engage with podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis for their learning needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators," said Babar Zafar, VP of Product Development at Spotify, in a release.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) shares were under pressure on Friday after the athletic apparel retailer said its sales in the United States, its biggest market, are softening as consumer trends shift as discretionary spending wanes in response to greater economy uncertainty. "As you've heard from others in our industry, there has been a shift in the U.S. consumer behaviour of late and we're navigating what has been a slower start to the year in this market," CEO Calvin McDonald said during the company's earnings call on Thursday, added that the retailer is taking this waning demand as an "opportunity to keep playing offense." In its recent holiday quarter, Lululemon saw sales increase by 9% in the Americas, compared to 29% growth in the same period a year ago. Still, McDonald highlighted that sales outside of the U.S. "remains strong."

United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) on Thursday announced the launch of MileagePlus miles pooling, allowing members to contribute and combine their earned miles into a joint account with their friends and family. According to a 2023 U.S. Family Travel Survey conducted by the Family Travel Association, 81% of parents surveyed plan to travel with children in the next year and nearly two-thirds were concerned about travel costs; now families can contribute miles for up to five travelers with no age minimum to become a MileagePlus member. "We're always looking for new ways to provide the most value to all our loyalty members and are proud to be the first major U.S. airline to allow our members to pool their miles with their loved ones and friends," said Luc Bondar, chief operating officer at MileagePlus, in a release.

Unilever (NYSE: UL) shares rose higher on Tuesday after the consumer goods giant announced restructuring plans that include separating its ice cream unit, which sells popular brands like Ben & Jerry's and Magnum, in effort to trim costs. The ice cream business accounted for about 13% of Unilever's total revenue in 2023, with plans for the spinoff yet to be finalized by the company. The proposed changes, which impact about 7,500 jobs globally, will allow Unilever to become "a simpler, more focused company," with four business divisions housing the company's beauty and wellness, personal care, home care and nutrition brands, respectively. The plan will begin immediately, Unilever said, and are expected to deliver total cost savings of about 800 euros, or roughly $868 million.

EV startup Fisker (NYSE: FSR) said in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday that it is pausing production of its electric Ocean SUV for six weeks as it has effectively run out of cash. The company said in a filing that it had just $121 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 15, and $32 million of which is restricted or not immediately accessible. Fisker also noted that its accounts payable balance is up to $182 million and that there is "substantial doubt" it can continue operations without a cash infusion. Separately on Monday, Fisker announced a financing commitment from an existing investor providing up to $150 million of gross proceeds and it is continuing talks with a large automaker for a potential transaction that could include an investment in the EV startup, joint development of one or more EV platform, and North America manufacturing.

Shares of boating stocks Brunswick Corp (NYSE: BC), MarineMax (NYSE: HZO) and OneWater Marine (NASDAQ: ONEW) were brought into focus on Friday after D.A. Davidson analyst Brandon Rolle warned proposed federal regulations to limit boat speeds on the East Coast may become a reality. "From our conversations with boat industry contacts, it appears there is 90%+ chance this rule [proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and put forward by the Commerce Department] is passed by the White House next month ... this regulation only provides potential downside to the industry," Rolle said in a report, adding that the new rules are expected to "weigh negatively on new boat sales, used boat values and higher [horsepower] engine sales." The proposed legislation calls to limit the number of 35- to 65-foot boats hitting whales by limiting speeds to 10 knots from Massachusetts to Florida for seven months out of the year.

Italy's competition and consumer regulator, the AGCM, has fined ByteDance's TikTok €10 million following an investigation into the social media giant's algorithmic practices. “The company has failed to implement appropriate mechanisms to monitor content published on the platform, particularly those that may threaten the safety of minors and vulnerable individuals. Moreover, this content is systematically re-proposed to users as a result of their algorithmic profiling, stimulating an ever-increasing use of the social network,” the AGCM wrote in a press release on Thursday. The AGCM said three regional companies -- Ireland-based TikTok Technology Limited, TikTok Information Technologies U.K. Limited and TikTok Italy Srl -- have been sanctioned as its investigation showed TikTok's responsibility in dissemination content "likely to threaten the psycho-physical safety of users, especially if minor and vulnerable."

Financial services company Stripe said in its annual letter published Wednesday that it has passed the $1 trillion total payment volume milestone in 2023, rising 23% year-over-year . At that level, the output of businesses using Stripe's payment services totaled roughly 1% of global GDP, according to the letter. That payment volume, subject to fees starting at 2.9%, translated into the company becoming "robustly cash flow positive in 2023 and expects to be aging in 2024," the letter reads. Moreover, Stripe highlighted that there are now more than 100 companies that process at least $1 billion per year with Stripe, accounting for about 10% of its total payment volume. With the company now valued at $65 billion, speculation continues as to when and if it will pursue an initial public offering (IPO).

Alphabet's Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) announced Tuesday it will restrict the types of election-related questions users can ask its Gemini chatbot ahead of multiple major elections around the world in 2024, including theU.S. Presidential election. "Out of an abundance of caution on such an important topic, we have begun to roll out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will return responses," the company wrote in a blogpost. "We take our responsibility for providing high-quality information for these types of queries seriously, and are continuously working to improve our protections." The company has already rolled out the restrictions in India ahead of it elections this spring, collaborating with the Election Commission of India to allow for easy-to-find voting information on Google Search and YouTube.

Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) is banning the use of indoor security cameras in all listings on the platform, the short-term property rental company announced on Monday. Prior to this decision, Airbnb host were permitted to have indoor security cameras in common areas -- excluding bathrooms and bedrooms -- as long as they were disclosed on the property's listing. The company said the update to its policy will only impact "a smaller subset of listings," and comes in response to numerous reports of hidden cameras found at rental properties by guests. Airbnb is also changing its rules regarding outdoor security cameras, now requiring hosts to discled the presence and locations of outdoor cameras and forbids listings from having outdoor cameras in private areas such as saunas. "These changes were made in consultation with our guests, Hosts and privacy experts, and we'll continue to seek feedback to help ensure our policies work for our global community," said Juniper Downs, head of community policy and partnerships at Airbnb, in a blogpost.

Reddit announced the launch of a new suite of tools for businesses on Friday, called Reddit Pro, aimed to help businesses grow their presence on the social media platform ahead of its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO). The new tools feature AI-powered insights on trending topics and conversations relevant to the brand, as well as publishing tools to held draft and schedule public posts. Businesses can also extend their reach on the platfrom through paid advertising with the "promote" options, and analyze their performance on posts with Reddit's new analytics tools on the Pro dashboard. "Through Reddit Pro, we're connecting companies with communities in a mutually valuable way: unmatched insights and tools for enhanced participation from businesses, both organic and paid, which then drives more relevant and valuable experiences for our users," said Roxy Young, chief market and consumer experience officers at Reddit, in a release.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that the U.S. economy is showing signs that inflation is easing to a level that policymakers may become confident to cut interest rates. "We're waiting to become more confident that inflation is moving sustainably at 2%. When we do get that confidence, and we're not far from it, it'll be appropriate to begin to dial back the level of restriction," Powell said in response to questions about inflation and interest rates, adding that the cuts will be necessary so that the central bank does not push "the economy into recession rather than normalizing policy as the economy gets back to normal. The majority of market participants currently expect the Fed to maintain rates at their current range of 5.25% to 5.50% at its upcoming meeting in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, with 56% of investors betting for rates to be cut to 5.00% to 5.25% in June.

Target (NYSE: TGT) announced it is launching a new paid membership program, called Target Circle 360, on April 7 -- offering its latest service to compete with Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). The new subscription service, which appears to be the paid version of Target's free loyalty program Target Circle, includes free same-day delivery for orders over $35 through the delivery service Shipt, free two-day shipping, as well as other product offerings and exclusive partnerships. Target sais offering a promotional rate of $49 a year through May 18, with target Circle 360 then costing $99 per year after that date. However, Target Circle credit card holders will be able to subscribe at $49. CEO Brian Cornell wrote in a letter to investors on Tuesday that the company will continue to "roll out fresh innovations, including our new Target Circle membership program, as part of our roadmap for growth aimed at meeting consumers where they are, reigniting sales, traffic and market share gains, and positioning Target for profitable growth in 2024 and beyond."