Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

Workers at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development are bracing for deep staffing cuts in divisions that provide housing assistance, investigate discrimination, and compile market data and research.

In all, around 50% of HUD employees are expected to lose their jobs amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s broad efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, said Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE Council 222, which represents HUD workers. Employees at the Federal Housing Administration, the office responsible for insuring mortgage loans, don’t appear to be affected, he said.

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Big Tech led this week’s gains as Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), and Meta (META) were on track to close out the five-day period in positive territory.

Nvidia, which revealed a change-up in its equity holdings on Friday, was on pace to gain 6% this past week.

Tech giant Apple outperformed the “Magnificient Seven” stocks over the past five trading days to gain more than 7%.

Meanwhile Meta (META) takes the top performer slot year-to-date as shares of the social media giant hit new all-time highs on Friday.

Over the past five trading days, Meta is up more than 3%.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

Intel (INTC) stock was set to notch a 23% weekly gain Friday, the largest since 2000, in a rally fueled by US Vice President JD Vance’s bullish comments on domestic AI chip production earlier this week and investor speculation over a joint venture with TSMC (TSM).

Intel’s weeklong rally began after Vice President JD Vance spoke about domestic chip manufacturing during an address at the AI Summit in Paris on Tuesday. Vance said the Trump administration would “ensure” that AI in the US is built “with American designed and manufactured chips.” Shares of Intel jumped 6% following the comments.

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Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:

Donald Trump often focused on universal tariffs last year, but that campaign trail idea has been deemphasized, at least in the early stages of his new administration, in favor of this week’s newly announced plan for a reciprocal-first approach to tariffs.

Reciprocal is “the only fair way to do it,” Trump said recently.

The new presidential memorandum signed Thursday will launch studies of unfair trade situations and kick off negotiations with nations that could be impacted in a process that is set to come to a head in April.

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Yahoo Finance’s Jordan Weissman reports:

The Trump administration is planning to hollow out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by firing 95% of its staff while canceling the lease on its Washington, D.C., headquarters, according to a federal lawsuit aimed at stopping the moves.

If successful, the mass layoffs would leave behind only the skeleton of an agency charged with policing the way large banks and other financial services companies like payday lenders and credit bureaus handle customers.

The CFPB is currently shuttered after acting Director Russell Vought ordered staff to halt all work and stay home from the office this week. It has also begun laying off dozens of staff and canceling contracts with vendors and expert witnesses.

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Oil swung from gains to losses on Friday as traders weighed the prospects of retaliatory US tariffs with supply implications from stricter US policy against Iran.

West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) pared gains to fall below the flatline while Brent futures (BZ=F) were barely on pace to break a three-week losing streak.

Oil gained earlier on Friday on supply worries after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News, “We are committed to bringing the Iranians to going back to 100,000 barrels per day of exports, as when Trump left office.”

Meanwhile on Thursday President Trump said instructed his staff to come up with a retaliatory tariff plan within 180 days. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the plan would be ready by April 1.

“The demand picture remains in question near term as the retaliation of even higher US tariffs may hamper global demand,” Dennis Kissler, senior vice president at BOK Financial, wrote in a note to clients on Friday.

Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland writes:

Nvidia (NVDA) on Friday disclosed its latest equity holdings, and the reveal led to some wild swings in the fortunes of companies that saw their shares bought or sold by the chip giant.

The biggest winner early Friday was WeRide (WRD), a Chinese autonomous driving play, that saw its stock nearly double. Nvidia disclosed a new stake in the company of around 1.8 million shares, worth about $57 million at Friday’s market prices.

WeRide stock rose as much as 90% in early trading.

Nebius Group (NBIS), a Netherlands-based AI company that was split out of Russian search giant Yandex last year, saw its stock rise as much as 14%. Nvidia disclosed a new 1.2 million share position worth about $56 million at Friday’s market prices.

Nvidia declined to comment on the changes to its equity portfolio.

On the flip side, Serve Robotics (SERV) stock was getting hammered, falling as much as 40% after Nvidia disclosed that it closed out its position in the robotics company during the fourth quarter.

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New data out Friday showed retail sales declined more than expected in the first month of 2025.

Headline retail sales fell 0.9% in January, more than the 0.2% decline economists had expected, according to Bloomberg data. This marked the largest month-over-month decline in retail sales since January 2024.

Retail sales in December were revised up to 0.7% from a prior reading that showed a 0.4% increase in the month, according to Census Bureau data.

“The traditional holiday hangover & a nasty winter freeze combined to cool topline retail sales,” RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas wrote in a post on X.

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Tesla Inc. (TSLA) has lost a quarter of its value in less than two months — wiping out roughly $400 billion from a rip-roaring post-election rally. While some investors might see this as an opportunity to buy the dip, Wall Street remains cautious.

Bloomberg News reports:

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