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Good morning. US stock futures rose in Thursday morning trading as the Federal Reserve held steady on rates but signaled that a March cut is unlikely.

📱 Social media execs grilled over online safety 

📝 Our report: Five social media big shots got a firm finger-wagging from US lawmakers for dropping the ball on safeguarding kids from online creeps and mental gymnastics. The 21-member Senate Judiciary Committee called the chief executives of Meta Platforms, X, Snap, Discord and TikTok to Washington in an effort to hold them accountable for their platforms’ impact on teenagers and children.  

 🔑 Key points:

• “These companies must be reined in, or the worst is yet to come,” Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the committee, said.

• Congress has been under pressure to respond to mounting evidence of the spread of child sexual abuse material online and the tech companies’ inability to protect children from predators.

• President Joe Biden, tech industry whistleblowers, parents, and teenagers themselves have repeatedly called on Congress to improve safety online as evidence suggests social media use could be worsening youngsters’ mental health.

💡 So what: Congress is targeting social media companies due to concerns about various issues such as the spread of misinformation, privacy violations, harmful content, and the impact of social media on mental health, especially among young users. Lawmakers are pressuring these companies to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms and to implement stronger measures to protect users, particularly children, from online risks and dangers. Additionally, there's growing scrutiny over the influence of social media on political discourse and elections, prompting calls for regulatory oversight and reforms to address these concerns.

Thursday - US Productivity

Friday - US Unemployment Rate

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⚡ US energy agency to track crypto power consumption

WHAT: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is about to embark on a new adventure: keeping tabs on the electricity guzzled up by those crypto mining wizards. Starting in February, the EIA will begin a survey of select bitcoin miners, which will be required to respond with their energy use details, as part of an emergency collection of data request authorized by the Office of Management and Budget.

WHY: Miners of the digital coins have come under scrutiny in recent years for their energy-intensive operations, and for the impact their activity has on electric grids and carbon emissions.

🏪 Walmart goes on expansion drive

WHAT: Walmart is gearing up to unleash over 150 new stores onto the world in the next half-decade, proving once again that it's not just about quantity, but also about quality...and of course, those irresistible rollback prices! The company said it was looking to invest more than $9 billion over a two-year period as it undertakes a massive plan to expand its operations and modernize its stores with new technology, better layouts and wider product selection.

WHY: Walmart had 4,616 stores including supercenters in the United States as of Oct. 31, according to the company's website. The company in November raised its annual sales and profit forecasts as it continued to attract inflation-hit customers to its stores with a selection of cheaper groceries and daily essentials.

💰 FTX throws in the towel on exchange restart

WHAT: FTX has decided to throw in the towel on reviving its crypto exchange, choosing instead to liquidate all assets and give customers their money back, confirmed a company attorney. The company said it would focus on liquidating its assets to repay customers whose cryptocurrency deposits were locked when the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.

WHY: FTX has been negotiating for months with potential bidders and investors, but none were willing to put in enough money to rebuild the FTX exchange, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware.

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