The daily business briefing: February 21, 2023

Home Depot shares fell 2.5 percent in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the home improvement chain reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of analysts' expectations. Home Depot also forecast annual profit below Wall Street estimates. The company said earnings came in at $3.30 per share, just over the projected $3.28, but revenue was $35.83 billion, just under the $35.97 billion analysts predicted. A drop in lumber costs, which soared during a home construction and renovation boom that sparked shortages early in the pandemic, dragged down comparable sales by 0.7 percent, the company said. Home Depot said it would add $1 billion in annualized compensation for its hourly associates, starting this quarter, as the job market remains strong and many companies invest to retain workers.

Ericsson announced Monday it was cutting 1,400 jobs in Sweden as demand softens for its 5G equipment in the United States and other key markets. The reductions are part of an effort to trim $861 million in costs by the end of 2023. Ericsson also will close some facilities. The company has negotiated with Swedish labor unions, and said it hopes to reach its target for reducing staff through a voluntary program. The cuts add to the thousands of layoffs by major technology companies as weakening demand for tech gear and economic uncertainty dampen their growth prospects.

United Airlines said Monday it would launch a seating policy making it easier for parents to get adjoining seats for their children under 12, without extra charges. The system will identify available seats next to each other at the time of booking, with upgrades available but not to first, business, or economy plus seats, the airline said in a statement. The change came after President Biden vowed to crack down on such charges and other so-called junk fees. The United policy change is scheduled to take effect in early March. The change followed a Department of Transportation notice encouraging airlines to adopt policies to help children sit next to accompanying adults to "the maximum extent practicable."

U.S. stock futures slipped early Tuesday ahead of the resumption of trading after the long Presidents' Day weekend, as concerns about rising interest rates continued to weigh on Wall Street. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 0.7 percent at 6:45 a.m. ET. Nasdaq futures were down 0.8 percent. The major U.S. indexes fell last week on fears that persistent high inflation would force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher and for longer than previously expected to cool the economy and tame inflation, even if the changes tip the economy into a recession. The Dow and the S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, last week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.6 percent.

Disney's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania took in $120 million in North America over four days in its opening weekend, leading the domestic box office. Its haul beat projections over the long Presidents' Day weekend. It was the biggest debut yet for the Marvel franchise, surpassing the $75 million debut of 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the $57 million opening of 2015's Ant-Man. But it fell short of other recent Marvel films, including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's $181 million, Thor: Love and Thunder's $144 million, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' $187 million. Quantumania features Jonathan Majors' villain, Kang the Conqueror, who is expected to be the next "big bad" of the shared universe.