Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action news and analysis.

Good afternoon, today's Tuesday, December 26th, and I'm your host Kim Kahn. Our top story so far.

Imports and sales of Apple watches are banned effective today after the Biden administration declined to veto a decision by the International Trade Commission.

The ITC determined earlier this year that Apple uses a blood oxygen technology that infringes on patents held by Massimo. The deadline for the government

to veto the ITC's decision was December 25th. The oxygen feature has been included

in some watch models since 2020.

Apple can still appeal the ban to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,

and the watches can still be sold by third parties like Best Buy.

Last week, Apple PAWS sales of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smart watches.

In today's trading, stocks are slightly higher, as Bulls look to extend a weekly winning streak not seen in six years.

The S&P, Dow, and NASDAQ are up about a third of 1%.

Rates are little changed. The 10-year treasure yield is around 3.9%. The S&P CoreLogic Case Schiller Home Price Index showed that home price growth continued to be strong in October.

The HPI composite for 20 cities, seasonally adjusted, rose 0.6% on the month versus expectations for a 0.6% rise and a 0.7% rise in September.

The annual pace of inflation was the highest through the year.

The unadjusted composite for 20 cities rose 4.9% year over year

versus the 5% expected and the 3.9% in September. Among active stocks, FedEx says it is set to repurchase $1 billion worth of shares as part of its plan to enhance capital returns to stockholders.

Samsung has delayed the mass production plans at its new chip facility in Taylor, Texas, according to a report in the sole economic daily,

and 20 of the world's biggest banks shed at least 61,905 jobs in 2023,

as banks sought to protect profit margins during a drought in deal-making and

debt and equity sales the F.T. reported.

The year incurred some of the biggest job cuts since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, when 140,000 jobs were lost.

While the low in deal-making was a major force, UBS's acquisition of Credit Suisse led

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