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

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, May 20th, and I'm your host, Kim Ka. Our top story so far. Inuit,

the owner of TurboTax, QuickBooks, and MailChimp, told employees that it's cutting about 17% of its workforce,

roughly 3,000 jobs.

Reuters, citing an email from CEO Sasan Godarsie, said the layoffs are aimed at simplifying

the company's structure and sharpening its focus on major investments, including expanding

AI across its services.

The headcount reduction comes ahead of Intuit's fiscal

Q3 earnings release after the closed today. Intuit recently signed multi-year agreements with

Anthropic and OpenAI to integrate their models into its software and to embed its tax, finance,

and marketing services into ChatGPT and Claude. The move coincides with fresh layoffs at meta-platforms,

where thousands of employees are being notified as part of a previously announced restructuring tied to efficiency efforts and heavy AI investment.

Meta is cutting roughly 8,000 roles globally.

Employees have been encouraged to work from home during notifications, which began at 4 a.m. local time in Singapore.

The New York Times, citing internal sources,

described the layoffs at Meta as a bloodbath that is brutalizing morale. Among active stocks,

a pending strike by Samsung workers has been put on hold, according to News Agency Yon Hop,

as a tentative wage deal will be put to union vote. A breakdown in negotiations had threatened

to disrupt parts of the global technology

supply chain. Target is slumping after issuing a cautious outlook for the remainder of the year.

CEO Michael Fidelke cited recent dips in consumer sentiment and said the retailer does not want

to swing too hard too quickly. CFO James Lee added that Target faces a tougher sales comparison

...