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Apple reports December-quarter earnings Thursday after the bell. The December quarter is Apple's largest of the year, partially due to the holiday shopping season and also because it is the first full quarter of new iPhone sales. While analysts are not worried about the company's performance in the December quarter, many of them will look for what Apple signals about how its March quarter is shaking out.

When Carlos Gil opened The Hype Section alongside his brother-in-law in 2022, he was ready for entrepreneurship's promise of financial freedom. Gil, a social media marketer, got a taste of the high-paid, flexible-schedule life in 2019, when he published a book called "The End of Marketing" and the ensuing book tour earned him six figures, he says. After dabbling in selling face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic, The Hype Section — a store dedicated to the hype culture around shoes, clothes and collectibles in Jacksonville, Florida — was his next step. He and his brother-in-law spent $30,000 in savings to launch The Hype Section, which brought in more than $1 million in sales in its first full year of business, says Gil, 41. The store built a community of supporters, from local high school students to professional athletes like NFL wide receiver Christian Kirk and MLB outfielder Aaron Hicks, he says.

Dr. Darshan Shah has been a physician and board-certified surgeon for 30 years. About ten years ago, his family history of diabetes and a health scare led Shah, 52, to study longevity and how he can improve his own wellbeing. "Being a physician, we're really primarily educated in the science of how to manage disease, not really in how to promote healthspan and longevity," Shah tells CNBC Make It. Shah interviews many experts about longevity for his podcast "Extend", which dives into how to live a long, healthy life.

President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted former President Joe Biden and Democratic diversity measures after a midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter above Washington, D.C., the night before. Trump, speaking at the White House, claimed that DEI “could have been” to blame for the collision, the deadliest U.S. plane crash since November 2001. Trump did not provide evidence that the Biden-era efforts had anything to do with the crash, and criticized a reporter who asked if he was getting ahead of the investigation.

Shares of United Parcel Service plunged more than 17% Thursday after the company issued weak revenue guidance for the year and said it planned to cut deliveries for Amazon, its largest customer, by more than half. The shipping giant said in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it "reached an agreement in principle with its largest customer to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026." At the same time, UPS said it's reconfiguring its U.S. network and launching multi-year efficiency initiatives that it expects will result in savings of approximately $1 billion.

IBM surged 14% Thursday on the back of a strong fourth-quarter print that showed artificial intelligence growth boosting its software business. The move put the stock on pace for its best day since July 20, 2000, when shares popped 13%. The company reported adjusted earnings of $3.92 per share adjusted on $17.55 billion in revenue after the bell Wednesday. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected earnings to come in at $3.75 per share and revenues to reach $17.54 billion.

Fairshake, the super PAC bankrolled by crypto's biggest players, announced Thursday it has $116 million in cash on hand, a war chest aimed at the 2026 midterm election cycle. The fundraising total, which includes $11 million in new contributions, cements Fairshake as one of the most influential political forces in the country. "With the midterms on the horizon, we are poised to continue backing candidates committed to advancing innovation, growing jobs, and enacting thoughtful, responsible regulation," Fairshake said in a statement.

Signed contracts on existing homes dropped a sharp 5.5% in December from the previous month and fell 5% from the prior year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The drop followed four straight months of gains and is the index was at its lowest level since August. These so-called pending sales are an indicator of future closings and are the most current indicator of activity in the market. Buyers out shopping in December were facing a big jump in mortgage interest rates, which may have dampened demand.

Elizabeth Gore has hired and interviewed "hundreds of people," she says. Gore worked at the United Nations Foundation then Dell helping entrepreneurs around the world build their businesses. In 2017, she co-founded Hello Alice, a platform helping entrepreneurs gain "access to capital like grants, loans, credit," she says, and connecting them with a network of like entrepreneurs. When it comes to finding the right candidates during job interviews, she loves asking questions like, "what do you think we're doing wrong at our company?" as a way to gauge what they can bring to the table, she says. She also pays attention to what turns her off.

As thousands of homes burned in Los Angeles on January 7, 20% of hydrants in the Pacific Palisades ran dry. The rapid spread of flames in 100 mph winds meant firefighters used water too quickly for pumps to maintain water pressure. Big questions and misinformation surfaced, blaming a range of issues, from a 117 million gallon reservoir emptied a year ago, to the protection of a small endangered fish that did not impact water supply. CNBC’s Katie Tarasov digs in to what really happened and ways to better prepare. Find the full report: cnb.cx/4jFHuKy