Michelle Williams won critical acclaim for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical coming-of-age drama, “The Fabelmans”, and her portrayal of the director’s mother secured her a best actress Oscar nomination on Tuesday.

Co-written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, the movie is set in the 1950s and 60s and follows the fictional character Sammy Fabelman, based on Spielberg as a young man, as he falls in love with the moving pictures and discovers a family secret that changes the way he views the world.

Williams and Paul Dano play Sammy’s mother Mitzi and father Burt, inspired by Spielberg’s parents, the late Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg.

In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, Williams spoke about the role, seeing an emotional Spielberg on set and awards season.

Below are excerpts, edited for length and clarity.

Q: What was it like to essentially play Steven Spielberg’s mother and take on this high energy role?

Williams: “Very high energy! Honestly, it was a beautiful thing to inhabit for a period of time. I loved being her. I loved burning that brightly and having that much to give, to the point I really missed her… when it was all over.”

Q: As a mother and artist, how much did your character Mitzi and Spielberg’s mother Leah Adler resonate with you?

Williams: “She really did and she continues to honestly, the way that she was an artist. She was an incredible pianist, could have been a concert pianist, could have travelled the world. But she used all of that energy and she put it into her family and she made her family this huge creative act. She made their childhoods so full of imagination and whimsy and play and joy and fun.”

Q: I understand Spielberg got quite emotional when she saw you and Paul Dano on set in character as his parents?

Williams: “It’s such an interesting moment because here’s this man in front of you weeping because he’s so moved to see the presence of his parents again, which is really why he made the movie, because he loved them so much and he wanted to bring them back and honour them and tell their story.

So your heart goes out to him because he’s emotional, but also inside, as an actor, you’re thinking: ‘Oh, thank God, like, it’s working. We’re on the right track’.”

Q: There’s a lot of excitement over your performance. How do you approach awards season at this stage of your career?

Williams: “You make your work because you want people to see it and you want them to connect to it and so when something connects like this, it’s really rewarding.”

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• US stocks fell Wednesday as investors assess more earnings reports from Corporate America. 
• Microsoft cut revenue guidance and Boeing posted a quarterly loss. 
• Tesla’s earnings are on tap later Wednesday. 

US stocks fell Wednesday as investors received disappointing financial updates from Boeing and Microsoft, underscoring concerns about how companies are faring through macroeconomic headwinds and supply chain snarls. 

All three of Wall Street’s major equity indexes were in the red, led by losses in the tech-concentrated Nasdaq Composite. 

Microsoft shares were under pressure after the company cut its fiscal third-quarter revenue outlook in part as growth in its cloud business slows. Boeing fell after the aircraft maker posted a more than $600 million loss for the fourth quarter, hurt by supply chain challenges. 

Big Tech shares will remain in focus with Tesla‘s fourth-quarter results due after Wednesday’s closing bell. Investors will watch what the EV maker says about demand and recent price cuts.

Here’s where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday: 

•  S&P 500: 3,970.79, 1.15%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,469.64, down 0.78% (264.32 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 11,126.87, down 1.83%

Here’s what else is happening today:

• The stock market is underestimating sticky cost inflation that’s denting company profits, Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson said. 
• Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi accidentally revealed it had more than $1.2 billion in assets tied up with FTX. 
• US housing prices will stop crashing within six months, said Goldman Sachs. 

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude shed 1 cent at $80.12 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped 3 cents to $86.10. 
• Gold slipped 0.6% to $1,924.10 per ounce. 
• The 10-year Treasury yield fell 7 basis points to 3.44%.
• Bitcoin lost 1.4% to trade at $22,583.11.

Security worker walks by the gate of a penal colony in Vladimir, Russia.

Kirill Zarubin/AP Photo

• Russia has ordered the creation of 24 penal colonies in annexed parts of Ukraine, per Meduza.
• The decree outlines plans to create colonies in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
• Conditions at penal colonies, which trace their roots to Soviet-era gulags, are famously harsh.

Russia has ordered the creation of two dozen penal colonies in occupied parts of Ukraine, according to the Latvia-based independent media outlet Meduza.

The governmental decree, which was published on Tuesday, outlines the creation of 24 facilities in regions of Ukraine that have unilaterally been declared by Russian leadership as part of Russia, amid its ongoing invasion.

In these colonies, prisoners are housed in barracks, not cells, and are often forced into labor for up to 16 hours of a day, according to the Polish think tank Centre for Eastern Studies.

The think tank said that many resemble their infamous ancestor: the Soviet-era gulag.

The published decree outlines plans to create 12 new penal colonies in Donetsk, seven in Luhansk, three in Kherson, and two in Zaporizhzhia, Meduza reported.

The government also plans for three medical correctional facilities and three correctional centers.

According to a 2021 US State Department report, overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, torture, and the inadequate provision of healthcare and sanitation are commonplace in these colonies.

Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, reported that there were 626 penal colonies in Russia as of November 2022.

Ukrainian prisoners have previously been transported to penal colonies on Russian territory, according to research by Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and Gulagu.net, per Meduza.

The head of Gulagu.net, Volodymyr Osechkin, told Meduza that Ukrainian prisoners arriving in Russian penal colonies were often treated cruelly, with stun guns regularly being used on them.

A report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Ukrainian service members were stripped of their belongings before being transferred to the makeshift penal colonies.

One prisoner told UN investigators that he was detained in a Russian penal colony near Donetsk and during one interrogation session had wires attached to his genitalia and nose and received electric shocks, per the report.

Other prisoners in the report detailed other forms of sexual violence and humiliating forms of torture, including one who said a lit cigarette was placed in his nostrils.

A courtroom sketch shows Tesla CEO Elon Musk testifying this week.

Vicki Behringer/Reuters

• Elon Musk says he scrapped his plans to take Tesla private after hearing from investors like Cathie Wood.
• The Ark Invest boss sent the Tesla CEO a letter signaling small investors would like Tesla to stay publicly traded.
• Musk was testifying in the trial over a 2018 tweet saying he had funding to take Tesla private.

Elon Musk told a court he scrapped his plans to take Tesla private after getting a letter from Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood and hearing that investors wouldn’t like the move.

The billionaire Tesla CEO said Tuesday he was seriously considering a buyout deal for the electric-vehicle maker for about two weeks, the BBC reported, but dropped the move after talking with key investors.

“I felt it was important to be responsive to their wishes,” Musk said on his third day of testimony in the ongoing jury trial, sparked by a class-action shareholder lawsuit.

Asked whether he had heard from smaller investors, Musk said Wood”represents small investors,” MarketWatch reported. The Ark Invest CEO was among the most influential people that would prefer Tesla to stay publicly listed, he said, because otherwise her funds couldn’t participate. 

The lawsuit on trial in San Francisco alleges Musk committed securities fraud. Some investors have accused Musk of illegally manipulating Tesla’s stock price via August 2018 tweets saying there was “funding secured” to take the carmaker private at $420 per share.

In the ongoing trial, Musk defended his tweet by saying it was not a joke, because he initially thought he had secured funding from Saudi Arabia’s Investment Fund. He also doesn’t believe that his tweets necessarily move markets. 

“Just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly,” he said Friday.

Influential investor Wood has stayed bullish on Tesla even as the stock has slid, regularly loading up on the EV-maker’s shares in recent months, despite criticism of Musk as distracted by his purchase of Twitter.

She has predicted that Tesla would reach $500 a share by 2026, compared with $143.89 at Tuesday’s close.

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• There are three stock market indicators that are flashing a bullish signal, according to Fundstrat’s Tom Lee.
• Lee pointed to the uptick in market breadth, a measure of winning stocks, in three separate gauges of the S&P 500.
• When those indicators flash simultaneously, it’s a reliable sign of a future rally, and stocks could gain 20% this year, he said.

A bullish trifecta of stock market indicators are flashing, and it’s a reliable signal that a 20% rally in stocks could be on the horizon, according to Fundstrat’s head of research Tom Lee.

Lee pointed to the surge in market breadth in the S&P 500, a measure of how many stocks are gaining at once. In particular, there are three separate breadth gauges are showing an uptick in winning stocks: the Whaley Breadth Thrust, the Walter Deemer Breakaway Momentum, the Triple 70 Thrust.

These technical gauges have good track records in predicting a major rally in stocks, especially when they occur simultaneously. When at least two of those gauges are showing rising market breadth, the S&P 500 gains on average 24% over the next year, according to Fundstrat.

But the current market shows an even more positive outlook, since all three indicators are flashing. It’s the only time all three breadth indicators have flashed since 1970 – an “unprecedented trifecta,” market research firm Quantifiable Edges said in a recent note.

And it’s a strong suggestion that a huge rally could be in the works, particularly as inflation eases and the Federal Reserve begins to pull back on its monetary tightening efforts.

“The recovery in market breadth is a sign that demand for equities is recovering. We know investors are not ‘risk-on’ coming in 2023,” Lee said. “This all supports stocks strengthening in 2023.”

Lee has said he believes investors are in for at least a 20% rally in the S&P 500 this year, as it’s uncommon for the S&P 500 to have flat or negative returns after a losing the previous year. Since 1950, the stock index has risen more than 20% after a negative year 53% of the time. Inflation, a major headwind for stocks in 2022, has also cooled from a 41-year-record, suggesting the Fed can hit pause on raising interest rates, and possibly even start cutting in 2023. 

“We think 2023 is arguably more akin to 1982, when stocks went nearly vertical,” Lee said.

His outlook is counter to that of many other Wall Street strategists. Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley have predicted a 20%-25% decline in the S&P 500 in the first half of the year. A veteran investment chief from Gateway Capital told Insider this week that stocks could crash in 2023, as structural changes in the economy mean the “bull market cocktail” is over.

Bitcoin and Dogecoin cryptocurrencies.

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• Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies lost ground Wednesday following a recent rally. 
• Bitcoin in January has been in recovery mode after tumbling 64% in 2022. 
• The broader crypto market this month regained a valuation of more than $1 trillion. 

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies moved lower Wednesday, after recent gains propelled the broader cryptocurrency market’s valuation back above $1 trillion. 

Bitcoin fell 1.3% to $22,699, and ether declined 2.1% to $1,565.60. Among other altcoins, Solana gave up 1.5% to trade at $24.16, and dogecoin lost 1.8%.  

Bitcoin so far in 2023 has flown up about 37%, rebounding after a bleak 2022 “crypto winter” performance that left the digital asset down by 64%. 

Its January advance contributed to the cryptocurrency market recapturing a valuation of more than $1 trillion. The market lost grip of that valuation after the November collapse of FTX which has since led founder Sam Bankman-Fried to face eight criminal charges. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

“Bitcoin is consolidating after making a five-month high. The recent rally couldn’t break above the $23,500 level, which could pave the way for a minor dip towards the $22,000 region,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note late Tuesday. 

He said bitcoin faces major macro events that could lead the world’s largest cryptocurrency to tread water in the short term.

“When all the dust settles from Q4 GDP, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, and the Federal Open Market Committee decision, strong resistance should come from the $25,000 level,” he said.

Meanwhile, stablecoin USDC slipped 0.2%. Its parent company Circle has blamed the US Securities & Exchange Commission for the failure of its $9 billion plan to go public through a SPAC, according to the Financial Times.

Madrid says it has detained suspected pro-Russian terrorist bomber.

A group of Jewish students and an anti-hate speech association have filed a legal complaint against Twitter (TWTR.MX) at a German court, they said on Wednesday, arguing the company did not remove anti-Semitic content.

The European Union of Jewish Students and HateAid criticised what they described as a lack of moderation regarding content which could incite hatred.

The complaint, filed at a Berlin court, concerns six posts which the groups said were anti-Semitic but not deleted even though they were reported. In one case, the deleting of a post which denied the Holocaust was explicitly refused, said the groups.

Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.

In a statement, HateAid and the EUJS said they were trying to establish whether Twitter users have a legal right to enforce Twitter’s terms and conditions, such as not tolerating threats and hateful behaviour.

Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for a comment.

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on continued U.S. support to Ukraine at noon (1700 GMT), the White House said on Wednesday.

The White House did not elaborate but the appearance will come after Germany said it would supply its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, overcoming misgivings about sending heavy weaponry that Kyiv sees as crucial to defeat Russia’s invasion but Moscow casts as a dangerous provocation.

Wall Street’s main indexes were set to open lower on Wednesday as downbeat quarterly updates from Microsoft and Boeing added to fears of a recession.

Shares of the software giant (MSFT.O) fell 2.7% in premarket trading after it warned that growth in its lucrative cloud business could stall, while its PC unit continued to struggle.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) and ServiceNow Inc (NOW.N), which have substantial cloud businesses, fell between 1.3% and 3.0%.

Other large growth stocks, including Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), also dropped between 0.7% and 1.5%.

Growth stocks, however, have enjoyed a bounce in January after a battering last year, with investors now focused on earnings reports to assess the impact of the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes and to gauge whether the renewed enthusiasm for such stocks will be sustained.

The S&P 500 Growth index (.IGX) has added over 4% in the month, reclaiming more than half of its losses from December.

“The environment may look attractive because some of these cloud companies, like Salesforce, are down so much, but people are still skeptical because we’re heading into weaker economic news,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

“We still have inflation, we still have the Fed raising interest rates, we’re seeing companies laying off thousands of peoples … We’re not completely through the cycle yet.”

Dow constituent, Boeing Co (BA.N) slipped 2.4% as the planemaker’s losses widened in 2022 and it fell short of fourth-quarter revenue expectations.

At 8:29 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 237 points, or 0.7%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 35.5 points, or 0.88%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 159.75 points, or 1.34%.

AT&T Inc (T.N) rose 1.7% on reporting higher-than-expected quarterly subscriber additions, while Textron Inc (TXT.N) added 3% as the Cessna jet maker reported better-than-expected revenue, boosted by demand for its private jets.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) slid over 1.5% weighed down by lower-than-expected medical device sales in the fourth quarter as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in China and supply chain issues hit its international operations.

News Corp(NWSA.O) added 5% after Rupert Murdoch withdrew a proposal to reunite News Corp and Fox Corp.

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