PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Feb 6

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google said on Wednesday that it is scraping its goal of hiring employees from underrepresented groups and is reviewing some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

- Banks led by Morgan Stanley MS.N have sold $5.5 billion of debt they lent to support Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of social media platform X in 2022.

- Housing and Urban Development secretary Scott Turner said on Wednesday that a cross-government effort to privatize Fannie Mae FNMA.PK and Freddie Mac FMCC.PK will be a priority as he takes control of the agency.

- Fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 is considering filing for bankruptcy protection after exiting its last chapter 11 roughly five years ago.

- Sonos SONO.O said it is reducing the total size of its workforce by around 12% to cut costs, shortly after Tom Conrad took over as interim chief executive of the troubled maker of premium wireless speakers and other audio products.

- Insurer Allstate ALL.N said it expects to record a $1.1 billion loss from the wildfires in Southern California in January.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

((globalnewsmonitoring@thomsonreuters.com))