HomeBusiness5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday, November 4

5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday, November 4

Traders on the floor of the NYSE, Nov. 1, 2022.

Source: NYSE

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

1. It’s jobs Friday

The federal government’s monthly jobs report hits this morning, giving investors a big data point as they game out what the Federal Reserve could do next in its rate-hiking quest to vanquish inflation. Economists polled by Dow Jones estimate that the economy added 205,000 jobs last month. That would represent a slight slowdown. Yet they also expect the unemployment rate to have stayed at 3.5%, which reflects tightness in the labor market – and will likely fuel the Fed’s rationale for continued rate increases. Stocks, meanwhile, are coming off a negative session Thursday. Read live market updates here.

2. Amazon pauses corporate hiring

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks with CNBC’s Jon Fortt.

CNBC

Yet another ominous sign for Big Tech: Amazon said yesterday that it would pause hiring across its corporate workforce. The company had already frozen new hires in its corporate retail workforce, but this new move covers a broader array of businesses there. After thriving during the earlier days of the Covid pandemic, when people would order all sorts of goods from Amazon as they were stuck at home, the company is mired in a slump. Consumers aren’t buying as much stuff and have shifted more to experiences, ie, food, hospitality and travel. (See below.) Amazon warned of a rough holiday quarter, and its market cap has fallen under the elite $1 trillion level. Meanwhile, Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos is thinking about bidding for the NFL’s Washington Commanders.

3. $tarbucks

Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Speaking of consumers’ preference for food instead of goods these days, Starbucks customers are still paying up for the coffee chain’s drinks despite price increases. In its quarterly earnings report Thursday, the company also said store traffic in the U.S. had almost rebounded fully to levels seen in 2019, before the Covid pandemic. Cold drinks continue to be a major driver of sales – they accounted for three-quarters of beverage sales at company-owned locations in the United States, the company said. And while it’s often the target of snark every fall, the company’s Pumpkin Spice Latte enjoyed a 70% increase in sales compared with the prior-year period.

Read more: Inflation to dampen holiday spending, retail group projects

4. ‘Total chaos’

The Twitter logo is displayed on the exterior of Twitter headquarters on October 26, 2022 in San Francisco, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s Twitter told staffers in an email Thursday night that it would start notifying people by email whether they would be laid off or kept on, according to NBC News. If they are retained, they will receive an email at their work account. People who are laid off will be notified in their private email accounts. “It’s total chaos, house melting down, everyone looking towards this email,” one employee told NBC. Yet there are Twitter employees who are eager to get out of the company and receive severance now that it’s in the hands of Musk, who has spread conspiracy theories and has indicated he would loosen content moderation standards. “At the end of this nightmare, I better get a cash prize,” an employee said to NBC.

5. ‘Dirty bomb’ claim debunked

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier meet, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 25, 2022.

Jesco Denzel | BPA | via Reuters

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