Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on January 04, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Here are the most important news investors need to start their trading day:
1. Chewing things
US stock markets were slightly lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up 0.75%, the Nasdaq up 0.69% and the Dow up 133 points. While it was a positive session, there was also some volatility as investors considered new jobs data (quite strong) and Fed minutes (more on that below). The December jobs report is also due on Friday morning, so market watchers have another big data point to chew on this week. Read live market updates here.
2. Amazon plans to cut more jobs
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at the GeekWire Summit on October 5, 2021 in Seattle.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon It plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs, far more than originally expected. In November, CNBC reported that Amazon, which employs more than 1.5 million people, expected to lay off 10,000 people. The move comes after several other tech companies, including others, cut their salaries Salesforcewho said that he will cut 10% of the workforce on Wednesday morning. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the layoffs late Wednesday after news of the layoffs scuppered the company’s plans to announce job cuts. “However, since one of our teammates leaked this information overseas, we decided to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me,” Jassy wrote on the company blog.
3. ‘For a while’
The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its December policy-setting meeting on Wednesday. While the central bank didn’t quite give investors what they wanted, it didn’t rock the boat too much. “Participants generally observed that the accommodative policy stance should be maintained until incoming data provides confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path to 2 percent. The Fed is expected to raise rates again at its next meeting, which ends on February 1, although traders are expecting the mid-December they think there may be a smaller increase than the percentage increase.
4. Cox joins the mobile fray
This photo illustration shows the Cox Communications logo on a smartphone screen.
Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Cox Communications, the private cable and Internet giant, will join its publicly traded rivals in offering nationwide mobile service to its customers. Cox, which has 7 million customers in 18 states across several U.S. regions, plans to offer plans similar to those sold to Comcast and Charter customers. Cable and internet providers are expanding mobile offerings to keep customers using their broadband services, especially as more people eschew cable in favor of streaming services. Read more from CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo.
5. Congress is vague
U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pats a fellow House colleague on the back before the fourth round of voting for a new House speaker during the second day of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Congress in Washington. USA, January 4, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The United States House of Representatives entered its third day without a speaker on Thursday, leaving much of the federal government in chaos and confusion. No member of the House of Representatives may take the oath of office until the Speaker is elected. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed three more times on Wednesday in his bid to pick up the gavel as a small but stubborn faction of hard-right lawmakers continued to vote. despite a new endorsement from former President Donald Trump against him. It is unclear when Republicans will break the deadlock. Democrats, whose new leader has nominated Hakeem Jeffries of New York for speaker, have shown they are not ready to bail them out of the mess.
– CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jordan Novet, Jeff Cox, Lillian Rizzo, Christina Wilkie and Chelsey Cox contributed to this report.
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