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Stocks rise as Dow goes negative for year – Google to lay off 12K workers – Fed says rates will stay high – Top crypto holds steady after Genesis’ bankruptcy – New cars selling for less than MSRP – Egg smuggling a growing problem
Stock futures traded higher on Friday amid concerns over slowing earnings and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 14 points or less than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.3%, CNBC reported.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 have posted three-day losing streaks, with the Dow slipping more than 250 points or 0.76%. It is now down 0.31% for the year thus far.
Netflix jumped 7% after founder Reed Hastings announced he is stepping down from his role as CEO and will remain as the company chairman, CNBC reported. Netflix also posted more subscribers than expected even though its quarterly earnings missed analysts’ estimates.
The benchmark US 10-Year Treasury Note was up +0.047 with a yield of 3.446% as of 8:35 AM EST.
In oil futures, WTI crude was up +0.5% at $80.73 a barrel, while Brent crude was up +0.51% at $86.60 per barrel as of 8:35 AM CT.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email sent to the company’s staff Friday that the firm will lay off 12,000 employees. The firm will begin layoffs in the US immediately, while in other countries, the process “will take longer due to local laws and practices.” US-based employees will be given 16 weeks of severance pay plus two weeks for each additional year they’ve worked at Google, the CEO stated, CNBC reported.
The layoffs come as other tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have laid off a combined 28,000 workers.
Federal Reserve Governor and vice chair Lael Brainard said on Thursday that interest rates need to remain high, despite signs inflation is starting to ease. Brainard insisted the Fed won’t waiver in its commitment to taming prices, which have recently decreased but remain at near four-decade highs, CNBC reported.
“Even with the recent moderation, inflation remains high, and policy will need to be sufficiently restrictive for some time to make sure inflation returns to 2% on a sustained basis,” Brainard said.
Following the bankruptcy announcement of Genesis, one of the largest institutional firms in the crypto lending business, Bitcoin has held surprisingly steady, reaching around $21,000 and making a 0.7% gain on a 24-hour basis. The second largest digital coin, Ethereum, is likewise up 1.2%, reaching nearly $1545, CoinDesk reported.
Good news for car buyers… While the last three years were bad times to buy a car, the latest figures show that in 2023, most new cars are now selling for less than MSRP, Jalopnik reported. By December 2022, new car buyers were paying an average of $300 below MSRP, CNN reported. While an improvement over the $700 over MSRP buyers were paying last spring, it’s still far from the $2,00 below MSRP buyers were saving in 2019.
As the average cost for a dozen grade A eggs in November reached $3.59, compared to $1.72 a year before, U.S. Customs and Border Protection are seeing an increase in egg-related smuggling, FOXBusiness reported. There was a 108% increase in seized egg products and poultry at ports of entry from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 of last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture statistics, BBC reported. CBS reported that a carton of a dozen eggs costs nearly $8 at some mini-markets in border communities, compared to less than $3 across the border in Tijuana, Mexico.
