Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. One day more
Friday is the final trading day of 2023, and the S&P 500 is within 0.28% of the all-time closing high it’s been chasing this week. The broad market index was little changed on Thursday, for year-to-date gains of more than 24% with just one session to go. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, already at a record, advanced 0.14% Thursday and is up almost 14% on the year, while the Nasdaq Composite held steady for year-to-date gains of 44%. Follow live market updates.
2. Powering down
Shoppers converge in a Target store ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and traditional Black Friday sales in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. November 21, 2023.
Vincent Alban | Reuters
The boom times of consumer spending may be winding down, as some companies start to lose their pricing power. The Covid pandemic ushered in a lengthy period of big spending on everything from home improvement to travel to restaurants. And inflation only helped to prop up prices. But with prices cooling, demand waning and supply improving, the era of price-resistant spending may be over for some. FedEx, Nike and Target have all cut sales forecasts, and Spirit Airlines, Hasbro and others have turned to cost-cutting to maintain earnings in the face of slowing revenue.
3. Bubble burst
Adam Neumann of WeWork and Victor Fung Kwok-king, right, chairman of Fung Group, attend a signing ceremony at WeWork’s Weihai Road location on April 12, 2018 in Shanghai, China.
Jackal Pan | Visual China Group | Getty Images
This year saw the end of cheap money for tech startups as venture investors reeled in the record-high levels of financing they had poured into new businesses. That lack of easy money led to several high-profile failures. WeWork and Bird filed for bankruptcy, while fads like Hyperloop One, videoconferencing startup Hopin and social audio company Clubhouse faded away. It’s likely that more startup bubbles will pop in 2024 as…
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