Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, September 26, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Here are the key news items investors need to start their trading day:
1. Waiting for the job number
After a gangbusters two days to start the week, stocks have fallen for two days. Despite the 2-2 record, however, stocks are on track to close their best week since the end of June. However, Friday’s jobs report can say a lot about that. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls, to be announced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. ET, to rise 275,000 in September. If the number gets higher, some market observers fear it will encourage the Federal Reserve to become even more aggressive in its bid to cool the economy as inflation skyrockets. “Bad news equals good news, good news equals bad news,” said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Dreyfus-Mellon. “If they get bad news about the economy, that means the Fed will tighten less.” Read live market updates here.
2. Musk is under pressure
The logo and trading symbol for Twitter is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, July 11, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Elon Musk has until Oct. 28 to make a deal to buy Twitter, a Delaware judge ruled Thursday. If there is no deal by then, the case will go to trial in November. The contest between the social network and the billionaire chief of Tesla and SpaceX was set to begin on October 17. Twitter is suing him for trying to pull out of his deal to buy the company, but Musk said earlier this week he would give in and complete the deal at its original price of $54.20 a share. The judge granted Musk’s request for a postponement, which would give him more time to finalize the deal. But Twitter is skeptical of the billionaire’s motives. The company opposed moving the trial date, saying its request was “an invitation to further doom and delay”.
3. The latest Credit Suisse news
The logo of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse can be seen on a branch in Zurich, Switzerland, November 3, 2021.
Arnd Wlegmann | Reuters
Credit Suisse tries to fight back. The beleaguered Swiss bank said it is aiming to buy back more than $3 billion in debt if its share price falls and is betting on the rise in debt. It also plans to sell the legendary Savoy Hotel, located in Zurich’s financial district, sparking even more alarm that the bank is trying to secure liquidity. Credit Suisse has been grappling with the fallout from several scandals, most notably that resulting from its $5 billion exposure to hedge fund Archegos Capital Management, which collapsed in March 2021. Earlier this year, federal prosecutors in the US charged Archegos’ owner, Bill Hwang, and one of his top lieutenants with securities fraud, alleging they manipulated markets. Several banks were hit when Archegos went under, but Credit Suisse suffered the most.
4. Biden’s pot pardon’s
An employee offers up a jar of marijuana after it became legal in the state to sell recreational marijuana to customers over the age of 21 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Illinois will begin legal sales of marijuana on January 1, 2020.
Matthew Hatcher | Reuters
President Joe Biden stunned the country on Thursday when he announced he would pardon thousands of marijuana violations. He also ordered members of his cabinet to review how marijuana is classified under federal laws. At the moment it is considered more serious than fentanyl at the federal level and is classified on the same level as heroin, Biden noted, “It makes no sense.” He also encouraged governors to follow suit as states increasingly legalize marijuana. “Just as no one should be in a federal prison just because of marijuana possession, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason,” the president said.
Read more: Cannabis stocks skyrocket after Biden’s announcement
5. Tribute in the shadow of war
Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski speaks after he and Belarusian human rights organization Vjasna received the Right Livelihood Award 2020 in Stockholm on December 3, 2020.
Anders Wiklund | Afp | Getty Images
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is being distributed to activists in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus as Russia’s unwarranted months-long invasion of Ukraine falters. One of the recipients, Ales Bialiatski, is a human rights and democracy activist widely regarded as a political prisoner. He is imprisoned in Belarus, whose government gave Russian leader Vladimir Putin the space to carry out his attack on Ukraine earlier this year. The other winners are the Ukrainian rights group the Center for Civil Liberties and Memorial, a Russian organization founded in 1987 to honor victims of political oppression. Read live updates about the war in Ukraine here.
– Samantha Subin, Jeff Cox, Jonathan Vanian, Elliot Smith, Christina Wilkie and Jenni Reid of CNBC contributed to this report.
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