To begin their trading day, investors should be aware of the following key news items:
1. Decrease inflation?
More positive inflation data has markets celebrating. The Dow finished the day higher by more than 150 points on Wednesday, marking its fourth consecutive day of gains. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite also saw gains. This coincides with investors receiving additional evidence that the peak of the inflation wave may have passed.
2. A spike in big-box sales
Consumers are spending more money and going to Walmart stores more frequently. Due to a growth in e-commerce and grocery purchases, the big-box retailer reported a 5% increase in revenue in the third quarter of their fiscal year. While e-commerce sales increased by 15% globally and 24% in the United States, customer transactions increased by 3.4% annually. Walmart exceeded Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly earnings and revenue thanks to this. Still, not everything is sunshine and butterflies. “There were clearly some tendencies in the business that made us pause and kind of reassess the health of the customer,” Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said to CNBC’s Melissa Repko in the final few weeks of October.
3. A red alert
In the biggest strike the union has ever organised, Starbucks employees are going on strike. On Thursday, the busiest day of the company’s Red Cup promotion—on which the coffee giant distributes reusable red cups for the holidays—baristas at over 200 sites around the country will go on strike.
4. Microsoft’s hopes for AI
Microsoft will take aim at Nvidia. Microsoft said on Wednesday at a conference in Seattle that it will be releasing its first artificial intelligence chip, which may rival Nvidia’s highly sought-after AI graphics processing units. Additionally, it said that an Arm-based processor for general-purpose computing tasks will be released. However, Microsoft is embracing AI in more ways than one. Additionally, the tech behemoth intends to improve the Microsoft Office Copilot AI add-on. Through extensive automation, the technology promises to alleviate the agony of meetings for thirty dollars a month.
5. The winning recipe
Both in the racecourse and the retail space, Red Bull is winning. Christian Horner, the team’s principal and CEO, told CNBC that Red Bull Racing is winning 19 of the 20 Grand Prix weekends so far this year, and that success is immediately translating to increased sales of the energy drink bearing the team’s name.
Source (CNBC)
