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 items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Chewing things over
U.S. stock markets bounced back a little Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.75%, the Nasdaq increasing 0.69% and the Dow jumping 133 points. But while it was a positive session, it was not without some choppiness as investors considered new job openings data (fairly strong) and Fed minutes (more on that below). December’s jobs report is coming Friday morning, as well, so market watchers still have another big data point to chew over this week. Read live markets updates here.
2. Amazon plans bigger job cuts
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during the GeekWire Summit in Seattle on Oct. 5, 2021.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees, far more than initially 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 slashed their payroll, including Salesforce, which said Wednesday morning it would cut 10% of its workforce. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the staff reductions Wednesday evening after a news report about the layoffs blew up the company’s plans to disclose the job cuts. “However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me,” Jassy wrote in a post on the company blog.
3. ‘Some time’
4. Cox joins the mobile fray
In this photo illustration, the Cox Communications logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.
Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Cox Communications, the privately held cable and internet giant, will join its publicly traded rivals in offering a nationwide mobile service to its customers. Cox, which has 7 million customers in 18 states across several regions of the U.S., intends to offer plans similar in price to what Comcast and Charter sell to their customers. Cable and internet providers have been ramping up mobile offerings as a way to keep customers using their broadband services, particularly as more people ditch cable in favor of streaming services. Read more from CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo here.
5. Congress in limbo
U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gets a pat on the back from one of his House colleagues prior to a fourth round of voting for a new House Speaker on the second day of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 4, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
– CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jordan Novet, Jeff Cox, Lillian Rizzo, Christina Wilkie and Chelsey Cox contributed to this report.
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