The daily business briefing: January 25, 2019

1. Senate fails to pass bills to reopen government

The Senate on Thursday failed to pass dueling bills proposing to end the partial federal government shutdown. One bill, introduced by Republicans, included $5.7 billion President Trump wants for his border wall. The other, introduced by Democrats, sought to fund the government through Feb. 8 to allow time for negotiations on border security, without money for Trump's wall. The bills needed 60 votes to advance. The GOP bill got 50 votes; the bill favored by Democrats got 52 votes. After the votes, lawmakers began negotiating behind the scenes as the shutdown ended its fifth week, and 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay are missing their second straight paycheck on Friday. The number of federal employees who sought unemployment benefits more than doubled this week to 25,000.

Reuters Politico

2. California finds PG&E equipment didn't start deadly 2017 wildfire

California investigators said Thursday in a long-awaited report that a 2017 wildfire that killed 22 people in Northern California wine country was caused by a malfunction of a privately owned electrical system, not equipment belonging to embattled utility Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. "I eliminated all other causes for the Tubbs Fire, with the exception of an electrical caused fire originating from an unknown event affecting privately owned conductor or equipment," CalFire Battalion Chief John Martinez wrote in his report. The state firefighting agency concluded that the blaze started next to a residence built in 1946. It found no violations of state law connected with the disaster. PG&E shares soared by 75 percent Thursday after the report.

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Sacramento Bee CNBC

3. BuzzFeed, Verizon, and Gannett slash 1,000 media jobs

Several major media companies — Gannett, BuzzFeed, and Verizon Media — announced major layoffs across the country on Wednesday and Thursday. More than 1,000 media jobs were cut from a slew of publications. Gannett cut an unknown number of positions from its publications under the USA Today network Wednesday. BuzzFeed slashed 15 percent of its workforce, or 200 employees, it revealed Wednesday night. And Verizon Media capped the purge by laying off seven percent of its employees, amounting to about 750 jobs cut. Verizon Media owns HuffPost, AOL, and Yahoo, and HuffPost editors tweeted that the site's entire opinion section was eliminated. At least 20 Gannett employees, including senior editors and Pulitzer Prize winners, said they had been laid off, though the company has not announced the extent of the cuts.

The New York Times The Huffington Post

4. Starbucks shares rise after quarterly revenue beats expectations

Starbucks shares jumped by nearly 2 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday after the coffee giant reported better-than-expected sales and earnings growth. CEO Kevin Johnson said the company was especially pleased with improvement in comparable store sales over the quarter. "With this solid start to the fiscal year, we are on track to deliver on our full-year commitments," he said. Adjusted net income came in at 68 cents per share, beating expectations of 65 cents per share. Revenue rose by 9 percent to $6.63 billion, beating the average Refinitiv estimate of $6.49 billion. "We also saw continued improvement in cold beverages," Starbucks chief operating officer Rosalind Brewer told CNBC. "So we continue to learn that cold beverages sell all year long."

CNBC

5. Shutdown talks and earnings reports boost stock futures

U.S. stock-index futures gained early Friday ahead of another flurry of corporate earnings reports, and as hope rose for an end to the five-week partial federal government shutdown. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up by 0.7 percent, while those of the broader S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. The optimism regarding the shutdown came after President Trump, who has been insisting on $5.7 billion for his border wall, said if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) can negotiate an agreement on reopening the government, he would support it. The Dow closed slightly lower on Thursday on lingering concerns over U.S.-China trade talks, after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the two sides were "miles and miles" from a deal.

CNBC