The daily business briefing: October 28, 2019

(Image credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

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1. Joker reclaims top spot at domestic box office
2. Report: LVMH makes takeover offer for Tiffany
3. Stocks make modest gains ahead of a big week
4. EU diplomats meet to formally approve Brexit delay
5. Business hiring slows, hits 7-year low

published 28 October 2019

1. Joker reclaims top spot at domestic box office

Warner Bros.' Joker reclaimed the top spot at the domestic box office over the weekend, narrowly beating out Maleficent: Mistress of Evil a week after the Disney film bumped it out of first place. Joker made $18.9 million in ticket sales, just ahead of Maleficent's $18.5 million, according to Sunday studio estimates. Joker is only the third movie this year to claim three weekends at No. 1, after Universal's Glass and Disney's Avengers: Endgame. The Maleficent follow-up, starring Angelina Jolie, debuted at No. 1 with $36 million in its first weekend, then slowed down. It has now made $65 million in North America. MGM's animated comedy The Addams Family took the No. 3 spot this weekend with $11.7 million, followed by Sony's Zombieland: Double Tap with $11.6 million.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has made a takeover offer for iconic U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co., The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. The French company reportedly sent Tiffany leaders a letter offering about $120 per share, a 22 percent premium over Friday's closing price. A deal at that price would value Tiffany at nearly $14.5 billion. If the deal goes through, it will be the biggest acquisition ever for LVMH. The company gained control of Christian Dior in 2017 with a deal worth $7 billion.

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U.S. stock index futures edged higher ahead of the start of trading on Monday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all made modest gains as investors braced for a big week, with earnings reports coming from Apple, Exxon, Facebook, and other companies. The Federal Reserve is holding a two-day meeting that is expected to end Wednesday with the central bank's third quarter-point interest rate cut in as many meetings, followed by a statement by Fed Chair Jerome Powell that could provide hints of where Fed policy is heading next. The federal jobs report due Friday also will provide a fresh indication of how strong the economy is as some economists warn that trade tensions are raising the risk of recession.

Diplomats from European Union member nations met Monday to make a formal decision on Britain's request to delay its exit from the trading bloc, which was scheduled for Oct. 31. The EU agreed to the Brexit delay in principle at the end of last week, but didn't set a new date. EU diplomats on Monday granted an extension to Jan. 31, or earlier if British lawmakers ratify a deal earlier. In London, British lawmakers are due to vote on whether to schedule an early election on Dec. 12 as requested by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who reluctantly gave up on his vow to lead the country out of the EU on schedule and proposed an early vote to break Parliament's deadlock over Brexit.

Hiring at U.S. companies has fallen to a seven-year low, according to a newly released survey by the National Association for Business Economics. The survey, conducted from Sept. 26 through Oct. 14, also indicated that fewer employers were raising pay. The hiring slowdown came as an increasing number of businesses report slower sales and profit growth. Economists have been forecasting slower economic growth in 2020 as tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war take a toll on corporations worldwide. "The U.S. economy appears to be slowing, and respondents expect still slower growth over the next 12 months," said Constance Hunter, NABE president and chief economist at accounting firm KPMG.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.