The daily business briefing: November 2, 2020

1. Lumber Liquidators shares jump as earnings smash expectations

Lumber Liquidators shares shot up by 11 percent in premarket trading Monday after the wood-flooring company reported quarterly sales and profit that trounced expectations. The company said that demand surged thanks to "an increased willingness of customers to allow contractors into their homes" for home-improvement projects during the coronavirus pandemic. Net income jumped to $15.5 million, or 53 cents a share, from $1.05 million, or 4 cents a share, in the same period last year. Sales rose to $295.8 million, a 12.1 percent increase, beating a FactSet consensus estimate of $275.6 million. The company said the reinstatement of tariffs on goods from China reduced cash flow in August. The company also said it would close its eight Canadian stores, plus six of its U.S. stores, by the end of the year.

MarketWatch

2. U.S. stock futures rise as campaign enters last day

U.S. stock index futures rose early Monday as the presidential election campaign entered its final day. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped by 1.4 percent, while those of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose by 1.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. The gains came despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the United States and in Europe. In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced that England is closing non-essential businesses for four weeks to curb spiking new infections. "The world is still largely in a holding pattern as investors await clarity on the U.S. election," Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note Sunday. "The world will likely be a lot clearer in just a few days thanks to the election being over, stimulus talks resuming in Washington, further central bank support."

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CNBC

3. Report: Nursing home staffing fell at crucial point in pandemic

Dozens of nursing homes had potentially dangerous shortages of caregivers in some of the deadliest days of the coronavirus crisis, limiting care for many vulnerable residents, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing federal data. Up to 127 hard-hit nursing homes in New Jersey and New York had nurse staffing levels in April that were at least 25 percent below levels on comparable days in 2019. More than 300 nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks had at least one day when staffing levels dropped to more than 40 percent below where they were at the same time last year. "That's really endangering the residents," said David Grabowski, a nursing-home expert and professor of health-care policy at Harvard Medical School. "Problems happen during the pandemic when you don't have sufficient staffing on that given day."

The Wall Street Journal

4. Judge orders USPS to follow 'extraordinary measures' to deliver ballots

A federal judge on Sunday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to remind senior managers they have to follow "extraordinary measures" to deliver ballots ahead of Tuesday's presidential election. Voters are casting a record number of mail-in ballots so they can avoid the risk of coronavirus infection at crowded polling places. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said that the postal service must use "special procedures" it has in place to make sure it "delivers every ballot possible by the cutoff time on Election Day." USPS has agreed to do so. Sullivan also said that every ballot must have a legible postmark, and that the postal service must remind managers to make every effort to deliver ballots with a local destination on the same day.

CNBC

5. Factories bounce back despite rising coronavirus cases

Factory activity in Asia and Europe came back in October as demand for products from cars to electronics rebounded despite a new wave of coronavirus infections. Surveys of purchasing managers released Monday showed that India, the world's second most populous country, posted its biggest one-month rise in factory activity in more than a decade, and manufacturing in Thailand and South Korea increased for the first month this year. Eurozone factories, led by Germany, also picked up. Data firm IHS Markit said its manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for the region rose to a 27-month high of 54.8 in October from 53.7 in September. Any reading above 50 indicates increasing activity. Similar surveys to be released Monday are expected to show a rise in the U.S. as the fourth quarter begins.

The Wall Street Journal