1. Stock futures fall after post-election rally
U.S. stock index futures pulled back early Friday as wrangling continued over the presidential vote count. On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed with big gains, extending a post-election rally as Democrat Joe Biden appeared close to winning the presidential race and Republicans appeared likely to retain control of the Senate, signaling possible gridlock in Washington. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 jumped by 2 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq shot up by 2.6 percent. The S&P 500 has now risen by 7.4 percent this week, more than making up for last week's 5.6 percent loss. The Dow is up by 7.1 percent this week. Both indexes are on track for their best week since April. "I think we're getting closer to clarity," says J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade.
2. Uber shares fall after quarterly revenue falls short
Uber shares fell by up to 4 percent in after-hours trading after the ride-hailing company on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Uber reported $3.13 billion in revenue, but analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected $3.2 billion. The stock regained some ground after Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a conference call that there were early signs that the company's core ride-hailing business would recover fully from the damage caused from the coronavirus pandemic. He said Uber's "no-mask-no-ride" policy was helping to bring riders back, with business improving in 11 of the 15 top U.S. markets, including New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta. "Uber comes back when cities come back," Khosrowshahi said.
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3. Kushner company tries to evict tenants who failed to pay rent in pandemic
An apartment company owned in part by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner has filed court papers seeking to evict tenants who have failed to keep up with rent in the coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing court filings and interviews with more than a dozen tenants. The company, Westminster Management, also has sent letters to tenants threatening legal fees. For now, a state eviction moratorium, which was renewed on Oct. 29, bars Maryland courts from approving evictions. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ban provides further protections, letting many tenants halt the process through the end of this year. Westminster, a unit of the Kushner Cos., released a statement saying the company was fully complying with state and federal eviction laws, including policies approved in the Cares Act and by the CDC.
4. Fed holds interest rates near zero as expected
The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced that it had decided to hold its target short-term interest rate near zero, as expected. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the economy is growing but there is more the central bank can do to help the economy recover from the damage it has suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Is monetary policy out of power or out of ammunition? The answer to that is no, I don't think that," Powell said in a news conference after the Fed's meeting. "I think that we're strongly committed to using these powerful tools that we have to support the economy during this difficult time for as long as needed and no one should have any doubt about that."
5. Economists expect jobs report to show 6th month of gains
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected the Labor Department to report Friday that U.S. employers added 530,000 jobs in October. That would mark the sixth consecutive month of strong job growth following the unprecedented losses that hit in the spring as the coronavirus pandemic shut down businesses across the country. Economists also predicted that the unemployment rate would fall to 7.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent in September. If the gains come through as expected, the economy will have recovered about half of the 22 million jobs lost in March and April, when the unemployment rate peaked at 14.7 percent. But job growth has slowed since June as coronavirus cases started rising again, and a fall wave is threatening to cause more damage.
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