The daily business briefing: January 5, 2024

1. Jobs report expected to show hiring still strong

The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that U.S. employers added 160,000 jobs in December, according to forecasters surveyed by FactSet. That figure would mark a drop from 199,000 in November but would still be enough to indicate strong hiring. If the jobs report comes in close to expectations, the economy will have added 2.7 million jobs in 2023, or about 226,000 per month. The job market's resilience has matched the overall strength of the economy through the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign to raise interest rates to bring down inflation. Some economists have warned higher borrowing costs could trigger a recession. The Associated Press

2. Wall Street poised to end 9-week winning streak

Stocks continued to struggle in the new year, with futures edging lower early Friday ahead of the December jobs report. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2% at 7 a.m. ET. S&P 500 and the Nasdaq futures were down 0.3%. The Dow was little changed on Thursday, while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively. The three major averages are on track to snap nine-week winning streaks in a rough start to 2024 trading after 2023's gains. The Nasdaq has fallen 3.3% this week. The Dow and the S&P 500 are down 0.7% and 1.7%, respectively. CNBC

3. Foreign entities paid Trump properties millions during his presidency

Governments and state-linked entities from China, Saudi Arabia and other countries paid at least $7.8 million to Donald Trump's hotels in Washington and Las Vegas and his properties in New York while he was president, according to public documents and internal financial records obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. China's government and other entities were the biggest spenders, paying Trump businesses more than $5.5 million, according to a report published Thursday by the committee's Democratic minority. The report came out as House Republicans are conducting an impeachment inquiry focused on unproven allegations that President Biden benefited from his son Hunter's overseas business dealings. The Wall Street Journal

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4. Google starts test of plan to eliminate tracking with cookies

Google on Thursday started a limited test restricting the use of cookies to track the online activity of 1% of the people using its Chrome browser. The internet search giant plans to eliminate the use of cookies for all Chrome users by the end of 2024. Google's Chrome is by far the world's most popular browser, so the change would have a huge impact on the $600 billion-a-year online-ad industry. Cookies let companies track activity across websites, allowing advertisers to target users with ads that might interest them. According to The Wall Street Journal, many advertisers aren't ready for the change, even though Google has introduced "software tools designed to help replace cookies." The Wall Street Journal

5. TGI Fridays closes 36 restaurants

TGI Fridays this week closed 36 restaurants across the United States and sold eight stores in the Northeast back to former CEO Ray Blanchette, who plans to "lead the locations into a new phase of revitalization," the company said. TGI Fridays, which now has 237 U.S. locations, plans to offer more than 1,000 transfer opportunities, covering 80% of the affected employees. The company also recently restructured its leadership team. "As we continue along our path of transformation to revitalize the Fridays brand and implement a long-term growth strategy, we see a bright future for TGI Fridays," TGI Fridays CEO Weldon Spangler said in a statement. NPR