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5 issues to know earlier than the inventory market opens Friday, August 9

News Update – Pre-Markets

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. Ticking up

Stocks finished in the green on Thursday following renewed confidence among investors in the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 moved 2.3% higher to close the session at 5,319.31, marking the best day for the broad market index since November 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also surged, advancing 1.76% to end the session at 39,446.49. The Nasdaq Composite gained the biggest percentage of all the major indexes, finishing 2.87% higher at 16,660.02. A weaker Japanese yen versus the U.S. dollar also helped markets trend upward during the session. Follow live market updates.

2. Labor market optimism

Job seekers attend the JobNewsUSA.com South Florida Job Fair held at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on June 26, 2024.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Weekly jobless claims have fallen. According to the Labor Department, initial jobless claims for the week came out to a seasonally adjusted 233,000. That’s a drop of 17,000 from the previous week and lower than the Dow Jones estimate of 240,000. This serves as a bright spot after last Friday’s much weaker-than-expected jobs report for July, which caused concern over the condition of the labor market and saw the unemployment rate rise to 4.3%. On the other hand, the level of continuing claims inched higher to 1.875 million. That’s the highest level since Nov. 27, 2021.

3. You get AI, and you get AI

Teresa Heitsenrether at the New York Stock Exchange

Courtesy of JPMorgan

Thousands of JPMorgan Chase employees now have a generative artificial intelligence assistant. The program, known as LLM Suite, has been made available to more than 60,000 employees at the bank. People familiar with the plans told CNBC that the AI software is anticipated to be as ubiquitous one day at JPMorgan as Zoom, the videoconferencing platform. “Ultimately, we’d like to be able to move pretty fluidly across models depending on the use cases,” said Teresa Heitsenrether, JPMorgan’s chief data and analytics officer, in an interview. “The plan is not to be beholden to any one model provider.”

4. In command

Kelly Ortberg, chief executive officer of Rockwell Collins Inc., stands for a photograph at the company’s production facility in Manchester, Iowa, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing officially has a new CEO. Aerospace veteran Robert “Kelly” Ortberg took the helm on Thursday, seeking to restore the company’s reputation. On his first day as CEO, Ortberg planned to walk the floor of Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where the plane-maker builds its 737 Max. The new CEO also planned to review safety and quality plans and address employees. “I can’t tell you how proud and excited I am to be a member of the Boeing team,” he said in a note to staff on Thursday. “While we clearly have a lot of work to do in restoring trust, I’m confident that working together, we will return the company to be the industry leader we all expect.”

5. Box office billion

H/O: Moana 2 Movie Stills from teaser.

Courtesy: Walt Disney Studios

It’s looking like three Disney films could hit $1 billion at the box office this year. The latest Pixar film, “Inside Out 2,” has already topped that threshold, reaching $1.5 billion at the global box office to become the highest-grossing animated film ever. “Deadpool & Wolverine” may be next on the list. The first R-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe film has already shattered records in its opening weekend and is expected to reach $1 billion before its run ends. But that’s not all. Disney is set to release “Moana 2” around Thanksgiving. While its predecessor “Moana” in 2016 brought in just under $700 million at the global box office, excitement for more “Moana” content is expected to spur ticket sales later in the year.

CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jesse Pound, Jeff Cox, Hugh Son, Leslie Josephs and Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.

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