Investopedia Markets News (all except PF)

• Retail and logistic companies may not hire as many people this holiday season as executives try to parse mixed economic messages.
• This means job seekers will be competing for fewer jobs, with lesser benefits than in years past, experts said.

Looking for a short-term job to help with holiday expenses? Be prepared for some stiff competition.

Landing holiday work is likely to be harder and come with less perks this season, retail and labor experts said, as companies will likely be more conservative about bringing on help as consumer sentiment plunges and executives brace for a potential consumer slowdown.

Seasonal hires could hit a low not seen in 15 years, the National Retail Federation said, forecasting 265,000 to 365,000 such jobs. Meanwhile, more Americans are seeking seasonal gigs—holiday job searches were up 27% year-over-year at the end of September, according to Indeed, a digital job board—and companies know they have the upper hand.

“The power is really in the hands of employers,” said Allison Shrivastava, an economist at Indeed. “They don’t have to offer things like signing bonuses. They don’t really have to compete to raise wages to attract workers.”

Limited holiday job opportunities is emblematic of the broader job market. Companies are laying off employees and slowing hiring. Unemployed Americans report being out of work for longer periods, though the overall unemployment rate remains relatively low.

Retailers have been less aggressive about publicizing their need for workers—and the lengths they'll go to bring them on board. Amazon (AMZN) offered up to $3,000 in signing bonuses in 2023. That doesn't appear to be on the table this year, with temporary jobs proving "really popular" and "often filling up within minutes of being posted," the company said.

Macy's (M) didn't mention referral bonuses while announcing its holiday hiring plans, despite paying up to $500 for help recruiting colleagues in 2023. Catalyst Brands didn't mention referral bonuses as part of its plan to hire 13,000 workers for six of its brands, including Aéropostale, Eddie Bauer, and JCPenney. In 2023, JCPenney alone was looking to bring on 10,000 people, and using referral bonuses to do so.

Retail and logistics companies are on track to make the fewest holiday hires since Challenger, Gray and Christmas began tallying them in 2012, the staffing firm said. (Some businesses may expect smaller spikes in demand, given that consumers started shopping earlier this year, according to Greg Dyer, chief commercial officer at Randstad USA, a staffing agency.)

The economy is a considerable and challenging factor for retailers, experts said. Total retail spending is growing, despite consumers souring on the economy. Much of this can be credited to the wealthy, who are comfortable paying for international trips and luxury goods because of the strong stock market. Meanwhile, those with more modest incomes have been pulling back on spending.

The so-called K-shaped economy can make staffing tricky. Stores may not need as many employees to help a few people on shopping sprees, unlike when dozens are spending more nominal amounts, Shrivastava said.

Holiday spending growth may slow this year, but sales are expected to crack $1 trillion for the first time, the National Retail Federation said. "It's a strange position for [employers] to be in," Shrivastava said.

• Nvidia is scheduled to report earnings next week, and analysts are expecting the chipmaker to top expectations again.
• Jefferies and Wedbush analysts have each recently said that increasing spending from big tech companies should lead to Nvidia beating estimates and raising its outlook.
• The results come as markets stumbled this week amid growing concern about how long AI spending will continue to grow.

Nvidia (NVDA) is set to report its latest earnings after the market closes next Wednesday, and analysts are expecting big things.

Analysts from Jefferies and Wedbush have each said in recent notes that they expect the artificial intelligence giant to "beat and raise," or report better financial metrics than analysts have projected and lift their future forecasts.

"Hyperscale capex spending results for Q3 generally exceeded expectations," Wedbush analysts wrote, maintaining their $210 price target. "More importantly, the large hyperscalers nearly ubiquitously talked to an expectation of increasing spending trends into future periods as they continue to expand investment to support their AI efforts."

Nvidia shares closed nearly 2% higher on Friday at around $190. The stock has gained 42% since the start of the year, far outpacing the gains of the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Nvidia is the most valuable company on the market today, meaning its stock likely has an outsized impact on your portfolio, and potentially your retirement. The chipmaker's performance in quarterly earnings can affect the stock prices of a range of companies involved in the AI sector.

The Wedbush analysts said that much of the growth in spending from "hyperscalers" such as Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) seems to end up being funneled to Nvidia, as the chipmaker "supplies a disproportionate amount of the AI server value."

However, some investors and analysts are starting to question how much the biggest tech companies should be willing to spend before they see a clearer path to getting a return on their investment into AI. Meanwhile, many market participants have been looking for signs of a bubble.

Bank of America analysts, keeping their price target at $275, said they expect Nvidia executives to reassure investors about their ability to meet demand, and said the company is facing high earnings expectations and growing skepticism around AI spending.

Nvidia is expected to report adjusted earnings per share of $1.26 on revenue of $55.28 billion, each up more than 55% from the same time a year ago, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Data center revenue, the chips Nvidia sells that other companies buy to train and run a variety of AI models, is expected to grow 61% and make up $49.53 billion of Nvidia's revenue.

Oppenheimer analysts lifted their price target for Nvidia earlier this week, calling the chipmaker the single company that is "best positioned to win" in the AI sector.

• President Donald Trump has reached trade deal frameworks with four Central American and South American nations that lower tariffs on products not made in the U.S.
  
• Experts say the move could reduce prices for some items that had tariff-related price increases, including bananas.
  

President Donald Trump is lowering some tariffs, and experts say it could help reduce grocery costs. However, don't expect prices to plummet any time soon.

On Thursday, the White House announced four framework trade deals with Central and South American nations, which aim to lower trade barriers, including some of the tariffs imposed by Trump earlier in the year. Fact sheets about the bargains did not mention specific products due for a tariff reduction, but said they would focus on items that cannot be produced in the U.S.

The new deals directly address Trump's controversial economic policy of raising import taxes on the vast majority of U.S. trading partners. While Trump and members of his administration have insisted foreign countries are paying the tariffs, business leaders have said they're passing them on to U.S. consumers.

Inflation has accelerated this year as tariffs took effect, and some heavily imported items, such as coffee, have seen significant price increases. Coffee prices have increased by 20% over the year as of September, according to the Consumer Price Index, and have been seized upon by tariff critics as an example of how tariffs are driving up prices.

Trump's move to lower some tariffs could lower prices for specific items, such as bananas, but is unlikely to have a significant impact on the overall cost of living, according to experts.

Speaking this week with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Trump indicated dropping the tariffs could blunt those price hikes.

"We're gonna lower some tariffs," he said after Ingraham brought up the high coffee prices. "We're gonna take care of all this stuff very quickly, very easily."

Experts said the trade deals could help alleviate some of the pressure on price increases, but are unlikely to lower prices quickly.

"While we might expect some price reductions for the affected goods, there’s no guarantee that these savings will fully reach consumers," said Can Erbil, a professor of economics at Boston College and an expert on international trade. "Factors such as supply chain adjustments, wholesale pricing, and retailer decisions could absorb some of the benefits. Additionally, any changes on the shelves may take weeks or months to materialize as contracts and logistics adjust."

Although the overall impact on the cost of living will be small, prices for certain products could fall noticeably, said Daniel A. Sumner, a professor of economics at UC Davis specializing in agricultural economics.

"For important foods, like bananas and other fresh produce that are primarily imported and have smaller processing and marketing costs, the percentage retail impacts will be significant," he wrote in an email. "For others, such as beef, where the import share is small and considerable processing and marketing costs may occur in the U.S., the retail price impacts in percentage terms may be quite small."

• A delivery company got a boost from a new partnership announcement on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, while the termination of a clinical trial weighed on a pharmaceutical firm.
• DoorDash stock move higher after it announced an agreement with clothing retailer Old Navy.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb ended a clinical trial of an experimental heart medication, and shares of the drugmaker fell.

Shares of a delivery giant surged Friday on a new partnership, while a pharmaceutical firm came under pressure after it halted a trial of a key heart treatment.

Major U.S. equities indexes ended the session mixed but posted gains for the week. With the record federal government shutdown over, attention has turned toward delayed economic reports and their potential impact on the Federal Reserve's final interest-rate decision of 2025. The Dow dropped 0.7%, and the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq eked out a 0.1% gain Friday. For more from Investopedia on Friday's markets news, see here.

DoorDash (DASH) shares jumped 6% to log the S&P 500's top performance Friday, after the delivery platform operator announced a partnership with apparel retailer Old Navy. The expansion into on-demand apparel delivery marks a move beyond DoorDash's core restaurant delivery business. With the uptick heading into the weekend, DoorDash stock clawed back some of the losses it suffered last week after the delivery firm missed third-quarter profit estimates and suggested that heavy spending on new initiatives could weigh on future profitability.

Morgan Stanley named Micron Technology (MU) stock as a "top pick" and boosted its price target, and shares of the memory chip manufacturer gained 4.2%. Analysts pointed to a surge in pricing for memory chips, especially Micron's Double Data Rate 5 products, which the investment bank noted are seeing strong demand related to the buildout of AI data centers.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) advanced 4% following reports that Paramount Skydance (PSKY), Comcast (CMCSA), and Netflix (NFLX) are all preparing offers to take over the CNN and HBO parent.

In addition to its possible bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix is preparing for a 10-for-1 stock split, with shares set to begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on Monday. Shares of the video streaming giant sank 3.6% on the final trading day ahead of the split.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) stock dropped 4.1% after the biopharmaceutical company said it would discontinue a late-stage clinical trial of the experimental heart treatment milvexian, which it is developing in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

Moody's downgraded its ratings on debt issued by Nike (NKE), and shares of the footwear and athletic apparel company fell close to 3%. The credit rating agency pointed to elevated competition and cost pressures related to tariffs as factors behind its more cautious outlook on Nike.

• Merck agreed to pay $9.2 billion to purchase Cidara Therapeutics, looking to cash in on the firm's experimental flu treatment.
• The $221.50 per share offer is more than twice Cidara's closing price yesterday.

Shares of Cidara Therapeutics (CDTX) more than doubled Friday after Merck (MRK) agreed to buy the biopharmaceutical firm in an all-cash deal worth $9.2 billion to expand its reach in antiviral treatments.

Merck said it would pay Cidara investors $221.50 per share, a whopping 109% premium to yesterday’s closing price. 

The acquisition gives Merck access to Cidara’s top drug candidate, CD388, which uses a fragment of a human antibody to fight influenza A and B. It’s currently in a Phase 3 trial with adolescents and adults who are at higher risk of complications from the flu.

Merck's acquisition of Cidara is an example of a relatively small company with unique assets being highly valued by a major company willing to spend a large amount to acquire it. Shares of biotech companies can offer investors big paydays when their research and development translates into successful products, but the investments also come with risk that the innovations never achieve commercial success.

Merck CEO Robert Davis said the company is confident that CD388 “has the potential to be another important driver of growth through the next decade, creating real value for shareholders.”

Merck said that the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, and “to be accounted for as an asset acquisition.”

Cidara Therapeutics shares were up 105% at around $218 late Friday, trading at their highest levels in nine years. A year ago, the stock was trading at around $14.

Shares of Merck rose about 1%, but remain in negative territory for 2025.

• Tech stocks have come under pressure in recent weeks, weighed on by concerns about an AI bubble after a strong rally off April lows.
• Many analysts on Friday were saying they expect the rally will regain its footing, with some pointing to Nvidia's earnings report next Wednesday as a possible catalyst.

Tech stocks have at times appeared unstoppable this year. Now they're in a rut.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite soared nearly 60% between April 8, when tariff uncertainty was at its highest, and Oct. 29, the index’s most recent record high. Those gains were driven mostly by the AI trade, which encompasses a variety of stocks across the technology, utilities, and industrials sectors, all of which are seen as beneficiaries of Big Tech’s behemoth AI investments.

Lately, some investors have become concerned about the size of those investments, as well as when and how handsomely they’ll pay off, though not everybody is convinced that AI stocks are in a bubble. Skeptics of that narrative list Big Tech’s hugely profitable businesses, the Fed’s recent rate cuts, and the efficiency gains AI is expected to deliver as reasons to remain optimistic.

AI optimism has been the driving force behind most of the stock market's gains over the past three years. Tech stocks have soared and come to account for a sizable portion of major stock indexes, making their performance vital to that of the broader market.

Nonetheless, the debate has chipped away at the overwhelmingly bullish sentiment that prevailed most of this year. Here's what a selection of experts have to say about the slump and what it means for markets looking toward the end of the year. 

Reading between the lines, many market watchers believe there's still life in the rally -- though many offer degrees of caution, citing among other things a need to be choosy with tech stocks; the likelihood of more profit taking with stocks near highs; and the need to continue to keep an eye on earnings.

Dan Ives, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Wedbush Securities: “In a nutshell, we view this as a short lived mini panic moment for tech stocks.... We believe Nvidia's earnings next week will be another major validation moment for the AI Revolution and be a positive catalyst for tech stocks into year-end as investors continue to underestimate the scale and scope of AI spend.”

Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group: “For the vast majority of big-cap tech, the conditions for a 1990s-style tech bubble are not yet present. Markets need a Global Crossing moment, where the major private AI players hit the IPO markets, before we can start talking about equity market bubbles. For me, this is a good way to pick up the highest quality tech names on the cheap.”

Thomas Lee, Managing Director and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors: “We should expect, from time to time, profit taking, because tech has been a leader for the last decade and it is overbought… But to me, the underlying story driving technology, which is the productivity miracle coming from AI, is still intact.”

Eric Teal, Chief Investment Officer for Comerica Wealth Management: “Given the retail nature of the momentum-fueled recovery since April, we believe the buy on the dip mentality is in place until there is an earnings or profit margin erosion among the AI stocks… Nevertheless, the controversy surrounding the AI stocks is building, and valuations are 45% above the forward earnings multiple for the rest of the market, suggesting a need for caution at this juncture.”

Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategist at Baird, on what it would mean for investors to rotate out of tech into lower-risk stocks: “I think it’s incredibly healthy, both on the earnings front and on the price front, that you’re seeing some breadth, especially at a time when the question about the broader economy outside of AI is, ‘How healthy is it?’ So this is a really good sign to me, and I’m happy to take a little bit of gains from tech and rotate into some nascent leadership there in other sectors.”

Mark Smith, Senior Vice President & Portfolio Manager at Wells Fargo Advisors: “[I'm] not frightened at all. The numbers are dictating that you shouldn’t be. Eighty-three percent of S&P 500 names beat their earnings in the last earnings season, so nothing to be frightened about there. If you’re gonna have a serious correction here, those numbers have got to change.”

Aaron Schaechterle, Equities Portfolio Manager at Janus Henderson: “The impact of AI is real, and the demand for power is significant. We are choosing to selectively participate in these themes, by focusing on companies with proven business models, durable revenue and free cash flow generation.”

• Micron Technology shares surged Friday, after Morgan Stanley called the memory chip maker a "top pick."
• The analysts said a shortage of memory chips to meet growing demand, along with rising prices, could mean more gains for Micron.

Micron Technology (MU) shares took off Friday following bullish comments from Morgan Stanley, which called the memory chip maker a "top pick."

Shares were up over 5% near $250 in recent trading. The stock has roughly tripled in value so far this year, with Morgan Stanley suggesting it still has room to rise.

Morgan Stanley lifted its price target for the stock to a new Street high of $325 from $220, saying it expects the memory chip maker could be set to benefit from a boom in AI-driven demand and rising prices.

Micron, which supplies memory solutions for leading AI chipmakers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, has already seen big stock gains this year, thanks in part to growing demand for hardware to support AI. Some investors might worry about whether the stock has peaked, but analysts say they believe it still has room to rise.

In a note to clients Thursday, the analysts wrote that a shortage in the market for memory chips like the ones made by Micron could “lead to new highs in earnings power.” The analysts said they believe the stock “has yet to fully price in the upside that's coming.” 

The bullish comments come just days after Mizuho analysts also gave an optimistic assessment of Micron's outlook, saying they see demand remaining strong into next year and 2027.

Wall Street analysts are overwhelmingly bullish on Micron's stock, with nine of the 10 analysts with current ratings compiled by Visible Alpha calling it a "buy," though it has already climbed ahead of their mean target with its recent gains.

• Crypto followers turned to bitcoin evangelist and Strategy founder Michael Saylor for a sign as the coin's price has fallen. He's urged them to keep the faith.
• While the price of bitcoin and some crypto-linked stocks are in retreat, others are gaining in spite of the rout.

The bitcoin faithful are turning to one of their most vocal evangelists for a sign amid an intensifying market rout. His message? HODL.

We're talking about Michael Saylor, chief of Strategy (MSTR), the enterprise software company known for stockpiling bitcoin. The price of the world's most valuable cryptocurrency has been falling lately, and rumors broke out on social media that the company was selling amid the slide. Saylor dismissed those rumors, but the notion that latched onto the possibility that the man who might be bitcoin's best-known bull was turning tail shows the negativity radiating from the market at present.

As X users started to fret, Saylor posted an image of himself on a life raft as a burning ship sank behind him. "HODL," he said, using an acronym for "hold on for dear life."

The sell-off in risk assets this week—a bleed that the end of the U.S. government shutdown couldn't stem—has put a dent in the price of bitcoin and the narrative that it could be a useful hedge against stocks or a safe haven like gold. Bitcoin sank below $95,000 on Friday morning to levels not seen since early May. Some crypto-linked stocks diverged, with MicroStrategy declining about 4%, while Coinbase Global (COIN), and Robinhood (HOOD) were up at least 1%.

Bitcoin is sometimes considered a hedge against stocks, characterized as a portfolio diversification tool. Lately, it's been falling with the broader market as sentiment has soured.

Saylor, who in recent months had forecast that bitcoin would climb to $150,000 by the end of the year, said Strategy was "buying quite a lot" lately in a Friday interview with CNBC. He also stopped short of providing a price target, though he said bitcoin over the long-term would "outperform" both gold and the S&P 500.

"Obviously it's hard to make a forecast for the end of the year right now given what's happened over the past few weeks," he said.

The cryptocurrency has erased almost all of its 2025 gains, lagging gold's 50%-plus climb and the broad market's 14% year-to-date rise. ETF investors appear to be in selling mode: Spot bitcoin funds including iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin (FBTC) collectively showed nearly $867 million in outflows yesterday, according to Farside Investors.

Meanwhile, crypto watchers have become less sanguine about the market rout as investors rushed to sell. Vitaliy Shtyrkin, chief product officer at Estonia-headquartered platform B2BinPay, said sentiment weakened after bitcoin fell through a key technical support zone of $100,000 to $102,000. Dean Chen, an analyst at derivatives trading platform Bitunix, likened the latest decline as more than "a simple technical correction."

Though Strategy might be buying at these levels—and just a few days ago, some experts sounded bullish as bitcoin seemed to bounce—others are sitting out. "We're in this awkward in-between zone. I don't want to be buying," All Star Charts' senior crypto analyst Louis Sykes said during an X live-stream discussing what to do about crypto now. "Just go play some golf."

• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is slated to retire at the end of January but spend the next year advising his replacement: John Furner, the CEO of Walmart's U.S. operations.
• McMillon led Walmart through 11 years of rapid change, including a period of wage growth and the growth of e-commerce and delivery.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is retiring after more than a decade of guiding the company's evolution—and watching its stock quadruple.

Walmart (WMT) on Friday said McMillon will retire at the end of January, but spend another year advising his successor: John Furner, a company veteran. McMillon presided over 11 years of immense change—Walmart went from a big-box store known for low wages and to a dominant e-commerce player with compensation that's attracted attention from academics. Even the company's name has evolved; it referred to itself as Wal-Mart Stores when announcing McMillon as CEO.

Investors have rewarded McMillon for increasing wages, modernizing the supply chain and developing a delivery business that's popular with affluent Americans. Its shares rose more than 300% since McMillon became CEO on Feb. 1, 2014; the S&P 500 rose about 280% during that period. The shares, recently down 1%, have advanced more than 13% so far this year.

McMillon "leaves Walmart stronger, more innovative, and better aligned with our purpose to help people save money and live better," Chairman Greg Penner said in a statement.

Walmart will rely on a new CEO as it adapts to a number of economic headwinds, including widespread tariffs, concerns about inflation and an anemic job market. While consumers are still spending, there are signs of stress and pullback, particularly among low-income households.

McMillon is slated to update investors during a conference call on third-quarter earnings next Thursday. The meeting will likely give investors a chance to hear about the company's outlook and to hear from Furner. He's spent the past six years as president and CEO of Walmart's U.S. operations, and has led merchandising, operations and sourcing teams, Walmart said.

"As we enter a new retail era fueled by innovation and AI, our purpose and our people will continue to guide us," Furner said in a Friday statement.

McMillon, who started at Walmart in 1984 as an hourly associate, is stepping back as the heady times at Walmart face headwinds, including tariffs on goods from many countries. The company has gained market share, particularly among households with six-figure incomes. But lower-income families are showing signs of increased caution with their pocketbooks in recent quarters with inflation stubborn and the job market slowing.

The timing of the change "underscores Walmart's confidence in its strong position and the current momentum of the business," Bank of America analysts said Friday. "We would not expect to see meaningful changes in company strategy."

Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed Friday afternoon, following a sharp decline Thursday fueled by a selloff of tech stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq climbed 0.8%.

StubHub (STUB) stock dropped nearly 25%, in its worst day since going public in September, a day after the ticket reseller declined to offer guidance for the current quarter.

Shares of drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) lost 3.4%, making it the biggest decliner on the S&P 500. The company is halting a trial of a heart drug it is developing with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

Netflix (NFLX) shares slipped about 3%, a day after reports emerged the streaming giant is among those preparing bids to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

Cidara Therapeutics (CDTX) stock soared, more than doubling in value after Merck (MRK) announced a deal to acquire the flu prevention drugmaker for $221.50 per share, valuing it at some $9.2 billion.

DoorDash (DASH) stock was among the biggest S&P gainers with a nearly 7% rise, reclaiming some of the food delivery platform's losses following its earnings report last week.

The price of Bitcoin fell, briefly dropping below $95,000 Friday morning. Most other major cryptocurrencies also slid. Oil futures climbed 2.5% to above $60 per barrel, while gold futures were down about 2%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was little changed. The U.S. dollar was slightly lower against the euro, pound, and yen.