Economists polled by Refinitiv hope to find that only 71,000 jobs were created last month, by far the weakest since the labor market rebounded in May.
What’s happening: The United States is experiencing another explosion of coronavirus cases. In less than two weeks, the country recorded its five deadliest days since the pandemic began, with more than 4,000 virus-related deaths reported on Thursday. This is weighing on job creation as business restrictions increase and more people choose to stay at home.
“The growing number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths at COVID-19 means that our economic and health problems are far from over,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Institute for Economic Policy, a progressive think tank. “President-elect Biden is inheriting an extremely troubled economy, with millions of families trying to stay afloat.”
Wall Street, however, is looking beyond this winter’s woes, betting that vaccination programs can boost corporate growth and profits starting this spring. The shares reached their all-time high on Thursday, despite the violence on the Capitol the day before and a violent pandemic.
In part, this is due to the high expectations of Democrats. Now that the party has taken control of the Senate – as well as the House of Representatives and the White House – after winning both seats in Georgia, investors are betting that another stimulus package could be approved quickly.
Deutsche Bank predicts that Congress will soon approve a $ 900 billion stimulus package “built around new stimulus checks, funds for state and local governments and improvements in unemployment benefits”, which is expected to boost economic growth in USA to 6.3% in 2021, about two percentage points higher than the bank’s previous forecast.
Look at this space: there is a reasonable chance that the jobs report will be even worse than expected, which could shake investors. Goldman Sachs expects to know that the US economy lost 50,000 jobs in December, which would mark its first month of losses since a devastating April.
Hyundai shares soar with reports that it could build Apple cars
Hyundai’s stock registered its best day in at least two decades after the South Korean automaker was in initial negotiations with Apple to develop autonomous electric cars, reports my CNN business colleague, Jill Disis.
Details, details: nothing has been finalized. But several media outlets reported on Friday that Hyundai has confirmed that it is holding talks with Apple. The news was initially reported by Korea Economic Daily TV, and later confirmed by Reuters and Bloomberg.
CNN Business was unable to confirm the nature of the discussions. Hyundai said in a statement only that “we are receiving proposals for cooperation from several companies, but no decision has yet been made.” Apple declined to comment.
Even so, the automaker’s shares are skyrocketing. Its stock ended with more than 19% in Seoul.
Both companies have reason to consider a partnership. Talks about Apple’s interest in self-driving electric cars are increasing. A Reuters report last month said that Apple plans to produce a passenger vehicle by 2024. Bloomberg reported this week that Apple began work on developing an electric vehicle, but any resulting product would be at least five years away.
In a world increasingly connected to the Internet, selling next-generation car services could become big business for Apple.
Bitcoin reaches $ 40,000 a few days after passing $ 30,000
Bitcoin reached $ 19,000 in December 2017, before dropping spectacularly to around $ 3,200 a year later. But those who kept the cryptocurrency are probably feeling satisfied.
Prices fell to $ 39,000 on Friday morning. But the value of all Bitcoins in circulation remains impressive, amounting to about $ 738 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The value of all cryptocurrencies is now approaching $ 1.1 trillion.
Investors have switched to Bitcoin in recent months, with cryptocurrency increasingly considered a maturing asset. Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest crypto asset manager, says interest in companies such as pension funds and donations is growing.
“It is encouraging to see a more serious consideration of Bitcoin and the digital currency asset class in general, because it has real potential to reshape global finance as we know it,” said CEO Michael Sonnenshein in an email to CNN Business .
However, there are still many doubts about the price. In a note published on Thursday, Bank of America told customers that Bitcoin’s recovery in the past two years “opened the door to previous bubbles”. Alex Mashinsky, CEO and founder of Celsius Network, a crypto asset manager, thinks Bitcoin could drop to $ 16,000 before the end of the first quarter.
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The US jobs report for December arrives at 8:30 am Eastern Time.