Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Wall Street heads for its first weekly advance in the past four
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, June 22, 2022.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
2. Powell vows ‘unconditional’ measures to fight decades-high inflation
Powell testified before the House Committee on Financial Services on monetary policy and the state of the US economy.
Win McNamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
In Day 2 of his semiannual economic testimony on Capitol Hill, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee that the central bank’s commitment to reining in 40-year-high inflation is “unconditional.” A day earlier, on Wednesday, Powell told the US Senate Banking Committee that the Fed was not trying to provoke a recession but that one was “certainly a possibility.” Last week, monetary policymakers hiked rates by 75 basis points and signaled another increase of 50 to 75 basis points at their July meeting.
3. FedEx reports mixed quarter results as ground unit margin improved
A driver for an independent contractor to FedEx Corp. carries packages for delivery during Cyber Monday in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York, US, on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021.
Angus Mordant | Bloomberg | Getty Images
FedEx shares turned lower in Friday’s premarket, the morning after the delivery giant reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter profit but missed on revenue. Adjusted earnings of $6.87 per share beat estimates by a penny. Revenue grew 8% to $24.4 billion, lower than expectations of $24.56 billion. Shipment volumes declined, but that was offset by increased shipping rates and fuel surcharges. FedEx’s closely watched ground unit margin improved, but it has lagged United Parcel Service, whose new CEO adopted a “better not bigger” mantra two years ago. FedEx issued upbeat guidance for fiscal 2023.
4. Zendesk surges on a deal to sell itself to a private equity group
Zendesk co-founder and CEO Mikkel Svane
Eric Piermont | AFP | Getty Images
Zendesk Shares jumped 30% in the premarket after a group of private equity firms led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira agreed to buy the customer service software vendor in a $10.2 billion deal. Zendesk stock had been up more than 50% early Friday on a Wall Street Journal report that a deal was coming. The investor group buying Zendesk includes a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC. Zendesk will go private when the transaction closes, which is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of this year.
5. Bill designed to prevent gun violence is headed for House, then Biden
Demonstrators attend a rally with senators outside the US Capitol to demand the Senate take action on gun safety on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Texas.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
A bipartisan bill designed to prevent gun violence that passed the Senate on Thursday night goes to the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised a vote Friday to send the most sweeping certains measure in decades to President Joe Biden for his signature. The legislation, which seemed unimaginable a month ago, got 15 Republican votes in the Senate, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The May 24 massacre at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school galvanized both sides of the aisle to try to prevent this from happening again.
— CNBC’s Peter Schacknow, jesse pound, Sarah Min and Tanaya Machel as well as Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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