Stocks rose as the December jobs report came in strong

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• Friday, January 5, 2024 at 12:30 PM ET

  Shares were mixed in afternoon trading

  Investors tried to find a solid footing during afternoon trading on Friday following the release of the December jobs report. Major indexes moved in both directions earlier in the day before settling in mixed territory.

  Near 12:30 PM EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.2%, or about 75 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose above the flat line while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced 0.1%.

  “The December employment report continued to show a gradual slowdown in the labor market that is more consistent with a soft landing rather than a recession,” Bank of America global research analysts said in a note on Friday.

• 

  Friday, January 5, 2024 at 11:43 AM ET

  OpenAI aims to strike more licensing deals with publishers

  The maker of popular AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT is in talks with dozens of publishers to license their articles, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The agreements will help the startup train its AI models while compensating publishers for the content they produce.

  The effort to expand licensing deals comes as The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft (MSFT) and OpenAI over allegations of copyright infringement. The news outlet claims that the AI ​​companies engaged in widespread copying, hijacking Times journalism to train their own chatbots. The lawsuit is the latest in a broader dispute over how courts view the legality of training large language models using published works found on the Web without permission or compensation.

  While some publishers have already signed deals with OpenAI and other AI companies, the Times is among a class of creative outlets that have publicly challenged how tech companies train their AI tools.

  “We're in the middle of many negotiations and discussions with many publishers. They're active. They're very positive. They're progressing well,” Tom Rubin, head of intellectual property and content at OpenAI, told Bloomberg. “You've seen the deals announced, and there will be more to come.”

  Regardless of how these deals are implemented, advocates for individual creators have raised concerns that professionals on the smaller side of media production will be excluded from potential licensing agreements. Without intervention from Congress or the courts, work-for-hire artists will have few resources to challenge AI companies even when their work is understood by linguistic models, said Rick Allen, co-founder of Nautilus Productions, a video production company. big. And the production house.

  “It's interesting that these negotiations by OpenAI, which jealously guards its own intellectual property rights, recognize that other people's content has value,” he said.

• 

  Friday, January 5, 2024 at 10:46 AM ET

  Investors are anticipating interest rate cuts even after the hot jobs report

  New labor market data surprised Wall Street.

  The labor market added 216,000 jobs in December, up from 173,000 the previous month, and exceeding the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who expected 175,000.

  While the data at first glance reflects good news for workers and the companies that employ them, the strong numbers also complicate expectations about the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy for the coming months.

  “Friday's jobs report was so strong that it will likely delay the timing of the Fed's final interest rate cuts,” said Jeremy Stroup, CEO of Coastal Wealth. “The economy is clearly strong enough so far to withstand the Fed's currently high interest rates.”

  For much of Wall Street, the end of the Fed's tightening campaign will represent a victory for the economy, especially for investors who have been pressured by high interest rates, which increase the cost of borrowing and restrict growth.

  The hot jobs report may have initially rattled interest rate cut expectations, but investors are still leaning toward the possibility of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its March 20 meeting.

  Investors expect about a 74% chance of a rate cut after the March meeting, according to CME FedWatch tool.

• 

  Friday, January 5, 2024 at 9:40 AM ET

  Stocks rise after strong jobs report surprised Wall Street

  Stocks opened slightly higher on Friday as investors looked for direction after a strong jobs report rattled expectations of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.

  The surprising jobs report could put pressure on the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates steady and delay its first rate cut, dashing hopes that the tightening campaign has reached an end.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose just above the flat line. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced 0.2%.

• 

  Friday, January 5, 2024 at 8:45 AM ET

  The US economy added 216,000 jobs in December, sending stocks lower

  The US economy added 216,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  Yahoo Finance's Josh Schaeffer has all the details here.

  Stocks fell after the report as traders trimmed their bets on a Fed rate cut. The three indices fell by more than 0.4% in pre-market trading.