Four counties whose economies have historically foreshadowed economic downturns nationwide are signaling a dip but aren't showing signs of tanking, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Robertson County, Tenn.; Pontotoc County, Miss.; Boone County, Ill.; and Elkhart County, Ind., "are so exposed to the whims of the wider economy that they sneeze long before the rest of the country realizes it has caught a cold," the Post writes.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham in an interview with Fox News on Friday did not rule out the possibility of President Trump appearing on national TV for a "fireside chat" wherein he would read a rough transcript of his July 25 call with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky aloud.
Why it matters: Trump suggested he might revive "fireside chats" — made popular by President Franklin D. Roosevelt — in an interview with the Washington Examiner this Thursday. Grisham said such an event was under "serious consideration," but she couldn't confirm "what the logistics of it would look like just yet."
China on Friday said it has reached a consensus on principles, related to the ongoing trade war with the U.S., according to CNBC.
Be smart: One or both sides have claimed progress before, only to later backpedal. It still doesn't sound like specific details have been hammered out.
The northern grain belt states are dealing with high rainfall and a snowstorm, delaying their harvest, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Farmers in North Dakota and Minnesota have been hit the hardest by the U.S.-China trade war because they rely on exports to Asia, according to Reuters. Those states are seeing some of the worst delays in corn and soybean harvests.
Bernie Sanders Thursday night tweeted support for the Deadspin journalists who resigned en masse, in protest of a management edict that their coverage stick exclusively to sports:
"I stand with the former Deadspin workers who decided not to bow to the greed of private equity vultures... This is the kind of greed that is destroying journalism across the country, and together we are going to take them on."
Twitter announced it will no longer accept political advertising, just minutes before Facebook released its quarterly earnings report. Dan digs in with Axios' Ina Fried.
Ahead of Friday's ISM manufacturing report, the Chicago Business Barometer, a separate reading that tracks manufacturing companies based in the Midwest, produced its weakest reading in four years and the second lowest in a decade.
Threat level: The details of the report, also known as the Chicago PMI, were even worse.
The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs in October — more than the 75,000 economists expected — while the unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.6%, the government said on Friday.
Why it matters: The strong numbers come despite job growth held down by the 40-day United Auto Workers strike against General Motors, which has since ended.
High net worth individuals and business owners globally say they're getting more optimistic about the economy, but are still holding a large percentage of their wealth in cash, data from a third quarter UBS Global Wealth Management survey shows.
By the numbers: The survey polled more than 4,600 wealthy investors and entrepreneurs in 18 countries.
The Q3 earnings season has been a generally mixed bag.
The other side: S&P 500 earnings are still on track to decline for the third consecutive quarter, with overall profits expected to fall about 2.7% from a year earlier, the sharpest decline since 2016, according to FactSet.
OZY Media, a media and entertainment company led by Carlos Watson, said Friday that it's raised $35 million in new venture capital funding.
The bottom line: OZY originally launched as a digital magazine for the "change generation," but has moved its focus toward TV production, podcasts, and live events.
Members Exchange (MEMX) filed paperwork to the Securities Exchange Commission to operate as a stock exchange, according to documents made public on Thursday. The stock exchange upstart says it will launch next year if approved by regulators.
Why it matters: MEMX is backed by a slew of Wall Street heavyweights and is hoping to take on NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange and the Nasdaq — which dominates the industry — by offering a cheaper platform. But other new stock exchanges haven’t been successful in taking significant market share away from the bigger players.
