Target Wednesday morning reported its biggest earnings-per-share miss in two years and its first revenue miss since last summer, CNBC notes.
Why it matters: The company's massively disappointing third quarter underscores the retailer's own challenges and clashes with the rosy picture Walmart painted yesterday of the American consumer.
BlackRock has spent big this year on expanding its private equity business, whether that be throughacquisitions or partnerships.
But now it's winding down one of its first forays into the asset class.
Driving the news: BlackRock will not raise a second fund under the Long Term Private Capital banner, despite having already been in market and securing at least $300 million in commitments.
Inversion, a developer of space-based cargo delivery, tells Axios that it has raised $44 million in Series A funding co-led by Spark Capital and Adjacent.
Why it matters: This could enable near-instant delivery of medicines and other emergency supplies to anywhere on Earth within an hour. Same goes for military cargo like drones.
The incoming administration will face stark fiscal arithmetic: Most federal dollars go to direct transfers to Americans, disproportionately located in the very places that propelled President-elect Trump back to the White House.
Why it matters: If the Elon Musk/Vivek Ramaswany-led Department of Government Efficiency is to achieve anything approaching the $2 trillion in annual cost savings they've floated, slashing bureaucrats from the federal payroll or payments to well-heeled contractors wouldn't be enough.
Workers in the U.S. are running in place — feeling stuck in jobs with dimmed prospects of advancement and seeing fewer opportunities to jump ship for something better.
Why it matters: It's a sharp contrast to the heady days of 2022 — when employees were quitting their jobs at record high rates, open roles proliferated and the possibility of a higher paycheck always seemed just around the corner.
President-elect Trumpis looking more seriously at Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) for Treasury secretary — giving Trump three serious options for one of the few roles where he's taking his time, transition sources tell me.
Hagerty,a former private-equity investor who was Trump's ambassador to Japan, is one of three apparent finalists, along with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and Apollo CEO Marc Rowan.
Why it matters: Hagerty, 65, has credibility with Wall Street leaders, the markets, foreign leaders and Congress. And he owes his political career to Trump.
Suddenly popular prediction markets, flush with new users from the U.S. presidential election, believe they can keep the momentum going with new intriguing markets.
Why it matters: The idea of gleaning wisdom from the betting crowd through giant markets of bettors got a major boost on election night, but presidential races come only once every four years.
It's becoming Wall Street's quarterly pulse check on the AI economy: Nvidia's earnings report is on deck tomorrow afternoon.
Why it matters: The chipmaker has become a proxy for the status of the budding AI economy, providing direct insights into how much tech giants are spending and whether a bubble is brewing.
Options on bitcoin ETFs look likely to start trading this week.
Why it matters: Typically, options markets have the potential to be larger than the market for the underlying asset the options are based on.
The latest: CoinDesk reported yesterday that options trading on BlackRock's IBIT instrument — the largest bitcoin ETF — should begin on the New York Stock Exchange today.
Options on other ETFs should begin soon.
Zoom out: Options have long been viewed as an important tool for drawing more institutional traders to bitcoin ETFs.
They're used by funds both to help enhance returns and to manage portfolio risk.
Official economic data shows the bedrock of the economy — the American consumer — is strong. Anecdotes from the nation's largest retailer back that up and suggest the good times will continue into the holiday season.
Why it matters: Fears of a potential recession sparked by sluggish consumer spending looked like a head fake. Robust shopping continues to underpin robust growth.
Why it matters: On Wednesday Sotheby's will auction a conceptual artwork of a banana duct-taped to a wall, with an estimated price of $1 million to $1.5 million, more than eight times its original sale price.
President-elect Trump's vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants could eliminate workers from U.S. industries already projected to face shortages and cut up to 6.8% of the national gross domestic product.
The big picture: While undocumented laborers make up a relatively small percentage of the total U.S. workforce, they have outsized roles in fields like construction, agriculture and hospitality.
Former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) was tapped by President-elect Trump on Monday to serve as Secretary of Transportation.
Why it matters: If confirmed, the Fox News contributor and former reality star will be tasked with handling the nation's air, rail and supply-chain issues.
