U.S. stocks held near the unchanged mark on Thursday, as investors digested a batch of economic data, including a report on the labor market, as expectations remained elevated for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next week. With the November payrolls report scheduled for after the Fed’s December meeting due to the extended government shutdown, market participants have looked to secondary indicators that have given a mixed view of the labor market. A Labor Department report

Doug Ackerman, a Boeing vice president, at the company’s factory in Renton, Wash., on Nov. 20, 2025. Ackerman says improvements to the company’s production would come in many small changes “over a long period of time.” (Grant Hindsley/the New York Times) By NIRAJ CHOKSHI The 737 Max starts its journey through a Boeing factory near Seattle when its empty central tube is hoisted onto a structure high above the floor. There, about a dozen workers fan out to search for defects. T

What matters in U.S. and global markets today Risk assets are showing further signs of recovery on Wednesday from a broad selloff that kicked off the month, but bonds are sitting on their losses for now. And the dollar is down with focus back to the Federal Reserve, with Trump delaying his pick for the next chair to 2026. Meanwhile, investors are stuck watching the ADP jobs report in the absence of November payrolls. I’ll get into all the market news below. But first check ou

Starbucks workers picket outside a Starbucks location in Brooklyn, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, to push for higher wages and improved labor practices. Starbucks agreed to the settlement after failing to give workers stable schedules. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined striking Starbucks workers in Brooklyn. (Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times) By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS Mayor Eric Adams announced a $38.9 million settlement with Starbucks earlier

BNP Paribas strategists expect the S&P 500 will end next year at 7,500, with the index supported by a solid U.S. economy that will fuel corporate profit growth and keep the labor market from weakening significantly. A 7,500 finish in the benchmark U.S. index next year would mean about a 10% increase from the S&P 500’s current level of 6,829. They also wrote in their 2026 global outlook note this week that their end-2026 forecast for the pan-European STOXX 600 index is 650, an

Flooding from Hurricane Milton in Punta Gorda, Fla., Oct. 10, 2024. Zillow, the country’s largest real estate listings site, has quietly removed a feature that showed the risks from extreme weather for more than one million home sale listings on its site. (Paul Ratje/The New York Times) By CLAIRE BROWN Zillow, the country’s largest real estate listings site, has quietly removed a feature that showed the risks from extreme weather for more than 1 million home sale listings on

Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Monday, pressured by a rise in Treasury yields and as investors digested data that pointed to softening manufacturing activity in the United States. Declines were most noticeable in crypto stocks, with Coinbase down 5.8% and Bitfarms losing 6.6%, as bitcoin fell 6.5% and dropped below $85,000, with the crypto market losing over $1 trillion in value since hitting a record of around $4.3 trillion, according to CoinGecko. Strategy, the world

People line up outside of the Rough Trade record store early on Black Friday waiting for the store to open in Manhattan, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (Karsten Moran/The New York Times) By KAILYN RHONE Even at a time of inflation, tariff concerns and economic uncertainty, Americans opened their wallets on Black Friday, chasing deep discounts and stretching their budgets where they could. Data released Saturday showed that shoppers seized on Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals, sp