Here are the key news investors need to start the trading day:
1. Hot phase
Monday brought only slight market gains, but a win is a win. The Nasdaq has been in a positive streak for seven sessions, the longest such streak since January. The S&P 500 and the Dow are also on a six-day streak. Stocks pared Monday’s positive session after a big week capped by a monster Friday due to the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates on hold and a weak monthly jobs report. This week brings more from Fed Chair Jerome Powell as well as several key earnings reports, including Disney on Wednesday. Follow live market updates.
2. Didn’t work
View of the WeWork building in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 16, 2022. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Valerie Macon | Afp | Getty Images
WeWork was once worth $47 billion. The office-sharing company is now in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings after submitting its application on Monday. It has around $16 billion in long-term leases that the company is currently renegotiating. (In addition to being the latest company to fall from grace, WeWork is also a key customer for commercial real estate landlords, which are already struggling with inconsistent return-to-the-office patterns due to Covid.) The move plunged WeWork into a troubling new chapter that is surprisingly sharper and quick demise, which has already formed the material for a miniseries starring Jared Leto as founder Adam Neumann. For his part, Neumann, who stepped down as CEO in 2019 and received large payouts, called the bankruptcy filing “disappointing.”
3. Still on strike
Protesters join the picket line outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California on October 30, 2023. SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14, 2023 and has not yet reached an agreement with AMPTP, the Hollywood Studios trade association.
David Livingston | Getty Images
The Hollywood actors’ strike drags on. Over the weekend, the studios made their “last, best and final” offer to SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents the actors. That’s not good enough, the union said Monday, citing artificial intelligence protections as one of the key issues delaying a deal that would allow film and television production to restart. The strike began in mid-July and has weighed on the economy surrounding the film industry. It poses a threat to the sentiment felt by media companies after last week’s strong stock gains – increasing pressure on both sides to reach a deal. (Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney are expected to announce their results on Wednesday.) The actors and studios will reportedly resume negotiations on Tuesday.
4. Super Smash, brothers
Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice Mario and Luigi in Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
Universal
Nintendo has raised its fiscal year outlook as the Japanese video game giant faces a wave of demand for two of its venerable franchises, Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. In the case of Mario, Nintendo continues to benefit from The Super Mario Bros. film, which grossed more than $1.3 billion at the global box office. The revived Mario craze, in turn, sparked higher sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Switch this year, even as Nintendo faces calls to release a new console. (Similarly, Mattel reported a huge spike in Barbie sales last month following the character’s blockbuster film, which grossed more than $1.4 billion.)
5. The Green Monster appears
The controversial deal to merge the operations of the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf has not yet been finalized, which has opened the door to other potential investors. Chief among them is the Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. Fenway Chairman Tom Werner confirmed some of the speculation on Monday when he told CNBC’s Scott Wapner that the company has indeed had discussions with the tour. He declined to provide further details, but still set the stage for even more speculation as the future of professional golf remains up in the air.
—CNBC’s Brian Evans, Rohan Goswami, Sarah Whitten, Arjun Kharpal and Drew Richardson contributed to this report.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Pictures, which produces and distributes The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and CNBC.
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