5 issues to know earlier than the inventory market opens Thursday

Listed here are 5 key issues buyers have to know to begin the buying and selling day:

Inventory markets took a risky flip Wednesday as buyers weighed the Federal Reserve’s rate of interest determination. Market watchers initially cheered the outsized 50-basis-point fee lower, nevertheless it raised issues that the Fed was making an attempt to get forward of potential financial weak point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 103.08 factors decrease, or down 0.25%, after earlier rising as a lot as 375.79 factors simply after the Fed determination. The S&P 500 misplaced 0.29% after touching a file excessive in earlier buying and selling, whereas the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.31%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell tried to squash issues that the central financial institution had issues concerning the economic system, however shares nonetheless fell. Follow live market updates.

The Federal Reserve lower its key overnight borrowing rate by a half share level, or 50 foundation factors, for the primary time since 2008, through the international monetary disaster. It is the first rate cut for the reason that early days of the Covid pandemic and lowers the federal funds fee to a variety between 4.75% and 5%. The choice was not unanimous, as Fed Governor Michelle Bowman backed a quarter-point hike as a substitute of the extra aggressive half level. Fed Chair Jerome Powell mentioned with Wednesday’s determination, the Fed was “making an attempt to attain a state of affairs the place we restore worth stability with out the form of painful enhance in unemployment that has come typically with this inflation.” Fed members predicted they’d lower charges by one other half level earlier than the top of the 12 months.

Boeing will begin furloughing tens of thousands of U.S. executives, managers and different employees, CEO Kelly Ortberg mentioned in a memo Wednesday. The corporate is racing to chop prices because it offers with an ongoing strike of greater than 30,000 machinists. Affected staff will take one week of furlough each 4 weeks for so long as the strike lasts, based on the memo. In the meantime, Ortberg and different executives on his staff will take “commensurate” pay cuts through the strike, he mentioned. Negotiations between the corporate and the union continued this week with a mediator, however the union mentioned it was pissed off after the talks on Tuesday.

Amazon is increasing wages for its hourly warehouse workers. Its common beginning pay for front-line staff within the U.S. shall be greater than $22 an hour, up from roughly $20.50 an hour, the corporate mentioned Wednesday. It additionally mentioned these staff would get a Prime subscription service included of their advantages package deal beginning early subsequent 12 months. The strikes come forward of the busy vacation season, when when retailers usually see a surge in on-line purchasing.

The WNBA is booming. The league has damaged viewership and attendance data this season, and its new media rights take care of Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon greater than tripled the worth of its final settlement. The league additionally announced a new franchise in Portland on Wednesday, the third staff in its present spherical of enlargement. But gamers nonetheless make comparatively modest salaries. Rookie famous person Caitlin Clark, who has helped to gasoline the league’s reputation, makes round $76,000 this 12 months. Most of the league’s most completed veterans make round $200,000. Here’s more on why the WNBA is growing so fast, and how the league’s economics could change in the coming years.

— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, Leslie Josephs, Annie Palmer and Tala Hadavi contributed to this report.