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U.S. equities kicked off the new month with solid gains at midday, with the tech sector getting a boost from Amazon's (AMZN) strong earnings news. A weaker-than-expected jobs report also raised optimism about future Federal Reserve rate cuts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all were up about 1%.

Amazon exceeded profit and sales estimates as its cloud and advertising revenue grew.

Charter Communications (CHTR) shares jumped after the cable TV, mobile, and internet services provider posted better-than-anticipated results as it lost fewer subscribers than anticipated.

Shares of Atlassian (TEAM) soared when the provider of software and services for developers and project managers also reported results that beat forecasts and raised its guidance on surging subscriptions driven by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Apple (AAPL) shares fell as the iPhone maker’s sales in China slowed.

Shares of Wayfair (W) slumped after the online home furnishing retailer lost customers, and total orders and orders from repeat customers declined.

Amcor (AMCR) shares dropped when the global packaging firm missed earnings and revenue estimates on unfavorable price/mix and foreign exchange rates. 

Oil and gold futures rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note gained. The U.S. dollar was up on the euro and yen, but lost ground to the pound. Prices for most major cryptocurrencies were lower.

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Charter Communications (CHTR) shares surged Friday after the cable TV, mobile, and internet services provider reported better-than-anticipated results as it lost fewer subscribers than expected.

The Spectrum parent posted third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $8.82, with revenue up 1.6% to $13.8 billion. Both figures were above analysts' forecasts compiled by Visible Alpha.

Charter's internet customers declined by 110,000 to 30.3 million, and video customers slid 294,000 to 13.2 million. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for 30.1 million and 12.9 million, respectively. 

The communications giant also posted a big jump in mobile customers, as those using Charter’s mobile lines jumped 26% to 9.4 million, more than anticipated.

Charter shares were up about 13% in intraday trading Friday, though even with Friday's gains, they've lost close to 5% of their value since the start of the year.

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President Bola Tinubu says the tax reform bills will not be withdrawn from the national assembly as recommended by the national economic council (NEC).

During the 144th NEC meeting led by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the council advised that the bills be retracted.

This recommendation followed a meeting in Kaduna where governors from the 19 northern states and key traditional leaders from the region decided to reject the Nigeria Tax Reform Bill, among other issues.

On October 3, Tinubu asked the national assembly to consider and pass four tax reform bills. The bills include the Nigeria tax bill, the tax administration bill, and the joint revenue board establishment bill.

Tinubu is also seeking to repeal the law establishing the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and replace it with the Nigeria Revenue Service.

In a statement on Friday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said Tinubu received NEC’s recommendation, however, the president said the legislative process should continue.

“President Tinubu commends the National Economic Council members, especially Vice President Kashim Shettima and the 36 State Governors, for their advice.

He believes that the legislative process, which has already begun, provides an opportunity for inputs and necessary changes without withdrawing the bills from the National Assembly. [SWIPE]

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With the presidential election less than a week away, voters will get a few last pieces of economic data this week before election day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

According to a Pew Research poll, the economy is the top concern for voters, as 81% said it was the most important issue for them as they head to the polls.

While the stock market has been on a tear in 2024, economists said voters often pay attention to other metrics when assessing the health of the economy. 

“The real economy tends to offer better signals than the financial markets about how elections will pan out. Broad economic indicators, including income, employment, GDP growth, and consumption, matter more than market measures such as equity prices,” wrote Goldman Sachs economists Alec Phillips and Tim Krupa.

This is one of a series of articles Investopedia is doing around important economic indicators heading into the 2024 election. You can read more here:

Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first estimate of third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measurement of the goods and services sold in the economy. It showed that the economy grew at 2.8% from July through September. GDP grew a little slower than some economists had anticipated but was still at a historically strong level.

Here's how third-quarter GDP looked heading into previous elections.

President Joe Biden won the election in 20202 when the third-quarter GDP was 35.2%. The number was abnormally high as the economy bounced back from a second-quarter GDP of negative 28.1%, caused by the pandemic-era lockdowns.

When former President Donald Trump won the 2016 election, GDP growth was 2.9% in the third quarter, up from 1.3% in the second quarter. That was close to the all-time median GDP, which was 3.1% between 1947 when the government began tracking GDP, and Wednesday.

In 2012, Republican candidate Mitt Romney had the advantage of a slow economy, with third-quarter GDP coming in at 0.6% after declining in the prior three quarters. But despite the downturn, Romney couldn’t unseat then-President Barack Obama.

Obama faced a slowing economy when he won reelection, and economists said it generally takes a steep economic downturn to sway public opinion away from an incumbent.

“First-term incumbency typically provides an advantage—unless there’s a recession during or just before the election. When there is no recession, the incumbent has always won in the post-World War II era,” Phillips and Krupa wrote. 

Obama’s run for president came amid the 2008 financial crisis when a downturn in the housing market undercut the stability of the economy. In the third quarter of 2008, the economy began to falter, contracting by 2.1%. 

In 2004, former President George W. Bush won re-election in part thanks to a strong economy, which produced 3.8% growth in the third quarter. Second-quarter GDP in 2004 was also strong at 3.1%.

Bush first won the election in 2000, and a sagging economy may have helped put him over the top in a close election against Democratic candidate Al Gore. Voters faced economic growth of just 0.4% in the third quarter of 2000, which dropped sharply from the 7.5% growth it registered in the prior quarter. 

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While the economy is a top issue in this election, one thing voters aren’t too worried about is unemployment, even though it has played a bigger part in past elections. 

A Gallup poll showed that while 43% of people cited economic issues as their top concern, just 2% specifically cited unemployment. One reason may be that unemployment has been relatively low, especially compared to historical levels. The 4.1% unemployment rate for October 2024 is the lowest going into a presidential election in more than two decades.

This is one of a series of articles Investopedia is doing around important economic indicators heading into the 2024 election. You can read more here:

However, the unemployment rate has played a bigger role in past elections, as voters have faced notably higher rates. Here’s how labor market measurements have impacted past presidential elections.

President Joe Biden won the 2020 election amid runaway inflation at the height of the economic downturn stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

In April 2020, the unemployment rate hit 14.8%, the highest recorded rate in more than 70 years. By election day, voters were looking at an October unemployment rate of 6.8%, the highest election-season unemployment rate in eight years.

Former President Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election against a backdrop of a 4.9% unemployment rate in October. The jobless rate that year mostly fluctuated in that range but was lower than in recent years as the job market recovered from the shocks following the 2008 financial crisis.

President Barack Obama won reelection in 2012 against one of the highest unemployment rates voters have ever faced on election day, as a quarter of voters in one poll said it was their top issue.

Obama won the presidency for the first time in 2008 when unemployment ascended to 6.5% in October 2008, steadily rising as the economy worsened. After peaking at 10.0% in 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.8% when he was reelected in October 2012.

Former President George W. Bush won reelection in 2004 with an unemployment rate of 5.5%, worse than the 3.9% unemployment rate when he was elected four years earlier. While the economy is often a top issue for voters, in the 2004 election, voters cited the U.S. war in Iraq as their top issue, according to a Gallup Survey.

History has shown that a high unemployment rate can impact presidential elections. Former President George H.W. Bush lost his reelection bid in 1992 when unemployment was at 7.3%, nearly two percentage points higher than when he took office. 

Similarly, a 7.5% unemployment rate in 1980 helped sink former President Jimmy Carter's reelection campaign. He had won four years earlier when the unemployment rate was slightly higher, and a third of voters in one poll cited it as their top issue.

Ronald Reagan was one former president who bucked that trend, winning reelection in 1984 when unemployment was at 7.4%, only marginally lower than when he took office, and coming after unemployment had been above 10% two years earlier.

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Shares of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) are rising and those of Reckitt Benckiser are gaining in London trading Friday, a day after a jury cleared the two infant formula makers of liability for a boy's debilitating intestinal disease.

The ruling by a Missouri state court jury Thursday is a rare legal win for Abbott Laboratories, maker of the Similac formula, and Reckitt, which produces the Mead Johnson formula, following their losses in similar trials involving necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening disease that affects the colon and intestine.

"The decision reinforces what we, the medical community and regulatory bodies have said: that preterm infant nutrition products are safe, and there is no reliable scientific evidence that they cause or contribute to cause NEC," Abbott said in a statement to

Reckitt echoed those remarks in a press release Thursday.

"Today's verdict is consistent with the scientific consensus that there is no established causal link between the use of specialized preterm hospital nutrition products and NEC, and that where human milk is unavailable or when supplementation is necessary, specialized preterm hospital nutrition products can provide essential, lifesaving nutrition," Reckitt said.

"This is the first victory for the two companies in a NEC state case after Abbott was ordered to pay $495m in July in the Gill case and Reckitt's Mead Johnson $60m in March in the Watson case," UBS analysts wrote Friday.

Reckitt shares are up 8% in London trading Friday but have lost 7% this year. Abbott shares are rising 5% and have gained 8% in 2024.

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