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As job openings become more difficult to come by and the unemployment rate increases, more people are worried about job stability.

A Wednesday report showed the fewestjob openings per unemployed worker since mid-2021. Workers will also watch for an update to the unemployment rate on Friday, waiting to see if the measure will continue its four-month streak of increases.

The cracks in the labor market are starting to wear on employees, who reported their likelihood of becoming unemployed rose to the highest level ever recorded in a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey dating back to 2014. The survey also found employees' dissatisfaction with jobs is also growing, with more looking for a new position.

Experts said putting money aside in a high-yield savings account and assessing where your money is going may be the best way to quickly build up a financial cushion in case of job loss or change.

Financial experts say you should have an emergency fund to cover your expenses for three to six months. However, as hiring is slowing and everyday prices are inflated, that amount of time may need to be adjusted higher, they said.

"The individual's risk tolerance and expectations around the time it might take to find a new position should help to determine a savings target," said Eddy Jurgielewicz, partner and financial planner at Upbeat Wealth in an email.

Experts suggested putting emergency funds into a high-yield savings account to build up an emergency fund quickly. They said that neo-banks, or banks that only exist online, typically offer higher yield rates.

According to Investopedia's research, some high-yield savings accounts have rates as high as 5.50%. However, some accounts with high interest rates have minimum balances or a monthly fee.

“There are a lot of high-yield savings accounts that will advertise a certain rate, but they may jump through a bunch of hoops to get that particular rate,” said Sarah Paulson, a certified financial planner with Valkyrie Financial. “So always be reading the fine print or the little asterisks."

Reassessing where your money is going may also help you save more money and prepare to live leaner if you have to look for a new job.

Financial planners advise making a detailed budget to evaluate where you spend money and eliminate unnecessary expenses. There may also be other wiggle room in your budget, said Crystal McKeon, chief compliance officer and certified financial planner at TSA Wealth Management.

"Go price shopping on your big expenses like home, car and health insurance," McKeon wrote in an email. "If you can find something cheaper, the savings could be big."

If you're very concerned, experts said there may be other measures you can take—but they often come with trade-offs.

"This may be an instance where we would consider reducing contributions to other accounts," Jurgielewicz said. "We might look at the option of temporarily putting less into the 401(k) so that they're able to shift more into their liquid savings. Of course, there are always a lot of factors at play so we would need to assess all the trade-offs being presented."

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Shares of Zimmer Biomet Holdings (ZBH) dropped nearly 9% after the manufacturer of artificial joint replacements and other orthopedic products warned the implementation of a new enterprise resources planning (ERP) system would hit sales and profits in 2024.

In a presentation Thursday at the Wells Fargo 2024 Healthcare Conference, Zimmer executives said the company switched from a legacy ERP platform to one from SAP, a transition that has run into complications. Zimmer's management team expects the issue to cause a 1% drag on revenue this year, with the headwinds mostly abating by the end of the fourth quarter.

ERP software aims to integrate business processes — from inventory tracking and sales to human resources and beyond. Zimmer's ERP transition is reportedly causing production issues and impeding shipments, especially in its sports, extremities, and trauma segments.

Analysts at Stifel predicted a potential 210-basis-point impact on third-quarter sales from the ERP transition, exacerbating what is already a difficult market environment. Meanwhile, Evercore ISI analysts said the issue could reduce earnings per share (EPS) by 15 cents.

Zimmer Biomet shares had been trending higher since Aug. 7, when the company released its second-quarter results and announced an agreement to acquire OrthoGrid Systems, which specializes in artificial intelligence guidance systems for hip replacement surgery.

Thursday's losses reversed those post-earnings gains. Zimmer Biomet stock is down about 14% year to date.

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Hiring likely bounced back in August if forecasters are correct about a government report on the labor market set for Friday.Friday’s report on jobs by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to show employers added 161,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate falling a tenth of a percentage point to 4.2% from July, according to a survey of economists by and.

On Thursday, a number of other reports on the job market by non-government entities potentially set the stage, signaling that the job market is slowing down. Private employers added the fewest jobs in more than three years, more people filed for unemployment last week than expected, and layoffs in August were nearly triple those in July. However, economists and analysts often view these reports as less comprehensive than the BLS's numbers.

The BLS numbers are projected to recover from the 114,000 jobs added in July in a signal that July’s downshift was at least partially a fluke. But the report could have significant implications for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision later this month and at future meetings if it reinforces the idea from recent data that cracks are forming in the labor market. 

Higher unemployment, or less job growth than forecast, could convince Fed officials that they need to take aggressive action to stop the jobless rate from rising. This could spur central bankers to cut the influential Fed funds rate by 50 basis points rather than the 25-point cut that financial markets widely anticipate for the Fed’s next meeting in September. 

The Fed is set to meet three more times this year. As of Tuesday afternoon, markets were pricing in a 73% chance that at least one of those meetings will result in a 50-basis-point rate cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which forecasts rate movements based on fed funds futures trading data. 

“If we do see a couple months of weaker numbers, that could move the needle toward a 50-point cut in either November or December,” said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide, in an interview. 

The unemployment rate has risen for each of the past four months, stoking concerns that the Fed’s high interest rates — intended to slow the economy and counteract high inflation — are hurting the labor market, which until recently was an economic bright spot.

Fed officials have signaled the central bank is on the verge of cutting its influential Fed funds rate from its highest level since 2001 after holding it there for more than a year. That would put downward pressure on interest rates for mortgages, car loans, and other borrowing and would be the first rate cut since the pandemic hit in 2020.

The Fed has been balancing its dual missions of stabilizing consumer prices while preventing unemployment from spiking, trying to set its interest rate at a level that would keep a lid on inflation without dragging down the economy so much that it causes mass layoffs.While unemployment rates aren’t high by historical standards, last month’s jobs report showed a sharp hiring slowdown in July, with the unemployment rate rising fast enough to set off a historically reliable indicator that a recession is imminent.

However, several economists said that data could have been distorted by the temporary impact of Hurricane Beryl rather than worrisome long-term trends in the job market—and expect Friday’s report to show a resurgence of hiring.

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Conservative news outlet Newsmax announced it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) to be held by the end of this year or early 2025.

The media company said it seeks to raise $75 million in the IPO under Regulation A+, which it said was "the largest offering of its kind to date on a national securities exchange." 

In addition, Newsmax noted that ahead of the planned IPO it has begun a private placement offering to accredited investors, with the hope of raising another $150 million. That offering would be for Series B 7% Convertible Preferred Stock and give the company the ability to generate up to $75 million above the initial $150 million.

Newsmax noted in a private placement memorandum that between its TV and digital divisions, the company's revenue shot up to $135.3 million in 2023 from $41.8 million in 2019.

Newsmax explained that it expects to apply to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "NMAX."

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Vice President Kashim Shettima has summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, to address the recent hike in pump price of petrol.

The meeting, held on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, who is currently on an official visit to China, also included the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

The Vice President is meeting with the trio in his office at the State House, Abuja today, Thursday, September 5.

NNPCL on Tuesday increased the pump price of petrol from ₦568 to ₦855, ₦897 (depending on the location per litre) amid lingering fuel scarcity and the country’s crisis.

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Stellantis (STLA) temporarily stopped making its top-selling Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee sports-utility vehicles in the past week, as dealers complain about excess inventory.

The Big Three automaker paused production at two Detroit plants that reportedly make the Grand Cherokee, and another factory in Toledo, Ohio, where the Wrangler is made.

Stellantis said it will resume production at the plants Thursday, as it "continues to take the necessary actions to improve operations in the U.S. market. This included making production adjustments at the Toledo North, Jefferson and Mack plants."

The automaker added it "will continue to monitor the situation to assess whether further action is required."

Stellantis' high inventory levels have been attributed by dealers and Wall Street analysts in part to higher prices and the company offering fewer promotions than competitors, according to

The automaker in July posted a 48% year-over-year drop in net profit for the first half of the year, as it struggled with bloated inventories.

Shares of Stellantis were 0.8% lower at $15.95 in early trading Thursday. They've lost about 31% of their value since the start of the year.

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