Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Stock futures rose after light May jobs report
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange.
Source: NYSE
U.S. President Joe Biden, left, wears a protective mask while speaking during a meeting with Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, May 13, 2021.
T.J. Kirkpatrick | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. companies are watching infrastructure talks between President Joe Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the GOP’s lead negotiator. They plan to meet again Friday. In their Wednesday meeting, Biden proposed a 15% minimum tax on corporations as part of a compromise to pay for a smaller $ 1 trillion infrastructure package.
2. Employment growth in May doubled April’s tally
A General Motors assembly worker loads engine block castings on to the assembly line at the GM Romulus Powertrain plant in Romulus, Michigan, U.S. August 21, 2019.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Jobs growth last month was about double the pace of April’s advance. The U.S. economy added 559,000 nonfarm payrolls in May, compared to estimates of 671,000. As Covid pandemic restrictions continued to ease, food services and drinking places saw 186,000 additions in May. April’s jobs overall tally was revised up by 12,000 to 278,000.
The nation’s unemployment rate slipped to 5.8% in May compared to estimates for a 5.9% rate. Investors continued to bet that a measured pace of job gains would keep the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates and tightening monetary policy.
3. AMC chief makes case in YouTube interview to sell more shares
Chairman/CEO of AMC Entertainment Inc. Adam Aron speaks onstage during the 2018 Will Rogers Pioneer of the Year Dinner at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, on April 25, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Alberto E. Rodriguez | Getty Images
Shares of AMC Entertainment dropped more than 3% in Friday’s premarket, in a wild Reddit-fueled week of trading that saw the stock nearly double Wednesday and then pull back nearly 18% on Thursday. CEO Adam Aron on Thursday night sat down with Trey Collins, host of the Trey’s Trades channel on YouTube. Many of the channel’s subscribers are AMC investors. Following two separate share sales this week that generated around $ 800 million in cash, Aron urged shareholders to support a new plan to issue an additional 25 million shares. Aron reiterated that AMC is looking at a number of acquisition opportunities.
4. Bitcoin drops after Elon Musk tweets breakup meme
Bitcoin fell nearly 5% to around $ 36,700 on Friday morning, hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a meme showing a couple breaking up and used a bitcoin hashtag and broken heart emoji. Other cryptocurrencies, including ether and dogecoin, also sank. In May, Musk said Tesla would stop accepting bitcoin as a payment method due to concerns over its energy usage.
5. Bill Ackman’s SPAC confirms talks to buy 10% of Universal Music
Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman‘s special purpose acquisition company Pershing Square Tontine Holdings confirmed Friday it’s in talks to buy 10% of Universal Music Group for around $ 4 billion. The transaction would value Universal Music at about $ 42 billion. The holdings company said the deal would not result in a merger and Universal Music will go ahead with a planned listing on Euronext Amsterdam in the third quarter of 2021.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest on the pandemic with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.