5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

U.S. stock futures slipped Friday morning ahead of the final trading session of the week as some disappointing earnings results from Intel (down 11% premarket) and others weigh on what’s been a winning week so far. The S&P 500 is up 1.1% in the past four days, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite has outperformed the other two, gaining 1.3% through Thursday’s close. Follow live market updates.

We knew the economy was good, but not this good. U.S. GDP rose at a 3.3% annualized rate during the fourth quarter, far outpacing expectations for 2% growth. For all of 2023, the U.S. economy accelerated at a 2.5% annualized pace, compared to a 1.9% increase in 2022. At the start of the year, economists were projecting few if any gains in 2023. “This year has been like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and the economy is knocking the blocks off the economists, always outperforming,” said Dan North, senior economist with Allianz Trade Americas.

A wave of job cuts continues to ripple through corporate America. On Thursday, Microsoft, Levi’s and Paramount all said they’d be reducing their workforces. Microsoft plans to lay off 1,900 workers from its gaming unit. Levi’s said it would be cutting up to 15% of its global staff. Paramount didn’t disclose the size of its cuts but indicated in an internal memo a need to be “leaner” and “spend less.” Thursday’s announcements are just the latest in a string of similar efforts as profit pressures appear to catch up to companies.

The FTC is digging into artificial intelligence, announcing an inquiry into the field’s biggest players —  Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI — to review the “investments and partnerships being formed.” The study by the Lina Khan-led FTC comes after a massive year for AI, marked by the rise in popularity of ChatGPT and AI efforts across Wall Street. “At the FTC, the rapid development and deployment of AI is informing our work across the agency,” Khan said. “There’s no AI exemption from the laws on the books, and we’re looking closely at the ways companies may be using their power to thwart competition or trick the public.”

Shares of Tesla fell 12% Thursday after its fourth-quarter earnings report and a stark warning on 2024 demand. The drop to about $182 per share made for Tesla stock’s worst day in over a year and meant that investors betting against the stock saw a nice windfall. Tesla short sellers made more than $2 billion since Wednesday’s close, just before the company’s earnings report, according to financial analytics firm Ortex Media. CNBC’s Jim Cramer declared the stock no longer part of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks, saying, “As someone who was among the first to vocalize the Magnificent Seven rubric, I officially acknowledge now that there are only six left.” Shares of Tesla are down 27% so far this year after more than doubling in 2023.

– CNBC’s Pia Singh, Jeff Cox, Rohan Goswami, Micah Washington, Jacob Pramuk, Hayden Field, Arjun Kharpal and Julie Coleman contributed to this report.

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