1. Jobs, jobs, jobs: The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest level since December 1969.
The US economy added 134,000 jobs last month, below expectations and the monthly average for the year. The Labor Department said Hurricane Florence impacted jobs results.
Wages grew 2.8% year on year.
2. Samsung’s bumper quarter: Samsung (SSNLF) announced Friday it expects to deliver the highest quarterly earnings ever.
The South Korean firm said its operating profits will reach as much as 17.6 trillion won ($15.6 billion) for the three months ended in September. That’s a jump of more than 20% from the same period a year earlier.
The world’s largest smartphone maker will report full results at the end of the month.
Samsung shares ended the trading session unchanged on Friday. The stock has fallen about 12% so far this year, weighed down by concerns about future demand for memory chips.
3. Trouble for China tech: Shares in Chinese tech hardware makers took a hit after Bloomberg News reported that the Chinese military hid tiny microchips in computer motherboards that were sold to major US companies including Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL), allowing hackers to access any network that included the affected equipment.
Amazon and Apple both strenuously denied the report, which didn’t link any Chinese tech companies with the alleged infiltration. But in Hong Kong trading, computer maker Lenovo (LNVGF) plunged 15% and telecom hardware maker ZTE (ZTCOF) sank 11%.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment on Friday, which is a public holiday in the country. The Shanghai Composite was closed.
4. Global market overview: US stock futures were pointing lower.
Markets in Europe and Asia were also down.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 closed 0.8% lower on Thursday. The Nasdaq plunged 1.8% and Netflix shed 3.6%.
5. Earnings and economics: A report on the US trade balance will be released at 8:30 a.m.
Unilever (UL) announced Friday it has given up on a plan to move its headquarters out of the United Kingdom and use Rotterdam as its sole legal home.
Shares in the global consumer goods company dropped 0.7% in London after it said the change “has not received support from a significant group of shareholders.”
6. Coming this week:Friday — US jobs report
