- U.S. airline executives will defend seating fees before a Senate panel.
- Job openings rose in October while hiring fell, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the deadly E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions served at McDonald's is over.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. New momentum
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. >Sign up here.
Stock futures were higher Wednesday morning after both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted new record closes, increasing 0.05% and 0.4%, respectively. Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 0.7%, while S&P 500 futures added 0.3% and futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%. Follow live market updates.
2. Seat fees under fire
Executives from American, United, Delta, Frontier and Spirit will defend their seating fees before a Senate panel Wednesday after the subcommittee accused the industry of charging "junk" fees to bring in billions of revenue. The U.S. airlines brought in $12.4 billion in seating fees between 2018 and 2023, according to a report by the subcommittee. The report included extra charges for seats with additional legroom, window or aisle seats and "preferred" locations that are closer to the front of the plane.
3. A force in sales
Salesforce shares were up 13% in extended trading after the company reported revenue and fiscal fourth-quarter guidance that exceeded analysts' expectations. The company's revenue grew 8% year over year during the fiscal third quarter and reached $9.44 billion, above the $9.34 billion expected by Wall Street. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, in a call with analysts, boasted about the company's AI-powered chatbots dubbed Agentforce, which investors have been closely watching for signs of growth.
Money Report
4. Job openings grow
Job openings rose in October while hiring fell, providing more data as the Federal Reserve watches for signs of tightness or slack in the labor market before meeting next week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that available jobs reached 7.74 million in October, up 372,000 from September. But hires totaled 5.31 million, down 269,000 from the prior month, lowering the hiring rate to 3.3%. The data comes for a month in which the BLS reported nonfarm payroll growth of just 12,000, the worst month since December 2020.
5. Outbreak is over
The deadly E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions served at McDonald's is over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. The agency announced the outbreak on Oct. 22 and has said 104 people in 14 states were infected, which led to 27 hospitalizations and one death of an older adult in Colorado. The CDC pointed to fresh slivered onions served on Quarter Pounders and other menu items as the likely source of this outbreak. While the items have since returned to the menu, foot traffic to McDonald's U.S. stores has continued to take a hit, with steeper declines in the 10 states that the CDC first connected to the outbreak.
— CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Leslie Jones, Kif Leswig, Jeff Marks, Annika Kim Constantino and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.
