Hello friends and Coins2Day readers.
Wall Street stock futures were flat at 6:30 a.m. ET, much like markets in Asia and Europe, as investors awaited the January U.S. Jobs report, slated to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET by the Labor Department.
Today’s must-read story is from Coins2Day‘s Peter Elkind and it looks at the recent leadership developments at CBS (CBS) and Viacom (VIA), where 92-year-old Sumner Redstone stepped aside from his long-held role as executive chairman of both companies. With Redstone’s daughter, Shari, backing her father’s replacement at one of those media companies, but opposing the other, Elkind investigates whether or not there will be peace in the media empire.
Here’s what else you need to know to start the day.
1. ArcelorMittal wants cash
At its earnings report this morning, the world’s largest steelmaker launched plans to raise $3 billion from a share issue to reduce debt. ArcelorMittal’s (MT) share price has dropped 60% in the past 12 months, and shares were down a further 7.5% in early trading on Friday. Overcapacity in China’s steel industry has driven steel prices to 12-year lows, and ArcelorMittal saw its core profit (EBITDA) drop by 32% last year.
2. January jobs report
The Labor Department puts out its preliminary look at how the U.S. Labor market fared in January, with analysts expecting the government to report that employers added 190,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate held steady at 5%. That total would fall well short of the robust 300,000 jobs employers added in December, when mild weather and holiday season jobs provided a boost to the market. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported a larger-than-expected increase in the number of weekly unemployment claims filed last week. That could be a hint that the labor market might have had a rough start to 2016, amid the recent stock volatility and economic slowdown.
3. Estee Lauder Q2 earnings
Beauty products giant Estee Lauder (EL) is expected to post second-quarter sales and profit that more or less line up with Wall Street’s expectations this morning. The company has been helped by a solid turnaround in its North American sales thanks to a series of new product launches and acquisitions, though it has also had to rely on increased promotions to bolster sales for its struggling namesake brand and the Clinique brand. Estee Lauder has also seen tremendous growth in its overseas markets, though the strong U.S. Dollar has weighed on that revenue.
4. Tyson Foods looks for Q1 sales beat
The largest U.S. Meat processor likely saw first-quarter sales that outpace analysts’ expectations. Tyson Foods (TSN) bought Hillshire Brands for $8.5 billion two years ago and that brand is expected to have seen strong sales in the most recent quarter, while Tyson’s chicken business also likely benefitted from higher margins thanks to cost-cutting measures.
5. Weekend movie openings
Hollywood has a handful of new releases hitting theaters this weekend, including Victorian-era zombie romp Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is based on the 2009 book (itself based on the Jane Austen book) of the same name. Also opening today is the latest film from the Coen brothers, Hail, Caesar!—a period piece comedy that boasts a cast stuffed with A-list stars and features the 1950s Hollywood film studio system as its setting. No Coen brothers film has ever recorded an opening weekend with more than $25 million in domestic box office gross, so it’s possible that last weekend’s top-grossing film, Kung Fu Panda 3, could take that title for the second week in a row.
—Reuters contributed to this post.