Signage of Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) is seen during a news conference by the state oil company at the Plaza Conference Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia November 3, 2019.
Hamad Mohammed | Reuters
Here are the most important things to know about Thursday before you hit the door.
1. Labor market softening?
Job growth slowed drastically in November with private payrolls increasing by just 67,000, well below the 150,000 consensus and the lowest month since May. The big miss raised concerns that the labor market could be softening.
Investors will look to the weekly jobless claims on Thursday for more clarification. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting a total of 215,000 Americans to have filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, slightly up from 213,000 for the week ended Nov. 23.
2. Earnings from Tiffany & more
Earnings season is wrapping up with more than 98% of the S&P 500 companies having released quarterly results.
The handful of companies to report on Thursday include Tiffany. Analysts are expecting the jeweler to report earnings per share of 85 cents in the fiscal third quarter, a slight increase from 77 cents in the same quarter last year, according to FactSet. Tiffany’s stock has skyrocketed 65% in 2019 and it recently got a boost after LVMH confirmed it will buy Tiffany for $16.2 billion, or $135 a share in cash.
Dollar General, Ulta Beauty, Zoom Video and DocuSign are also slated to report earnings on Thursday.
3. The world’s biggest-ever new listing
Saudi Aramco is expected to price its shares for an initial public offering on Thursday.
The long-awaited IPO of the world’s largest and most profitable company will list locally on the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange. Saudi Arabia is selling a 1.5% stake in the state oil producer through the offering, with 0.5% available to individual retail buyers and 1% for institutional investors.
Its price range put the oil giant’s value at between $1.6 trillion to $1.7 trillion, set to beat the record $25 billion raised by China’s e-commerce firm Alibaba when it debuted in New York in 2014.
Major events (all times ET):
8:30 a.m. U.S. International Trade in Goods & Services Trade Balance
8:30 a.m. Initial jobless claims
8:30 a.m. U.S. Weekly Export Sales
10 a.m. ISM nonmanufacturing
10 a.m. Fed Vice Chairman Randal Quarles testifies to Senate Banking Committee
Major earnings:
Tiffany (before the bell)
Dollar General (before the bell)
Zoom Video (after the bell)
CrowdStrike (after the bell)
DocuSign (after the bell)
Ulta Beauty (after the bell)
Investors will monitor weekly jobless claims, Tiffany earnings and Aramco’s IPO pricing on Thursday.