Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
The Dow rallied for the fourth day in a row, ending Monday up 176.59 points, or 0.46%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, rose for the third consecutive day and added 1.03% and 1.19%, respectively, as traders expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates sooner in the year than previously anticipated. Stocks got a boost in the late afternoon after Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to end the war with Israel. But Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in the border city of Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal. Follow live market updates.
Disney’s fiscal second-quarter earnings topped analyst estimates as streaming nearly broke even. The company’s entertainment streaming applications, Disney+ and Hulu, turned a profit in the quarter for the first time, Disney reported Tuesday. When combined with ESPN+, the streaming businesses lost $18 million in the quarter, significantly less than the $659 million loss reported a year earlier. The company’s traditional TV revenue and box office sales struggled for the quarter. Disney shares fell about 4% in premarket trading Tuesday.
Social Security just got an extended lifespan. The trust funds that the program relies on are now expected to run out in 2035 instead of 2034, according to the annual trustees’ report released on Monday. At that point, according to projections, 83% of benefits will be payable if Congress does not act sooner to prevent that shortfall. Social Security trustees said the extra year could be attributed to more people contributing to the program, thanks to a strong economy, low unemployment and higher job and wage growth. Despite the improvement, experts still urge Congress to take action now to prevent a looming shortfall.
Dozens of bowling center chain Bowlero’s employees said they’re planning to sue the company after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dropped its case against the company, according to the lawyer representing the claimants. They say they were fired from Bowlero based on their age or out of retaliation. The EEOC said closing its case against the company doesn’t absolve it of wrongdoing, but the end of the investigation opens the door for individual claimants to sue the company. Bowlero, which was one of the most successful companies to come out of the SPAC boom, denies the allegations.
Renters are feeling more pessimistic than ever. A New York Federal Reserve study released Monday showed the share of renters as of February who have hope that they will ever buy a home fell to a record low of 13.4% for 2024. That’s down from 15% in 2023 and significantly lower than the 20.8% series high back in 2014. The news comes as mortgage rates remain high and there’s been little improvement in housing affordability. Continuing their pessimism, respondents also expect rental costs to increase by 9.7% over the next year.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh, Alex Sherman, Lillian Rizzo, Lorie Konish, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Jeff Cox and Reuters contributed to this report.
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