TheStreet's J.D. Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for trading Wednesday, November 22nd.
Full Video Transcript Below:
J.D. DURKIN: I'm J.D. Durkin, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks were in the green to close out today’s trading session as markets wrap up a shortened holiday trading week. Markets are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and will stay open for a half day on Friday.
While trading volumes are down significantly, markets have proven to be pretty good for the S&P 500 on Black Friday. Going back to 1950, the index has finished up far more often than it’s finished down. With little economic data to consider this week, investors will continue to digest comments from the Federal Reserve as they assess the path forward on interest rates.
In other news - according to CNN, nearly 900,000 union members received double-digit pay raises in 2023, about a third of which occurred in just the last six weeks.
Many union workers took to the picket lines this year in order to win those raises. Nearly 40,000 members of the United Auto Workers Union went on strike for about six weeks to win new contracts against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. And Kaiser Permanente workers held the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history, lasting only three days.
Other employees at big-name companies to receive pay bumps this year include UPS, Disney World, Las Vegas casino workers, and pilots from American and United Airlines.
But it’s not just union employees who are seeing pay increases. The U.S. Labor Department shows the average hourly wage is up 4.3 percent year over year.
That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm J.D. Durkin with TheStreet.
