Market Overview - Wall Street is experiencing a decline at the start of a week filled with economic reports that could influence interest rates and stock prices, with the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 137 points or 0.3% [1] - Technology stocks, particularly in the artificial intelligence sector, are weighing heavily on the market following significant fluctuations last week [2] Company Performance - Nvidia, a key player in the AI boom, saw its stock rise 1.7%, helping to cushion losses in the S&P 500 after a 4.1% drop last week [2] - Oracle's stock fell another 1.9% following a 12.7% decline last week, marking its worst performance in over seven years [3] - Broadcom's stock decreased by 5.1% [3] Industry Insights - Concerns are growing in the AI sector regarding whether the substantial investments in chips and data centers will yield sufficient profits and productivity [4] - The upcoming economic reports, particularly the jobs report and inflation data, are critical as they will inform the Federal Reserve's decisions on interest rates [5][6] Economic Indicators - Economists anticipate that the jobs report for November will show an addition of 40,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate expected to be at 4.4%, near its highest level since 2021 [5][9] - The Federal Reserve is in a challenging position, needing to balance the impacts of a slowing job market and high inflation [6][7] Market Reactions - There is a prevailing hope on Wall Street for a slight weakening in the job market to prompt the Fed to lower interest rates without triggering a recession [7] - Treasury yields have eased, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling to 4.18% from 4.19% [10] Bankruptcy News - iRobot's shares plummeted 72.6% after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, indicating potential total loss for stockholders [11] Global Market Trends - Internationally, indexes in Europe rose while Asian markets faced declines, with Hong Kong and Shanghai indexes falling 1.3% and 0.6% respectively due to weak investment signals in China [12]

Amazon - Amazon is laying off 14,000 workers, marking the largest reduction in the company's history, with nearly every business unit expected to be affected [1][2] - The layoffs represent about 4% of Amazon's corporate and tech workforce, which totals over 1.5 million employees [2] - CEO Andy Jassy indicated that workforce reduction could be facilitated by embracing AI, as the company experiences increased productivity from AI technologies [3] Qualcomm - Qualcomm announced the release of new artificial intelligence accelerator chips, positioning itself as a competitor to Nvidia and AMD in the growing AI data center market [4][6] - The AI200 and AI250 chips are set to debut in 2026 and 2027, respectively, and are based on AI components already used in Qualcomm's smartphone chips [6] - Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market, holding over 90% of the graphics processing units (GPUs) [6] - Qualcomm's stock surged 11% following the announcement, contributing to the S&P 500 reaching an all-time high above 6,800 [6] iRobot - iRobot's shares fell over 33% after the company announced that its search for a buyer has reached an impasse, with negotiations with the last remaining bidder failing [8][9] - The company has been seeking a buyer since March, following Amazon's withdrawal from its acquisition bid last year [9] Halloween Retail - Retail prices for Halloween goods have increased significantly, with some items seeing price jumps as high as 300% due to tariffs affecting suppliers [11] - The average consumer is expected to spend a record $114 on Halloween-related expenses this year, according to the National Retail Federation [12]