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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:1. Gains and lossesThe S&P 500 staged a comeback Thursday, posting its first positive day this week and snapping a three-day losing streak. The index added 0.21%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.76%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average didn't fare as well, losing 140.59 points, or 0.33%, for its first four-day losing streak since June. Treasury yields moved lower, easing back slightly after hitting three-month highs on Wednesday. Follow live market updates.2. Tapes-try againCoach and Michale Kors bags.Michael M. Santiago | Getty ImagesCoach owner Tapestry's proposed acquisition of Michael Kors parent Capri is not in the bag. A federal judge on Thursday blocked the $8.5 billion merger, which would have un...

In this photo illustration, a McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburger meal is seen at a McDonald's on October 23, 2024 in the Flatbush neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Michael M. Santiago | Getty ImagesAs McDonald's and health authorities race to contain a deadly E. coli outbreak, the burger chain faces challenges in the months ahead to keep the trust of diners and investors.Shares of the fast-food giant have fallen 5% since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory notice Tuesday, warning that the company's Quarter Pounder burgers have been linked to an E. coli outbreak in 10 states that has led to one death.Health investigators have zeroed in on the slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder as the likely contaminant. McDonald's confirmed that ...

LinkedIn has verified more than 55 million of its users, for free, in order to combat the spread of misinformation fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence, the company told CNBC.The Microsoft-owned service said it has the most verified individual human identities of any major social network. In November, the company will begin showing its user verification badges within the primary LinkedIn feed. "You now see things like deep-fake videos, photos that are increasingly harder with the naked eye to understand if they're real or fake," Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn's vice president of trust and safety, told CNBC in an interview. "That line-blurring is what we believe poses a significant challenge in combating things like misinformation, faking expertise and so forth."LinkedIn began verifying...

Investors should start building a position in Builders FirstSource , according to UBS. Analyst John Lovallo initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating, with his price target of $232 implying more than 27% upside from Thursday's close. Lovallo joins 11 other analysts covering the stock on Wall Street who have a strong buy or buy rating, per LSEG. Of the 16 analysts in total, the remaining four have taken a neutral stance. With a "structurally underbuilt" housing market in the U.S., Lovallo thinks the homebuilder is well positioned for growth ahead, seeing current headwinds subsiding in 2025. "In our view, the market appears overly cautious on BLDR's growth potential over the next few years given ongoing softness in the multi-family market, decreasing building materials per housing st...

Recent consumer survey data on iPhone sales points to a lack of growth for Apple , according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. Analyst Brandon Nispel downgraded the megacap tech name to underweight from sector weight, and his $200 price target reflects more than 13% downside ahead, as of Thursday's close. Shares fell nearly 1% in the premarket following the analyst's move. Year to date, the stock has soared nearly 20%. AAPL YTD mountain AAPL, year-to-date Nispel thinks the iPhone SE is "not purely additive" to overall iPhone sales, citing data from the firm's consumer iPhone survey for September. The survey showed that 59% of respondents are interested in upgrading to the iPhone 16. Additionally, among those who are likely or extremely likely to upgrade to the iPhone 16, 61% are interested in th...

People walk past an advertisement for the iPhone 16 Pro at an Apple store during National Day holiday on October 3, 2024 in Chongqing, China.Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesApple rejoined the ranks of the top five smartphone vendors in the China in the third quarter, helped by the launch of the iPhone 16, data released on Friday showed — but its growth was still outpaced by domestic rival Huawei.Apple stood at second position by market share in the third quarter, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). The tech giant took a 15.6% slice of the Chinese market over the period, down from 16.1% in the third quarter of last year. The company's shipment growth to China flatlined year-on-year in the third quarter. Apple stood at second position by market share in the third q...