Morning Brief

What to watch today: Dow set to surge after an influx of jobs data

BY THE NUMBERS

Dow futures pointed to a strong gain at Thursday's open after a double dose of jobs data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell modestly on the first day of the third quarter while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq moved higher. The Nasdaq also saw a record high close. (CNBC)

The government said Thursday morning that a much better-than-expected 4.8 million nonfarm jobs were added in June while the nation's unemployment rate fell to 11.1%. The monthly report came one day early because the stock market is closed Friday in observance of the Fourth of July. (CNBC)

The government's normal Thursday look at weekly jobless claims showed a higher-than-expected 1.43 million new filings for unemployment benefits last week. Today's data marked the 15th straight week in which initial claims remained above 1 million. (CNBC)

Tesla (TSLA) rose more than 8% after the electric auto maker said it delivered a much-better-than-expected 90,650 vehicles in the second quarter. Analysts expected Tesla to deliver about 72,000 vehicles during the last three months. General Motors, Toyota Motor and Fiat Chrysler all saw their second-quarter sales plunge by more than 30%. (CNBC)

Rising shares of Dow-stock Boeing (BA) helped fuel premarket gains after the FAA and the aircraft maker said they completed recertification test flights on the grounded 737 Max jets. The FAA said it must still evaluate data from the three days of testing and has other tasks to complete. (Reuters)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

New daily coronavirus cases in the U.S. hit another record, topping 50,000 on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Many states also continued to see unprecedented spikes Wednesday, including Arizona, Texas and California. (CNBC)

The surge in Arizona came on the day that Vice President Mike Pence visited the state. He urged people in Arizona to wear masks. He wore a mask himself as he descended the steps of Air Force Two in Phoenix. Pence joins CNBC for a live interview on "Squawk on the Street" at 10 a.m. ET.

McDonald's is pausing its U.S. reopening plans for 21 days. About 1,000 out of McDonald's 14,000 U.S. locations have reopened with reduced seating capacity as of mid June. Franchisees that have already reopened their dining rooms and are not facing any rollbacks from local officials can decide if they want to keep them open. (CNBC)

Apple is closing 30 additional stores in the U.S., bringing the total number of reclosures in America to 77. Stores in Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada and Oklahoma are closed as of Thursday. Other stores in Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Utah were closed Wednesday. Apple has 271 stores in the U.S. (CNBC)

The House passed a bill to extend the deadline to apply for forgivable small business aid through a key coronavirus relief program. The legislation, which the Senate approved Tuesday, extends the deadline to request Paycheck Protection Program loans to Aug. 8 from June 30. The measure heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. (CNBC)

With Democrats on Capitol Hill pushing for a new round of coronavirus stimulus, Trump said Wednesday he supports another more direct payments to Americans, claiming he wants to give out more money than Democrats have already proposed. The president did not, however, seem keen on continuing enhanced unemployment benefits. (CNBC)

CEOs from American tech giants, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet's Google, have agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing would mark the first time all four testified together in front of Congress, though it's not yet clear if the event would take place in person or virtually given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. (CNBC)

Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees at a video town hall meeting last week that he was reluctant to bow to the ongoing ad boycott, saying that advertisers would return "soon enough." Facebook told CNBC that it is making real progress in keeping hate speech off its platforms, and that it does not benefit from this kind of content.

STOCKS TO WATCH

JetBlue (JBLU) reached a deal with its pilots union that will avoid involuntary furloughs until May 1, 2021, according to a memo sent to its pilots and seen by CNBC. The memo did not give any further details.

American Airlines (AAL) said it was overstaffed by about 8,000 flight attendants, and may seek to cut the workforce through voluntary leaves and early retirements.

PG&E (PCG) has exited bankruptcy protection, following the utility's implementation of a financial restructuring plan approved by a judge and California state regulators.

Nio (NIO), the China-based electric vehicle maker, delivered 3,740 vehicles during June, a monthly record, and exceeded prior guidance with second-quarter deliveries of 10,331 vehicles.

Spotify (SPOT) is considering adding video streaming features to its service to compete with Google's YouTube, according to a report in online tech publication "Tech The Lead."

Lemonade (LMND) priced its initial public offering at $29 per share, above the already-raised range of $26 to $28 per share. The online insurance company begins trading today on the New York Stock Exchange.

Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS), the health products company, raised its revenue outlook for the quarter that ended in June, on strong demand in the Americas and Europe. Nu Skin is scheduled to report earnings on August 5.

Novartis (NVS) will pay more than $729 million to settle U.S. charges that the drugmaker paid illegal kickbacks to doctors and patients to help drug sales. Novartis accepted responsibility for many of the allegations, and said it is now a different company with a strong culture and commitment to ethics.