5 things to know before the stock market opens on Thursday, February 9

Here are the most important news investors need to start their trading day:

It’s Bob Iger’s Magic Kingdom and we just live in it. It didn’t take long for the new/old Disney CEO to put his stamp on the company again after he returned late last year after a relatively short absence. During the company On Wednesday, Iger unveiled a new corporate structure that makes ESPN a separate division, planned $5.5 billion in cost cuts and layoffs of 7,000 people. Disney has already been the leader of the Dow since the return of the Iger in November, and this announcement was exactly what Wall Street was waiting for, as the stock rallied after hours. Even Nelson Peltz’s Trian, an activist firm embroiled in a fiduciary battle with Disney’s board of directors, was impressed. “We’re glad Disney is listening,” Trian told CNBC.

Stocks are aiming for a rebound on Thursday after falling as the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell. Apart from Disney, revenues continue to rise. Mattel, MGM And Confirm all reported after Wednesday’s call, and PepsiCo published the results ahead of open Thursday. Otherwise, investors are still on hold waiting for the next Fed policy moves, especially now that Chairman Jerome Powell is talking about “disinflationary” factors in the economy. Weekly jobless claims are also due at 8:30 AM ET. Read live market updates.

Investors didn’t seem to like Wednesday’s Google event to showcase their Chatbot Bard with artificial intelligence. Shares of the parent company Alphabet fell 7% during the trading session. This is the latest mistake for the online search leader Google. Rival Microsoft outwitted it with OpenAI ChatGPT support, which gained attention early in the AI ​​wars. Microsoft also announced this week that it will be using ChatGPT to extend its Bing search engine and Internet browser Edge. However, while analysts are under the impression that Google is rushing to steal some of the heat from Microsoft, they also believe that the company’s AI offering could very well be as good as that of its competitors.

southwestern airlines won’t forget your holiday crunch anytime soon. The government certainly won’t either. The Biden administration is investigating the turmoil that led to the cancellation of more than 16,000 flights between Dec. 21 and Dec. 31. And on Thursday, the airline’s chief operating officer will appear before senators on Capitol Hill to speak on behalf of the company. “Looking back, we didn’t have enough operational resilience to winter conditions,” COO Andrew Watterson said in an affidavit that was reviewed by CNBC ahead of the Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Hearing planned to start at 10 am ET. However, despite all the controversy, Southwest shares are still up more than 4% this year ahead of Thursday as strong demand and high fares support airline results.

Santa Claus did nothing for toy manufacturers. Mattel posted earnings on Wednesday and they weren’t good. The maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels released highs and lows that came in well below Wall Street’s expectations as inflation weighed on consumer spending during the holiday quarter. Sales of Fisher Price dolls, figurines and toys for toddlers were down. “Fourth quarter results came in below our expectations as the macro environment turned out to be more challenging than expected,” CEO Inon Kraitz said on Wednesday. Mattel’s weak results came about two weeks after competitor Hasbro warned of a weak holiday quarter and said it would cut 15% of its workforce.