Stock Market Indices Close in Red, Hawaiian Holdings Acquired by Alaska Air

According to Yahoo News, three out of the four major stock market indices closed in the red today, with only the small-cap Russell 2000 managing to stay above zero throughout the entire trading day, finishing at +1.04%. The Dow missed breakeven by -41 points, closing at -0.11%, while the S&P 500 dropped -0.54% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost -119 points, closing at -0.84%. Hawaiian Holdings (HA) saw a significant increase of +192% today following the announcement of its acquisition by Alaska Air (ALK) for $1.9 billion, or $18 in cash. The merger of the two regional Pacific airlines is expected to improve competition, with both retaining their brand names. Alaska Air, the acquiring company, experienced a -14% drop following the news. In other news, Roche (RHHBY) shares gained +3% today after announcing the acquisition of weight-loss drug specialist Carmot Therapeutics for $3.1 billion. As for economic reports, October Factory Orders came in at -3.6%, slightly below projections and marking the lowest monthly tally for the year. This was only the third month with a negative print for Factory Orders in 2023. Tomorrow, the market anticipates S&P PMI and ISM Services data for November, as well as Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for October. ISM Services is expected to see a slight increase to 52.4%, while JOLTS headline data is predicted to drop by 200K openings to 9.4 million. With the final trading month of the year underway, market participants may be looking for jobs data to boost sentiment going forward, but the risk remains to the downside with too-hot employment data potentially pushing a Fed scenario for cutting interest rates beyond mid-next year.