Anything For You All: 10 things you need to know before the opening bell

November 25, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving. Here's what you need to know:

UK GDP growth came in at 0.5% in the third quarter, as expected, according to a second estimate. This shows that the economy was steady amid concerns about the fallout from Brexit. On a year-on-year basis, GDP growth was 2.3%, in line with the initial reading.

Johnson & Johnson has approached the Swiss pharmaceutical Actelion about a potential takeover. Bloomberg reported that discussions were in early stages, and may not lead to a deal. Johnson & Johnson would stoke its pharmaceutical portfolio through the acquisition.

Electric car start-up Faraday Future is likely to miss the shipping deadline for its first vehicle amid production delays and financing issues. The Financial Times reported that the company's Chinese backer LeEco had acknowledged that it was burning cash too quickly. Faraday Future is trying to challenge Tesla.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate billionaire Wilbur Ross as his Treasury Secretary. Todd Ricketts, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, is expected to be named Ross's deputy, according to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the transition planning.

Trump said he was "working hard, even on Thanksgiving," to keep Carrier Corp's air conditioning business in Indiana. The president-elect was "making progress," he said in a tweet Thursday. Carrier, a division of United Technologies, tweeted back, saying it had talked to the incoming administration but had nothing new to announce. The company said earlier this year that it was planning to move 1,400 jobs to Mexico over three years.

Amazon is in talks to buy the Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com for $1 billion. Bloomberg reported that a deal, which may not eventually close, would expand Amazon's reach in the high-growth Middle East market.

Target said it had "record-breaking" sales at the start of the holiday shopping season. The retailer said traffic to Target.com surpassed Cyber Monday 2015, driven by deep discounts on electronics for Black Friday.

The secretive big-data firm Palantir Technologies raised another $20 million in November, according to forms filed with the SEC on Wednesday. The $20 million figure is a curiously low amount for a company that led an $880 million round of funding last December, has raised more than $2 billion total, and is said to be valued at $20 billion as a whole.

Two people were killed and four wounded Thursday when gunfire erupted at a park crowded with people gathered for a football tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, police said. The shootings occurred as hundreds gathered in the park along the Ohio River for the annual Juice Bowl Football Tournament, a tradition dating back to the 1950s. Police did not have a motive for the shootings.

The US stock market is open until 1 p.m. ET, and the bond market closes at 2 p.m. The advance goods trade balance for October will be released at 8:30 a.m., and Markit's services purchasing manager's index for November will cross at 9:45.