The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits declined last week in a sign that layoffs remain low, even as several high-profile companies have announced job cuts.

U.S. inflation slowed last month for the first time since September even as additional tariffs on steel and aluminum kicked in Wednesday that could send prices higher.

PepsiCo reported better-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter after hiking prices for its drinks and snacks.

Wall Street pointed slightly higher in premarket trading as investors await the government’s final inflation-related report of the year.

McDonald’s posted better-than-expected sales in the second quarter as dining rooms reopened and new products like the Crispy Chicken Sandwich drew customers.

Wall Street is gearing up for a blockbuster earnings season as companies issue their results for the April-June quarter.

That is down dramatically from 14.8% last April, just after the virus erupted in the United States. AdAlso hiring last month were retailers, which added 41,000 jobs, health care companies, with 46,000, and manufacturers, with 21,000. But state and local governments have slashed 1.4 million jobs since the pandemic erupted, including 86,000 last month, and most have instituted hiring freezes. The Congressional Budget Office projects the nation will add a substantial 6.2 million jobs this year. Sounding an optimistic note, he said: “There’s good reason to expect job creation to pick up in the coming months."

Riding a sales surge amid a global pandemic, Tesla Inc. on Wednesday reported that it posted its first annual net profit in 2020. Once again the company needed regulatory credits purchased by other automakers in order to make a profit. Without $1.58 billion in credits for the year, Tesla would have lost money. Tesla said in its investor letter that over a “multi-year horizon,” it expects 50% growth in annual vehicle deliveries. Tesla’s vehicle sales rose 36% last year, but the company fell just short of its annual goal to deliver 500,000 vehicles.

Walcott had to furlough four employees at his restaurant, just before Christmas, after New York state stopped allowing indoor dining. Still, the nation has nearly 10 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic sent it into a deep recession nearly a year ago, having recovered just 56% of the jobs lost in the spring. Most other industries added jobs in December, with manufacturers, construction companies, and higher-paying professional services such as architecture, engineering and accounting hiring more workers. Friday’s monthly jobs report, the last of Donald Trump’s presidency, shows that the nation has 3 million fewer jobs than it did four years earlier. Still, Trump had pledged to create 25 million jobs in four years.

As the year comes to a close Americans are still stuck at home and that has led to an explosive year for Home Depot. Revenue totaled $33.54 billion for the three months ended Nov. 1, topping the $31.83 billion that analysts polled by FactSet predicted. Whether buying a new home, or improving an existing one, home owners continue to head to Home Depot at a healthy pace. While those industries have been devastated, the housing market, and Home Depot, have grown stronger. Home Depot Inc. also said Tuesday that it's making temporary financial support programs for its frontline, hourly employees permanent.

Economists have forecast that employers added 580,000 jobs last month, down from 661,000 in September and 1.5 million in August. The unemployment rate is expected to have declined from 7.9% to a still-high 7.7%, according to data provider FactSet. That would mark further progress but also a smaller decline in joblessness than in any previous month since the pandemic erupted in the United States. The resurgence of the virus would compound that threat, especially as colder weather sets in and keeps more people indoors. Millions of people have stopped looking for work, artificially lowering the unemployment rate.

Automakers have sprinted out of their pandemic lockdowns, and GM's big quarter follows similar performances at crosstown rivals Ford and Fiat. All three blew past Wall Street's sales and profit projections. GM's adjusted earnings were $2.83 per share, easily outpacing Wall Street's per-share projections of $1.43, according to a survey by FactSet. GM's sales in China jumped 12% in the third quarter, with sales of its Buick and Cadillac brands both rising more than 25%. GM’s profit was boosted by higher-priced pickup trucks and large SUVs, which have seen strong sales in the U.S. through the pandemic.

UnitedHealth Group beat third-quarter earnings expectations and finally hiked its 2020 forecast after holding off while trying to gauge COVID-19’s impact. Health insurers have approached 2020 forecasts cautiously, even though many reaped huge profits in the first half as the pandemic kept people home and out of the health care system. UnitedHealth said Wednesday that both care patterns and prescription volumes approached normal levels in its recently completed quarter. The new range mostly exceeds the average forecast on Wall Street for earnings of $16.57 per share, according to FactSet. They still don’t know how it will affect the economy or a return to more normal levels of health care use.

The predicted hiring gain would be up from 2.5 million jobs in May. Even so, the combined job growth for May and June would recover only a fraction of the 22 million jobs that were lost in March and April, when the virus forced business shutdowns and layoffs across the country. And even a jobless rate above 10% wouldnt fully capture the scope of the pandemics damage to the job market and the economy. With confirmed coronavirus cases spiking across the Sun Belt, a range of evidence suggests that a nascent recovery is stalling. In addition to the renewed shutdowns across the Sun Belt, New York City has postponed plans to reopen indoor seating at restaurants in the face of more confirmed virus cases.