5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

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

The U.S. economy is chipping away at hopes for a string of interest rate cuts this year. Major U.S. stock averages fell on Wednesday — the third straight decline for the Dow Jones Industrial Average — after stronger-than-expected December retail sales data dimmed investor optimism that the Federal Reserve would ease monetary policy this year. It was only the latest data point to suggest the central bank may not pull back on its measures designed to tame inflation as quickly as many investors would like. On Thursday, weekly jobless claims, two readings on the health of the housing market and remarks from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will help to drive stocks. Follow live market updates here.

Jamie Dimon isn’t buying the exuberance that sent stocks soaring at the end of last year. The JPMorgan Chase CEO told CNBC he thinks it’s “a mistake to assume that everything’s hunky-dory.” He said “very powerful forces” such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s war with Hamas, attacks on the Red Sea that have affected shipping routes and quantitative tightening by the Fed pose risks to the economy this year and next. Dimon previously warned of a “hurricane” looming in 2022 — in part because of Ukraine and the Fed pulling back on its efforts to boost the economy.

Google will cut more jobs this year, CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees in a memo Wednesday. The move will come amid a wave of cost cuts at the company, which set out to eliminate 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its full-time workforce, last year. Pichai told employees the company will not cut as many positions as it did last year, and the layoffs “will not touch every team.” He said Google has to reduce costs in order to invest in “big priorities” like AI. Pichai wrote, “The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough…