The U.S. unemployment rate stayed at 4.1% by the end of March, but it was a disappointing month as only 103,000 jobs were added, below the 185,000 jobs that analysts expected. The unemployment rate was also expected to drop to 4%.
Tech and video gaming made the bulk of the weekend news as Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) and Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) all made headlines ahead of Monday’s action.
Here’s what’s going on:
Facebook, Inc. (FB)
Facebook is making more changes to clean up the social media site.
The company halted initiatives from data analytics firms to record user information for the purpose of advertising products that users may be interested in recently. Now, another firm has been named by Facebook in its third-party marketers suspensions.
CubeYou usually collects user information through its quizzes, which the company wrongly labels as being “for non-profit academic research.” The firm was notified by Facebook that its operations on the social media site have been suspended.
Much like with the case of Cambridge Analytica, CubeYou researchers had been collecting user data, which it was selling to advertisers. These researchers were working alongside the Psychometrics Lab at Cambridge University.
Facebook is launching an audit of the company due to its misleading practices. “These are serious claims and we have suspended CubeYou from Facebook while we investigate them,” Ime Archibong, Facebook vice president of product partnerships, said in a statement.
FB stock declined late Friday about 1.3%.
GameStop Corp. (GME)
GameStop expects 2018 to be a big sales year.
One of the video game store chain’s most successful console seller was the Nintendo Switch, and GameStop predicts that this success will continue throughout 2018. During the last quarter, the company’s hardware sales rose by 44.8% year-over-year thanks to the Nintendo console.
In 2017 alone, the store’s hardware sales increased by 28.3%. The PS4 and Xbox One have also been selling formidably, but the Nintendo Switch is the main reason for this massive growth spurt.
Some of the best-selling games of the year include the latest Zelda title and Mario Odyssey, which offers a genuine Super Mario experience in some of the greatest cities from around the world.
GME shares were down 1% on Friday.
Snap Inc (SNAP)
Snap has made a welcome change to Snapchat by bringing back an old feature that many were fond of.
The company’s recent redesign raised a lot of eyebrows, leading many to question why the app maker would revamp a very successful user interface that was both logical and intuitive. Snap appears to have listened to its critics as the app’s Stories feed has changed to the classic chronological order.
The redesign saw Snapchat change to having user Stories show up in an order that was altered by algorithms that showed users the Stories they may be the most interested on based on their closest friends on the app.
It is unclear whether or not the old Stories is coming back for good or if the company is simply seeking to compare the two formats in order to make a decision. Perhaps the company is trying to find a balance between what the old fans want and what new users are growing accustomed to.
SNAP stock was down 1% on Friday.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
