Anthony Bansi

Here's your midday brief for Wednesday, January 7th.

I'm Anthony Bansi for The Wall Street Journal.

Private sector hiring went up last month.

Human resources firm ADP says businesses added a net 41,000 new employees in December after shedding jobs the month before.

While big companies pulled back, small businesses grew their staffs enough to put overall numbers back in positive territory.

The figure is slightly below the 48,000 jobs expected from economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

Grocery giant Albertsons is reporting higher third quarter sales as pressured shoppers haunt for value.

The company says price cuts are driving higher unit sales, even as all income segments show signs of financial pressure.

Growth in the pharmacy and digital businesses also boosted revenue.

The grocer also recorded a 2.4 percent identical sales growth for the quarter and narrowed its earnings guidance for the fiscal year.

And Warner Bros.

Discovery is urging shareholders to reject Paramount's amended hostile bid of nearly $78 billion.

Warner notes it would face billions of dollars in additional costs if it dropped the Netflix agreement to pursue the Paramount transaction.

Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor.

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