The morning briefing.

BLS reported September job openings of 7.5 million and hires of 5.4 million, both little changed. Quits increased to 3.4 million; layoffs and discharges were little changed at 1.6 million. August openings were revised to 7.2 million. The release was published November 3 at 10:00 AM ET.

Stable reported openings and hiring sit alongside increased quits. Labor demand and wage pressure can move differently; one lagged survey does not settle growth or the next rate decision.

Lagged, seasonally adjusted survey estimates that can be revised. Economist expectations, an employment-payroll surprise and instrument price reactions are not measured. Provenance correction: the citation now uses the dated BLS archive; the figures and interpretation are unchanged.

Apple reported $114.477bn revenue for the September 26 quarter, up from $102.466bn a year earlier. GAAP diluted EPS rose to $2.10 from $1.85. A tariff refund added $0.05 to EPS; that benefit is not recurring operating growth.

Apple adds a newer consumer and technology earnings observation. Separate sales growth from the refund benefit when assessing the durability of margins.

Selected company release. No independently verified analyst consensus, index-weight calculation or market-price response is included.

Microsoft reported September-quarter revenue of $92.279bn, up from $77.673bn a year earlier. GAAP diluted EPS was $4.92; adjusted EPS was $4.89. The company reported 48% Azure revenue growth.

Cloud growth is evidence of demand at one large supplier. It does not on its own measure economy-wide AI returns or justify current equity valuations.

Company-reported actuals. Analyst expectations, a verified earnings surprise and the market reaction are not measured.