Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Thursday, November 9th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. Our top story so far.

Draft Kings discussed a potential offer for William Hill owner 888 Holdings with some of the

betting operators top shareholders.

Trafficking CEO Jason Robbins held discussions with a group of 888 shareholders,

FS Gaming, about a potential all-stock offer for 888, FT reports. The early stage talks took place in June and

July. Draft Kings walked away from the 888 talks after it was disclosed in mid July that

the UK gambling regulator had placed 888's license under review.

Trafficking told the FT that it talks to a variety of companies regarding various

matters in the normal course of business.

In today's training, the major stock averages are little changed,

with Fed Chief J-Powell up to bat this afternoon.

The 10-year Treasury yield is back to 4.55% after dropping below 4.5% overnight for the first time since

September.

In a week starved of economic indicators, there was a lot of focus on the weekly jobless claims

figures. But they continue to show a little change, falling

slightly to 217,000 from an upper leader revised 220,000 the week before.

Pantheon Macros Ian Shepardson, says,

looking further ahead, we still think that the biggest risk to growth next year

is a wave of layoffs, as firms seek to respond to downward pressure on gross margins

due to slowing growth in final demand. For now though, most of the near-term risk to paywall growth is slowing gross hiring rather than increased firing.

Looking to active stocks and earnings,

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