Stock market today: S&P 500 rallies to its first gain since Christmas
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street snapped out of its holiday-season funk. The S&P 500 climbed 1.3% Friday for its first gain since Christmas and its best day in nearly two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 339 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.8%. Big Tech stocks led the way, and Nvidia and Tesla in particular helped pull the market higher. They offset drops for beer, wine and liquor companies after the U.S. Surgeon General warned of cancer risks related to alcohol. Treasury yields rose in the bond market following a better-than-feared report on U.S. manufacturing.
US new vehicle sales rose 2.7% last year as prices and interest rates dropped a little
DETROIT (AP) — New vehicle sales in the U.S. rose 2.7% last year as prices and interest rates eased a bit, making SUVs, cars and trucks a little more affordable. Industry analysts say discounts, such as rebates and low-interest financing, should get even better as 2025 rolls along. They see the biggest deals coming from dealerships representing automakers that had trouble selling in 2024. Motorintelligence.com says automakers sold just over 16 million vehicles in the U.S. last year. That despite high sales prices that averaged more than $47,000. It was the best year for sales since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Biden blocks $14 billion acquisition of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has blocked the nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. This affirms his earlier vow to block the acquisition. In a Friday statement, Biden said, “We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests.” His decision comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States didn’t reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel blasted the decision, saying Biden cited no credible evidence of a national security problem and suggested they’ll sue.
Rise of US Steel paralleled the arrival of the United States on the world stage
President Joe Biden blocked the $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel — something he had first vowed to do in March. His decision, announced Friday comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month. The rise of U.S. Steel, a storied American company, paralleled the arrival of America on the world stage. With roots dating to the late 19th century, U.S. Steel produced the materials used for everything from bridges and skyscrapers, to tanks and battleships
Boeing still needs a culture change to put safety above profits, according to the head of the FAA
A year after a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during flight, the nation’s top aviation regulator says the company needs to change its culture and put safety above profits. Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker made the comment in an online post Friday. Whitaker will step down as FAA administrator in two weeks. He says that his agency also has more work to do in its oversight of Boeing. It was Jan. 5 of last year when a door plug blew out of Boeing 737 Max flying over Oregon. That led to increased scrutiny of Boeing by regulators and Congress.
Tesla sales dropped 1.1% in 2024, its first annual decline in a dozen years
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla’s global annual sales have fallen for the first time in more than a dozen years. It’s a blow to a stock that has soared since Donald Trump’s election and its CEO billionaire became a top policy adviser to the president elect. Sales rose 2.3% in 2024’s final quarter but that was not enough to overcome a sluggish start to the year. The annual decline for the Austin, Texas, company came despite offers of discounts such as 0% financing, free charging and low-priced leases. Tesla’s 1.79 million sales for 2024 was 1.1% below 2023 as demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. and elsewhere slowed.
A major airline is being fined for chronic flight delays, and passengers may get a cut of the money
JetBlue is getting hit with a $2 million penalty for chronically late flights. The Transportation Department said Friday that half the money will go to passengers who were delayed on flights along four routes on the East Coast between summer 2022 and late 2023. The department says it’s the first such fine against an airline over chronic delays, and it blames JetBlue for “unrealistic scheduling.” JetBlue says despite settling the matter, it blames the federal government for problems in the air traffic control system that contribute to late flights. JetBlue says the incoming Trump administration should modernize air traffic control technology and hire more controllers.
What to know about Apple’s $95 million settlement of the snooping Siri case
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of turning its virtual assistant Siri into a snoop that eavesdropped on the users of iPhones and other trendy devices in a betrayal to its long-standing commitment to personal privacy. The proposed settlement filed in federal court earlier this week still needs to be approved by a judge, but case raised some important privacy issues and may make it possible to be paid up to $20 per device equipped with Siri from September 17, 2014 through the end of last year.
Why Apple TV+ is offering a free weekend of binge-watching
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple TV+ is hoping people will make a dent in the Strategic Popcorn Reserve by bingeing its streaming TV and movies for free this weekend. Experts are calling it a canny promotion as the eighth-place streamer looks to up its subscriber base. The two-day offer this Saturday and Sunday is intended to give viewers a taste of what’s behind the Apple paywall and get them hooked, ready to fork over $9.99 a month in the U.S. Michael D. Smith is a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He suspects that Apple will gain lots of data to sharpen its approach to new customers and returning ones.
Puerto Rico’s new governor sworn in days after a major blackout left much of the island in the dark
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jenniffer González Colón has been sworn in as Puerto Rico’s new governor as the island held for a normally ebullient ceremony overshadowed by widespread anger over a blackout that hit the U.S. territory days ago. González is a Republican who backs President-elect Donald Trump. Her pro-statehood New Progressive Party secured a historic third consecutive term after she won the Nov. 5 election. González has pledged to make stabilizing the island’s crumbling power grid a priority. Outages were still being reported on Thursday as crews tried to stabilize the grid following the blackout that hit early Tuesday. The outages left 1.3 million customers in the dark as Puerto Ricans prepared for New Year’s Eve.
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