Deborah Elaine Gantt Fishel
January 2, 2025AP-Newswatch
January 2, 2025Business News
AP-Summary Brief-Business
January 2, 2025
Tesla sales dropped 1.1% in 2024, its first annual decline in a dozen years
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla’s global annual sales fell for the first time in more than a dozen years, 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 the final quarter but that was not enough to overcome a sluggish start to 2024. 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 sales as demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. and elsewhere slowed.
Stock market today: Wall Street slips to kick off 2025 as Tesla drags
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are slipping to start 2025. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% Thursday and is heading toward its first five-day losing streak since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 223 points after giving up an early gain of 360, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%. Tesla skidded following its latest update on deliveries. Energy producers helped limit the market’s losses after prices rose for crude oil and natural gas. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market following the latest encouraging report on the U.S. job market. Chinese stocks slumped after a report on factory activity there.
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.
US unemployment claims fall to 211,000, the lowest level since March
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment checks dropped last week to the lowest level since March, suggesting that most workers enjoy unusual job security. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped by 9,000 to 211,000 last week. The four-week average of claims, which strips out week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 3,500 to 223,250. The overall numbers receiving unemployment benefits fell by 52,000 to 1.84 million.
A data company has figured out which airlines fly on time most often
Aeromexico is the most on-time airline in the world, according to a data company that compiled figures for 2024. Cirium said in its annual ranking released on Thursday that nearly 87% of the Mexican airline’s flights were on time in 2024. That puts Aeromexico slightly ahead of Saudi Arabian airline Saudia and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines. Delta was the best-scoring U.S. airline despite a July computer outage that caused thousands of flight cancellations. Canadian airlines WestJet and Air Canada, along with Denver-based budget airline Frontier, were at the bottom of Cirium’s rankings among airlines in North America.
Apple to pay $95 million to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of snoopy eavesdropping
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices. The proposed settlement filed Tuesday would resolve a lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade. If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device,
New York employers must now offer paid medical leave during pregnancy
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Pregnant New Yorkers will be entitled to at least 20 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments under a new law. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the policy makes New York the first state in the country to offer paid leave for prenatal care. It took effect Wednesday. All pregnant workers in the private sector are eligible for the paid time off. Workers can schedule the paid leave for pregnancy-related medical appointments such as physical examinations, end of pregnancy care and fertility treatments, among other things. Hochul pushed for the measure in the state’s last legislative session as a way to help reduce maternal and infant deaths in New York.
Ukraine halts transit of Russian gas to Europe after a prewar deal expired
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has halted Russian gas supplies to European customers through its pipeline network, almost three years into Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. A prewar transit deal expired at the end of 2024. Both Ukraine’s energy minister and Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom confirmed on Wednesday morning that the gas flows had stopped. Until now, Russian natural gas had kept flowing through the country’s pipeline network to Europe under a five-year agreement — even after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Before the war, Russia supplied nearly 40% of Europe’s natural gas through pipelines. By 2023, that figure was around 8% as users switched to liquefied natural gas from the United States and Norway.
Movies in 2024: Lessons from a turbulent year at the box office
Movie ticket sales are taking a bit of a hit in 2024. The annual domestic box office is expected to end up at around $8.75 billion, down over 3% from 2023, according to estimates from Comscore. It’s not as dire as it was in the pandemic years, but it’s also not even close to the pre-pandemic norm when the annual box office regularly surpassed $11 billion. But there are some lessons to be learned from what worked, including PG-rated and animated movies and re-releases, and what didn’t work, like the “Joker” sequel.
Value-seekers drove 2024’s retail trends and dead ends
Value was in vogue in 2024. Shoppers and restaurant patrons in the U.S. were choosy about where and how to spend their money as they wrestled with high housing and food prices. Well-heeled shoppers traded down to Walmart and Aldi. Diners opted for fast food or home cooking instead of sit-down restaurants. Department stores struggled as people shopped online or at less-expensive chains like H&M. The behavior shifts changed the buying and eating landscape. Consumer research company Coresight Research tracked 48 retail bankruptcies as of Dec. 20 compared with 25 last year. And at least 22 restaurant chains — including Red Lobster and TGI Fridays — filed for bankruptcy, the highest number since 2020.