Financial News

Financial News:

Wall Street heads for a mixed finish to the week

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are wobbling on Wall Street, putting major indexes on track for a mixed finish to a choppy week. The S&P 500 edged up 0.2% in afternoon trading, a day after setting another record high. It’s still on track for a weekly gain. The Nasdaq, which also set a record high yesterday, was up 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%. TurboTax maker Intuit jumped 9.5% after raising its profit forecast. Moderna jumped 5.5% and Pfizer added 0.3% after the Food and Drug Administration opened up coronavirus booster shots from the two companies to all adults.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Two Senate Democrats will oppose the reappointment of Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, as President Joe Biden is expected to announce within days who he will pick for the nation’s most powerful economic position. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island and Jeff Merkley from Oregon said today that Powell has been insufficiently committed to combatting climate change, an issue that central banks around the world are increasingly confronting. Whitehouse and Merkley join Sen. Elizabeth Warren in opposition. Warren has called Powell “a dangerous man” to lead the Fed because of his support for loosening some bank regulations.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden plans to nominate two new members to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors. It’s a potential first step in removing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. DeJoy became a political lightning rod during the 2020 elections as changes he made to the postal service slowed delivery times during a key period when voters were trying to mail in their ballots. Biden is replacing two of DeJoy’s backers on the board, chair Ron Bloom and John Barger. The president is nominating Daniel Tangherlini and Derek Kan to the board.

BERLIN (AP) – Google says it has signed agreements with several large German publishers to avoid copyright disputes over the use of their material. The Internet giant said Friday it reached deals with publishers including news weeklies Der Spiegel and Die Zeit, technology portals Golem and Netzwelt, as well as the business publications WirtschaftsWoche and Manager Magazin. Google added in a statement that “numerous conversations with various publishers are at an advanced stage.” The move comes after Germany introduced a new ancillary copyright law in June that grants publishers additional rights over their content. Google said payments to publishers would be “based on established copyright principles and follow consistent criteria,” without elaborating.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A Southern California man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for operating an unlicensed business that exchanged at least $13 million in Bitcoin and cash. Federal prosecutors say 50-year-old Hugo Mejia of the city of Ontario structured his business to establish an anonymous conduit for money laundering of drug trafficking proceeds. Prosecutors say that Mejia exchanged Bitcoin for cash and vice versa from May 2018 to September 2020. They say he charged commissions for the transactions. Mejia was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty in July to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and money laundering.