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Fed imposes broad new limits on investment by policymakers
WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve is imposing a sweeping new set of restrictions on the investments of its officials, a reaction to questionable recent trades that forced two top Fed officials to resign. The Fed announced Thursday that policymakers and senior employees would be barred from investing in individual stocks and bonds. They must also give 45 days advance notice of any trade and obtain prior approval from ethics officers. And they have to keep the investment for at least one year. As a result, Fed officials will essentially be limited to holding mutual funds.
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Trump’s Plan for a New Media Venture Raises Investor Enthusiasm
NEW YORK: Some investors can’t wait to see if former President Donald Trump is planning a media company to challenge the likes of Facebook, Twitter and even Disney, when in fact they Everything can become reality. Trump said Wednesday that he is launching the Trump Media and Technology Group, a rival to the big tech companies that shut them down and denied them the megaphone that was paramount to their national rise. The new venture said it was created through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., and seeks to become a publicly listed company. Shares of Digital World Acquisition quadrupled in price in afternoon trading on Thursday.
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Stocks mostly end higher, enough to set a record for the S&P 500
NEW YORK: A wave of buying in the last hour of trading left most stocks on Wall Street open, enough for the S&P 500 to break a record high in early September. On Thursday, the market had spent most of the day faltering between gains and losses. Technology companies fared well despite a steep decline in IBM after the company reported disappointing revenue. IBM’s decline left the Dow Jones Industrial Average barely in the red for the day. The S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq 0.6%. Tesla rose 3.3% after reporting record profits despite parts shortages and shipping delays.
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US unemployment claims fall to new pandemic low of 290,000
WASHINGTON: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a new low last week as the pandemic spread, evidence that layoffs are dwindling as companies hold on to workers. The Labor Department said Thursday that unemployment claims fell to 290,000 from 6,000 last week, the third consecutive drop. Those are the fewest people applying for benefits since March 14, 2020, when the pandemic intensified. Applications for jobless aid, which typically track the pace of layoffs, have fallen steadily from nearly 900,000 in January.
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Interest rates point higher as current home sales increase
NEW YORK: Sales of previously occupied US homes bounced back in September at their strongest pace since January as worries about higher mortgage rates prompted buyers to step aside. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of existing homes rose 7% from August last month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.29 million units. Sales were down 2.3% from September last year. Average home prices reached $352,800, a 13.3% increase from September last year. At the end of September, the list of unsold homes was just 1.27 million homes for sale, down 0.8% the previous month and 13% less than a year ago. NAR said that equates to 2.4 months’ supply at current sales pace.
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NTSB: Driver was behind the wheel at the time of Texas Tesla accident
Detroit: A driver was behind the wheel when a Tesla electric car crashed and burned near Houston last April, killing two people, none of whom were found in the driver’s seat. The US National Transportation Safety Board announced the findings in an investigative report released Thursday into an April 17 accident on a residential road in Spring, Texas. Although first responders found one person in the back seat and the other in the front passenger seat, the NTSB stated that both the driver and one passenger were with belts in the front seats at the time of the accident. The agency said the car was speeding at 67 mph in the five seconds after the crash.
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Consumer Watchers to Test Big Tech Payment Systems
NEW YORK: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering Apple, Amazon, PayPal and other tech giants to change how their proprietary payment networks work. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other payment systems created by big tech companies now dominate the bulk of e-commerce and person-to-person payments. The agency’s director Rohit Chopra is calling for more transparency, as well as more information on what consumer protections have been put in place. This is the first significant action by the agencies under Chopra. It has already repealed or withdrawn several policies implemented by the Trump administration.
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American, Southwest turn profits to help taxpayers in third quarter
DALLAS: American and Southwest Airlines are reporting that they posted profits in the third quarter, thanks in large part to government pandemic relief. Airlines on Thursday said they are expecting stronger holiday traffic if the decline in COVID-19 cases continues. The highly contagious Delta Edition took a cut of revenue over the past few months. Still, American made a profit of $169 million after collecting nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to cover most of its payroll costs. and Southwest earned $446 million after receiving $763 million in federal aid.
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The S&P 500 rose 13.59 points, or 0.3%, to 4,549.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.26 points, or less than 0.1%, to end at 35,603.08. The Nasdaq closed 94.02 points, or 0.6%, up at 15,215.70. The Russell 2000 Index of Small Companies rose 6.42 points, or 0.3%, to 2,296.18.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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