Business News Roundup, Dec. 6
The Dow Jones industrial average set another record Monday as investors bought stocks that stand to benefit from economic growth, like banks, as well as technology companies, which have been mostly left out of a post-election rally.
Energy companies rose as the price of oil reached its highest level since July 2015.
Technology companies have fallen since the election as big names like Facebook and Alphabet have lost ground.
Samantha Azzarello, global market strategist for JPMorgan Asset Management, said investors have been steadily moving money away from safe-play stocks over the past year and favoring companies that stand to do the best when economic growth picks up steam, as it did in the third quarter.
A former information technology worker at Expedia pleaded guilty Monday to securities fraud after authorities said he used his access to the computers of top executives to rummage through their email, then made lucrative, illegal stock trades based on the inside information he discovered.
“I deeply regret what happened in the last couple of years,” Ly, choking up, told the Associated Press after the hearing.
Ly pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in U.S. District Court in Seattle and is expected to face a potential sentence of about two years.
Ly worked for the Washington travel giant but was in the San Francisco office of one of its brands, Hotwire.com.
Prosecutors said he was given the passwords and network credentials of company employees so he could remotely access their computers to address technology issues.
President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to use steep tariffs to punish companies that move overseas is running into an obstacle: congressional Republicans.
A better way to keep companies in the U.S. and grow jobs would be to rewrite the tax code and lower corporate rates, McCarthy said.
McCarthy’s comments came in response to Trump’s threat, made in a series of tweets over the weekend, that he would level taxes on companies that relocate overseas and then try to sell their products back into the U.S. “There will be a tax on our soon to be strong border of 35% for these companies,” Trump wrote.
Under Armour’s partner in the agreement, sports merchandise retailer Fanatics, will have licensing rights to manufacture and distribute fan gear.
Tyson Foods said Monday it will create a venture fund to develop innovations in food production.
The firm said it will make $150 million available for Tyson New Ventures LLC, which will complement Tyson’s continued investment in fresh meat, poultry and prepared foods.
The first investment is a 5 percent ownership stake in Beyond Meat, which makes “plant-based protein.”
Tyson says the fund will concentrate on alternative proteins, technological innovations and eliminating food waste.