Latest Stock Market News: Inflation data jolts stocks, BlackRock CEO … – Fox Business

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Dow and S&P 500 post largest weekly drop since September, 'tripledemic' may put children's medicines in short supply, Twitter to clear dormant accounts . FOX Business is providing real-time updates on the markets, commodities and all the most active stocks on the move.
Covered by: FOX Business Team, Reuters and Associated Press
Producer prices hotter than expected
Stocks sink on inflation data
Brian Moynihan added to short list to replace Yellen at Treasury
Costco CFO hints at membership fee hike
Hyundai partners to build $4B plant in Georgia
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Hyundai Motor Group and SK On said Thursday they will build a new battery manufacturing plant in the U.S. state of Georgia to supply the Korean automaker’s U.S. assembly plants.
Hyundai Motor Group and SK On, the lithium-ion battery subsidiary branch of SK Innovation, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a new EV battery manufacturing facility with details of the partnership still in development, the companies said.
The companies aim to begin operations in 2025 and said “stakeholders estimate it will create more than 3,500 new jobs through approximately $4-5 billion of investment” in Georgia’s Bartow County. Hyundai separately broke ground in October on a $5.54 billion electric vehicle (EV) and battery plant in Georgia’s Bryan County.
SK Innovation opened a $2.6-billion battery plant in Commerce, Georgia, in January that is producing batteries for the Ford F-150 EV.

Costco may be raising its membership fee in the future.CFO Richard Galanti told analysts the company considers economic factors into the timing of a fee increase.
The warehouse chain has raised its membership fees roughly every five years and seven months in the past, with the most recent hike having taken place in June 2017.

The medical community is warning of a “tripledemic” that may put children’s cold, flu and pain relief products such as Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol in short supply.
However, medical professionals tell FOX Business that medicine might not always be necessary.  In some cases, it’s safe to let a child ride out a low-grade fever.

Bank of America Chair and CEO Brian Moynihan is on the shortlist of candidates for Treasury Secretary should Janet Yellen decide to leave, reports FOX Business’ Charlie Gasparino.
Gasparino listed Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo as another frontrunner.
Moynihan became CEO in 2010 in the midst of the global financial crisis and led a reconstruction of Bank of America, overseeing more than $35 billion in technology investments while also leading a transformation of the company’s culture, with an emphasis on expanding diversity and inclusion. 
Last month Yellen said she “certainly” planned to stay on in her job for the duration of President Joe Biden’s term.
Reuters contributed to this report.

U.S. stocks fell Friday following a hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation report capping off a losing week for equities. In commodities, oil tumbled over 11% to $71.02 per barrel. 
Weekly Performance:
Dow Jones Industrial Average -3%
S&P 500 – 3.4%
Nasdaq Composite -4%

Workers at a General Motors-LG Energy battery plant in northeast Ohio voted to join the United Auto Workers.
Employees voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the UAW by a vote of 710 to 16 (1 void).“Our entire union welcomes our latest members from Ultium,” says UAW President Ray Curry.
“As the auto industry transitions to electric vehicles, new workers entering the auto sector at plants like Ultium are thinking about their value and worth. This vote shows that they want to be a part of maintaining the high standards and wages that UAW members have built in the auto industry,” the UAW said.

Twitter plans to delete 1.5 billion accounts to free up name space, owner Elon Musk said. The billionaire added that the social media platform will  delete accounts that had not logged in “for years” to free up usernames for current users.
He also said he would add a feature that would allow Twitter users to see the number of people that read or interact with their tweets.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing for Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) nominee for U.S. President Joe Biden, in Washington, D.C., Feb. 1, 2022. (Al Drago/Pool via Reuters)

Maverick U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, she said on Friday, just days after Democrats won a Senate race in Georgia and secured 51 seats in the 100-member chamber riven by deep political divisions.
“Like a lot of Arizonans, I have never fit perfectly in either national party,” Sinema said in an article for the Arizona Republic newspaper. Sinema intends to maintain her committee assignments from the Democrats, an aide told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The aide would not say whether Sinema would continue to caucus with Democrats.
Sinema herself, however, said she would not caucus with the Republican Party, according to an interview published by Politico on Friday. If that holds, Democrats could still maintain greater governing control in the closely divided chamber.

Johnson Outdoor jumped in Friday trading. The maker of Humminbird boats, Scubapro dive gear and Eureka! camping and hiking equipment topped the analyst estimate.
Fourth quarter revenue rose 18.1% to $196.39 million from a year ago; analysts expected $168.57 million.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $9.7 million compared to $6.9 million in the fiscal 2021 fourth quarter.
Quarterly adjusted earnings WERE 95 cents​​ per share for the quarter ended in September. The lone analyst forecast for the quarter was for earnings of 37 cents per share.

Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. is higher in Friday trading. The company said November revenue rose 50.2% year-over-year to $222.71 billion Taiwan dollars ($7.27 billion).
Revenue for January through November 2022 totaled NT$2,071.33 billion, an increase of 44.6 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

Skyscrapers in The City of London financial district are seen in London, Britain, Sept. 14, 2020. (Reuters/Hannah McKay)

Britain set out a raft of measures on Friday to bolster the City of London’s role as a global financial center, under strain since Brexit ushered in new competition from Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.
“London’s financial reputation has been severely held back since Brexit, right at a time when the ‘powers that be’ have tried to encourage investment and growth in a big way. Sadly, the allure simply isn’t there, with many of the UK’s brightest companies being snapped up by overseas investors, and London losing its top share-dealing status,” said  Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.
The planned reforms also include a review of rules put in place following the financial crisis over a decade ago to make bankers accountable for their decisions and easing capital requirements for smaller lenders, after much lobbying by banks.
Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said it would be wrong to describe the 30 measures as a “Big Bang” – a reference to deregulating the stock market in the 1980s — that will unravel tougher rules introduced after the global financial crisis.”We have to make sure that we don’t unlearn the lessons of 2008, but at the same time recognize that banks today have much stronger balance sheets,” he told an event hosted by the FT.
“Hunt is widely expected to scorch red tape and update or replace a number of EU regulations. It’s clear the government is going for growth, but the extent of today’s package will need to be vast, if it’s to have any meaningful impact for brand UK at a time when the country struggles with a slowing economy and cost-of-living crisis,” Lund-Yates continued.

In direct remarks, Sam Bankman-Fried says he is willing to testify next week but there’s a catch.

Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, is facing another call to resign over his push for broad ESG investing.
Earlier in the week, one the company’s smaller investors, issued the same concerns.

The Federal Trade Commission, on Thursday, sued to block Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of video game maker Activision. Here’s why.

U.S. stocks traded lower after inflation at the wholesale level ticked higher last month putting equities on pace for weekly losses for all three of the major averages. The 10-year Treasury yield moved up to 3.5%. In commodities, oil stabilized at the $72 per barrel level. 

A man shops for food at a grocery store

The Labor Department said Friday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, rose 0.3% in November from the previous month. On an annual basis, prices soared 7.4%. That is down from the 8% reading recorded in October and marks the lowest reading since May 2021.
Still, those figures were both higher than the 7.2% headline figure and 0.2% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists, a worrisome sign for the Federal Reserve  as it seeks to cool price gains and tame consumer demand with the most aggressive interest rate hike campaign since the 1980s.
Excluding food, energy and trade services, inflation at the wholesale level increased 0.3% for the month — up from a 0.2% gain in October. Over the past 12 months, core prices climbed 4.9%.
U.S. stock futures are rallying again on Friday as commodities like oil and gold find solid gains.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up roughly 125 points, or 0.37%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are up 0.48% and 0.59%, respectively.
Over the last five days, the Dow remains down at 0.68% beneath the redline, the S&P is down 1.98%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is 1.19% lower.
Key blue-chip stocks in the Dow futures is spearheading the rally with Boeing up 1.46%, Coca Cola up 0.42%, and Home Depot and Nike 1.23% and 2.75% higher, respectively.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Tech 100 is in the green on Friday but remains 3.36% beneath the redline over the last five days as tech stocks rally.
Shares of Meta are up 1.23%, Apple is up 1.21%, while Microsoft is 0.31% higher and Nvidia is 6.51% into positive territory.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped approximately 1.46% to about $72.50 a barrel, as gold moves roughly 0.72% into the green at $1,814.80 an ounce.
U.S. crude and gold are mixed the last five days with oil skidding 10.33% and gold adding 0.06%.

Stock traders (Reuters)

U.S. equity futures traded higher to end the week, ahead of the release of the latest read on producer prices.
The major futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.3% when the opening bell rings.
Oil prices gained on Friday as closure of a major Canada-to-U.S. crude pipeline disrupted supplies.
However, both benchmarks were headed for a weekly loss on worries over slowing global demand growth.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude traded around $72.00 a barrel, having settled 0.8% lower in the previous session.
Brent crude futures were trading at $76.00 a barrel, after dropping 1.3% on Thursday.
On the economic calendar, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to say that PPI rose 0.2% month-over-month in November according to Refinitiv forecasts.
That’s unchanged from October’s cooler-than-expected print. 
The University of Michigan releases its preliminary index of consumer sentiment for December. It’s expected to inch higher to 56.9 after falling more than expected in November on inflation worries and rising interest rates.
Shares rose in Asia on Friday after an advance on Wall Street led by the latest rally in technology companies.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.3% and China’s Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.3%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 3,963.51, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 1.1% higher, at 11,082. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 33,781.48.

Wells Fargo illustration (FBN)

Three former Wells Fargo executives face hefty fines over the mega-bank’s fake accounts scandal after a judge recommended they be forced to pay $18.5 million in collective penalties for failing to stop the years-long scheme.
Federal Administrative Law Judge Christopher McNeil found in a report issued this week that former Wells Community Bank Group risk officer Claudia Russ Anderson, former chief auditor David Julian and former executive auditor director Paul McLinko were all culpable and that their “conduct constituted unsafe or unsound practice and violated the fiduciary duties” owed to the bank. He ordered them to pay civil penalties of $10 million, $7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
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Gas prices (AAA)

The nationwide price for a gallon of gasoline slipped Friday to $3.315, according to AAA.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline on Thursday was $3.329, when the price moved below that of a year ago.
A year ago, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.338.
Diesel has slipped below $5.00 per gallon to $4.981, but that is still a far cry from the $3.608 of a year ago..
Everyone remembers when gas hit an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14.
One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.448. A month ago, that same gallon of gasoline cost $3.805.

Oil rigs (Reuters)

Oil prices gained on Friday as closure of a major Canada-to-U.S. crude pipeline disrupted supplies.
However, both benchmarks were headed for a weekly loss on worries over slowing global demand growth.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude traded around $71.00 a barrel, having settled 0.8% lower in the previous session.
Brent crude futures were trading at $76.00 a barrel, after dropping 1.3% on Thursday.
Oil prices are set to post their biggest weekly drop in months, since traders expect it will be some time before China easing its COVID controls feeds through to demand, according to Reuters.

Bitcoin was trading at around $17,000, after trading higher in three of the last five days.
For the week, Bitcoin has gained more than 1%.
For the month, the cryptocurrency has gained less than 1%, but is down more than 62% year-to-date.
Ethereum was trading around $1,200, after gaining less than 1% in the past week.
Dogecoin was trading at 9 cents, after losing more than 2% in the past week.
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. © FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ –  New Privacy Policy