>>Holiday-Shortened Trading Week Winding Down
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning as the holiday-shortened trading week starts to wind down. Stocks were up early yesterday - the first trading day of the new year, before things reversed course. The S&P ended the year with four-straight down days for the first time in almost 60 years, a trend that continued on Thursday. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152 points to 42-392. The S&P 500 lost 13 points to 58-68. The Nasdaq dropped 30 points to 19-280.
>>Apple TV+ to Stream Free Of Charge This Weekend
(Cupertino, CA) -- Apple TV Plus is going to stream live this weekend. The service will be free of charge through the 5th. This is the first time the company has done this, and it comes just days after it suggested that its content may soon be available to non-subscribers.
>>Books, Songs And Movies From 1929 Enter Public Domain
(Los Angeles, CA) -- Early films from Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock and Clara Bow are all entering the public domain this year. On January 1st, the copyright expired for thousands of titles from 1929, making them free for public use. That includes many audio recordings from 1929, including the original "Singin' In the Rain," George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" and Ravel's "Bolero." Early classic books from William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf are now also in the public domain, as is the comic strip character "Popeye."
>>Unemployment Insurance Filings Hit Lowest Level Since April
(Washington, DC) -- The number of people filing for unemployment benefits is down to its lowest level since last April. New unemployment claims filed the week ending December 28th were down nine-thousand from the previous week. Economists expected an increase, but claims data tends to be more volatile at the end of the year because of seasonal hires.
>>"Addictive Feed" Rule Goes Into Effect In California
(Sacramento, CA) -- Social media companies are no longer allowed to send addictive feeds to minors in California. A new law went into effect Wednesday after a judge denied a legal challenge from NetChoice. In November, NetChoice members like Meta, Google, and X requested an injunction blocking the law, saying it violated their First Amendment rights.
>>Sanders Says "Musk Is Wrong" About H-1B Visas
(Washington, DC) -- Bernie Sanders is disagreeing with Elon Musk about H-1B visas for immigrant tech workers. The independent senator from Vermont chimed in Thursday on the debate between Musk and many of Trump's right-wing supporters over the need for foreign workers in the U.S. tech industry. In a statement on X, Sanders said "Musk is wrong," and wrote that the main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire the best and the brightest, but "to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad." He added, "The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make."
>>Ford Recalling Nearly 300,000 Diesel Vehicles
(Dearborn, MI) -- Ford is recalling nearly 300-thousand diesel trucks because of a defective fuel pump. The pump could cause a loss of power increasing the risk for a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall affects Ford Super Duty F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, F-600 models made between 2020 and 2022 and F-650 and F-750 models made from 2021 to 2022.
>>Automakers Gearing Up For CES 2025
(Las Vegas, NV) -- Automakers will have a large presence at next week's CES in Las Vegas. The electronics show has been a showcase for cutting edge tech since the first one back in 1967. This year will feature offerings from Scout, BMW, Toyota, Honda and Suzuki, with Volvo and Waymo contributing keynote speakers. Everything from new electric vehicle offerings to dashboard tech, and even drones, will be on display. The show runs from January 7th through the 10th.
