>>Ahead Of The Bell
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after Wall Street closed lower on Friday, wrapping up an otherwise positive week. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 140 points to 44-424. The S&P 500 fell 17 points to 61-01. The Nasdaq dropped 99 points to 19-954. Coming up in the week ahead, all eyes will be on the Federal Reserve come Wednesday as the central bank announces its first interest rate decision of the year.
>>IRS Begins Processing Tax Returns Today
(Washington, DC) -- The IRS will start accepting and processing 2024 income tax returns today. The official deadline to file your taxes is still April 15th. The agency did note individuals and businesses affected by the wildfires in Southern California now have until October 15th to file their taxes. California also aligned the state tax deadline with the IRS.
>>Survey: Nearly 40% Depend On Tax Refund
(Undated) -- A new Credit Karma survey finds that nearly 40 percent of taxpayers rely on their refund to get by. Among millennials, that number goes up to 50 percent. More than half said they need the money because everything is getting so expensive. According to the IRS, the average refund in 2024 was a little over 31-hundred dollars.
>>AI Company Makes TikTok Proposal
(San Francisco, CA) -- A proposal from an AI company would allow the U.S. government to own as much as 50 percent of a new company that could buy TikTok from its Chinese owners. Perplexity AI is offering to join with the government to create an entity that's for now called "NewCo." It would buy TikTok, without the company's core recommendation algorithm, and existing investors would receive equity in the new company. The government would keep part ownership under an IPO worth at least 300-billion-dollars. Perplexity is one of several companies expressing interest in buying TikTok, which has a few weeks to find a U.S. buyer or face being banned here over national security concerns.
>>Full Slate Of Earnings Reports Due This Week
(Undated) -- This week is going to be packed with earnings reports. Kicking things off today are AT&T and SoFi Technologies. Boeing, General Motors, Lockheed Martin and JetBlue all report the following day. Meta and Tesla will be in the spotlight Wednesday, releasing fourth-quarter results after the closing bell on Wall Street. Apple's earnings come Thursday with Exxon Mobil wrapping things up on Friday.
>>Ford's BlueCruise Hands-Free Tech Facing Stricter Investigation After Fatal Crashes
(Undated) -- Ford Motor Company's hands-free technology BlueCruise is facing boosted investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The probe follows two deadly all-electric Mustang Mach-E crashes which used BlueCruise. The investigation has been moved by regulators to "engineering analysis" which is required before a recall can be made. The inspection will cover 2021 to 2024 model years which the NHTSA says is more than 129-thousand vehicles. The NHTSA will check Ford's system limitations and "evaluate drivers' ability to respond to scenarios that exceed system limitations."
>>Organic Milk Brand Recalls Cartons Due To 'Premature Spoiling'
(Undated) -- An organic milk brand has issued a recall for thousands of cartons due to spoilage risks. More than 19-hundred cases of Horizon Organic Aseptic Plain Whole Milk eight-ounce cartons have been recalled. On January 17th, the recall was upgraded to a class two and the milk was sold in Arizona, California and Nevada. The recalled cartons have an expiration date between March 3rd and March 7th. The Food and Drug Administration said that the milk is subject to "premature product spoilage during shelf life."
>>Tufts Lecturers Launch Two-Day Strike
(Medford, MA) -- Some classes are canceled at Tufts University today due to striking lecturers. More than one hundred Tufts educators are off the job for the next two days over the lack of a new contract. Union reps say they have been negotiating with the private Massachusetts school for nearly a year but have not made progress. The lecturers are asking for a three-point-five-percent raise, a cost of living adjustment and a workload reduction.
