For: June 12, 2025
>>Ahead Of The Bell
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday. It comes after new inflation data showed it slowed last month. The latest CPI report revealed a point-one-percent increase in May, against projections of point-two-percent. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1 point to 42-865. The S&P 500 lost 16 points to 60-22. The Nasdaq dropped by 99 points to 19-615. Investors today will be keeping an eye out for the producer price index, which also measures inflation, along with weekly jobless claims. Not much change is expected in the number of Americans seeking first-time unemployment benefits.
>>WH: Trump Happy With China Trade Deal
(Washington, DC) -- The White House says President Trump is going over the proposed trade deal with China. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is happy with the work his trade team has done, and "what the President heard, he liked." Leavitt added China has agreed to open their markets and will supply the U.S. with critical rare earth minerals. She said Trump will have more to say on the subject soon.
>>Nintendo Switch Breaks Sales Records
(Undated) -- Nintendo's newest video game console is breaking sales records. The Switch Two, released last week, managed to rack up more than three-point-five million units sold in just four days. That makes it the fastest selling console in the history of the company. The Switch Two retails for about 450-dollars.
>>Chime IPO Values Company At $11.6B
(San Francisco, CA) -- Online financial services company Chime is pricing its IPO at 27-dollars a share, valuing the company at eleven-point-six-billion dollars. The company raised about 700-million-dollars through the IPO and the stock begins trading today on the Nasdaq. Chime offers no-fee banking services and gets most of its revenue from interchange fees.
>>Torrid Closing More Than 150 Stores
(City of Industry, CA) -- A leading plus-size clothing retailer is planning to close more than 150 stores this year. Torrid will shut down 180 underperforming stores which represents nearly 30-percent of its physical locations, and it comes as part of the company's strategy to focus on digital sales. Store closures are expected to occur mostly in the fourth quarter, but the company has not yet disclosed which specific stores will shut down. The retailer has already closed 632 locations as of January.
>>States With Best And Worst Tippers
(Undated) -- Tipping is slightly rising this year for full-service restaurants. New data from the payment company Toast found tipping averages rose to 19-point-four-percent from 19-point-three-percent in 2024. The data also showed servers in Delaware get the best tips, and those in California receive the worst. While the numbers are still down from peak pandemic highs of 19-point-nine-percent, it's similar to numbers seen in 2018 and 2019.
>>Disney, Universal Sue AI Image Generator
(Los Angeles, CA) -- Disney and Universal Pictures are suing an AI image generator for copyright infringement. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Wednesday says Midjourney's program creates images that "blatantly incorporate and copy" some of the studios' characters from franchises like "Star Wars" and "Despicable Me." This is the first lawsuit against alleged AI-theft brought by major Hollywood studios. Universal and Disney argue Midjourney should be able to use the same safeguards used to prevent images with violence or nudity from being created to block images with their characters.
