Update on the latest in business:

FINANCIAL MARKETS

Asian stocks mixed in quiet holiday trading

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed today after stocks closed modestly higher on Wall Street, extending the major indexes’ milestone-shattering run.

Today, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 10 points. Shanghai Composite index gained 0.7%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.2% down.

Seoul's Kospi dropped 0.6% while Sydney's S&P-ASX inched 0.1% up. New Zealand and Singapore advanced, while Taiwan and India declined.

On Wall Street Monday, the S&P 500 index notched its third-consecutive all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq composite also set record highs.

The S&P 500 inched up 2.79 points, or 0.1%, to 3,224.01. The Dow gained 96.44 points, or 0.3%, to 28,551.53.

The Nasdaq climbed 20.69 points, or 0.2%, to 8,945.65. The index, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, is on a nine-day winning streak.

NORTHEAST ASIA SUMMIT

China, Japan, South Korea meet as North Korean threat looms

CHENGDU, China (AP) — Leaders from China, Japan and South Korea have been meeting today against the backdrop of increasing threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

The trilateral meeting in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu comes amid demands by Pyongyang for sanctions relief by the end of the year and threats that it may take unspecified actions if that relief is not forthcoming.

The assembled leaders — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (lee kuh-TYAHNG'), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh AH'-bay), and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (jah-YIHN') — are also expected to discuss furthering regional cooperation on the economy, the environment and people-to-people exchanges.

The trilateral summits date back to the fallout from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which devastated businesses across the region and prompted moves toward greater economic integration. The three countries account for about 24 percent of world trade, and have tightly-bound supply chains, with more than $720 billion in trade moving between them last year.

GLOBAL-OPIOIDS-MUNDIPHARMA FINED

Australia fines Sackler-owned opioid maker over advertising

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s drug regulator has fined a pharmaceutical company owned by the billionaire Sackler family over what it dubbed misleading advertising for one of its opioid painkillers, as the country grapples with surging rates of opioid prescriptions and related deaths.

Mundipharma Australia, the international affiliate of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, was ordered to pay penalties of 302,400 Australian dollars ($209,000) over its promotion of the opioid Targin.

The fine against Mundipharma comes as Purdue faces a barrage of lawsuits in the United States accusing it of deceptive marketing tactics that downplayed the addictive nature of its opioids.

In a story documenting Australia’s ballooning opioid crisis earlier this year, The Associated Press reported that Mundipharma was facing accusations from a local doctor and a doctors’ group that its Targin advertising was misleading.

BROKER-DEALER-SECURITIES

Ex-CEO and employee of broker-dealer firm arrested

NEW YORK (AP) — The former chief executive and an employee of a broker-dealer firm were arrested Monday on charges alleging they submitted false reports to U.S. regulators and then lied to try to cover it up.

Alan Seidel, the former CEO of Seidel & Co. and Benjamin Mekaway were arrested on charges contained in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Seidel & Co. was a Manhattan-based firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission that acted primarily as an intermediary between institutional broker-dealers trading bonds of various types, according to a release.

Federal authorities say the men began in late 2016 submitting false monthly reports about the firm's net capital to make it seem it did not have more debt than the SEC permitted. If it fell short, the firm would become subject to the suspension of revocation of its registration.

EMPTY UBERS

New York City rule limiting for-hire cruising is struck down

NEW YORK (AP) — A state judge has struck down a New York City rule that, beginning next year, would have limited how much time Uber, Lyft and other for-hire vehicles could spend without passengers in the busiest parts of town.

State Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank in his decision Monday called the city's rules “arbitrary and capricious.”

They were announced in August.

Uber had filed the lawsuit against the cap and says it is pleased by the decision.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city will fight to keep the rule.

CLOSED FACTORY-PURCHASER

London-based firm says it's buying Louisiana steel mill

LAPLACE, La. (AP) — London-based Liberty Steel Group says that its $28 million cash offer has made it the preferred buyer for a Louisiana steel mill that shut down abruptly in the fall, putting 376 people out of work.

Bayou Steel Group announced the layoffs and shutdown Sept. 30. The following day, it said it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Liberty said its deal is expected to close Jan. 31. It plans to upgrade and modernize the mill in LaPlace and hopes to resume recycling in the second half of 2020 and steel making by 2021,.

Liberty already owns steel operations in Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico and South Carolina.

SAN FRANCISCO-COFFEE TO GO

San Francisco cafes are banishing disposable coffee cups

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new cafe culture is brewing in San Francisco, where a growing number of coffee houses are banishing paper to-go cups and replacing them with everything from glass jars to rental mugs.

What started as a small trend among neighborhood cafes to reduce waste is gaining support from some big names in the city's food and coffee world.

The Oakland-based Blue Bottle chain says it's getting rid of disposable cups at two locations next year, as part of a pledge to go “zero-waste” at its 70 U.S. locations by the end of 2020.

Industry experts say larger coffee chains like Starbucks are feeling a sense of urgency to be more environmentally friendly, and will no doubt be taking note.

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