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FINANCIAL MARKETS
Banks, communications companies lead stocks higher at midday
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged higher in midday trading Friday as solid earnings from banks helped extend momentum from Thursday's rally.
State Street and Citizens Financial were among the latest banks to report encouraging results in a week of solid reports from larger financial institutions. Investors were also digesting the latest government housing data, which showed a December surge in new home construction.
The latest bright sign on the economy follows Thursday’s solid retail sales report, which revealed consumers are still spending at a healthy pace.
Technology stocks also made big gains in the early going. Qualcomm rose 4.1%.
Communications companies rose as well. Google parent company Alphabet climbed again, a day after becoming the latest tech giant to cross the $1 trillion valuation mark, joining Apple and Microsoft. Comcast rose after its NBCUniversal unit launched a video streaming service, Peacock.
Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.83% from 1.8% late Thursday.
Safe-play sectors, including utilities and real estate companies, lagged the market.
HOME CONSTRUCTION
US housing construction jumps 16.9% in December
WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes surged in December to the highest level in 13 years, capping a year in which falling mortgage rates and a strong labor market helped lift the prospects of the housing industry.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that builders started construction on 1.61 million homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, up 16.9% from the November pace of home building.
Housing construction has been rising since July, helped by falling mortgage rates and increased demand as the unemployment rate approached a half-century low. For the year, builders started work on a total of 1.29 million homes, the best showing since 2007.
The December building rate was the strongest number since December 2006 during the last housing boom.
Applications for building permits, considered a good sign of future activity, fell 3.9% in December to an annual rate of 1.42 million, but remained well above the pace in July.
Construction of single-family homes rose 11.2% to an annual rate of 1.06 million homes last month while apartment construction fell 9.6%.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
US industrial production fell 0.3% in December
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production fell 0.3% in December, as unseasonably warm weather reduced demand for heating from utilities.
The Federal Reserve said Friday that total industrial production — which includes the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors — slumped 1% over the past year. Factory output has tumbled 1.3% from a year ago, driving much of the overall decline as manufacturers grappled with trade disputes and slower global growth in 2019.
Still, factory output improved 0.2% in December as the metal, wood product, computer and food and beverage sectors improved. Output at auto plants fell 4.6% in December after a November surge following the end of the General Motors strike.
Mining output increased 1.3% last month because of gains in extracting oil and natural gas.
After an unseasonably cold November, temperatures in December nationwide were 36.5 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3.8 degrees above the 20th Century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The government agency estimated that energy demand during December was 56 % below average.
JOB OPENINGS
Employers post fewer jobs in November
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of available jobs fell sharply in November, dropping to 6.8 million, a decline of 7.6% from the October level.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the job openings number for November was down by 561,000 from the October level of 7.36 million.
Some economists took the big decline as a sign that the labor market may be slowing after strong job growth over the past few years has pushed the unemployment rate down to the lowest level in a half-century.
“The labor market may be starting to lose its shine as companies have scaled back their hiring in the face of continued economic uncertainty in this longest economic expansion in history,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG in New York.
The report on job openings was for November. The government’s more current unemployment report for December, released last week, showed that employers created 145,000 jobs last month. That was a decline from a robust increase of 256,000 jobs in November.
For all of 2019, employers added an average of 175,000 jobs per month, down from an average gain of 223,250 jobs per month in 2018.
TESLA-UNINTENDED ACCELERATION
US agency examining Tesla unintended acceleration complaint
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government's auto safety agency is looking into allegations that all three of Tesla's electric vehicle models can suddenly accelerate on their own.
An unidentified person petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking for an investigation into the problem. An agency document shows 127 owner complaints to the government that include 110 crashes and 52 injuries.
The agency said it will look into allegations that cover about 500,000 Tesla vehicles including Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles from the 2013 through 2019 model years. The agency's investigations office will evaluate the petition and decide if it should open a formal probe.
NHTSA is already investigating three December crashes involving Tesla vehicles in which three people were killed.
Anyone can petition NHTSA to investigate an auto safety problem, and the agency said in a statement Friday that it encourages people to report concerns.
VOLKSWAGEN INNOVATION HUB
Volkswagen creating first innovation hub in North America
UNDATED (AP) — Volkswagen is partnering with the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create the company's first innovation hub for developing new technology in North America, officials said Friday in a statement.
Initial work at the hub in Knoxville will include research opportunities for UT doctoral students and will focus on electric vehicles and developing lighter components from composite materials, according to a joint statement from the three partners.
Volkswagen has partnered with the University of Tennessee since opening its Chattanooga Assembly plant in 2011. The plant assembles the Volkswagen Passat sedan and Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs. The company broke ground in the fall on a new electric vehicle production facility in Tennessee.
VW also has innovation hubs in Barcelona, Spain; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Tokyo, Japan.
CHINA-ECONOMY
China's 2019 economic growth weakens amid trade war
BEIJING (AP) — China’s economic growth sank to a new multi-decade low in 2019 as Beijing fought a tariff war with Washington, but forecasters said a U.S.-Chinese trade truce might help to revive consumer and business activity.
The world’s second-largest economy grew by 6.1%, down from 2018’s 6.6%, already the lowest since 1990, government data showed Friday. Growth in the three months ending in December held steady at the previous quarter’s level of 6% over a year earlier.
Business sentiment received a boost from Wednesday's signing of an interim deal in the costly war over Beijing's technology ambitions and trade surplus. The Trump administration agreed to cancel planned tariff hikes on additional Chinese imports and Beijing promised to buy more American farm goods, though punitive duties already imposed by both sides stayed in place.
Chinese exporters have been battered by President Donald Trump's tariff hikes, but a bigger blow to the economy came from weakness in consumption.
Households, spooked by the trade war and job losses, put off big purchases. Auto sales fell for second year in 2019, tumbling 9.6%. Growth in retail spending decelerated to 8% over a year earlier, down from 8.2% in the first nine months of the year.
VENEZUELA-AT&T
AP Exclusive: AT&T under pressure to defy Maduro's censors
MIAMI (AP) — Last April, as a military uprising roiled Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government ordered pay TV providers to immediately cease transmission of CNN and the BBC.
DirecTV, which is wholly owned by AT&T, quickly obliged, yanking the two networks off the air as live images of military trucks running over protesters were being broadcast to the world.
Now, pressure is building against the Dallas-based communications giant to stand up to Venezuela's government censors. In December, officials from the State Department met in Washington with executives from AT&T to urge them to help pull the plug on Maduro’s propaganda machine, according to five people familiar with the discussion.
The meeting followed months of outreach to AT&T by Venezuela's opposition, according to the five individuals. Under a plan being promoted with the Trump administration, DirecTV, Venezuela's largest pay TV operator, would restore to its lineup a half dozen international news channels that local regulators have banned in recent years, according to the five individuals. They say U.S. officials and opposition operators are concerned that DirecTV is being used to broadcast unfiltered state TV programming by Maduro to attack his opponents, who have no way to respond.
DirecTV Latin America declined to comment.
FRANCE-STRIKES
Paris Louvre museum closed amid strikes over pension plans
PARIS (AP) — The Louvre museum closed Friday as dozens of protesters blocked the entrance to denounce the French government's plans to overhaul the pension system.
Also closed, therefore, was the Louvre's Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit marking the 500th anniversary of the Italian master’s death.
It is the first time since the protest movement began on Dec. 5 that the Louvre and the Leonardo exhibit were fully closed. About 30,000 people visit the Paris museum every day.
Several dozen protesters, including some Louvre employees, staged the demonstration after an appeal from several hard-left trade unions against President Emmanuel Macron's planned changes to the retirement system, which they said will “lower everyone's pensions.”
Some protesters were singing “Mona Lisa in on strike, Leonardo is on strike.”
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-WEINSTEIN
Jury selected for Harvey Weinstein's rape trial
NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial concluded Friday after an arduous two-week process, setting the stage for testimony to begin in the next week.
The lawyers and judge halted the selection process after 12 jurors and three alternates had been seated. Of the total, eight were men, seven were women.
Weinstein, 67, is charged with raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting another woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and said any sexual activity was consensual. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Opening statements are expected next Wednesday. The trial could last about six weeks.
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