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^FINANCIAL MARKETS
Asian markets follow Wall Street rise on US jobs data
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher Monday after unexpectedly strong U.S. jobs data helped to soothe worries American factory activity was weaker than forecast.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.3%. Seoul's Kospi added 1.3%.
Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.2% and India's Sensex opened up 0.4%. Taiwan, New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets also advanced.
On Wall Street Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 rose 1% to 3,066.91, hitting an all-time high for the third time in a week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1% to 27,347.36. It is within 12 points of the record it set in July.
The Nasdaq composite gained 1.1% to 8,386.40.
^MCDONALDS’S CEO DEPARTURE
McDonald's CEO pushed out after relationship with employee
NEW YORK (AP) _ McDonald's Corporation says its chief executive officer has been pushed out of company after violating company policy by engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee. The fast food giant announced former CEO Steve Easterbrook's departure Sunday, saying he demonstrated poor judgment.
McDonald's forbids managers from having romantic relationships with direct or indirect subordinates. Easterbrook in an email to employees acknowledged he had a relationship and said it was a mistake.
McDonald's board of directors voted on Easterbrook's departure Friday after conducting a review. A company spokesman said details of Easterbrook's separation package will be released Monday in a federal filing. He will also be leaving the company's board. Easterbrook was CEO since 2015.
^UNDER-ARMOUR-INVESTIGATION
Federal investigators probe Under Armour's accounting
NEW YORK (AP) _ Under Armour is being investigated by federal authorities over its accounting practices. The athletic gear company says it has been cooperating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice on their investigations for two years. Under Armour says it firmly believes its accounting practices and disclosures were appropriate. It reports earnings for the third quarter today.
The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which said the probe involves whether the retailer shifted sales from quarter to quarter to make results appear stronger.
Under Armour founder Kevin Plank stepped down as CEO last month. The company has struggled since its explosive sales growth petered out in 2017. Last year it announced job cuts as part of a restructuring effort.
^HONG KONG PROTEST
Attacker bites politician's ear, others slashed in Hong Kong
HONG KONG (AP) _ Hong Kong City leader Carrie Lam will visit Beijing this week to discuss a southern China development project that is evidence of Hong Kong's strengthening ties to the mainland. This following the arrest of a knife-wielding man who slashed several people and bit off part of the ear of a pro-democracy politician in Hong Kong Sunday.
The attack came late Sunday, a day in which protesters had been urged online to gather at seven locations, including malls, to sustain a push for political reform.
Television footage showed the man biting the ear of district councilor Andrew Chiu, who had tried to stop him from leaving after the stabbings. The attacker was then badly beaten up by a crowd before police arrived. News reports say five people were injured, two critically and two seriously.
Riot police stormed several malls to thwart the protesters.
^GERMAN-ELECTRIC CARS
Merkel: 1 million car charging points in Germany by 2030
BERLIN (AP) _ German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to drastically increase the number of charging stations for electric cars in Germany to give consumers more confidence to switch over to electric from internal combustion engines. Speaking in her weekly video podcast Sunday, Merkel said she wants Germany to have 1 million charging stations by 2030. Germany currently has about 21,000 charging stations.
The comments were made ahead of her meeting today with automobile industry executives on helping Germany's transport sector meet emissions targets.
Merkel says those at the meeting will also discuss government and industry incentives for electric cars and how to protect auto industry jobs amid the transition to producing more environmentally friendly vehicles. She says the development of hydrogen-powered cars can also play a role.
Germany is home to several major automobile manufacturers, including Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen, which includes many subsidiaries such as Audi, Skoda and Porsche.
^SAUDI ARABIA-ARAMCO
Saudi Arabia formally starts IPO of oil firm Saudi Aramco
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (AP) _ Saudi Arabia has formally announced its initial public offering of state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is hoping for a very-optimistic $2 trillion valuation for Aramco, which produces 10 million barrels of crude oil a day and provides some 10% of global demand. A statement Sunday on the kingdom's Capital Market Authority website said it had approved the share sale, the opening move in an IPO promised by Prince Mohammed since 2016.
But unlike traditional IPOs, Saudi Aramco offered no hoped-for price range for its shares nor any idea how much of the firm would be offered to investors on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange.
Analysts say the kingdom likely hopes local investors will push its share prices toward a desired $2 trillion valuation and buoy that price ahead of any possible further listing abroad. Saudi Aramco also made a point in its filings to highlight its profitability and low costs through newly released data once held as a state secret by the Al Saud royal family, euphemistically referred to by the company as its "current shareholder."
Aramco produces over 10 million barrels of crude oil a day, some 10% of global demand.
^OBIT-BOYLE
Colorful Columbia Sportswear Co. chairwoman Gert Boyle dies
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Gert Boyle, the colorful chairwoman of Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear Co. who starred in ads proclaiming her as "One Tough Mother," died Sunday. She was 95.
Company spokeswoman Mary Ellen Glynn says Boyle, who was chairwoman of the company board of directors, died at a Portland, Oregon, assisted living facility.
Boyle took over the small outdoor clothing company in 1970 after her husband died from a heart attack. At the time, she was a 46-year-old housewife and mother of three with no real business experience. But she helped build the struggling company into a national brand and retailer.
Boyle often said, "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.”
^FACEBOOK-DEMOCRATS-BOOMERANG
From toast of town to toxic: Facebook CEO on outs with Dems
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg's social network in Washington is shrinking.
Bipartisan hostility toward Facebook has been building for months. It's been fueled by a series of privacy scandals, Facebook's use by Russian operatives in the 2016 presidential campaign and accusations that the service crushes competitors.
Now, with the 2020 elections approaching, Democrats especially are homing in on Facebook's conduct and its refusal to fact-check political ads and remove the false ones.
Zuckerberg's new strategy involves a personal blitz featuring private meetings in Washington with key lawmakers of both parties and President Donald Trump; small, off-the-record dinners at his California home with conservative journalists and opinion makers; and the occasional keystone public address or TV interview.
^DOUGHNUT DELIVERY
Krispy Kreme orders student to halt doughnut resale service
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An Minnesota college student who drove 270 miles to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that he then sold to his own customers in the Twin Cities area has been told by the confectionary giant to stop.
There have been no Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years.
Twenty-one-year-old Jayson Gonzalez of Champlin, Minnesota, charged $17 to $20 per box. He says he did not receive a discount from the store in Iowa where he bought the doughnuts.
But less than a week after the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on his money-making scheme, Gonzalez received a phone call from Krispy Kreme's Nebraska office telling him to stop. Gonzalez says he was told his sales created a liability for the company.
Krispy Kreme says it does "appreciate Jayson's passion for Krispy Kreme and his entrepreneurial spirit.”
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