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^FINANCIAL MARKETS
Stocks give up gains
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are moving lower in midday trading on Wall Street, giving up earlier modest gains.
The S&P 500 had been trading within 15 points of its all-time high.
There is little corporate news moving markets. Many companies are finishing up their third quarters and will report earnings starting in the middle of October.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was up slightly to 1.78%.
^FEDERAL RESERVE-DISSENTS
2 Federal Reserve officials highlight deep divisions
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Federal Reserve officials who dissented from this week's quarter-point rate cut are highlighting the deep divisions at the central bank.
Eric Rosengren, head of the Fed's Boston regional bank and one of two officials who opposed the rate cut, says that the additional stimulus was not needed. He says it runs the risk of inflating the price of risky assets and encouraging households and business to take on too much debt.
James Bullard, head of the St. Louis Fed branch, dissented in favor of a bigger half-point cut. He argues that a larger reduction would have provided needed insurance against a sharper slowdown.
In a CNBC interview, Vice Chairman Richard Clarida, who supported the latest quarter-point rate cut, says healthy debate is a strength of the Fed system.
^TRUMP-TRADE TENSIONS
Trump says he doesn't need China trade deal before election
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he doesn't feel he needs to secure a trade deal with China before next year's election.
Ahead of the next round of negotiations, Trump tells reporters Friday he wants a complete deal with China and won't accept one that only addresses some of the differences between the two nations.
He says, "I'm not looking for a partial deal, I'm looking for a complete deal."
Trump says voters understand the "spat" between the U.S. and China and insist the ongoing trade war won't hamper his reelection chances.
He says, "I don't think it has any impact on the election."
But Trump adds that if an agreement were to be reached between now and next fall, it "would probably be a positive" for his campaign.
^CALIFORNIA-FUEL ECONOMY
23 states sue Trump to keep California's auto emission rules
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Twenty-three states have sued to stop the Trump administration from revoking California's authority to set emission standards for cars and trucks.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (hahv-YEHR' beh-SEH'-rah) is leading the lawsuit filed Friday, along with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Air Resources Board.
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked California's authority to set its own auto emission standards. The state has had that power for decades under a waiver from the federal Clean Air Act.
The lawsuit argues that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not have the authority to revoke California's waiver.
Becerra says the Trump administration's action fails to respect states' authority to protect public health.
Four automakers have said they would voluntarily follow California's standards.
^CONOCOPHILLIPS-ALASKA DRILLING
Major oil company plans 7 wells in Alaska petroleum reserve
(Information in the following story is from: Alaska Journal of Commerce, http://www.alaskajournal.com)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A major oil company is planning drilling and construction work this winter in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports ConocoPhillips intends to drill seven new exploratory wells.
The company is focused on the prospective Harpoon area southwest of the company's existing projects in the reserve, and they will better delineate its large Willow prospect.
ConocoPhillips Alaska Vice President Scott Jepsen says the company wants to get more confidence around the geology and reservoir characteristics of the field.
The company has pushed back the proposed startup date of Willow to around 2025 or 2026.
ConocoPhillips announced the Willow discovery in early 2017. The company estimates it could produce 130,000 barrels per day at its peak.
^MITSUBISHI-ROGUE TRADER
Rogue oil trader hits Mitsubishi unit for $320 million
NEW YORK (AP) — One of Japan's most storied trading houses says it's lost $320 million in a series of unauthorized transactions by a rogue trader.
Mitsubishi Corp. said Friday that the employee in its Petro-Diamond unit in Singapore disguised the trades to look like legitimate hedges. Derivatives are contracts that give a fixed price to hedge against volatility in the market.
It says declining crude prices led to the enormous losses.
The company fired the employee, which it did not name, on September 18 and lodged a criminal complaint.
Mitsubishi, considered a staid trading house typically not involved in high-risk transactions, says it has taken measures to tighten oversight.
The company is trying to determine if the Singapore incident will alter its financial forecast for the year.
^CHEVROLET RECALL
GM recalls Chevrolet small SUVs; suspension welds can break
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling more than 107,000 small SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because a suspension weld can break and cause steering problems.
The recall covers the 2015 through 2018 Chevrolet Trax.
Documents posted Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration an improperly welded joint can break, increasing the risk of a crash.
It's an expansion of a recall from April that covered the 2017 through 2019 model years.
Dealers will inspect the left and right front lower-control arms and replace them if needed. No date has been set for the recall to begin.
^JEEP INVESTIGATION
US opens probe of steering problems, welds in Jeep Wranglers
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints of steering problems in about 270,000 SUVs made by Fiat Chrysler.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it granted a consumer's petition asking for a probe into 2018 and 2019 Jeep Wranglers.
The agency says more than 3,500 owners have complained to the company and government about frame weld problems or steering issues including a shimmy or wobble, looseness, or locking up. No crashes or injuries have been reported.
The Wrangler was recalled last year for misaligned welds that could cause steering problems. The government will determine if another recall is needed.
Fiat Chrysler says it's cooperating. The company says dealers will install a hydraulic device to mitigate vibration in order to address customer concerns. The fix is free.
^CONGRESS-FORCED ARBITRATION
House votes to end forced arbitration in business disputes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved a bill to end forced arbitration clauses that prevent workers and consumers from filing lawsuits in disputes with companies over employment practices, billing or civil rights.
Supporters, mostly Democrats, said the bill would restore access to justice for millions of Americans who are locked out of the court system and forced to settle disputes against companies in a private arbitration system that often favors the company over the individual.
Opponents, mostly Republicans, said the bill would make it harder for individual workers or consumers by forcing them into lengthy, expensive court fights that may end up shutting them out of the justice system entirely.
The House approved the bill, 225-186, on Friday. It now goes to the Senate.
^RANSOMWARE-INSURANCE
Payouts from insurance policies may fuel ransomware attacks
CHICAGO (AP) — Some cybersecurity professionals are concerned that insurance policies designed to limit the damage of ransomware attacks might actually be encouraging hackers.
Hackers use the attacks to lock up critical data and demand a ransom to get it back. Experts say the hackers know that insurers are paying increasingly large ransoms. And that invites attackers to target the type of institutions most likely to have coverage.
This year alone, the average ransom payment climbed from almost $12,800 at the end of March to nearly $36,300 by the end of June.
It's difficult to know how often victims give in to the demands, but one study found that companies with insurance were more likely to pay hackers. Insurers say victims are in control of whether a ransom is paid.
^3M-CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION
3M halting some work in Alabama for environmental reasons
DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — A company that's facing lawsuits and public scrutiny over pollution from a north Alabama plant says it's suspending some manufacturing work because of environmental reasons.
A statement issued by 3M Co. says it is temporarily halting some operations at its factory in Decatur, but no layoffs are expected.
The company says it is stopping work related to fluoropolymer manufacturing as it works with environmental regulators on compliance issues.
The Decatur Daily reports 3M has struggled with pollution issues related to substances known as PFAS. PFAS are used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water.
3M settled a claim over PFAS contamination earlier this year for $35 million. 3M is a defendant in dozens of other lawsuits alleging environmental and health problems.
^GOOGLE-EUROPE
Google plans to invest 3 billion euros in Europe
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Google is planning to invest 3 billion euros to expand its data centers across Europe in the next two years.
The tech giant's CEO, Sundar Pichai, says it will bring the company's total investments in the continent's internet infrastructure to 15 billion euros since 2007.
Pichai met with Finnish Prime Minister Antii Rinne on Friday in Helsinki and said that the investments "will generate economic activities to the region" and support 13,000 full-time jobs in the European Union every year.
He said that Google is "taking another big step by making the biggest corporate purchase of renewable energy in history" — a 1,600-megawatt package of agreements that includes 18 new energy deals. Ten of these will be in Europe.
^BREXIT
EU, UK agree to continue Brexit talks
LONDON (AP) — British and European Union negotiators have agreed to press on with talks in search of an elusive Brexit deal.
The announcement Friday followed talks in Brussels between Britain's Brexit Secretary, Stephen Barclay, and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
After months of stalemate, and with less than six weeks to go until Brexit is due, the two sides are sounding slightly more optimistic. But Ireland's deputy leader warned that the two sides remain far apart despite an improvement in the "mood music."
Barclay said the two sides' technical teams would meet next week, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to meet EU Council President Donald Tusk at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
After weeks spent demanding that Britain provide concrete proposals for ending the deadlock, the European Commission said that technical meetings are focusing on "a first set of concepts, principles and ideas that the United Kingdom has put forward."
The commission says "it is essential that there is a fully workable and legally operational solution" included in the legally-binding Brexit divorce agreement.
^GENERAL MOTORS-UAW STRIKE-FLINT
Auto union strike is latest worry in Flint, GM's birthplace
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — The city of Flint, Michigan, has been on an economic roller-coaster ride for more than a century as the birthplace of General Motors.
Now, "Vehicle City" is steeling once again for economic impact as a workers' strike against the automaker closes in on a week.
Workers have surrounded the massive GM complex for days, marching and toting signs and U.S. flags at plant entrances.
The city and some of the workers have been here before.
James Schneider also participated in the 54-day strike at a Flint plant in 1998 that forced a companywide shutdown.
Workers are seeking job security and a bigger share of GM's profits.
They're resolute but also worried for Flint.
Joe Duplanty Jr. says when plants leave, the city suffers.
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