BUSINESS HEADLINES

Stock market today: Wall Street slips in final days of a banner year for US stocks

Stocks fell on Wall Street as a strong year for the market looks set to end on a sour note. The S&P 500 closed 1.1% lower Monday. On the second-to-last day of 2024, the benchmark index is still on track for its second straight yearly gain of more than 20%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 1%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.2%. Declines in Big Tech companies like Apple and Microsoft weighed on the market. Boeing fell after one of its jets skidded off a runway in South Korea, killing 179 of the 181 people aboard.

Value-seekers drove 2024’s retail trends and dead ends

Value was in vogue in 2024. Shoppers and restaurant patrons in the U.S. were choosy about where and how to spend their money as they wrestled with high housing and food prices. Well-heeled shoppers traded down to Walmart and Aldi. Diners opted for fast food or home cooking instead of sit-down restaurants. Department stores struggled as people shopped online or at less-expensive chains like H&M. The behavior shifts changed the buying and eating landscape. Consumer research company Coresight Research tracked 48 retail bankruptcies as of Dec. 20 compared with 25 last year. And at least 22 restaurant chains — including Red Lobster and TGI Fridays — filed for bankruptcy, the highest number since 2020.

‘Sonic 3’ and ‘Mufasa’ battle for No. 1 at the holiday box office

Two family films are dominating the holiday box office, with “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” winning the three-day weekend over “Mufasa” by a blue hair. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Sonic movie earned $38 million, while “Mufasa” brought in $37.1 million from theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The R-rated horror “Nosferatu” placed third with an unexpectedly strong $21.2 million. Thanksgiving release holdovers “Wicked” and “Moana 2” rounded out the top five. Christmas Day had several big film openings, including the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the Nicole Kidman erotic drama “Babygirl” and the boxing drama “The Fire Inside.”

Jet crash disaster in South Korea marks another setback for Boeing

WASHINGTON (AP) — A machinists strike. Another safety problem involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging stock price. 2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the company’s jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday’s incident from the company’s earlier safety problems. Alan Price, an airline consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019.

In 2024, artificial intelligence was all about putting AI tools to work

Just over two years after the debut of ChatGPT, the world is getting a little savvier about what artificial intelligence technology can do for us and what it’s not so great at. The first 100 million or so people who experimented with ChatGPT upon its release two years ago actively sought out the chatbot, finding it amazingly helpful at some tasks or laughably mediocre at others. Now such generative AI technology is baked into an increasing number of technology services whether we’re looking for it or not — for instance, through the AI-generated answers in Google search results or new AI techniques in photo editing tools.

South Korea plane crash is the deadliest in a year marked by several fatal aviation accidents

South Korea’s worst aviation disaster in decades also was the year’s deadliest plane crash worldwide, and time is running out on 2024. A Boeing 737-800 plane operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air slammed into a concrete fence at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, killing 179 people. Two crew members survived. The deadliest accident in aviation history occurred in 1977, when two Boeing 747 jumbo jets collided on a foggy runway on the Spanish island of Tenerife, killing 583 of the 644 people on board the planes. Spanish investigators blamed the captain of one of the plane’s for taking off without clearance from air traffic controllers.

Big Lots reaches deal to keep hundreds of US stores open

The discount chain Big Lots has reached a deal that will keep hundreds of its stores open. Big Lots said it will be sold to Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, which specializes in distressed companies. Gordon Brothers will then transfer Big Lots’ stores to other retailers. Variety Wholesalers, which owns more than 400 U.S. discount stores, plans to acquire between 200 and 400 Big Lots stores and operate them under the Big Lots brand. Big Lots filed for bankruptcy protection in September, saying inflation and high interest rates had cut back on consumer demand for its furniture and other products.

Charles Dolan, HBO and Cablevision founder, dies at 98

Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of the most prominent U.S. media companies including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98. Newsday reports that a statement issued Saturday by his family says Dolan died of natural causes. Dolan’s legacy in cable broadcasting includes founding HBO in 1972, Cablevision in 1973 and the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. He also launched News 12 in New York City, the first U.S. 24-hour cable channel for local news. Dolan also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the New York Knicks and New York Rangers sports franchises.

Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes office

President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. Trump’s request Friday came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court. Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The brief said Trump opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”

Stock market today: Wall Street slips as the ‘Magnificent 7’ weighs down the market

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower as Wall Street ends a holiday-shortened week on a down note. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 333 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.5%. The “Magnificent 7” stocks weighed on the market, led by declines in Nvidia, Tesla and Microsoft. Even with the loss, the S&P 500 had a modest gain for the week and is still headed for its second consecutive annual gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.62%.