Business Highlights: Opec+ cuts production; Inflation continues to ease
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Some OPEC+ members will cut the oil that they send to the world to try to boost prices
LONDON (AP) — The OPEC oil cartel and allied producers have made another big swipe at propping up lagging crude prices. The OPEC+ oil ministers came out of an online meeting Thursday with more than 2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts through the first three months of next year. They also declared that Brazil will join the bloc in January, bringing one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers into an alliance that is trying to rein in global supply. Sweeping cutbacks from OPEC+ and individual member countries since October 2022 haven’t made lasting changes to oil prices because of concerns about oversupply in a weakening global economy. That’s a good thing for U.S. drivers who have been getting cheaper gas.
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Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures continuing to cool
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure cooled last month, the latest sign that price pressures are waning in the face of high interest rates and moderating economic growth. Prices were unchanged from September to October, down from a 0.4% rise the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3% in October, below the 3.4% annual rate in September. It was the lowest year-over-year inflation rate in more than 2 1/2 years. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, increases in so-called core prices also slowed. They rose just 0.2% from September to October, down from a 0.3% increase the previous month. Compared with 12 months ago, core prices rose 3.5%, below the 3.7% year-over-year increase in September.
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Thousands of fake Facebook accounts shut down by Meta were primed to polarize voters ahead of 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta says it has found and disabled thousands of fake Facebook accounts linked to China that were used to spread politically partisan content in the United States before next year’s election. The accounts disclosed Thursday were designed to look as though they were run by everyday Americans. The network reposted content from the right and the left in an apparent effort to inflame political tensions. Meta’s executives said Thursday they’re guarding against similar efforts to interfere with elections next year in the U.S. and elsewhere. Critics say Meta hasn’t done enough to address its role in spreading misinformation and hate speech. California-based Meta hasn’t publicly linked the network to China’s government.
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Stock market today: Wall Street closes out its best month in more than a year
Stocks ended mostly higher on Wall Street and closed out November with big gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% Thursday. The index rose 8.9% in November, its biggest monthly gain in more than a year. The Dow jumped 520 points with an assist from Salesforce, which reported better-than-expected results and raised its outlook. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%. The stock market has been mostly rising in recent weeks as investors hope the Federal Reserve is finally done raising interest rates. Those hopes got more support with a report showing that the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation cooled last month.
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Inflation in Europe falls to 2.4% as interest rates pack a punch. But the economy has stalled
LONDON (AP) — Europeans are again seeing some relief as inflation dropped to 2.4% in November, the lowest in more than two years. Plummeting energy costs have eased a cost-of-living crisis but higher interest rates are squeezing the economy’s ability to grow. The European Union’s statistics agency said Thursday that inflation for the 20 countries using the euro currency was down from an annual 2.9% in October. That’s close to the the European Central Bank’s target of 2% after a rapid series of interest rate hikes. It raises expectations that the ECB would hold rates steady for the second time in a row at its meeting next month. While inflation is down, economic growth has stalled.
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Drugmaker AbbVie to spend over $10B on ImmunoGen to juice its cancer-fighting treatment portfolio
AbbVie is spending more than $10 billion to add a potential blockbuster cancer treatment as cheaper versions of the drugmaker’s all-time best seller, Humira, cut into sales. But company leaders cautioned Thursday that a return on the deal they announced for drug developer ImmunoGen will take time to develop. The deal delivers Elahere, an ImmunoGen ovarian cancer treatment that AbbVie says could eventually reap billions of dollars in annual sales and drive long-term revenue growth. In the near term, AbbVie expects the deal to be dilutive to its earnings until 2027.
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The average long-term US mortgage rate falls to 7.22%, sliding to lowest level since late September
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell for the fifth week in a row, more good news for prospective homebuyers grappling with an increasingly unaffordable housing market. The latest decline brought the average rate on a 30-year mortgage down to 7.22% from 7.29% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.49%. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now at the lowest level it’s been in 10 weeks, when it was 7.19%. Still, it remains sharply higher than just two years ago, when it was around 3%.
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Musk uses expletive to tell audience he doesn’t care about advertisers that fled X over hate speech
NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk has said advertisers who have halted spending on his social media platform X in response to antisemitic and other hateful material are engaging in “blackmail.” Using a profanity, he essentially told them to go away. In an on-stage interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Musk also apologized for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory in response to a post on X that helped fuel an advertiser exodus. A slew of big brands, including Disney and IBM, decided this month to stop advertising on the platform after a report by liberal advocacy group Media Matters said their ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white-nationalist posts.
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The S&P 500 rose 17.22 points, or 0.4%, to 4,567.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 520.47 points, or 1.5%, to 35,950.89. The Nasdaq composite fell 32.27 points, or 0.2%, to 14,226.22. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.21 points, or 0.3% to 1,809.02.