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Inflation in the US is weakening the pressure on the economy, falling for the sixth month
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. consumer price growth moderated again last month, boosting hopes that inflationary pressures on the economy will continue to ease this year and may require less drastic measures from the Federal Reserve to control. Inflation fell to 6.5% in December compared to a year earlier. It was the sixth consecutive year-over-year slowdown. On a monthly basis, prices actually fell 0.1% from November to December, the first such decline since May 2020. The softer readings add to growing signs that the worst inflation in four decades is steadily easing. Gas prices, which have fallen, are likely to continue to lower overall inflation in the coming months.
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California is the latest to sue drug companies over insulin prices
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California says it will sue the companies that make and promote most of the insulin in the country. Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the lawsuit Thursday. The lawsuit accuses insulin makers Eli Lilli, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi of keeping prices too high. It also blames pharmaceutical benefit managers CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx. California is one of many states that have sued the companies in recent years. California is also considering making its own generic version of insulin to try to lower the price. People with certain types of diabetes need insulin to survive.
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The bank will pay a $31 million settlement, the DOJ’s largest ever
NEW YORK (AP) – The Justice Department on Thursday accused Los Angeles-based City National Bank of discriminating against black and Hispanic residents, demanding the bank pay more than $31 million in the largest dispute in DOJ history. City National is the latest bank in recent years to be found to be systematically avoiding lending to racial and ethnic minorities. The Biden administration has established its own task force to combat the practice. The Justice Department says that between 2017 and 2020, City National avoided advertising and underwriting mortgages in majority black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. Other banks that operated in those neighborhoods received six times as many mortgage applications as City National.
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The Tax Administration announces the start date of the tax return filing season on January 23
WASHINGTON (AP) — The official start date for the 2023 tax filing season is Jan. 23, when the IRS will begin accepting and processing 2022 tax returns. The news comes after the National Taxpayer Advocate reported that the IRS watchdog is seeing “light at the end of the tunnel” in the IRS’s customer service woes, thanks to the hiring of thousands of new workers and tens of billions of dollars in new funding given to the IRS in the Democrats’ climate bill and health. The Agency’s leadership says that taxpayers should expect an easier filing season this year.
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Disney faces struggles for middlemen as Peltz pushes to join board
Activist investor Nelson Peltz is vying for a seat on the Walt Disney Co. board, arguing that the theme park and media company is struggling with self-inflicted problems. Peltz’s bid to join Disney’s board comes just months after the company brought back longtime CEO Bob Iger to lead Disney again. Disney urged shareholders to vote against Peltz and appointed current board member Mark Parker as chairman. Parker, who is also executive chairman of Nike Inc., succeeds Susan Arnold. A move that will reduce the board to 11 members.
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Study: Exxon Mobil has accurately predicted warming since the 1970s
DENVER (AP) – A new study says Exxon Mobil scientists were remarkably accurate in their predictions about global warming. But at the same time, the company made public statements that contradicted the conclusions of its scientists. A study in the journal Science looked at research funded by Exxon. The research predicted the coming warming with an accuracy equal to or better than government and academic scientists. It was at the same time that the oil giant publicly doubted that warming was real and rejected the accuracy of climate models. Exxon says its understanding of climate change has evolved over the years and that critics misunderstand its earlier research.
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US air traffic returns to normal after tech crash
U.S. air traffic is back to mostly normal, a day after a computer system that sends safety information to pilots went down, halting traffic from coast to coast. As of early Thursday afternoon on the East Coast, only about 100 flights had been canceled and 1,700 had been delayed. Those figures are much lower than on Wednesday, when more than 1,300 flights were cleared and 11,000 were delayed. The Federal Aviation Administration said a corrupted database file caused the outage in the security alert system. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has promised a thorough review to avoid another major lapse.
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The House of Representatives voted to prevent China from buying oil from US reserves
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to block the delivery of oil from China’s emergency stockpiles. Republicans say the bill would help end what they call President Joe Biden’s “abuse of our strategic reserves.” Biden pulled 180 million barrels from reserves last year in an attempt to stem the rise in gasoline prices following a ban on Russian oil imports following its invasion of Ukraine. Democrats say Republicans are trying to fix a problem of their own making. China is among a number of potential adversaries buying US oil after the GOP-led Congress lifted the export ban in 2015. Last year, millions of barrels of oil from US reserves ended up being exported to China.
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Sweden locates rare earth deposits
KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) – A Swedish government-owned iron ore mining company says it has identified “significant deposits” of rare earth elements in Arctic Sweden that are key to making electric vehicles and wind turbines. The executive director of LKAB said on Thursday that the amount of rare earth metals exceeds one million tons and that it is the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe. Sweden’s Minister of Energy and Business said that “the European Union’s self-sufficiency and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine.”
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The S&P 500 rose 13.56 points, or 0.3%, to 3,983.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 216.96 points, or 0.6%, to 34,189.97. The Nasdaq rose 69.43 points, or 0.6%, to 11,001.10. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 32.01 points, or 1.7%, to 1,876.06.