Business Highlights: Stocks struggle higher as markets remain volatile; oil drops

The S&P 500 index gained 4.64 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,637.72. The Dow added 34.31 points, or 0.1 percent, to 24,423.26. The Nasdaq composite rose 51.27 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,020.52. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dipped 4.99 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,443.09.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 3.1 percent to $51 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 2.8 percent to $59.97 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline fell 4.5 percent to $1.42 a gallon. Heating oil skidded 2.2 percent to $1.84 a gallon. Natural gas rose 1.3 percent to $4.55 per 1,000 cubic feet.__

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Brexit deal in turmoil as May postpones Parliament vote

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LONDON (AP) — Facing almost certain defeat, British Prime Minister Theresa May has postponed a vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal, saying she would go back to European Union leaders to seek changes to the divorce agreement. With EU officials adamant the deal is not up for renegotiation, May’s move threw Britain’s Brexit plans into disarray, battered the pound and intensified the country’s political crisis.

___Stocks struggle higher as markets remain volatile; oil drops

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks remained volatile Monday as the market took a dive in early trading only to erase those losses later and end slightly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost as much as 507 points in early trading before ending with a gain of 34. Energy companies fell as the price of crude oil dropped 3 percent, giving back its gains from last week. Banks fell as investors expected slower increases in interest rates.

China pressures US, Canada ahead of Huawei hearing

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — China is raising the pressure on the United States and Canada as a bail hearing resumes for a top Chinese technology executive in a case that has raised U.S.-China trade tensions and roiled financial markets. The U.S. wants Meng Wanzhou extradited, alleging the chief financial officer for Chinese telecom giant Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to evade U.S. trade sanctions on Iran.

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Prosecutors indict Nissan’s Ghosn for underreporting pay

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors have charged Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn, another executive and the automaker itself with underreporting millions of dollars in income. The charges involve allegations Ghosn’s pay was underreported by about 5 billion yen ($44 million) over five years. The prosecutors added a new set of allegations Monday against Ghosn and Greg Kelly, the other executive, of underreporting another 4 billion yen in more recent years. Nissan says it takes the situation seriously.

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Chinese court bans some iPhones over Qualcomm dispute

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm says it’s won an order in a Chinese court banning some Apple phones in China as part of a long-running dispute over patents. It’s not immediately clear what the full scope of the ruling is. While Qualcomm says the ban covers iPhones 6S through X, Apple says all iPhone models remain available for customers in China. Apple plans to appeal.

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Artificial dyes fading, but food will still get color boosts

NEW YORK (AP) — Many companies are purging artificial colors from their foods, but sometimes colors get boosted in ways people may not realize. Egg producers get darker yolks by adjusting chicken feed ingredients, and farmed salmon get their pink from feed additives. Most cheddar cheeses owe their orange color to a plant extract. The practices show how companies tinker with colors to play into perceptions about food.

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Musk suggests Tesla’s new chairwoman won’t rein him in

NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk is dismissing the ability of the company’s new board chairwoman to exert control over his behavior. Musk says “it’s not realistic” to think that Robyn Denholm will be reining him in because he remains the electric car company’s largest shareholder.

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US job openings in October rise to 2nd-highest on record

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of open jobs rose in October to the second-highest on record, evidence that U.S. employers remain determined to hire, despite ongoing trade disputes and rocky financial markets. The Labor Department says the number of job openings increased 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted 7.1 million.

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Google accelerates Plus closure after another privacy lapse

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google is still having trouble protecting the personal information on its Plus service, prodding the company to accelerate its plans to shut down a little-used social network that it created to compete against Facebook. A privacy flaw that inadvertently exposed the names, email addresses, ages and other personal information of 52.5 million Google Plus users last month convinced Google to close the service in April instead of August, as previously announced.

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GoPro to move production out of China over tariff concerns

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — Action-camera maker GoPro says it will move production of U.S.-bound cameras out of China by the summer over tariff-related concerns. Companies have been voicing concerns over a looming trade war between China and the U.S. as both countries have been threatening tariffs against one another.

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