___The S&P 500 fell 13.65 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,582.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86.11 points, or 0.4 percent, to 23,909.84. The Nasdaq composite retreated 65.56 points, or 0.9 percent, to 6,905.92. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 14.57 points, or 1 percent, to 1,432.81.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil gave up 2.1 percent to $50.51 per barrel in New York, while Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2.5 percent to $58.99 per barrel in London. Natural gas jumped 15.9 percent to $3.59 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline fell 2.6 percent to $1.36 a gallon and heating oil lost 1.4 percent to $1.85 a gallon.
Utility seeks bankruptcy protection over California fires
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The nation’s largest utility says it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because it faces at least $30 billion in potential damages over the catastrophic wildfires in California that killed scores of people and destroyed thousands of homes. The move will allow Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. to hold off creditors and continue operating while it tries to put its finances in order.
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Sears’ chairman stands at the center of fight for company
NEW YORK (AP) — As Sears teeters on the brink of collapse, one man stands at the center of the fight for its future. Eddie Lampert plays several often-conflicting roles in what could be the final chapter for the 132-year-old company. He’s been chairman, CEO, lender, and largest shareholder — all at the same time. And he stands to win big if Sears survives. The fate of struggling retailer could be decided Monday during a bankruptcy auction in New York.
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Company known for deep cost-cutting offers to buy Gannett
NEW YORK (AP) — A hedge fund-backed bid to buy Gannett Co., the publisher of USA Today and several other major dailies, is renewing fears of consolidation, job losses and declining news coverage in the already battered newspaper industry. Digital First Media offered $1.36 billion on Monday for Gannett. Digital First has a reputation for ruthless cost-cutting.
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Cold, hard safety blanket: Cash rules as stocks, bonds waver
NEW YORK (AP) — The best market move last year was to stay out of it. Cash returned almost as much as inflation, whether it was in a money-market or online-savings account, and held steady while stock and bond prices around the world struggled. But this may be close to as good as it gets for cash, if the Federal Reserve ends up pausing interest-rate increases, as some investors expect.
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Fiat Chrysler CEO says company strong enough to stand alone
DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler’s new CEO says major job cuts or an alliance with other automakers are not in the plans for the Italian-American automaker. Mike Manley says the company downsized its workforce significantly a decade ago, and smaller cuts have been made since. Manley took over for the late Sergio Marchionne last year. Three years ago, Marchionne was shopping for a partner and said the industry needed to consolidate to better share huge capital investment costs.
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No shutdown end in sight; Trump says ‘never ever back down’
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to continue to fight for border wall money, insisting that a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is needed based on security and humanitarian grounds. Trump spoke to farmers attending a convention in New Orleans and gave no indication that a resolution was near to ending the partial government shutdown now into a fourth week.
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Trump points to farmers as benefiting from wetlands rollback
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has pointed again to farmers as winners from the administration’s proposed rollback of federal protections for wetlands and waterways across the country. He’s described farmers crying in gratitude when he ordered the change. But under longstanding federal law and rules, farmers and farmland already are exempt from most of the regulatory hurdles on behalf of wetlands that the Trump administration is targeting. Because of that, environmental groups long have argued that builders, oil and gas drillers and other industry owners would be the big winners if the government adopts the pending rollback.
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Newmont’s $10B offer would create world’s biggest gold miner
DENVER (AP) — Newmont Mining will buy Canada’s Goldcorp in a deal valued at about $10 billion to create the world’s biggest gold miner. Newmont will acquire each share of Goldcorp Inc. for 0.3280 of its own, plus another 2 cents per share. Shareholders of Newmont Mining Corp. will own approximately 65 percent of the combined business, with Goldcorp shareholders owning 35 percent.
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Another sign of weakness in China weighs on US stocks
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks slip after China said its exports fell in December, but major indexes avoid the big losses they took in late 2018 when investors worried about the state of the global economy. Drugmakers fell after House Democrats launched an investigation into drug prices. Citigroup rose after a strong quarterly report. USA Today publisher Gannett soared after getting an unsolicited takeover offer.
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