Stocks drop and bond yields jump
Wall Street’s turbulent start to the year continued Friday, after the government’s latest update on the job market seemed to crystallize expectations that the Federal Reserve will need to start raising interest rates soon. That view was most evident in the market for government bonds, as Treasury yields jumped to levels not seen since before the coronavirus pandemic began to rage through the global economy. The rise in bond yields rippled to the stock market, triggering another drop in technology stocks. While the broad S&P 500 fell about 0.4% on Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped nearly 1%, a fourth consecutive decline for both indexes.
Citigroup prepares to fire unvaccinated employees
Citigroup will dismiss unvaccinated employees by the end of the month as it presses on with a vaccine requirement the company announced in October. The bank has given staff based in the United States a deadline of Jan. 14 to submit proof of their inoculations against the coronavirus or request religious, medical or legal exemptions, according to a person familiar with the policies. Workers who do not comply with the mandate will be placed on unpaid leave Jan. 15 and fired Jan. 31, the person said. More than 90% of Citigroup’s 65,000 U.S. employees have complied with the requirement, the person said.
New York Times said to have reached deal for The Athletic
The New York Times Co. has reached an agreement to buy The Athletic, an online sports news outlet with 1.2 million subscriptions, in a deal valued at around $550 million, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The acquisition could help the Times reach 10 million subscriptions ahead of its 2025 goal. Eileen Murphy, a spokesperson for the Times, declined to comment. A spokesperson for The Athletic did not respond to a request for comment. The people with knowledge of the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.
Corporations donated millions to lawmakers who voted to overturn election results
In the year since the Capitol riot, many corporate giants and trade groups have moved from making stern statements about the sanctity of democracy to reopening the financial spigot for lawmakers who undermined the election. A report published this week by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington showed how corporate money continued to support most of the 147 lawmakers who voted to overturn the election results. In the past year, 717 companies and industry groups gave more than $18 million to 143 of those lawmakers. Many of the corporations that have donated are household names, including Boeing, Pfizer, General Motors, Ford Motor, ATT and UPS.
Ford US sales down 6.8% in 2021
Ford Motor Co.’s U.S. sales dropped 6.8% year-over-year in 2021 to roughly 1.9 million vehicles, according to numbers released Wednesday. The dip in sales was consistent with the story of the automotive industry as a whole, which saw sales slide due in large part to a semiconductor chip shortage that dampened auto production across the world for much of the year. Still, the Dearborn automaker managed to boost production and sales volume in the fourth quarter after being hit hard by the shortage earlier in the year.
By wire sources