Dow Set to Stabilize After Dropping Over 500 Points
Your Cheddar hosts Kristen Scholer and Tim Stenovec bring you today's top financial news headlines. From a market sell-off to consumer spending, we have you covered!
Global stocks mostly steadied on Wednesday in pre-market trading, keeping major equity benchmarks on pace for monthly gains. Futures point to a higher open for the Dow after rising bond yields and pressure on the healthcare sector sent it to its biggest daily drop since May on Tuesday.
Plus, strong job prospects and a general upswing in the market in recent months have triggered a decrease in saving for many Americans. According to the Commerce Department, an increase in consumer spending in December led to a 12 year low in the U.S. household saving rate. This was the lowest saving rate since the height of the housing boom in the early 2000s.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
