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Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. December momentum
Stocks ticked higher Monday, extending some year-end momentum. The Dow Jones Industrial AverageS&P 500Nasdaq Compositehost of other global central banks will follow with their rate decisions on Thursday. Follow live market updates.
2. Oracle reports
Oraclefiscal second quarter. Sales in cloud services and license support; cloud and on-premises licenses; and services all fell below consensus, according to StreetAccount estimates. Only hardware, the company’s smallest division by revenue, beat estimates. Earnings per share outperformed, however, and net income jumped 44% year over year.
3. Pickups cut down
Fordcutting its planned 2024 production of the F-150 Lightning pickup in half, a stark reversal for the EV it’s been touting as the key to mass adoption. The automaker now expects to produce about 1,600 of the electric trucks on average per week at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, next year, down from recent production plans of about 3,200. Ford executives have recently been noting that they’ll match production with customer demand, which, as we know, hasn’t been as robust as hoped across the EV industry.
4. Discount discrimination
A recent industrywide probe by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into mortgage bankers’ use of loan discounts raised questions about the practice at Wells FargoCNBC’s Hugh Son reports. The bank received an official notice from the CFPB regarding the discounts and conducted an internal investigation into the matter, which extended into late this year. The discounts, which could shave 25 to 75 basis points off a borrower’s APR, were found to be applied with “statistically significant disparities,” disadvantaging Black and female customers.
5. White House meeting
President Joe Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House Tuesday to discuss continued aid for the country in its fight against Russian invasion. Additional funding for Ukraine has become a point of contention among U.S. lawmakers in recent weeks, but Biden and others have maintained that a stop to aid could hand Moscow a victory over Ukraine. U.S. National Security Spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that he expects the White House to announce new security assistance for Ukraine ahead of what it has described as a critical year-end deadline.
– CNBC’s Brian Evans, Pia Singh, Jordan Novet, Michael Wayland, Hugh Son, Holly Ellyatt and Jenni Reid contributed to this report.
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