S&P 500 misses record close, books weekly gain after weak U.S. retail-sales data
The U.S. stock market closed mostly lower Friday as investors...
The U.S. stock market closed mostly lower Friday as investors weighed a retail sales report that was weaker than Wall Street expected, but major benchmarks saw weekly gains ahead of the three-day holiday weekend.
The S&P 500slipped0.44 point on Friday, or less than 0.1%, to end nearly flat at 6,114.63.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 165.35 points, or 0.4%, to close at 44,546.08.
The Nasdaq Compositerose 81.13 points,or 0.4%, to finish at 20,026.77.
Investors shrugged off tariff concerns and a hot inflation report this week, with the S&P 500 snapping back-to-back weekly losses. The S&P 500 ended Friday just 0.1% below its record closing peak notched in late January.
For the week, the S&P 500 climbed 1.5%, the Dow rose 0.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.6%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock market's fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index, subsided this week while the 10-year Treasury yield fell.
The 10-year Treasury rate ended Friday at 4.475%, its lowest yield since Feb. 6 based on 3 p.m. Eastern time levels, according to Dow Jones Market Data. U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday in honor of Presidents Day.
Dominion Energy raised its five-year spending plan through 2029 by 16% to about $50.1 billion to meet growing power demand driven by more electrification, economic growth and an expected surge in data center electricity needs, the company said.
“We’re seeing the need for incremental investment across distribution, transmission and generation to ensure reliability amid continuing growing demand in our service areas,” Dominion Energy CFO Steven Ridge said Feb. 12 on the company’s latest earnings call.
The utility is headquartered in the world’s most populous area for data centers—Virginia—and has connected about 450 data centers representing about 9 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in the state, according to Dominion Energy CEO Bob Blue.
Apollo Funds Acquires NatGas Treatment Provider Bold Production Services
Funds managed by Apollo Global Management Inc. have acquired a majority...
Funds managed by Apollo Global Management Inc. have acquired a majority interest in Bold Production Services LLC, a provider of natural gas treatment solutions, the companies announced Feb. 12.
Bold Production Services provides customers across the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale with a fleet of more than 700 assets, including dehydration units, H2S treating units and total flow coolers.
Natural gas demand is expected to pick up over the next decade as power generation, LNG exports and data centers require more power. The Apollo Funds investment will support Bold’s growth as it continues to serve the growing natural gas sector, according to the press release.
Zelensky says no peace deal without Ukraine’s involvement
A day after President Trump said he would soon meet with Russian leader...
A day after President Trump said he would soon meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that the country will not accept any deal that’s negotiated without its participation. Trump suggested yesterday that Ukraine’s borders could be redrawn and its entry into NATO barred as part of the peace talks. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, seeking to stop Ukraine’s admission to NATO, challenging Ukraine’s legitimacy as a state, and making claims of territorial rights to Ukraine that were denounced by the West.
Apple teased a big product announcement. In a cryptic post on X, CEO Tim Cook revealed that the iPhone-maker will launch the “newest member of the family” on Feb. 19. Observers widely expect the mystery product to be a new version of its lower-end iPhone SE, with updates like a bigger screen and Face ID. It’s also likely to be the first Apple device with an in-house cellular modem chip, which replaced parts the company used to get from Qualcomm. Apple has made several other announcements this week, including the new Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds and the launch of Apple TV+ on Android.
The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, resigned yesterday after refusing to carry out the Justice Department’s order to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
Honda and Nissan’s $60 billion merger talks have fallen apart, the BBC reported, after the Japanese car manufacturers couldn’t agree on a way to combine their businesses.
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space company, is cutting 10% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported.
Nathan’s Famous, the hot dog brand best known for getting rammed down Joey Chestnut’s throat 80 at a time, is exploring a sale, according to the Financial Times.
