IRAN’S RIAL AT ALL-TIME LOW TO U.S. DOLLAR

At money changers across Tehran, shouting voices accompany each change of the signboards out front showing the value of the Iranian rial, which slips ever lower against the U.S. dollar.

This week saw Iran’s currency fall to 41,600 rials to $1, its lowest point ever.

While making Iranian exports more attractive to the world market in the wake of the nuclear deal, it also means people’s savings continue to lose value in the country.

2017 investment forecasts: Possibly good, no longer great. Get ready

for investments to be merely good again.

They’ve been great for years, as both stocks and bonds have delivered fat returns since the worst of the financial crisis passed in 2009.

But after such a strong and long gallop upward, markets have many reasons to slow down, analysts and fund managers say.

Ford, Mercury cars investigated for brake issue. The U.S. government

is investigating some Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan cars because the brake pedal may lose pressure, making it hard for drivers to stop the vehicle.

Three crashes were blamed on the braking issue, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday. NHTSA received 141 complaints.

The investigation covers Fusion and Milan model years 2007- 2009. NHTSA estimated that there are about 475,000 of those vehicles.

West Virginia settling drug suit against 2 distributors. Two major

prescription drug distributors have agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging they fueled West Virginia’s opioid epidemic with large shipments of painkillers into the state over several years.

Boone County Circuit Court Judge William Thompson disclosed the “settlement in principle” in an order Tuesday cancelling further proceedings. He directed Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and the state attorney general’s office to provide details by the week of Jan. 9.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the settlements, with terms undisclosed, end the state suit against the companies.

The newspaper’s investigation found drug