B R I E F LY
$0.10
Euro
0.8242 12,405.81 3,668.10 $1,833.60 $24.03
Peso
0.89% 20.0226
STOCK INDEXES END
MIXED: U.S. stock indexes closed mostly lower Thursday following more evidence that the pandemic is tightening its grip on the economy while Congress remains in a stalemate over how to do something about it. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent after f lipping between gains and losses in the early going. Energy stocks notched the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500, at 2.9 percent.
NOVEMBER CONSUMER
PRICES UP: U.S. consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent in November as a rise in energy costs and variety of other items offset a drop in food costs. The Labor Department reported that the gain in the consumer price index followed an unchanged reading in October and matched the 0.2 percent September advance. Still, the increase remained far below the 0.6 percent increases seen in June and July.
DELTA ASKS MORE TO
TAKE LEAVE: Delta Air Lines has managed to avoid furloughs but is now asking more employees to take unpaid leaves of absence, a sign of the deepening slump in air travel as COVID cases increase across the United States. CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday that Delta will need takers for its unpaidleave program “for the foreseeable future.” With revenue down sharply, Delta expects to lose up to $12 million a day on average during the fourth quarter.
MASTERCARD SEVERS TIES WITH PORNHUB:
Mastercard said Thursday that it has severed ties with Pornhub after confirming that the adult website carried illegal content depicting child abuse and sexual violence. The payment processor and its rival Visa announced investigations this week after a New York Times report alleged that Pornhub “is infested with rape videos” and “monetizes child rapes.” Pornhub said any assertion suggesting that it allows child videos on its site is “irresponsible and f lagrantly untrue.” Major credit card companies have been under pressure to block payments to adult websites that cannot ensure the legality of their hosted content.