Stock markets close at highest level in a month

Stocks rallied to their highest level in more than a month after China’s government moved to inject more life into its economy by cutting taxes. Netflix led a surge in high-tech companies Tuesday after announcing a series of price increases. The video streaming company surged 6.5 percent.

The S&P 500 rose 27 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,610. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 155 points, or 0.7 percent, to 24,065. The Nasdaq added 117 points, or 1.7 percent, to 7,023.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 2.72 percent.

German, Japanese leaders to attend Davos as Trump sits out

World Economic Forum executives say such government leaders as Germany’s Angela Merkel, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Shinzo Abe of Japan will be among those attending its annual Davos event.

Forum executives offered a preview Tuesday of the Jan. 22-26 gathering of political, business, cultural, academic and other elites, with founder Klaus Schwab saying a “re-moralization” of globalization is needed.

He said globalization produced many “winners” over the last generation or so. “But now we have to look after the losers, after those who have been left behind.”

President Donald Trump had

planned to attend but withdrew amid the U.S. government shutdown. Other top U.S. officials are expected.

Delta forecasts $25M in revenue loss in January during shutdown

Delta Air Lines says it’s on pace to lose $25 million in revenue this month as federal employees and contractors remain grounded by the partial government shutdown.

CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday that the shutdown will also delay the airline’s ability to start using new Airbus jets that must be certified by safety regulators who have been furloughed since Dec. 22.

Bastian says customers are bearing the brunt of the shutdown, with longer lines at airport security checkpoints. An unusually high number of airport screeners have been missing work after they did not get paychecks last week.

Netflix raising prices for 58M US subscribers as costs rise

Netflix is raising its U.S. prices by 13 to 18 percent, its biggest increase since the company launched its streaming service 12 years ago.

Its most popular plan will see the largest increase, to $13 a month from $11. That option offers high-definition streaming on up to two different internet-connected devices simultaneously. Even at the higher price, that plan is still a few dollars cheaper than HBO, whose streaming service charges $15 a month.

The extra cash will help to pay for Netflix’s huge investment in original shows and films and finance the heavy debt it has assumed to ward off rivals such as Amazon, Disney and AT&T.

Wholesale prices fall 0.2 percent

U.S. wholesale prices fell last month, dragged down by a steep drop in gas costs, suggesting that inflation will remain tame in the coming months.

The Labor Department said that the producer price index – which tracks cost changes before they reach the consumer – fell 0.2 percent in December from the previous month. The drop follows a small 0.1 percent increase in November.

Wholesale prices rose 2.5 percent in December from a year earlier, the same 12-month increase as in November. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices increased 2.7 percent.

Walgreens brings in Microsoft to help improve care

The drugstore chain Walgreens is working with Microsoft to improve care, as more companies seek ways to manage patient health, cut costs and improve quality.

The companies said Tuesday that they will work to improve care in part by using patient information and the Walgreens store network. The companies will aim to boost prescription adherence, cut down on emergency room visits and decrease hospital admissions.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Microsft Corp. didn’t detail financial terms of their collaboration or how much they will spend on research.

Hampered by scandals, Wells Fargo’s profits stagnate

Consumer banking giant Wells Fargo said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profits fell slightly as the bank remains restrained by federal regulators, who put a tight leash on it after years of scandals and missteps.

The San Francisco-based bank said it earned a profit of $6.06 billion in the last three months of 2018, or $1.21 per share. That is down from $6.15 billion, or $1.16 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

The results beat analysts’ expectations, who were looking for Wells to earn $1.19 a share.

Wells Fargo has been in a multiyear attempt to turn itself around after years of scandals in nearly every part of its business.

Federal regulators have fined the bank billions of dollars for violating consumer protection laws, and the Federal Reserve a year ago restrained Wells Fargo from growing any larger until the bank can prove it’s better-run. —From wire reports