U.S.-China Trade Talks Extended
The United States and China will extend trade talks into a third day. The talks, which are taking place in Beijing, aim at progress on various issues. These include purchases of U.S. farm and energy commodities as well as increased access to China’s markets. The trade talks are the first face to face talks since President Trump and President Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce.
“Talks with China are going very well!” Trump tweeted, after they confirmed that the talks would extend into a third day. However, if no deal is reached, Trump said he will raise tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200Bn worth of Chinese imports.
Amazon Becomes World Most Valuable Company
After rising 3.4% on Monday’s trading floor, Amazon passed Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable public firm. The 25-year-old company is now valued at $789Bn. In addition, Amazon founded Jeff Besoz passed Bill Gates as the worlds wealthiest person. He currently holds almost $135Bn.
Amazon started off as a retail book seller in 1994 before it went online and public by 1996. This raised the company $35M, launching Besoz into the list of the richest people in the world before the age of 35.
Gold Rises While Stocks Fall
Since October, the price of gold rose 8% while the S&P 500 fell 14%. This, along with investors putting $5Bn into the industry, is thrilling gold investors. Gold has a habit of performing well while investors are nervous. Because of the volatile stock market in the recent past, investors are becoming more and more so.
While people were putting money into gold, they were also pulling money from the market. They removed almost $60Bn from the stock market funds in the same time frame.
Tesla Sued For Customer Death
Chicago law firm Corboy & Demetrio filed a lawsuit against electric carmaker Tesla Inc on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that at 2014 Model S contained a defective battery pack that killed a passenger in an accident last year. The accident, which occurred in Florida, killed two teenagers after they crashed into a wall. Then, the car exploded. Tesla didn’t respond to a request to comment.
Verizon Adds More Subscribers Than Expected\
Verizon beat Wall Street expectations when it announced that they added 650,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter. Originally, they expected to only add around 350,000 subscribers. This comes after they announced plans with Samsung to release 5G phones in the first half of 2019.
As a result, shares of the company rose about 3.5 percent to $58.69. This puts them as one of the top gainers on the Dow. Verizon is expected to post their 4th quarter record by the end of the month.
