Category: Stock Market News

Oracle Corp. was sued by the U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday for pay discrimination. Oracle “has a systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than their counterparts in the same job title,” particularly females, black and Asian employees, the government said. In a statement, Oracle said the complaint is meritless, “politically motivated” and based on “false allegations.” A number of technology companies have faced criticism for their hiring practices in recent years, which has prompted many in the technology industry to reshape their diversity efforts, which has included hiring more women and minorities. Shares of Oracle traded flat around $39.10 on Wednesday. They’ve risen nearly 2% in the past three months and 15% in the past year. The S&P 500 , meanwhile, has risen 6% in the past three months and 21% in the past year.

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Gold futures saw a modest loss on Wednesday as strength in the U.S. dollar dulled investment demand for the metal. Prices however, remained close to a two-month high, supported by recent comments from President-elect Donald Trump, which suggested that he favors a weaker greenback to benefit U.S. trade. February gold lost 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,212.10 an ounce after ending Tuesday at its highest since mid-November. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, released after prices settled Wednesday, showed that “price pressures intensified somewhat” in the last few weeks of 2016. In electronic trading, gold futures traded at $1,208.40.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission fined MDC Partners , a New York-based marketing company, $1.5 million to settle charges it failed to disclose certain perks granted to its then-CEO, Miles S. Nadal, and for violating disclosure rules for non-GAAP financial metrics. MDC Partners failed to disclose additional personal benefits the company paid on behalf of Nadal such as private aircraft usage, club memberships, cosmetic surgery, yacht and sports car expenses, jewelry, charitable donations, pet care, and personal travel expenses, according to the SEC. The CEO later resigned and returned $11.285 million worth of perks, personal expense reimbursements, and other items of value improperly received from 2009 to 2014. The company also improperly used a non-GAAP measure called ”organic revenue growth” that excluded the effects of two other items, acquisitions and foreign exchange impacts. MDC Partners then revised its calculation to exclude another item, which resulted in higher ”organic revenue growth” results, without informing investors of the change. MDC Partners also failed to give GAAP metrics equal or greater prominence to non-GAAP metrics in its earnings releases. MDC Partners neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

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In another in a string of mortgage-related settlements with big banks, the Justice Department announced a $5.28 billion settlement with Credit Suisse over its packaging, securitization, issuance, marketing and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007. Credit Suisse will have to pay a $2.48 billion fine and provide $2.8 billion in other relief, including relief to underwater homeowners, distressed borrowers and affected communities, in the form of loan forgiveness and financing for affordable housing.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday it would fine Orthofix International , a Texas-based medical device company, $14 million to settle charges that it improperly booked revenue in certain instances and made improper payments to doctors at government-owned hospitals in Brazil in order to increase sales. Orthofix violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, when its Brazilian subsidiary used high discounts and fake invoices to make improper payments through third-parties to induce government doctors to use Orthofix’s products. The accounting failures caused the company to materially misstate certain financial statements from at least 2011 to the first quarter of 2013. The company agreed to admit its wrongdoing and pay an $8.25 million penalty to resolve the accounting violations and more than $6 million to settle the FCPA charges. Four former Orthofix executives, including its CFO, also agreed to settle cases related to the accounting failures without admitting or denying the findings. Orthofix’s then-CEO Robert Vaters, who was not charged with wrongdoing, reimbursed the company $72,886 for cash bonuses and certain stock awards he received in error based on the restated accounting, making it unnecessary for the SEC to pursue a Sarbanes-Oxley Section 304(a) clawback action against him. Orthofix shares were flat Wednesday, but are down 8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 20%.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission fined General Motors $1 million to settle charges that the company did not properly assess the potential impact on its financial statements of a defective ignition switch because of deficient internal accounting controls. The company’s own internal investigation involving the defective ignition switch wasn’t brought to the attention of its accountants until November 2013 even though other General Motors personnel knew in the spring of 2012 about the safety issue, according to the SEC. For at least an 18-month period, accountants at General Motors did not properly evaluate or account for the potential losses associated with a recall of cars with the defective ignition switch. General Motors neither admitted nor denied the charges. GM shares were flat Wednesday, but have gained 23% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 21%.

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Whole Foods Market Inc. announced Wednesday that it will celebrate at least one food holiday each month in 2017. The effort kicks of on Jan. 20 with National Cheese Lovers Day, when guests will be able to sample a variety of cheeses at all stores, and continues with National Green Juice Day on Jan. 26. The green juice holiday will be accompanied by $2-off digital coupon on any large store-made smoothie or juice from Jan. 25 to Jan. 31. Future food holidays will be announced a week in advance. Whole Foods shares are up 0.2% so far in Wednesday trading, and up 4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 20.7% for the last 12 months.

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State Street Corporation , the Boston-based global financial services company, will pay a $32.3 million criminal penalty and an additional equal amount to the SEC to resolve the government’s investigation into a scheme to defraud at least six of the bank’s clients through secret commissions, according to the Department of Justice. The commissions were applied to billions of dollars of fixed income and equity trades for at least six institutional clients and charged in addition to fees the clients had agreed to pay and despite written instructions to the traders not to charge those clients trading commissions. State Street also took steps to hide the commissions from clients and misrepresented its performance to one of these clients in order to conceal a trading loss. The company admitted the allegations and agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement that requires it to employ an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years. State Street has already fully repaid the victims of the scheme. The government had previously charged two former high-ranking State Street executives, former Executive Vice President Ross McLellan and former Senior Managing Director Edward Pennings, with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with the same scheme. They are scheduled to go to trial in October.

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Britain’s Supreme Court will issue its decision Jan. 24 on whether the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May must consult the country’s parliament on her plans for Brexit. Its judges have been weighing arguments in the U.K. government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that it doesn’t have the right to unilaterally invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would begin formal talks for the U.K. to withdraw from the European Union. On Tuesday, May laid out her plan for Brexit, which she said would be put to the vote in both Houses of Parliament. The Supreme Court will hand down its decision on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. London time, or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time, according to a post on the court’s official Twitter account.

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U.S. stocks opened little changed Wednesday after mixed earnings reports from banks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earnings were better than expected, however, Citibank revenues disappointed. Investors are also waiting for a speech by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen in the afternoon. The S&P 500 were off 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,265, shortly after open. The Nasdaq Composite was flat at 5,537. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 54 points or 0.3%, to 19,770.

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