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Shari Redstone, the president of National Amusements, which owns a controlling interest in Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. , is pushing for new directors on the CBS board, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, as she tries to convince the two companies to merge. Shares of Viacom were up nearly 3% during intraday trade on Wednesday, while CBS shares dipped more than 1%. The report says Redstone approached CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves to reengage in talks to merge with Viacom. Moonves has not been keen on merging the two companies, which split in 2005. Media reports last weekend suggested that the two were not actively engaged in merger talks. Shares of Viacom are down nearly 17% in the last 12 months and shares of CBS are down close to 6%. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up almost 24% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 30%.

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Oil prices settled higher Wednesday to recoup some of their losses from a day earlier. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the Energy Information Administration on Thursday to report a decline of 425,000 barrels in last week’s U.S. crude supplies. That would mark a ninth straight weekly fall. February West Texas Intermediate crude rose 24 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $63.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling 0.9% Tuesday.

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Shari Redstone, the president of National Amusements, which owns a controlling interest in Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. , is pushing for new directors on both of the companies’s boards, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, as she tries to convince the two companies to merge. Shares of Viacom were up nearly 3% during intraday trade on Wednesday, while CBS shares dipped more than 1%. The report says Redstone approached CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves to reengage in talks to merge with Viacom. Moonves has not been keen on merging the two companies, which split in 2005. Media reports last weekend suggested that the two were not actively engaged in merger talks. Shares of Viacom are down nearly 17% in the last 12 months and shares of CBS are down close to 6%. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up almost 24% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 30%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Gold prices gave up earlier lows on Wednesday to end higher for a fifth session, then eased back in electronic trading from their settlement shortly after the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Beige Book. The report, which offers a snapshot of domestic economic activity, said the pace of growth continues to be “modest to moderate.” The report comes ahead of the Fed’s next monetary policy meeting, during which the central bank is expected to keep short-term interest rates steady. February gold was at $1,338.30 an ounce in electronic trading. Prices had gained $2.10, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,339.20 an ounce for the session, their highest since Sept. 8, according to FactSet data.

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The White House will issue what President Donald Trump has called “fake news awards” later Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “It’ll be something later today,” she told reporters at the daily briefing. Trump has said the so-called awards will go to “the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media.”

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Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday Chief Risk Officer Mike Loughlin will retire, after about 10 years in the role. The bank said Loughlin will remain in the role until a successor is named, which should be in the next few months. Loughlin had joined Wells in 1986, after the acquisition of Crocker Bank. The stock gained 1.5% in afternoon trade, putting it on track for a record close. It has rallied 19% over the past three months, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has gained 5.8% and the S&P 500 has advanced 9.3%.

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Apple Inc. shares traded little changed Wednesday after the company said it planned to contribute $350 billion to the U.S. economy over the next five years, through new jobs, a new campus, and investments in data centers. In a release issued Wednesday afternoon, the company announced that it would build a second headquarters in a city to be named later on in the year. Apple also said it would add more than 20,000 jobs, on top of its current 84,000. The firm plans to boost its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which helps domestic manufacturers, from $1 billion to $5 billion. Apple added that the new tax bill should prompt the company to repatriate $38 billion. “A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made,” the company said in its release. Apple’s stock is up 47% over the last 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 31%.

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Apple Inc. shares are little changed in midday trading Wednesday despite an upbeat note from Morgan Stanley analysts about the company’s prospects in China. Adoption of the iPhone X is outpacing adoption of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, according to Morgan Stanley analysts led by Katy Huberty. She believes that Apple is picking up share of the active-smartphone base in the country and that the company has better retention rates than its local rivals. Reduced prices on some older iPhone models are also helping the company gain share and appeal to “mid-market” customers, she added. “An increasing mix of upgrades from the much larger base of 3+ year old iPhones points to a strong upgrade cycle in China,” Huberty wrote. Apple shares are up 46% over the last 12 months, compared with a 31% rise for the Dow Jones Industrial Average .

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Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands Inc. and Signet Jewelers Ltd. could get squeezed by the late start to the tax season, say Instinet analysts led by Simeon Siegel. The IRS announced earlier this month that it will begin accepting tax returns on Jan. 29, with nearly 155 million individual tax returns expected to be filed. The tax filing deadline will be April 17 since April 15 is a Sunday and April 16 is Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in Washington D.C. The IRS expects tax refunds to hit bank accounts starting on Feb. 27 if taxpayers choose direct deposit and there are no other problems. “[B]ased on the IRS’s announced tax season start, which is the latest since 2014, we expect companies with Valentine’s Day exposure (Signet, L Brands) and those reliant on consumers with less disposable income to be the most pressured,” Instinet wrote. Last year, companies like Foot Locker Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that the tax refund delay impacted sales early in the calendar year. L Brands shares are down 19.3% for the past year, and Signet shares are down nearly 31% for the period. The S&P 500 index is up 22.8% for the last 12 months.

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The Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday again voted to advance the nomination of Jerome Powell to lead the Federal Reserve. The panel had overwhelmingly backed Powell last month but had to vote again because the action was not carried over to this session of Congress. Powell, who has been a Fed governor since 2012, was approved by voice vote, with only Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, voting no. The nomination now moves to the Senate floor. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s term expires Feb. 3. The Banking Committee also voted to give Fed Vice Chairman Randal Quarles a new 14-year term at the central bank.

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