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Nvidia Corp. demonstrated its new self-driving simulation offering Tuesday, after halting real-world tests of autonomous vehicles in the wake of a pedestrian death at the hands of an Uber Technologies Inc. car testing the technology last week. In the keynote address of Nvidia’s annual GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, Calif., Chief Executive Jensen Huang pitched the service as a way for cars to learn how to drive themselves in a virtual environment instead of on real roads. Huang noted that a fleet of 20 cars could only drive about 1 million miles in a year, while the Constellation simulator could allow for billions of miles driven in a year. Huang announced that early-access partners will have access to the system in the third quarter of this year. Nvidia shares fell after news of the self-driving testing halt arrived as Huang took the stage, and were recently down more than 5% on the day, while the S&P 500 index was trading close to flat.

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Shares of MoviePass parent Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. are up 12.4% in Tuesday trading after the company announced a deal with Landmark Theatres, a movie chain owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Landmark Theatres has 53 theaters and 255 screens nationwide, and is dedicated to independent films. Under the deal, MoviePass members will gain access to e-ticketing and seat selection at Landmark theaters. “Our relationship with Landmark represents another milestone achievement in our journey to enhancing the current movie theater ecosystem,” said Bernadette McCabe, a senior vice president with MoviePass, in a release. “It’s another step towards educating exhibitors on how we can work together in a mutually beneficial way to create a valuable and cost-effective experience for moviegoers.” Helios & Matheson shares are up 26% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up 14%.

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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The National Fair Housing Alliance on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Facebook, Inc. , alleging that the popular platform’s advertising allows landlords and real estate brokers to exclude people from seeing ads for housing. “Facebook customizes the audience for its millions of advertisers based on its vast trove of personalized user data,” the fair-housing group said in a release, allowing the company to exclude women, families with children, and others. The NFHA tested its assertion by creating a fake real estate firm and submitting housing advertisements to Facebook. According to the release, “Facebook provided Plaintiffs with specific lists of groups they could exclude from receiving the ads, including families with children, moms with children of certain ages, women or men, and other categories based on sex or family status.” The group also alleges that its investigation determined that Facebook allows housing advertisers to exclude certain “interest” categories from receiving ads that are based on disabilities or national origins.

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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Apple Inc. unveiled, as expected, an updated iPad at an education event at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep public high school on Tuesday. Apple’s cheaper 9.7-inch iPad will support its Apple Pencil stylus. The new iPad will retail for $329, and at a discounted $299 for schools. It’s an effort meant to help Apple fend off Alphabet Inc. unit Google’s increasing presence in U.S. schools, where Microsoft tablets also compete. The iPad is also getting an A10 Fusion chip, which Apple claimed will be “more powerful than every [Google] Chromebook.” The company said that managed Apple IDs for school use will have 200 gigabytes of storage. Also announced, a cloud-based Schoolwork app will be available in June, allowing teachers to make virtual assignments and track student work, similar to Google Classroom. Apple said Tuesday that iPad’s more than 1 million built-in apps, including 200,000 that are education-specific, are key to classroom popularity. Apple is also believed to be working on a new developer framework called ClassKit, the blog 9to5Mac has reported. The code push, plus cheaper hardware, shows a renewed effort from Apple in the education market. Pre-event reporting also suggested that a less-expensive 13-inch Retina MacBook is in the works, for a possible June release, although that was not unveiled at the Tuesday presentation. Apple shares traded higher after the news, last up about 0.7% Tuesday after climbing more than 1%. Shares are up roughly 20% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, has gained 16% in the same time frame.

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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Apple Inc. unveiled, as expected, an updated iPad at an education event at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep public high school on Tuesday. It’s an effort meant to help Apple fend off Alphabet Inc. unit Google’s increasing presence in U.S. schools, where Microsoft tablets also compete. Apple unveiled a cheaper 9.7-inch iPad with support for its Apple Pencil stylus. The new iPad will retail for $329 and at a discounted $299 for schools. The iPad is also getting an A10 Fusion chip, which Apple claimed will be “more powerful than every Chromebook.” Also announced, the cloud-based Schoolwork app is meant to allow teachers to make assignments and track student work, similar to Google Classroom. Pre-event reporting also suggested that a 13-inch Retina MacBook is in the works, although that had not yet been unveiled at the presentation. The company said that Apple Classroom is coming to the Mac and will be available in beta in June. Apple said Tuesday that iPad’s more than 1 million built-in apps, including 200,000 that are education-specific, are key to classroom popularity. Apple is also believed to be working on a new developer framework called ClassKit. The code push, plus cheaper hardware, would show a renewed effort from Apple in the education market, the blog 9to5Mac has reported. Apple shares traded higher after the news, last up about 1% Tuesday. Shares are up roughly 20% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, has gained 16% in the same time frame.

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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From:: Stock Market News

Apple Inc. unveiled, as expected, an updated iPad at an education event at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep public high school on Tuesday. It’s an effort meant to help Apple fend off Alphabet Inc. unit Google’s increasing presence in U.S. schools, where Microsoft tablets also compete. Apple unveiled a cheaper 9.7-inch iPad with support for its Apple Pencil stylus. The new iPad will retail for $329 and at a discounted $299 for schools. The iPad is also getting an A10 Fusion chip, which Apple claimed will be “more powerful than every Chromebook.” Also announced, the cloud-based Schoolwork app is meant to allow teachers to make assignments and track student work, similar to Google Classroom. Pre-event reporting also suggested that a 13-inch Retina MacBook is in the works, although that had not yet been unveiled at the presentation. The company said that Apple Classroom is coming to the Mac and will be available in beta in June. Apple said Tuesday that iPad’s more than 1 million built-in apps, including 200,000 that are education-specific, are key to classroom popularity. Apple is also believed to be working on a new developer framework called ClassKit. The code push, plus cheaper hardware, would show a renewed effort from Apple in the education market, the blog 9to5Mac has reported. Apple shares traded higher after the news, last up about 1% Tuesday. Shares are up roughly 20% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, has gained 16% in the same time frame.

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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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to testify before Congress, according to a report from CNN that cited unnamed sources at the company. The report said Facebook is currently planning the strategy for his testimony. If Zuckerberg testifies, there may be pressure on Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to do likewise. All three were invited to appear before a Senate Judiciary panel on April 10.

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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The Securities and Exchange Commission said it’s charging an energy store company and a former executive with inflating financial results. The SEC said Maxwell Technologies prematurely recognized $19 million in revenue between Dec. 2011 and Jan. 2013 from the sale of ultracapacitors, and that a former sales executive, Van Andrews, allegedly inflated the company’s revenues by entering into secret side deals with customers and by falsifying records. Maxwell’s former CEO David Schramm and former controller James DeWitt also were charged for failing adequately to respond to red flags, the SEC said. Both Maxwell and Andrews consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the allegations, and Maxwell agreed to pay a $2.8 million penalty and Andrews agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and a five-year bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Without admitting or denying the findings that they caused certain violations by Maxwell, Schramm agreed to pay a total of nearly $80,000 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and penalty and DeWitt agreed to pay a $20,000 penalty, the SEC said. Maxwell has previously restated results.

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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Shares of General Electric Co. jumped on Tuesday, recovering after a spate of weakness that took it to its lowest level since 2009. The stock jumped 3.8%; it was on track for its biggest one-day percentage gain since Jan. 23. The industrial conglomerate was by far the biggest percentage gainer among components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, this comes after a session where it was the only one of the 30 Dow stocks to end negative on the day, despite a massive rally in the overall market. GE is coming off three straight days of declines, and it has fallen in eight of the past 11 sessions. Thus far this year, it is down 23%, and it has shed more than half its value over the past 12 months amid a myriad of issues, including weak a profit outlook and a 50% reduction in its dividend. The Dow rose 0.3% on Tuesday while the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.2%.

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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Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car unit announced a premium electric fully self-driving car at a New York event Tuesday, which the company said was the first of its kind. The new SUV, called the I-Pace, will be done in a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover. The company said it would be adding 20,000 I-Pace vehicles to its fleet within the first two years of production. Waymo also said that it would launch a fully self-driving service in Phoenix this year, through which members of the public will be able to take the company’s fully self-driving cars anywhere in the company’s service area. The initial business model will be ride-hailing. Waymo also has self-driving sedans, minivans, and Class 8 semi trucks. Alphabet shares slipped 0.2% in morning trading, while the S&P 500 was down less than 0.1%.

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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From:: Stock Market News