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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González, who the United States recognized as the winner of last year’s presidential election, kicked off an international tour on Saturday that will take him to Washington just days before President Nicolás Maduro is set to be sworn in for a third term in defiance of international pressure.

A crowd of a few hundred Venezuelan migrants broke into shouts of “Edmundo, Presidente” as González emerged from a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei to wave to supporters from the balcony of the iconic Casa Rosada, or Pink House, in Buenos Aires.

“We are doing whatever the cause of freedom requires,” Milei, an effusive far-right supporter of the Venezuelan opposition, said as he welcomed González to the presidential palace with honors normally reserved for a head of state.

González, a retired diplomat, fled into exile in Spain in September after a judge issued an arrest warrant following the July 28 presidential election, in which Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council, which is stacked with governing party loyalists.

In recent weeks, he has been vowing to travel to Venezuela to be sworn in for the presidential term, which according to law must begin on Jan. 10. But he hasn’t said how he plans to return or wrest power from Maduro, whose party controls all institutions and the military.

“By whatever means necessary, I’m going to be there” on Jan. 10, González said.

On Thursday, Maduro’s government raised the stakes even further, announcing a $100,000 reward for information on González’s whereabouts and plastering the wanted-like bulletin with the retired diplomat’s photo on social media and the arrivals board at the country’s main airport.

González at a press conference said that he would travel Saturday night to the U.S., where he hopes to speak with President Joe Biden, following a brief stop in Uruguay for a meeting with President Luis Lacalle Pou. He also plans to visit Panama and the Dominican Republic as part of the impromptu regional tour.

González, who twice served as Venezuela’s ambassador to Argentina more than two decades ago, used his visit to highlight the plight of hundreds of Venezuelans who remain imprisoned as part of a post-election crackdown by Maduro.

During his meeting with Milei, the two discussed the well being of five Maduro opponents who have been sheltering in the Argentine ambassador’s residence in Caracas for nearly 10 months. Maduro’s government broke relations with Argentina and expelled its diplomats after Milei and other regional leaders refused to recognize Maduro’s reelection.

But it has denied the activists holed up in the diplomatic compound safe passage so they can take up exile in Argentina. As part of the diplomatic standoff, Maduro’s government last month also arrested an Argentine national guardsman as he was entering the country, accusing him of terrorism. Argentina said the officer, Nahuel Gallo, traveled to Venezuela to visit his wife and her family, who are from Venezuela.

An estimated 220,000 Venezuelans are believed to reside in Argentina — part of an exodus of more than 7 million who have fled political turmoil, economic chaos and political repression by Maduro since 2014.

Janet Avila, a 51-year old school teacher who left Venezuela two years ago, was among those gathered outside the presidential palace to greet González.

“I’m very grateful to the Argentines, they’ve been beautiful to me, but I want to go home, to be with my family,” she said.

The Biden administration and most European governments have rejected the election’s official results, pointing out that authorities didn’t provide detailed results as they have in past elections. Meanwhile, copies of tally sheets collected by the opposition from 85% of the nation’s electronic voting machines show that González prevailed by a more than two-to-one margin.

González, 75, was a previously unknown career diplomat when he was thrust into rallying the anti-Maduro coalition as a last-minute stand-in for opposition stalwart María Corina Machado, whom the government banned from running for office.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Your car is spying on you.

That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk’s company was impressive, but also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels.

Is your car company violating your privacy rights?

“You might want law enforcement to have the data to crack down on criminals, but can anyone have access to it?” said Jodi Daniels, CEO of privacy consulting firm Red Clover Advisors. “Where is the line?”

Many of the latest cars not only know where you’ve been and where you are going, but also often have access to your contacts, your call logs, your texts and other sensitive information thanks to cell phone syncing.

The data collected by Musk’s electric car company after the Cybertruck packed with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel Wednesday proved valuable to police in helping track the driver’s movements.

Within hours of the New Year’s Day explosion that burned the driver beyond recognition and injured seven, Tesla was able to track Matthew Livelsberger’s movements in detail from Denver to Las Vegas, and also confirm that the problem was explosives in the truck, not the truck itself. Tesla used data collected from charging stations and from onboard software — and to great acclaim.

“I have to thank Elon Musk, specifically,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill to reporters. “He gave us quite a bit of additional information.“

Some privacy experts were less enthusiastic.

“It reveals the kind of sweeping surveillance going on,” said David Choffnes, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. “When something bad happens, it’s helpful, but it’s a double edged sword. Companies that collect this data can abuse it.”

General Motors, for instance, was sued in August by the Texas attorney general for allegedly selling data from 1.8 million drivers to insurance companies without their consent.

Cars equipped with cameras to enable self-driving features have added a new security risk. Tesla itself came under fire after Reuters reported how employees from 2019 through 2022 shared drivers’ sensitive videos and recordings with each other, including videos of road rage incidents and, in one case, nudity.

Tesla did not respond to emailed questions about its privacy policy. On its website, Tesla says it follows strict rules for keeping names and information private.

“No one but you would have knowledge of your activities, location, or a history of where you’ve been,” according to a statement. “Your information is kept private and secure.”

Auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Telemetry Insight, said he doesn’t think Tesla is “especially worse” than other auto companies in handling customer data, but he is still concerned.

“This is one of the biggest ethical issues we have around modern vehicles. They’re connected,” he said. “Consumers need to have control over their data.”

Tensions were high when the Cybertruck parked at the front doors of Trump’s hotel began smoking, then burst into flames. Just hours earlier a driver in another vehicle using the same peer-to-peer car rental service, Turo, had killed 15 people after slamming into a crowd in New Orleans in what law enforcement is calling a terrorist attack.

Shortly before 1 p.m., the Las Vegas police announced they were investigating a second incident.

“The fire is out,” the police announced on the social media platform X, one of Musk’s other companies. “Please avoid the area.”

Tesla shortly thereafter swung into action.

“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Musk wrote on X. “Will post more information as soon as we learn anything.”

Over the next few hours, Tesla was able to piece together Livelsberger’s journey over five days and four states by tracking, among other things, his recharging stops in various locations, including Monument, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona.

There are no federal laws regulating car data similar to those that restrict information collection and sharing by banks and health care providers. And state laws are a grab-bag of various rules, mostly focused on data privacy in general.

Daniels, the privacy consultant, thinks that new national laws are needed because rules have not kept up with technology.

“I think law enforcement should have access to data that can help them solve things quickly,” she said. “But we have a right to privacy.”

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By Michael S. Derby

(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler said on Friday the U.S. central bank is uncertain about what the economy will deliver in 2025 and will let upcoming economic data drive the course of monetary policy.

In light of Fed forecasts last month for fewer interest rate cuts in 2025, “there is a view that we can take our time, to slow down” and be more “gradual” while watching the data to see if sticky inflation pressures start to ease again, Kugler said in a CNBC interview.

If the resilient job market starts to lose steam, however, “we would be ready to act in a different direction” with monetary policy, she said. “We’re always responding” to what happens in the economy “and seeing what is happening in front of us,” the official added.

In the interview, the central banker said the economy is in a good place and while the job market has cooled, it remains resilient with a still historically low unemployment rate.

Asked how she expects the policies of the incoming Trump administration to affect the economy, Kugler noted there are many moving pieces, making it hard to say how things will play out.

Kugler’s comments on TV were her first public remarks since the central bank’s most recent policy meeting, and were among the first made by a central banker as 2025 begins.

At the Fed’s mid-December Federal Open Market Committee meeting, officials lowered by a quarter percentage point their interest rate target range to between 4.25% and 4.5%. At the meeting, policymakers pulled back on rate cut estimates in 2025 while raising projections of where inflation would stand.

For some, the change in outlook called into question why the Fed had cut rates at all given how long officials expect it will be before they hit their 2% inflation target.

The new year brings considerable uncertainty for the Fed with the return of Donald Trump to the presidency. The president-elect campaigned on a platform of heavy trade tariffs and deportations, which most economists believe is a recipe to reignite inflation. But officials have been cautious in reacting to the election outcome given a lack of details on what will be implemented and how.

“There is a wide set of scenarios and I think everybody’s considering that wide set of scenarios,” Kugler said.

Earlier on Friday, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said that since tariffs could be implemented in many ways, “uncertainty should come down as policies are finalized, although it’s easy to imagine an extended period of back and forth” as elected leaders hash out the policy agenda.

“I see more risk on the inflation side,” Barkin added, while noting the Fed is “well-positioned” on the policy front for whatever the economy sends its way.

She signaled a reluctance to further ease policy. “I put myself in the camp of wanting to stay restrictive for longer as opposed to the other school, which would be ‘we’re done, so why not take rates down to neutral,’” she said.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby and Howard Schneider, Editing by Franklin Paul and Richard Chang)

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MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a top oil and gas industry trade group are suing Vermont over its new law requiring that fossil fuel companies pay a share of the damage caused over several decades by climate change.

The federal lawsuit filed Monday asks a state court to prevent Vermont from enforcing the law, which was passed last year. Vermont became the first state in the country to enact the law after it suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather. The state is working to estimate the cost of climate change dating back to Jan. 1, 1995.

The lawsuit argues the U.S. Constitution precludes the act and that the state law is preempted by the federal Clean Air Act. It also argues that the law violates domestic and foreign commerce clauses by discriminating “against the important interest of other states by targeting large energy companies located outside of Vermont.”

The Chamber and the other plaintiff in the lawsuit, the American Petroleum Institute, argue that the federal government is already addressing climate change. And because greenhouse gases come from billions of individual sources, they argue it is impossible to measure “accurately and fairly” the impact of emissions from a particular entity in a particular location over decades.

“Vermont wants to impose massive retroactive penalties going back 30 years for lawful, out-of-state conduct that was regulated by Congress under the Clean Air Act,” said Tara Morrissey, senior vice president and deputy chief counsel of the Chamber’s litigation center. “That is unlawful and violates the structure of the U.S. Constitution — one state can’t try to regulate a global issue best left to the federal government. Vermont’s penalties will ultimately raise costs for consumers in Vermont and across the country.”

A spokesman for the state’s Agency of Natural Resources said it had not been formally served with this lawsuit.

Anthony Iarrapino, a Vermont-based lobbyist with the Conservation Law Foundation, said the lawsuit was the fossil fuel industry’s way of “trying to avoid accountability for the damage their products have caused in Vermont and beyond.”

“More states are following Vermont’s lead holding Big Oil accountable for the disaster recovery and cleanup costs from severe storms fueled by climate change, ensuring that families and businesses no longer have to foot the entire bill time and time again,” Iarrapino added.

Under the law, the Vermont state treasurer, in consultation with the Agency of Natural Resources, is to issue a report by Jan. 15, 2026, on the total cost to Vermonters and the state from the emission of greenhouse gases from Jan. 1, 1995, to Dec. 31, 2024. The assessment would look at the effects on public health, natural resources, agriculture, economic development, housing and other areas. The state would use federal data to determine the amount of covered greenhouse gas emissions attributed to a fossil fuel company.

It’s a polluter-pays model affecting companies engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil attributable to more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the time period. The funds could be used by the state for such things as improving stormwater drainage systems; upgrading roads, bridges and railroads; relocating, elevating or retrofitting sewage treatment plants; and making energy efficient weatherization upgrades to public and private buildings. It’s modeled after the federal Superfund pollution cleanup program.

The approach taken by Vermont has drawn interest from other states, including New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a similar bill in December.

The New York law requires companies responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions to pay into a state fund for infrastructure projects meant to repair or avoid future damage from climate change. The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases between 2000 and 2018 would be subjected to the fines.

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DETROIT (AP) — New vehicle sales in the U.S. rose 2.7% last year as prices and interest rates eased a bit, making SUVs, cars and trucks a little more affordable.

Industry analysts say discounts such as rebates and low-interest financing should get even better as 2025 rolls along, with the biggest deals to be had at dealerships representing automakers that had trouble selling in 2024.

Despite high sales prices that averaged more than $47,000, automakers sold just over 16 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, Motorintelligence.com said Friday. It was the best year for sales since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. But prices were still 27% above what they were in 2019.

Electric vehicle sales rose 8.8% for the year to just under 1.3 million, beating 2023’s record of 1.19 million. That’s slower growth than the 47% increase in 2023, and EVs face an uncertain future with the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump will scrap a $7,500 tax credit when he takes office later this month.

Gas-electric hybrids kept rising in popularity with just over 1.6 million sold, a 36% increase over 2023.

General Motors finished the year with the U.S. sales crown, posting a 4.3% increase for the year, its best performance since 2019. Toyota reported a 3.7% sales jump, while Ford sales rose 4.2%.

Jeep and Ram maker Stellantis, which struggled much of the year with too many high-priced vehicles on its dealer lots, saw a 14.8% sales decline. It was pushed out of fourth place and into fifth by Honda, which posted an 8.8% increase.

Nissan sales were up 2.8% for the year, barely beating Hyundai with sales up 4.8%. Kia sales rose 1.8%.

During the year, the average sales price of a vehicle fell just under 1%. Ivan Drury, director of insights for the Edmunds.com auto site, said he expects that to continue at least in the second half of the year.

Plus, the Federal Reserve expects two more interest rate cuts this year on top of three in 2024. That should help to lower monthly payments a little more, Drury said. The average auto loan rate fell from last year’s peak of 7.3% in July to 6.6% in December, Drury said.

He said he doesn’t think prices will change much in the first three months of this year as automakers try to clear their lots of 2024 models. “If you’ve got six months or more, then just wait it out,” he said. “Farther out there’s the potential for better things to come.”

To get a great deal, buyers may have to switch brands to Stellantis or possibly Ford, which have more inventory on their dealer lots than Honda and Toyota, Drury said.

Even the Toyota brand, which had among the lowest inventory in the industry with enough to supply only five days’ worth of sales, said it expects to increase discounts this year as supplies of vehicles increase.

“Incentive spend is probably going to go up next year for the industry and for us, because more availability will be out there,” said David Christ, vice president of Toyota North America.

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By Scott DiSavino

(Reuters) – Freezing weather and snow storms across the U.S. could cause massive power outages over the next week and boost natural gas demand to its highest levels of the winter, according to energy analysts and reliability coordinators.

The bump in demand comes as supplies of gas could drop due to the freezing of oil and gas wells and pipes, known in the energy industry as so-called “freeze-offs.”

Gas provides about 43% of the nation’s power generation and heats about 45% of the country’s homes, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The jump in demand coupled with a drop in supply could drive up prices next week.

“Appalachia and Rockies production face freeze-off risks as temperatures drop into the single digits or below,” analysts at energy consulting firm Gelber and Associates said in a note.

The U.S. produces about 105 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas with about a third of that supply coming from the Appalachia region of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, according to data from financial firm LSEG and the EIA.

In past winters, freeze-offs have slashed gas output by massive amounts, including the loss of around 16.5 bcfd in January 2024, according to data from LSEG.

Frigid temperatures in December 2022 cut supplies by 19.4 bcfd, and in February 2021 hit output by 20.4 bcfd, according to LSEG data.

One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million homes for a day.

As heating demand picks up, LSEG projects total U.S. gas use, including exports, could reach 156.4 bcfd on Jan. 9. That compares with the nation’s daily record of 168.4 bcfd hit on Jan. 16, 2024 during another brutal winter freeze.

The combination of soaring demand and freeze-offs in January 2024 boosted spot gas prices at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana to over $13 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

Next-day prices at the Henry Hub were currently around $3.65 per mmBtu, the highest levels since January 2024.

POWER COMPANIES PREPARE

Some 250 million people will feel frigid air across 40 states in the next week, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather. They warned of significant ice accumulations that could cause power outages in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky over the weekend and through Monday.

U.S. energy company CenterPoint Energy on Friday said its cold weather action plan was in place for power and gas customers in several states, including Texas, Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio and Mississippi.

Earlier this week, the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC), the nation’s reliability coordinator, urged everyone in the electricity supply chain to take steps now to ensure the highest levels of reliability.

NERC said it is “especially concerned about natural gas supply given the significant amount of production in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.”

Extreme weather in February in 2021 left millions in Texas without power, water and heat for days and resulted in over 200 deaths as the state’s power grid scrambled to prevent the electric system from collapsing.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Liz Hampton and Sandra Maler)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Khan’s prediction becomes a reality on Monday night.

The World Wrestling Entertainment executive said during earning calls in the past that he saw a day when Netflix would continue to evolve and enter into live programming, much to the consternation of Netflix officials.

However, Khan saw the hires that Netflix was making along with the streaming service’s offerings that could appeal to all family members.

Now, one of those offerings is the WWE.

The 1,650th episode of “Monday Night Raw” from the Intuit Dome outside of Los Angeles officially kicks off WWE’s 10-year partnership with Netflix. The agreement, reached last January, is worth in excess of $5 billion with an option for Netflix to extend for an additional 10 years or opt out after five.

“We try to appeal the WWE to all 50 states and to countries globally. We think Netflix does the same thing,” said Khan, who is WWE’s president.

Netflix — which has 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries — becomes the exclusive home of “Raw” in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Latin America, with additional countries to be added over time. The bigger component for Netflix though, is that the streaming platform will carry all of the company’s shows overseas — including “Smackdown” and “NXT” — as well as premium live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble.

In the U.S., “Smackdown” moved to USA Network from Fox and “NXT” from USA to the CW three months ago. Peacock has a contract to carry WWE’s premium live events through March 2026.

“Raw” began airing on Jan. 11, 1993, and is the longest running weekly episodic series on television. Most of that time had been on USA Network with a run on Spike TV, now known as Paramount Network.

“It has great storytelling, characters along with memorable and surprising stories. And the idea of combining this kind of intense fandom with these characters and our reach globally just seemed like such a great opportunity,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer. “What we also love is the multigenerational fan base. At the end of the day, we have great things that our members love and this totally delivers on all of the things that we want. And to do it 52 weeks a year is super exciting.”

WWE’s global reach has expanded during the past year, with nearly half of its premium live events taking place overseas. The company will also embark on an extended tour of Europe in March to build momentum for WrestleMania 41, which takes place in Las Vegas April 19 and 20.

Khan said WWE first approached Netflix about its rights in 2018, but Netflix wasn’t ready to begin carrying live events. The streaming service has ramped up its efforts during the past year, not only with sports events, but with Chris Rock’s comedy special and the roast of Tom Brady.

Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction series and sports, said the social media buzz around “Raw” each week as well as the stable audience WWE provides made it a natural fit this time when the company approached Netflix last year.

In turn, Riegg thinks Netflix can help expand WWE’s audience the way it did with Formula 1 and the “Drive to Survive” series.

“It really was just fitting in to the whole picture of we’re going to do these big events like the Tyson-Paul fight and the NFL on Christmas,” he said. “But then throughout the year, if we can have a steady drumbeat of those amazing live moments and live action and spectacle, that’s what we’re going to get with WWE.”

According to Nielsen, “Raw’s” final episode on USA Network averaged 1.6 million viewers despite going against the “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers.

Khan and WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque have also stressed that the three-hour weekly show will not hurt its rating due to being on a streaming platform. “Raw” was known for toeing the line on risky content during the late 1990s in what WWE called the “Attitude Era,” but that has changed over the years.

“It’s not pushing anybody away of what they want. It’s a safe place for families and everybody to be able to view. That will not change, but you don’t have to change that to expand and improve what you do,” Levesque said.

WWE’s storytelling and character development continues to excel even during external challenges. Former chairman Vince McMahon resigned last January after a lawsuit claiming sexual misconduct. In 2023, WWE was bought by Endeavor and merged with Ultimate Fighting Championship to create TKO Group Holdings.

According to WWE, there were 44 sellouts for TV shows and 66 overall, including house shows and premium live events, in 2024.

WWE champion Cody Rhodes credited Khan and Levesque for keeping the company on track, along with scaling back on some of the non-televised live events to make sure top talent does not get burned out during the year.

Levesque said Monday’s show will be on the level of a premium live event. John Cena, who is retiring from WWE at the end of the year, begins his farewell tour with three main event matches on tap. It also wouldn’t be a shock if Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson makes an appearance.

Roman Reigns, who will take part in one of the main event matches, said he is always trying to put his best foot forward, but he also knows how big Monday night is for the company.

“There’s no hiding that this is Netflix and this is huge and this is going to be on a global platform with a lot of people watching. I’m not sure exactly what that audience is going to look like. It’s going to be crazy, I know that.”

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AP sports writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this story.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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(Reuters) – U.S. bank Goldman Sachs on Friday named Alex Golten as its new chief risk officer.

(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

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By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The stock market faces its first major test of the year in the coming week, with investors counting on the U.S. jobs report to show a stable but not overheated economy that underpins expectations for equity gains in 2025.

Stocks wobbled at the end of December and the start of January, cooling off after a torrid run. The benchmark S&P 500 closed 2024 with a 23% rise and posted its biggest two-year gain since 1997-1998.

Prospects for a third straight standout year hinge in part on the strength of the economy, with labor market data among the most important reads into the economy’s health. The data could also help clarify the Federal Reserve’s interest rate plans after the central bank last month rattled markets by reducing its projected rate cuts for 2025.

“Investors are going to want to see confirmation that labor trends remain solid, which means the economic outlook probably remains firm,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

“Any kind of data that suggests things are weakening a little bit more than expected I think could create volatility,” Saglimbene said.

Investors enter the year generally upbeat about the U.S. economy. A Natixis Investment Managers survey conducted at the end of last year found 73% of institutional investors said the U.S. will avoid a recession in 2025. 

Labor market data has been volatile in recent months following aerospace industry strikes and hurricanes. November data showed growth of 227,000 jobs that rebounded from a tepid rise in October.

The three-month average gain of 138,000 “suggests that hiring continues to slow gradually,” Capital Economics analysts said in a note.

The report for December, due out on Jan 10, is expected to show growth of 150,000 jobs with the unemployment rate at 4.2%, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Following the prior two reports, “this is going to be probably the first clean read of what is the underlying trend in the labor market,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.

Investors are also wary of the jobs report revealing an overly strong economy, with a revival of inflation seen as one of the key risks to markets early in the year.

The Fed at its December meeting lifted its forecast for expected inflation in 2025, paving the way for higher interest rates than it previously forecast.

After lowering its benchmark rate at three straight meetings, the Fed is expected to pause its easing cycle when it next meets at the end of January before making further cuts of about 50 basis points over the rest of the year.

For the jobs report, the market is “looking for that Goldilocks number — neither too hot, nor too cold,” Kourkafas said.

OTHER EMPLOYMENT DATA

While the payrolls data will be the most closely followed release, the coming week brings other market-sensitive employment figures, as well as reports on factory orders and the services sector.

Despite a strong 2024, stocks were weak in December, with the S&P 500 falling 2.5%. December had only five days with more stocks in the index gaining as opposed to declining, the lowest share of such relatively positive days for any month going back to 1990, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

Following the end-of-year holiday period, “next week probably ushers in more robust volumes, which would certainly be a better indication of directionality for the market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

“A solid jobs report would certainly help turn things around in this market that has otherwise been pretty soft to end the year and start the new year,” Hogan said.

Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday.  For the daily stock market report, please click [.N]  

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Nia Williams)

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The Transportation Department said Friday it will hit JetBlue Airways with a $2 million penalty for chronically late flights along the East Coast, and half the money will go to passengers who were delayed.

The agency said it’s the first time it has fined an airline for chronic delays on specific routes, which it blamed on “unrealistic scheduling” by JetBlue.

“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. His department has led the Biden administration in criticizing airlines for poor service and an increase in passenger fees.

JetBlue said the government, which operates the air traffic control system, shares the blame for late flights.

Airline spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said JetBlue has invested “tens of millions of dollars to reduce flight delays, particularly related to ongoing air traffic control challenges in our largest markets in the Northeast and Florida,” resulting in better on-time performance in 2024, including during the peak summer travel season.

“While we’ve reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding four (routes) in 2022 and 2023, we believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” Dombrowski said.

He said the incoming Trump administration should prioritize modernizing “outdated” air traffic control technology and understaffing of controllers, who are hired by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Transportation Department regulations prohibit airlines from publishing schedules that don’t reflect real departure and arrival times. The agency defines a flight as chronically delayed if it runs at least 10 times a month and arrives more than 30 minutes late more than half the time.

The department cited JetBlue flights between June 2022 and November 2023. It said it warned JetBlue about frequent delays on flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina. Frequent delays also occurred on flights between JFK and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, and between Windsor Locks, Connecticut and Fort Lauderdale.

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