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Wall Street opens 2025 with more modest losses

U.S. stock indexes closed an erratic day of trading with more modest losses. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Thursday to extend the four-day losing streak that dimmed the close of its stellar 2024. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% after it and other indexes watched early morning gains disappear, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.2%.

Tesla helped drag the market lower following its latest update on deliveries. Energy producers limited the market’s losses after prices rose for crude oil and natural gas. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market following the latest encouraging report on the U.S. job market.

Puerto Rico’s new governor sworn in

Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon has been sworn in as Puerto Rico’s new governor as the island held for a normally ebullient ceremony overshadowed by widespread anger over a blackout that hit the U.S. territory days ago. Gonzalez is a Republican who backs President-elect Donald Trump.

Her pro-statehood New Progressive Party secured a historic third consecutive term after she won the Nov. 5 election. Gonzalez has pledged to make stabilizing the island’s crumbling power grid a priority. Outages were still being reported on Thursday as crews tried to stabilize the grid following the blackout that hit early Tuesday. The outages left 1.3 million customers in the dark as Puerto Ricans prepared for New Year’s Eve.

Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri lawsuit

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.

The proposed settlement filed Tuesday would resolve a lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade. If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device,

‘Thursday Night Football’ viewership jumps 13%

Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” package averaged 13.22 million viewers, a 13% increase over last season. The 16-game package, which included a game on Black Friday, saw 91.1 million unique viewers in the U.S. tune in for at least one of the games, according to Nielsen.

That is a sizable increase over the nearly 72 million who watched the first season in 2022. According to Nielsen, 11 games averaged over 12 million viewers, five more than last season. All of the games averaged at least 10 million for the first time.

Paid medical leave during pregnancy allotted

Pregnant New Yorkers will be entitled to at least 20 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments under a new law. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the policy makes New York the first state in the country to offer paid leave for prenatal care. It took effect Wednesday.

All pregnant workers in the private sector are eligible for the paid time off. Workers can schedule the paid leave for pregnancy-related medical appointments such as physical examinations, end of pregnancy care and fertility treatments, among other things. Hochul pushed for the measure in the state’s last legislative session as a way to help reduce maternal and infant deaths in New York.

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