6 Most Important Things in Business Today

October 12, 2018 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) shut off a number of accounts. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Facebook Inc. has taken down hundreds of U.S. pages and accounts that were spreading false or misleading political content ahead of the midterm elections, in one of the social network’s most aggressive efforts to stop misinformation spread primarily by Americans.

The social network giant, which took down 559 pages and 251 accounts, said Thursday the accounts “have consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior,” such as making their content appear more popular on the network than it actually was. Virtually all of the pages were from the U.S., the company said.

Many owners of debt in Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) would rather close all stores and sell assets than keep the company running. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Some of Sears Holdings Corp.’s biggest lenders were pushing for it to liquidate rather than use bankruptcy protection to try to save an American legend whose stores and catalogs dominated retailing for generations, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Sears is in talks with a group of banks, including Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co., over emergency financing as the company prepares for a bankruptcy filing, the people said.


Major car companies that operate in China are facing a nationwide drop in sales. According to the Financial Times:

Global carmakers rattled by stalling China market. Annual sales in the country are forecast to fall for first time since 1990.

World oil production hit a record level. According to Bloomberg:

The world is pumping out more oil and other petroleum liquids than ever before.

Global supply rose to 100.3 million barrels a day in the third quarter, the International Energy Agency said Friday in its monthly oil market report. Output, which includes crude oil, natural gas liquids, biofuels and refinery processing gains, was 2.3 million barrels above the same period last year and 1.3 million barrels a day higher than the second quarter.

World oil and liquids supply surpassed 100 million barrels a day for the first time

A trade war could chop China’s growth rate. According to CNBC:

At its worst, the ongoing trade tensions could knock 1.6 percentage points off China’s economic growth over the first two years, according to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund.

The assessment took into account all current and proposed tariffs on Chinese goods that enter the U.S., as well as knock-on effects the trade tensions have on investor confidence and financial markets. But much of that impact is expected to be offset by the Chinese government’s policies to stimulate the economy, noted Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

Dow futures are up sharply ahead of today’s open. According to CNBC:

U.S. stock futures traded higher on Thursday night, pointing to a rebound for Wall Street after back-to-back sell-offs.

As of 3:24 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 297 points, indicating a gain of 424.17 points at Friday’s open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to solid gains to start off Friday’s session.

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