6 Most Important Things in Business Today

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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6 Most Important Things in Business Today

© courtesy of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is under political pressure to end its relationship with a China-based telecom company. According to Reuters:

U.S. lawmakers are urging AT&T, to cut all commercial ties to Chinese phone maker Huawei Technologies and oppose plans by telecom operator China Mobile to enter the American market because of national security concerns.

Despite speculation, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) will not break itself into several companies. According to The Wall Street Journal:

CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday he has no plans to sell its Jeep business or split up the company, cooling speculation but leaving the company’s long-term strategy unclear.

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“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” topped the box office last weekend. According to Box Office Mojo:

With an estimated $27 million, Sony’s holiday smash hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle finished atop the weekend box office and is expected to deliver a four-day weekend approaching $34 million, which would push the film’s domestic cume near $290 million. Internationally, the film roared into China this weekend bringing in an estimated $40 million, pushing it’s worldwide cume to $667 million

Bitcoin’s priced collapsed. According to Bloomberg:

Bitcoin slumped by the most since September, giving new impetus to a January selloff in cryptocurrencies that coincides with rising scrutiny from regulators in many countries.

The largest digital coin fell 12 percent to $12,255 at 9 a.m. in London, the lowest level since Dec. 5, according to composite pricing on Bloomberg, bringing an end to its two-day rally. Bitcoin earlier was down as more than 40 percent from its record high in mid-December. Rival cryptocurrencies also tumbled, with Ripple diving as much as 28 percent.

Oil prices have surged to multiyear highs. According to Bloomberg:

Oil is extending a two-year rebound as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies trim production to drain a global glut. While rising prices may boost U.S. output, Citigroup Inc., Societe Generale SA, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. predict supply curbs may be wound down from the middle of the year, before their scheduled end in December, as the market re-balances.

WTI for February delivery was at $64.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 13 cents, at 7:40 a.m. in London. There was no settlement Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the U.S., and all transactions will be booked Tuesday. Futures closed at $64.30 on Friday, the highest level since December 2014.

Brent for March settlement lost 33 cents to $69.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after adding 0.6 percent on Monday to close at the highest since December 2014. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.59 to March WTI.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) is still paying for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. According to CNBC:

BP said on Tuesday it expected to take a post-tax non-operating charge of around $1.7 billion in its fourth quarter results as part of the settlement of the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the United States.

BP said the Court Supervised Settlement Program set up in the wake of the disaster was now winding down.

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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