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6 Most Important Things in Business Today

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Car executive Carlos Ghosn finally has been charged. According to Reuters:

Tokyo prosecutors officially charged ousted Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn on Monday for under-reporting his income and extended his detention on suspicion of additional financial misconduct.

The prosecutors also indicted Nissan for filing false financial statements, making the Japanese automaker culpable for the scandal that has shocked the auto industry.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) will end production of the Chevy Volt. According to The Wall Street Journal:

The Chevrolet Volt is headed to the scrap heap, but during its decade on the market the electric vehicle reflected the strengths and weaknesses of General Motors Co. and auto making in Detroit.

The plug-in electric vehicle won praise from auto critics who heralded the car as an engineering marvel when it was introduced in 2010. The acclaim eased some of the pain from GM’s bankruptcy at the time and showed that Detroit could still develop an enviable vehicle.


Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) has cuts its odds that the Federal Reserve will hike rates. According to Bloomberg:

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expects the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this month, but said the probability of a follow-up move in March has fallen to slightly below 50 percent.

Holding in March would likely coincide with a volatile period for markets as the 90-day trade war truce between the U.S. and China is due to end at the start of that month, Chief Economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a Dec. 9 note.

Goldman Sachs researchers believe that consumers spending will keep the United States from a recession. According to CNBC:

For a market that’s become increasingly jittery over the U.S. economy, Goldman Sachs has a message: All is not lost.

Wall Street’s head-spinning volatility, which last week shaved more than 1,000 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average, has pushed stocks into correction territory and raised fears for 2019. Although falling stocks and rising interest rates will continue to weigh on sentiment, those negatives are likely to be offset by higher wages and oil prices in retreat, Goldman said in a research note to clients Saturday.

“Three of the key drivers of consumer spending send a positive message for the near-term outlook,” the bank’s analysts wrote.

Analysts told CNBC that Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) needs a more experienced manager to run the company. According to CNBC:

Tesla needs to consider adding a “really seasoned operator” to manage the mass-market manufacturer, Consumer Edge Research’s James Albertine told CNBC on Friday.

“They need to prove that there’s true independent, sort of, checks and balances between the board and senior management,” the senior analyst said on “Power Lunch.”

Albertine, who is equal weight on the stock, commended CEO Elon Musk for making his mark in the automotive industry with his electric car company. But Tesla needs a “different skill set” to build 500,000 units a year and expand into China, he contended.

Softbank will have the second largest initial public offering in history. According to CNNBusiness:

SoftBank is raising $23.5 billion from the IPO of its Japanese mobile business, making it the second biggest stock market listing ever.

Strong demand from investors for a piece of one of Japan’s biggest wireless carriers prompted the Japanese tech company to increase the number of shares available by 160 million.

It priced the shares at 1,500 yen ($13) each, raising a total of 2.65 trillion yen ($23.5 billion), it said in a statement Monday.

 

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