By Echo Wang (Reuters) – The Dow edged towards an all-time high in afternoon trading on Wednesday, on a boost from retailers including Walgreens and Nike and investors shrugged off concerns of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The Dow has now risen six straight trading days, marking the longest streak of gains…

  By Katanga Johnson and Abhinav Ramnarayan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Major global stock indexes were mixed on Wednesday as uncertainty over the surge in Omicron variant infections tempered optimism that harsh new curbs on business and travel may not be needed. After a weak session in Asian stock markets, European stock markets traded mixed. The Dow…

  By Maria Chutchian (Reuters) – A bankruptcy judge has extended temporary protections against opioid-related litigation for the Sackler family members who own Purdue Pharma until Feb. 1 after another judge overturned the OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy settlement this month. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, extended the litigation shield on Wednesday,…

  By Hyunjoo Jin SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has exercised all of his options expiring next year, signaling an end to his stock sales which triggered a fall in the share price of the world’s most valuable carmaker. He has sold $16.4 billion worth of shares since early November when…

  By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan NEW YORK (Reuters) – “Challenge the status quo and do not settle.” That is the mantra of Magali Muratore, who joined New York-based fashion brand Tory Burch LLC in July as executive vice president and chief technology officer. “It’s not about being perfect, but instead always reaching for better, jumping…

By Oliver Hirt ZURICH (Reuters) – A preliminary investigation by Credit Suisse found that its Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio attended the Wimbledon tennis finals in July during a visit to Britain when the country’s COVID-19 rules required him to be in quarantine, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. It’s the second time the Portuguese…

By Siddharth Cavale and Arriana McLymore (Reuters) – Major U.S. retailers’ longer return policies, launched during the pandemic this year to lure consumers, could leave them facing much higher costs if shoppers bring back a record-setting $112 billion in gifts bought during the extended holiday shopping season. Retailers entered the 2021 holiday season facing a…

By Praveen Paramasivam and Ananya Mariam Rajesh (Reuters) -Carnival Corp’s Cunard cruise line said on Wednesday its Queen Mary 2 ship would skip a scheduled stop at New York and instead extend its stay in Barbados until Jan. 2 to bring in more staffers. Cunard said its decision to add more crew members was a…

  (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raised $337.4 million in equity financing, the rocket company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. SpaceX, which counts Alphabet Inc and Fidelity Investments among its investors, hit $100 billion in valuation following a secondary share sale in October, according to CNBC. It had raised about $1.16…

  By Dan Burns (Reuters) -The U.S. trade deficit in goods mushroomed to the widest ever in November as imports of consumer goods shot to a record ahead of the second straight COVID-distorted holiday shopping season along with industrial supplies, while exports slipped after a historic gain a month earlier. The goods trade gap reported…