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Stocks closed higher on Wall Street as the market posted its fifth straight gain and the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched another record high. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%. The benchmark index’s 1.7% gain for the week erased most of its loss from last week. The Dow rose 1% as it nudged past its most recent high set last week, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Markets have been volatile over the last few weeks, losing ground in the runup to elections in November, then surging following Donald Trump's victory, before falling again. The S&P 500 has been steadily rising throughout this week to within close range of its record. It's now within about 0.5% of its all-time high set last week. “Overall, market behavior has normalized following an intense few weeks,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, in a statement. Several retailers jumped after giving Wall Street encouraging financial updates. Gap soared 12.8% after handily beating analysts' third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its own revenue forecast for the year. Discount retailer Ross Stores rose 2.2% after raising its earnings forecast for the year. EchoStar fell 2.8% after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company's Dish Network unit. Smaller company stocks had some of the biggest gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.8%. A majority of stocks in the S&P 500 gained ground, but those gains were kept in check by slumps for several big technology companies. Nvidia fell 3.2%. Its pricey valuation makes it among the heaviest influences on whether the broader market gains or loses ground. The company has grown into a nearly $3.6 trillion behemoth because of demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology. Intuit, which makes TurboTax and other accounting software, fell 5.7%. It gave investors a quarterly earnings forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Facebook owner Meta Platforms fell 0.7% following a decision by the Supreme Court to allow a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit to proceed against the company. It stems from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. All told, the S&P 500 rose 20.63 points to 5,969.34. The Dow climbed 426.16 points to 44,296.51, and the Nasdaq picked up 42.65 points to close at 2,406.67. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Crude oil prices rose. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.42% late Thursday. In the crypto market, bitcoin hovered around $99,000, according to CoinDesk. It has more than doubled this year and first surpassed the $99,000 level on Thursday. Retailers remained a big focus for investors this week amid close scrutiny on consumer spending habits headed into the holiday shopping season. Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, reported a quarter of strong sales and gave investors an encouraging financial forecast. Target, though, reported weaker earnings than analysts' expected and its forecast disappointed Wall Street. Consumer spending has fueled economic growth, despite a persistent squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. Inflation has been easing and the Federal Reserve has started trimming its benchmark interest rates. That is likely to help relieve pressure on consumers, but any major shift in spending could prompt the Fed to reassess its path ahead on interest rates. Also, any big reversals on the rate of inflation could curtail spending. Consumer sentiment remains strong, according to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index. It revised its latest figure for November to 71.8 from an initial reading of 73 earlier this month, though economists expected a slight increase. It's still up from 70.5 in October. The survey also showed that consumers' inflation expectations for the year ahead fell slightly to 2.6%, which is the lowest reading since December of 2020. Wall Street will get another update on how consumers feel when the business group The Conference Board releases its monthly consumer confidence survey on Tuesday. A key inflation update will come on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its October personal consumption expenditures index. The PCE is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation and this will be the last PCE reading prior to the central bank's meeting in December.Electric ‘flying’ ferries to begin three-year Scottish island trial
NoneDonald Trump hopes to make his one criminal conviction disappear before his January 20 inauguration. In a filing made public Tuesday, he says he's immune from prosecution even now, as president-elect. Sentencing in the hush-money case has been indefinitely delayed by this latest dismissal bid. The US Supreme Court ruled in July that from prosecution. But is ? In a 72-page filing made public Tuesday, lawyers for Donald Trump argue just that — . So his hush-money conviction should be immediately dismissed, and wiped clean, they argue. "Following President Trump's overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential election, Presidential immunity is an unavoidable legal impediment to further proceedings in this case," his lawyers write. The massive motion to dismiss mixes old grievances against New York prosecutors and the trial judge — all are portrayed as politically motivated — with citations from case law and federal policies spanning from the 19th century to just last month. The filing cites the Supreme Court's July 1 landmark presidential-immunity decision, which extends broad protections from prosecution to sitting presidents. Presidents-elect, during their brief but crucial transition to the office, warrant the same protections, Trump's lawyers argue. The filing also cites the special counsel Jack Smith's decision barely a week ago to drop Trump's two federal indictments. That decision was premised on long-standing Department of Justice policy banning the prosecution of sitting presidents, Trump's lawyers said. In moving to scuttle the two federal cases, Trump's lawyers argue, the DOJ found that this ban on prosecuting sitting presidents also applies to presidents-elect. Trump's lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove are asking the trial judge, Justice Juan Merchan of the New York Supreme Court, to immediately dismiss the hush-money indictment. Trump was convicted six months ago of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Jurors found he made false entries in Trump Organization records throughout his first year in office to retroactively hide a hush-money payment that silenced the porn actor Stormy Daniels 11 days before the 2016 election. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, framed the case as a conspiracy to interfere with the election. Trump was convicted after a five-week trial and 10 hours of jury deliberations over two days. Bragg has promised to fight the claim that such a thing as presidential-elect immunity even exists. "We believe these arguments are incorrect," Bragg to a November 19 defense letter. Bragg's letter this latest bid to dismiss the case. Prosecutors are due to file a response brief by Monday. Only after the judge decides whether to dismiss the case can Trump's sentencing — — be calendared or canceled. And even if Merchan calendars it, Trump's lawyers have promised to halt the sentencing by immediately appealing his decision through the federal court system — to the Supreme Court if necessary. So why does Trump believe he enjoys presidential immunity from prosecution even now, as president-elect? Blanche and Bove argue that there is little material difference between Trump's current status after his victory in the national election and that of a sitting president following inauguration. A second argument for special treatment of presidents-elect, made repeatedly by the two lawyers in the past month, draws on the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, which provides for the "orderly transfer of Executive powers." "The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 was passed 'to promote the orderly transfer of the executive power in connection with the expiration of the term of office of a President and the inauguration of a new President,'" Trump's lawyers write, quoting the act. The act requires "all officers of the Government" to "take appropriate lawful steps to avoid or minimize disruptions that might be occasioned by the transfer of the of the executive power," they write. The brief also cites the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which holds federal law as taking precedence over state law. Here, Blanche and Bove page through two centuries of case law, quoting, among other citations, an 1819 court ruling that found states "have no power" to 'retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control' the President or other federal authorities." "President Trump's status as President-elect and the soon-to-be sitting President is a legal impediment to further criminal proceedings based on the Presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause," they write. Trump's lawyers also argue that the case should be dismissed under New York law, which allows an indictment to be voided " ." A so-called interest-of-justice dismissal would require Merchan to find "some compelling factor, consideration or circumstance" under which continuing a prosecution "would constitute or result in injustice," the act itself says. In considering the interest of justice, Merchan must weigh the strength and seriousness of the offense, the extent of the harm it caused, and the "history, character and condition of the defendant," the act adds. He must also weigh "the impact of a dismissal upon the confidence of the public in the criminal justice system," it says. Blanche and Bove did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney's office also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read the original article on
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