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What's News |
 | Good Morning Here's what we're watching as the U.S. business day gets under way: | | |
The Federal Reserve is preparing a rate rise today. Despite market turmoil, economic data has been solid enough to justify a move that officials have hinted at for weeks. The recent turbulence raises the prospect of a slower pace of rate increases in 2019. - Borrowing costs rise unevenly. Consumer rates that track the benchmark federal-funds rate have climbed, but rates on longer-term loans, such as 30-year fixed mortgage, have remained steady or have even fallen.
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President Trump is softening his stance on the wall. The White House signaled it wanted to avoid a partial government shutdown, even if Congress doesn't meet Mr. Trump's border-security demands, a shift that raised hopes of a short-term spending deal. | |
Pfizer and Glaxo will combine their consumer-health businesses. The joint venture—in which GlaxoSmithKline will hold a 68% stake and Pfizer the remaining 32%—will eventually be spun off, creating a global giant selling drugstore staples. | | |
How gangs extort Mexico. Crackdowns that broke up big drug cartels in Mexico in the past decade succeeded in preventing any single criminal group from becoming so powerful that it rivaled the government. But they came with unexpected downsides, including a rise in violence and extortion. | |
Data on tap. Trade figures from the U.S. Commerce Department will be closely watched as the Trump administration's trade spat with China continues. After narrowing in the second quarter, economists surveyed by the Journal expect the trade gap to have widened in the third quarter. - Existing home sales numbers due. In October, sales of previously owned U.S. homes posted their largest annual decline since 2014 as the housing market continues to sputter due to higher mortgage rates that are reducing home affordability.
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With a pinch of innovation, food makers raise prices. Food makers are making their treats and breakfast foods in more-expensive sizes and flavors—a subtle strategy to cover rising costs as tough competition holds down prices elsewhere in the supermarket. | | |
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 | FRANCIS MASCARENHAS/REUTERS | | |
Apple needs a foothold in the world's largest untapped market. Global smartphone sales are flattening, which is why Apple and others are looking to India and its millions of newly minted consumers for growth. Yet the tech giant's market share there is falling and revenue is coming in well below expectations. | |
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U.S. oil prices are down almost 40% from their high. As geopolitical and growth concerns have risen, the oil market has become more prone to steep one-day slides. Since the start of November, U.S. crude prices have had four days in which daily losses exceeded 6%. | |
Mike Flynn's sentencing was delayed after a judge admonished him. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan questioned the former Trump national security adviser's patriotism, asked prosecutors whether they considered a treason charge and suggested he might impose jail time despite prosecutors' contention that Mr. Flynn deserved a low sentence. | |
Trump foundation to dissolve amid allegations of fund misuse. The president's family foundation will dissolve under a judge's supervision, stemming from a lawsuit alleging that Mr. Trump used the Donald J. Trump Foundation to pay legal settlements, further his 2016 campaign and promote his businesses. | |
Roger Stone admitted he spread lies on InfoWars. The former Trump campaign adviser settled a $100 million defamation suit for publishing false and misleading statements on InfoWars.com, a far-right website known for promoting conspiracy theories. | |
A surge in vaping is giving rise to nicotine addiction. Youth use of e-cigarettes has soared over the past year, with some becoming addicted to the powerful doses of nicotine that Juuls and similar e-cigarettes pack. Now, parents and medical professionals are struggling to help addicted adolescents kick the habit. | | |
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| Highlights from our technology coverage | | |
Amazon is looking to cut the CRaP. The e-commerce giant is having second thoughts about sales of items on its site that don't make money. Inside the retailing giant, they are known internally as CRaP—"Can't Realize a Profit." A rapper thinks "Fortnite" swiped his dance. The videogame's cultural dominance is aided by its clever use (and sales) of dance emotes from real artists. The rapper 2 Milly says his "Milly Rock" is in the game and now he wants to be paid. Lil Miquela is a social media star. She isn't real. The computer-generated character, one of many sought-after brand ambassadors on social media is testing the power of online celebrity and investor interest in fake characters. Move to a "superstar city" to make the most money. A tech-driven concentration of talent since the 1980s has helped the rich get richer. But it has also sharpened an urban-rural divide that, some say, threatens growth, says Keywords columnist Christopher Mims. States are racing to catch up with scooters. State and local officials across the U.S. are scrambling to regulate the fast-growing electric-scooter industry—and in some cases banning the two-wheeled devices until laws can be crafted. Want more tech? Get the WSJ Technology newsletter delivered to your inbox every Sunday and listen to your favorite tech columnists in our new podcast, Instant Message. — Brian R. Fitzgerald | |
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A new way to spot the next financial crisis. Heard on the Street's Paul J. Davies writes that a more realistic way to model financial risk is emerging after the previous method for modeling the financial world was shown to have huge blind-spots during the 2008 crisis. It could help big banks and regulators spot potholes, even if it can't stop people falling into them. | | |
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Facebook raised a privacy wall but left an opening. The social network gave tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Spotify far greater access to user's data than it has disclosed, according to internal documents. | via the New York Times | |
India to overtake the U.K. in IMF economic rankings. The International Monetary Fund sees Britain's economic weight set to decline next year, pushing it from fifth to seventh place in its estimates of gross domestic product measured in dollar terms, below India and France. | via Financial Times | |
Ex-NASA engineer sets trap for package thieves. After having a package stolen from his doorstep, Mark Rober built a glitter bomb trap that would burst when opened, he also built in four phones to record the robbers' reactions and a GPS tracker to locate them. | via CNN | |
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House Impeaches President Clinton President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, becoming the second president to be impeached in U.S. history after Andrew Johnson in 1868. Two other impeachment articles against Mr. Clinton failed in the House, and he was later acquitted by the Senate in February 1999 and went on to finish his term in office. | | |
 | THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | | |
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