Kroger mentioned that the service would be available in Scottsdale at its unit Fry's Food Stores for $5.95 with no minimum order requirement for same-day or next-day deliveries. Kroger’s move comes at a time when several U.S. grocery players upping the ante on delivery services.For instance, Walmart, Ford Motor and delivery service Postmates announced earlier this year that they partnering to deliver goods to Walmart customers’ doorsteps, and could even start using self-driving vehicles for the same in future.

T-Mobile and Sprint seem to be inching closer to their $26 billion merger. Late Monday, T-Mobile released a statement mentioning that the wireless operators have received approval on their proposed merger from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Defense have withdrawn an earlier request to postpone the deal, as revealed by T-Mobile’s statement. However, the companies still await some other approvals (such as, antitrust approval from the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission) before the deal can get finalized. If the T-Mobile-Sprint deal goes through, it would see the third and fourth largest wireless carriers in the U.S. joining forces to compete with AT&T and Verizon.

Boeing Co., the American aircraft manufacturer, announced on late Monday that it plans to increase its dividend payout by 20% to $2.055 a share and replace its existing share repurchase program with a newly authorized $20 billion share repurchase program, up from $18 billion program the board of directors approved in December 2017. The company has already repurchased shares worth $9 billion since last December, under the existing repurchase plan. With this latest increase in dividend payout, Boeing says it has increased its dividend nearly 325% over the past six years and repurchased more than 230 million shares over the same time period. Boeing shares surged nearly 2% to $322 in the after-hours trade, after Boeing’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg made the news public.

Falling for a third straight session, U.S. crude oil prices settled at their lowest since early October 2017 after dropping more than 1% last Tuesday.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures tumbled to $49.27 per barrel, dropping by 60 cents or 1.2%. Both U.S. crude and Brent have dropped more than 30% since early October amid swelling global inventories, with WTI currently trading at or below $50 levels not seen since October 2017. Some of the biggest names of the U.S. oil industry are feeling the sting, as reflected in stock prices. 

In response to rising pressure from China’s growing military strength and President Trump to spend more on American military hardware, the Japanese government on Tuesday announced that it plans to spend nearly $10 billion for fighter jets. Japan has expressed its plan to buy 147 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, up from the previously planned 42 fighter jets, making Japan the largest customer outside the U.S. for Lockheed Martin.The announcement comes after the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday approved an increase of Japan’s existing order, as the nation embarked on materializing its new defense strategy, which also includes the development of Tokyo’s first post-World War II aircraft carriers. According to the terms of the deal, around 40 of the jets out of the 147 will be the F-35B version – which is nearly 20% more expensive than the conventional F-35A but has the special ability of taking off and landing vertically and is expected to be used on two flat

Brazilian aerospace conglomerate, Embraer SA, confirmed on Monday that it has finalized terms of a proposed joint venture wherein the U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co. will have 80% control over the Brazilian company’s commercial aircraft and services operations. Valued at $4.2 billion, the long-awaited deal now only needs the approval of the Brazilian government and regulatory authorities to complete the remaining formalities, which is expected to arrive in the new year. The announcement, which comes after extensive legal deliberation, has also enhanced the valuation of Embraer's commercial business to $5.26 billion – nearly 11% more than the offered $4.75 billion when the deal involving Embraer’s commercial division was originally announced in July. Embear’s defense segment has been kept outside the purview of the commercial aircraft venture to minimize the concerns of Brazilian government. However, Embraer has confirmed that both companies have also agreed to engag

Declining auto sales in China has U.S. carmakers concerned, with four straight months of declines squeezing profitability in the world’s biggest car market. According to the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers, auto sales in China fell ~14% in November over the same month in 2017.Low-end vehicles got hit the most, while premium brands have continued to see growth.

Shares of the American multinational consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy, dropped more than 5% on Monday after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock’s rating to underperform (equivalent of a sell rating) from neutral – citing slowing industry growth trends and declining sales on key product categories such as TVs, Apple products and gaming. Further, analysts at Bank of American Merrill Lynch slashed their price target by nearly 30% from $70 to $50 a share, after its gloomy December quarterly outlook missed street estimates. Best Buy reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings by reporting an EPS of 9 cents and sales of $9.59 billion.But shares fell by 5.8% to $52.16 on Monday, thereby taking its losses for the quarter to more than 33% amid the key holiday shopping season. Consumer electronics, including iPhones and computers, accounts for more than 50% of Best Buy's US revenues.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to 56 from 60 based on declines in sales, expectations and buyer traffic.  “We are hearing from builders that consumer demand exists, but that customers are hesitating to make a purchase because of rising home costs,” NAHB Chairman Randy Noel, said in a statement.“However, recent declines in mortgage interest rates should help move the market forward in early 2019.”

Goldman is already under investigation in the U.S., and now Malaysian authorities claim that Goldman misled investors when the bank knew sales from a 1MDB (a state investment fund) bond offering it arranged would be misappropriated. “Their fraud goes to the heart of our capital markets,” Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas said in a statement.“If no criminal proceedings are instituted against the accused, their undermining of our financial system and market integrity will go unpunished.” The government is seeking fines for the $2.7 billion of allegedly misused funds and the $600 million in fees received by the bank.

companies announced a record $1 trillion in stock buybacks for the full year 2018. This year, a new lower corporate tax rate  coupled with a one-time tax benefit on repatriated earnings potentially helped companies to have more cash on hand – that could have been a major reason behind the spike in share repurchases by Corporate America.  According to TrimTabs Investment Research,  U.S. companies, led by Lowe's and AbbVie, paid out $34.4 billion in buybacks to shareholders last week, thereby counting towards the year's repurchase announcements above $1 trillion - for the first time ever.Buyback announcements have surged 64% so far this year, TrimTabs said (as reported by CNN).  

Alphabet’s Google will invest more than $1 billion towards setting up a new campus in New York City. On Monday, a blog post from the search engine giant said that it had reached lease agreements at 315 and 345 Hudson St. and signed a letter of intent at 550 Washington St. for the new 1.7 million-square-foot campus, to be named Google Hudson Square.Through the new offices, the company could potentially employ twice the number of people it currently does in New York City, over the next ten years. Earlier this year, Google opened new offices & data centers outside of its California headquarters, in locations such as Detroit, Boulder, Tennessee and Alabama.

On Monday, Embraer announced that it finalized the terms of a proposed deal to sell 80% of its commercial aviation business to Boeing Co. As of now, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer's commercial aviation unit is valued at $5.26 billion - that’s higher than the $4.75 billion estimated when the deal was originally announced in July. The sale could fetch Embraer around $3 billion after accounting for closing costs. Embraer's board Monday put forth the proposed deal for approval from the Brazilian government. Additionally, Embrarer revealed plans of a joint venture with Boeing on promoting defense plane KC-390.

After the deal, ABB is expected to focus more on its automation business. ABB will have four divisions after the transaction: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Robotics & Discrete Automation, and Motion, which includes motors and drives."Our four newly shaped businesses, each a global leader, will be well aligned to the way our customers operate and focus stronger on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence," ABB Chief Executive Ulrich Spiesshofer said.

Goldman Sachs faces criminal charges from officials in Malaysia, over the investment banks’ role in the misappropriation of multi-billion dollars from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. Goldman had arranged and underwritten bond sales for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2012 and 2013.Two former Goldman Sachs employees, and two others connected to 1MDB, will face the criminal charges.  Goldman Sachs, however, said in in an emailed statement to TheStreet, "We believe these charges are misdirected, will vigorously defend them and look forward to the opportunity to present our case," while adding,  "the firm continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating these matters.

Facebook could be fined more than a billion dollars, following a European regulator’s probe into the recent breaches of the social networking site’s user privacy. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees Facebook's compliance with European law, confirmed to CNN on Friday it launched a "statutory inquiry" into Facebook.By that estimate, Facebook could potentially have to cough up to $1.6 billion if found ‘guilty’ by the European regulators. On Friday, Facebook revealed that a bug on its social networking platform let third-party app developers access up to 6.8 million Facebook users' photos over a 12-day period.

Now Bernard Marr, noted author and futurist, has offered up his predictions in Forbes for where AI will go in 2019…and beyond. The era of machines doing physical and “thinking work” is uncharted territory.Marr cites “the world’s two AI superpowers” – the US and China’s –– ongoing trade skirmishes as something to watch in the new year.

This comes after the previous day’s sharp drop in its stock price. On Thursday, XPO shares lost -26% after short-seller Spruce Point Capital Management expressed concerns over the transportation & logistics operator’s “unreliable and dubious financials” , and also was apprehensive of the company’s large debt. But the decline was partly offset by Friday’s solid jump in XPO stock price.Deutsche Bank on Friday said it found Spruce Point’s report to contain “highly misleading statements and inaccuracies related to basic calculations” .

According to a Reuters report, Johnson& Johnson was aware of the presence of asbestos in its baby powder samples but failed to notify authorities. Citing documents and depositions, the report suggests that Johnson & Johnson’s raw talc and finished powder sometimes tested positive for traces of asbestos – an information known to the company’s executives and mine managers from 1971 to the early 2000s.A jury in Missouri had awarded $4.7 billion in July to 22 women who alleged that the products contained asbestos which caused them to develop ovarian cancer. According to its latest quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Johnson & Johnson faces over 9,000 cases related to its body powders with talc.

Transportation and logistics solutions provider, XPO Logistics Inc, caught many of its investors off guard after the surprising announcement of its 2019 outlook. Hearing the earnings warning and seeing the negative report from short-seller Spruce Point Capital, investors rushed for the exits as shares of the transportation company dropped nearly -9.6% on Wednesday and another -20.4% on Thursday. Amidst this chaos, XPO hit investors with another announcement that may have helped turn the tide.The Board of Directors of XPO Logistics authorized the company to repurchase up to $1 billion of its common stock, and shares of the company rebounded nearly +7.3% on Friday’s pre-trade. Carrying a nearly $4.7 billion debt burden, the company revealed that it intends to fund the repurchases program with existing cash, borrowing on XPO's revolving credit facility and/or other financing sources.