itch Ratings lowers the long-term default rating on J.C. Penney (JCP+0.8%) to B- from B. Read More... 

G&E Corp (PCG.N), owner of the biggest U.S. power utility by customers, said on Monday it is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this month amid pressure from potentially crushing liabilities linked to California’s catastrophic wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Read More...   

At the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo revealed his hope that 2019 will deliver a more balanced oil market. However, he also voiced his concern that the lingering trade dispute between the U.S and China -- two of the largest sources of energy demand -- may significantly affect international trade by disrupting growth prospects in major Asian markets. Outside of the U.S, India and China are the brightest spots in terms of demand for energy.

Companies like Airbnb, Uber, Slack, Pinterest, and others had signaled plans to IPO this year, but those plans may be changing given the uncertain market environment being made potentially worse by the government shutdown. According to Ryan Gilbert, general partner at Propel Venture Partners, the IPO calendar is looking empty for the first quarter and these delays are bound to have a "knock-on effect.Currently, with the exception of emergency and/or law and enforcement situations, most of its other functions are closed. Last year, the highest number of VC-backed companies entered the public markets since 2014.

The government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will face a confidence vote Wednesday after a coalition partner quit over a naming deal with neighboring Macedonia. The vote raises questions about the future of Tsipras' leadership and whether a snap election in the highest indebted euro zone economy could be just around the corner.READ MORE...

Citigroup posted fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' expectations on better-than-expected expense declines and loan losses.READ MORE...

That would value Gannett at around $1.4 billion. MNG, publisher of the Denver Post and the Boston Herald, already owns a 7.5% stake in Gannett.In a letter to shareholders, MNG has argued, "Gannett shareholders cannot sit by and watch further value erode while the Board casts about for a strategy and a leader, especially when there is an opportunity to maximize value right now". Gannett, which publishes USA Today, has indicated that it will “carefully review” the proposal and will arrive at a decision that is “in the best interest of the company and Gannett shareholders”. 

Ford Motor is gearing up to launch new electric cars as soon as next year, CEO Jim Hackett told CNBC on Sunday. Ford has previously announced its plans to invest $11 billion in electric vehicles by 2022 and produce 40 hybrid and fully electric cars, in a plan to revive its slowing business.READ MORE...

Google employees, who walked out of offices around the world in November in protest of sexual harassment policies, are extending their critiques to the rest of the industry.The organizers are launching a social media campaign Tuesday to educate the public and protest the issue of forced arbitration by tech companies.

 Newmont Mining Corp is buying smaller rival Goldcorp Inc. for $10 billion.It will have mines in the Americas, Australia and Ghana. Hoping to produce 6-7 million ounces of gold annually over the next 10 years and beyond, the new company - to be called Newmont Goldcorp – could edge past current leader Barrick Gold in annual production of the yellow metal. Newmont will also sell $1 billion to $1.5 billion worth of assets over the next two years as part of the deal. According to Newmont, the acquisition deal is estimated to generate up to $100 million in savings.

Crocs raised its fourth quarter as well as full-year guidance. The casual footwear company's latest revenue estimate for the fourth-quarter is in the range of $211 million to $214 million, up from prior guidance of $195 million to $205 million.  For the full year, Crocs now expects revenue to grow about 6%, compared with prior guidance of 4% to 5%. Andrew Rees, president and CEO, has indicated that e-commerce and wholesale growth would cushion the effect of reduced number of physical stores."We had one of our best fourth quarters in years," said Rees.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has invested in semiconductor firm Wiliot Inc. Wiliot is  an Israel and San Diego-based company that produces wireless technology for tracking the location of goods during manufacturing.Wiliot is planning to launch a battery-free bluetooth sticker-sized sensor tag, which is expected to be embedded in the production phase of consumer goods.  Amazon’s cloud service is rapidly emerging as one of its most successful businesses.

With a growing number of long-range battery-cars coming to market, Nissan's own electric vehicle, the Leaf, has been in danger of coming unplugged. Read More...

Google is growing its presence in Los Angeles, the company says. Google has leased a new 584,000-square-foot office in West Los Angeles that is scheduled to be completed by 2022. Dubbed "One Westside," the offices will take up part of what is today the Westside Pavilion mall. READ MORE...

Blockchain and cryptocurrency have established themselves as an industry of goldmine, and you know where the cash flow, fraud, and scams defianlty going to happen. Crypto space has attracted its share of shrewd opportunists whose scams such as the infamous pump-and-dump schemes have grabbed international headlines. READ MORE...

Oil prices fell about 2 percent on Friday amid worries about a global economic slowdown, but futures ended the week higher, keeping some gains from a week-long rally spurred by U.S.-China trade hopes. Read More...

Further, the cryptocurrency boom gave AMD’s graphics business a much-needed boost. For a long time, AMD’s processors were far behind Intel’s, but it is rapidly closing the gap with the second generation Ryzen.In a live demonstration using performance-testing tool Maxon Cinebench R15, an eight-core Ryzen chip managed a performance comparable to Intel's i9-9900K using 30% less power. But the performance of these new chips across the full spectrum of PC workloads is unclear until evaluation from third-party reviewers. Regarding pricing, top-tier mainstream second-generation 2700X Ryzen chip sells for $329, a full $200 less than Intel's flagship chip.

According to a recent Information Report, Amazon has upped its services by foraying to develop an online videogame steaming service that would stream gameplay over the internet. Currently, the videogame sector is undergoing a paradigm distribution shift from its earlier physical discs to online download.In light of this shift, the emergence of game streaming services will be a significant development, as it may release players from the pressure of buying expensive hardware as the processing power needed to play complex games shifts to data centers, simplifying user devices. According to Amazon, this service will not hit the market until early next year as the company is yet to collaborate with game publishers, whom they have recently approached to consider bringing their content to the streaming service. However, the development of a Web-based gaming hub would mark a significant step for Amazon in a market place already inhabiting players like Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOGL

Artificial intelligence, whether it’s an application of machine learning or some new technology altogether, is poised to shatter the global economy. Kai-Fu Lee, a venture capitalist who used to develop artificial intelligence for both Microsoft and Google, told CBS’ 60 Minutes that AI will displace 40 percent of the world’s workers within 15 years. READ MORE...

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price saw its biggest drop for seven weeks on Thursday, weakening the prospects of a bullish breakout above $4,100. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value hit a 3.5-week low of $3,503 yesterday, before closing (as per UTC) at $3,627 – down 9.4 percent on the day.That was the biggest single-day drop since Nov. 24 and the fourth biggest daily loss of the last two months, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). READ MORE...