Amazon claims to have experienced more items ordered during this year’s holiday season than ever before. The e-commerce giant mentioned that tens of millions of additional customers signed up for Amazon Prime free trials or paid memberships during the holiday season.FREE Same-Day, One-Day or Two-Day shipping, FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now, and other shopping and entertainment benefits were among potential incentives to shoppers/subscribers. According to Amazon, consumers bought millions more of its own devices, like the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick 4K - compared with last year.

Falling in tandem with the equities market, oil prices hit their lowest levels in nearly 18 months to trade at $42.53/bbl. Despite the production deal struck earlier in December between the OPEC and Russia, investors are increasingly seeking shelter in apparently safe-haven assets such as gold and government debt at the cost of risker ones like oil and stocks.crude futures ended Monday's session at $42.53 after falling 6.7% or $3.06, its lowest closing price since June 2017 and close to 2017’s lowest level of $42.05.

There's been little yuletide cheer for the retailers. The XRT retail ETF is down 17 percent this month, tracking for its worst December since its inception in 2006. One market watcher says indiscriminate selling may have unfairly taken retail down.READ MORE...

The oil market will be a tale of two halves in 2019, according to Wall Street forecasters. Oil analysts see prices recovering in the first six months of 2019, following a sell-off that has slashed the cost of crude by about 40 percent since October.But in the back half of the year, commodity watchers anticipate new headwinds for the oil market.

Apple stock price inched up +1.9%. Wednesday's rebound comes after the worst Christmas Eve plunge: the S&P 500 entered the bear territory on Monday.Monday’s sell-offs followed reports of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin holding calls with  major U.S. banks last weekend and issuing a statement saying, "The banks all confirmed ample liquidity is available for lending to consumer and business markets."

One industry analyst has sounded the alarm on Facebook, calling the company the "biggest concern" among the so-called FAANG stocks.READ MORE...

James Sucio resigned from NextEra Energy Partners' board. Sucio served as independent director of the NextEra Energy subsidiary's audit committee since last year.Bryne had also initially served for three years on the board of the general partner of NextEra Energy Partners. Parent company NextEra Energy ranks amongst the largest energy companies in the U.S. , and has revenues of over $17 billion (as of 2017).

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin made a precautionary call to six of the country's largest banks to avoid market fallout on Christmas Eve.Reports that President Trump was consulting advisers about whether he had authority to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was causing concern and Mnuchin was trying to get ahead of the news. In a statement he said: "We continue to see strong economic growth in the U.S. economy with robust activity from consumers and business.

Shares of the world’s largest sportswear company, Nike Inc., soared nearly 8% on Friday after the company reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations. The athletic apparel company reported an earnings of 52 cents per share compared to Wall Street’s expectation of 46 cents.In terms of revenue, the company reported a revenue of $9.37 billion against analyst expectations of $9.18 billion. Despite concerns surrounding the impact of the controversial ad campaign and the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, the company reported strong numbers along with an upbeat outlook and an expectation of higher revenue growth than previously planned. China recorded Nike's most robust growth during the quarter, with sales climbing 26% to $1.54 billion. According to the company, strong global sales and substantial improvement in the digital business is what helped it report such numbers.

American multinational oil giant, Exxon Mobil Corporation, on Thursday announced that the company has withdrawn its environmental assessment application for a $25-billion West Coast Canada LNG export facility. Exxon's exit from the West Coast LNG export industry, which at one time attracted more than 20 proposals, would mean apparent shelving of the WCC LNG project. The WCC LNG export project, located in British Columbia, was expected to produce ~15 million tons/year of LNG to serve Asian buyers, with plans to enhance production as much as 30 million tons/year. Exxon's decision to exit from the project, according to analysts, indicates that the company plans to enhance its focus on LNG projects with Qatar Petroleum and a proposed expansion of its chilled-gas operation in Papua New Guinea.

It may not be a lump of coal, but Williams Sonoma is dropping something else into Amazon's stocking for the holidays: a lawsuit. The San Francisco-based home furnishings company is suing the online retailer alleging "infringement and dilution" of the Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) brand.READ MORE...

Ford Motor Co (F.N) said Friday it is recalling 874,000 pickup trucks in North America with engine block heaters for fire risks.READ MORE...

The Bank’s analysts raised price target to $120 a share, from previous outlook of $92. The stock hit a yearly low of $89.10 on May 3, but bounced back to a year high of $110 on Dec. 13.  On Wednesday, Hershey stock price climbed +3.11% to touch $107.61.While Hershey’s chocolate, candy and gum categories have been struggling with slowing sales, the company has tried to mitigate the impact on overall business by making divestitures(such as selling its two international brands) and new investments - to catch up on growth.

ConAgra Brands Inc. said it has sold its Wesson Oil brand to a Canadian agribusiness. The Chicago-based food giant (NYSE: CAG) also reported its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, and shares tumbled nearly 17 percent afterwards.READ MORE...

The median American household income in 2017 was $61,372, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but if you are one of the Americans looking for a higher-paying job, some of the top U.S. companies are seeking candidates for six-figure salary positions. READ MORE...

Facebook Inc shares sank on Wednesday as concerns about its ability to safeguard user data sparked a government lawsuit, criticism in the U.S. Congress and a New York Times report on how it had shared data with other companies.Read more...

Greif Inc.’s decision to acquire Caraustar Industries, Inc. for $1.8 billion in cash was met with discouraging outlook from several credit ratings companies and analysts. On Thursday, Greif, a manufacturer of industrial packaging,  revealed  that it is buying Caraustar from an affiliate of private equity firm H.I.G." Greif, however, said that the acquisition is expected to boost its earnings, margins and free cash flow, and to create annual cost synergies of at least $45 million within 36 months.

High freight costs and geopolitical uncertainties are apparently weighing on China’s appetite for U.S. imports. U.S. shale output reached record levels this year, catapulting the nation into the position of the world’s largest oil producer.But with China – the world’s biggest oil consumer – seemingly reducing demand, U.S. crude could potentially lose out on a major revenue stream (atleast in the near-term). The U.S. tariff war with China was largely centred around the trade gap narrative.

Clouse  has held executive positions at Pinnacle Foods (now owned by Conagra Brands) and Mondelez International. Clouse will replace Campbell's interim CEO Keith McLoughlin, who had come in after Denise Morrison abruptly left her post as CEO in May. Campbell Soup had been in a long-drawn battle this year with activist hedge fund Third Point, over the control of Campbell.  Last month, Campbell and Third Point came to an agreement by increasing board from 12 to 14 members to include two out of five nominees recommended by Third Point.

The DOJ alleged that the hackers worked in collaboration with China's state security service. According to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the hackers belong to a group called  Advanced Persistent Threat 10 or APT 10, and that they nicked data from more than 45 U.S. companies.Hackers might also have attacked data of more than 100,000 U.S. Navy personnel, including the latter’s Social Security numbers, dates of birth, salary information, personal phone numbers, and email addresses – according to the DOJ. Cybersecurity firms including CrowdStrike have linked the hacker group’s activity to China's Ministry of State Security.