NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks continue to trade in record territory today, following a report from payroll processer ADP that business hiring surged to in June. The S&P 500 has been relatively flat all day, but it was up by a fraction in afternoon trading. The Dow is also up, but just by a little. The Nasdaq is little changed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says she doesn’t see a need for the Fed to start raising interest rates to defuse the risk that extremely low rates could destabilize the financial system. Speaking at an International Monetary Fund conference, Yellen said she does not see dangerous excesses in the financial system, though she does see “pockets” of increased risk-taking. She described them as isolated and able to be dealt with through regulatory changes rather than by raising rates.
LONDON (AP) — Facebook is acknowledging it conducted a psychological experiment on its users. It says the research conducted with two U.S. universities clearly “upset” people but maintains the study was done with “appropriate protections for people’s information.” Authorities in Britain, Ireland and France are investigating the study, in which researchers manipulated the news feeds of about 700,000 randomly selected users to study the impact of “emotional contagion,” or how emotional states are transferred to others.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal agents have charged a Chinese woman in a conspiracy to steal trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies. Mo Yun was arrested in Los Angeles today. A federal indictment says she is one of seven Chinese nationals to be indicted as part of an operation to steal patented seed corn from fields in Iowa and Illinois and ship it to China to try to reproduce its traits. Federal prosecutors in Des Moines say the team worked for Chinese conglomerate DBN Group. Mo Yun is the wife of DBN’s chairman.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target is asking customers not to bring firearms into its stores. Interim CEO John Mulligan calls it “a complicated issue” but says walking into a Target with a gun “creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience” the company strives to create. In many states, carrying unconcealed guns in public is legal. A Target spokeswoman says today’s statement is a “request and not a prohibition,” and the company does not plan to confront armed shoppers. Target does not sell guns.
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