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| U.S. stock futures were higher on the last day of the shortened trading week after a sixth day of consecutive gains for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500’s winning streak was stopped Wednesday with a late-day fade that saw the benchmark index end down fractionally for the day. (CNBC) |
| American shoppers are on track to deliver retailers the best holiday sales growth in three years, according to the National Council of Shopping Centers. Late purchases helped to boost overall revenue, with consumers spending $23 billion on Super Saturday. (Market Watch) |
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| Washington state's minimum wage workers will become the nation’s best paid after the New Year. The state’s minimum wage will rise to $9.47 on Jan. 1, beating out neighbor Oregon’s hike to $9.25, the Seattle Times reported. (AP) |
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| China is allowing the country’s banks and financial firms to hold more money in their deposit bases, making it easier to use deposits to make loans, banking officials told The Wall Street Journal. The measure amounts to $242 billion in stimulus, analysts said. (WSJ) |
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| Japan is planning about 3.5 trillion yen, or $29 billion, in new stimulus, including subsidies and job programs in a bid to lift the economy out of recession. Data on Friday showed core consumer inflation, excluding the impact of April’s sales tax hike, slowed for a fourth straight month in November. (AP) |
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| Saudi Arabia announced record state spending in its 2015 budget, easing fears that the world’s largest oil exporter would cut spending in the face of crude prices that have plummeted more than 40 percent. The government said it would cover a deficit with fiscal reserves. (Reuters) |
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| Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and regulators could announce a settlement that would wrap up an investigation into the firm’s real estate bond grading, The Wall Street Journal reported. S&P could pay at least $60 million in fines and be suspended from rating some deals. (Reuters) |
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| Gamers discovered they were unable to connect with networks for Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox on Wednesday and Thursday. A hacker group calling itself Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for the outages on Twitter, but neither Sony (SNE) nor Microsoft (MSFT) have confirmed the outages are due to attacks. (CNBC) |
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| Sony’s “The Interview” opened at more than 300 theaters on Christmas day without incident after threats from hackers allegedly tied to the North Korean government led major chains to drop the comedy. Sony also streamed the movie on YouTube, Google Play, Xbox, and a dedicated website. (Reuters) |
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| South Korean prosecutors raided LG Electronics’ Seoul headquarters on Friday as part of an investigation into whether company employees purposefully damaged washing machines made by rival Samsung Electronics at stores in Germany. (Reuters) |
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