Ticker: Germany’s leader vows to fix a spending crisis in struggling economy
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised quick action to fix a budget crisis after a court decision blew a large hole in the almost-finished plan for next year. It also threatens to disrupt spending on efforts to fight climate change and cushion the impact of high energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz said in a video Friday that the government is “firm” in its push to modernize Germany so there’s strong industry and good-paying jobs when the economy is climate neutral. But the budget crisis threatens to exacerbate problems in the world’s worst-performing major developed economy. New figures show that Germany’s economy shrank in recent months, and business confidence is still in the dumps.
Wall Street marks fourth straight winning week
Stocks drifted to a mixed finish Friday after a half-day trading session capped a holiday shortened week that left the major indexes with their fourth straight winning week.
The S&P 500 inched up 0.1% after wavering between small gains and losses much of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.
All told, the S&P 500 added 2.72 points to 4,559.34. The Dow rose 117.12 points to 35,390.15, and the Nasdaq fell 15 points to 14,250.85.
Trading was muted as markets reopened following the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Shares mostly rose in Europe, while Asian markets ended mixed.
Chipmaker Nvidia and Google parent Alphabet were among the biggest decliners, losing 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Among the big gainers in the S&P 500 were CF Industries, which rose 2.6%, and Best Buy, which closed 2.2% higher.