Ticker: Federal judge orders Google to open its Android app store to competition; Wall Street slides after Treasury yields climb
A federal judge on Monday ordered Google to tear down the digital walls shielding its Android app store from competition as a punishment for maintaining an illegal monopoly that helped expand the company’s internet empire.
The injunction issued by U.S. District Judge James Donato will require Google to make several changes that the Mountain View, California, company had been resisting, including a provision that will require its Play Store for Android apps to distribute rival third-party app stores so consumers can download them to their phones if they so desire.
The judge’s order will also make the millions of Android apps in the Play Store library accessible to rivals, allowing them to offer up a competitive selection.
Wall Street slides after Treasury yields climb
U.S. stocks slid Monday after Treasury yields hit their highest levels since the summer and oil prices continued to climb.
The S&P 500 dropped 1%, though it’s still close to its all-time high set a week earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 398 points, or 0.9%, coming off its own record, while the Nasdaq composite sank 1.2%.
It’s a stall for U.S. stocks after they rallied to records on relief that interest rates are finally heading back down, now that the Federal Reserve has widened its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation. Friday’s blowout report on U.S. jobs growth raised optimism about the economy and hopes that the Fed can pull off a perfect landing for it.