NEW YORK (AP) — Most stocks are opening slightly lower on Wall Street today, led by declines in banks and industrial companies. At 10:44 a.m. Eastern Time, the S&P 500 was down less than a point, to 2,775. The Dow was down 31 points, to 25,853. And the Nasdaq was up 7 points to 7,479. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.64 percent.
PARIS (AP) — He was called a creative genius and a man ahead of his time. Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's iconic couturier, died today in Paris. He had two birth certificates, one dated 1933 and the other 1938. Lagerfeld had looked increasingly frail in recent seasons, and he did not come out to take a bow at the house's couture show in Paris last month. Chanel says Lagerfeld's longtime head of studio, Virginie Viard, will create the house's upcoming collections.
BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will be traveling to European Union headquarters to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations, was told Tuesday on the eve of the talks that her most important demand is not even up for discussion. EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said "the EU27 will not reopen the withdrawal agreement," a condition that many British lawmakers have insisted upon before they will back a deal to have Britain leave the bloc on March 29.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart has beaten expectations on quarterly profit and revenue, and e-commerce sales surged during the critical holiday period. Walmart posted strong sales across a wide range of products from toys to groceries and electronics. That helped sales at stores open at least a year rise 4.2 percent at its U.S. namesake stores, following a 3.4 percent pace in the fiscal third quarter. Since buying Jet.com more than two years ago, Walmart has been expanding online by acquiring brands and adding thousands of items.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is staying out of a lawsuit involving the television show "Empire." Actor Clayton Prince Tanksley sued in 2016, claiming that "Empire" was substantially similar to a television show he had pitched at a competition in 2008. The lawsuit said "Empire" co-creator Lee Daniels was a judge at the competition and expressed an interest in the show Tanksley called "Cream," which involved a black record executive. A trial court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the shows weren't substantially similar. An appeals court agreed.
