Stocks in the consumer sectors were mostly lower as the full reopening of Hormuz remains elusive. The Conference Board consumer confidence index ticks higher to 91.2, although below WSJ consensus of 94.2.
Amazon will pay $2.25 million in civil penalties to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it knowingly violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The Trump administration is prepping a financial lifeline for smaller meatpackers struggling with dwindling cattle supplies, which have sent beef prices surging. The U.S. Agriculture Department plans to pledge up to $500 million in payments for small- and medium-size meatpacking companies, according to people close to the discussions. The funds would be distributed to beef plants that keep their processing volumes at a certain level.
Private-equity firms IVEST Consumer Partners and Cloverlay have sold the Care Bears brand of plush toys and related rights to Authentic Brands Group
Three large egg producers coordinated their bids to an egg exchange-a hub of wholesale egg trading-in order to inflate prices last year, according to the Justice Department and 17 states that investigated the conduct. Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman's Egg Ranch and Versova agreed to settle the claims by donating more than 50 million eggs to food banks and paying $3.3 million to New York and other states, according to court records.
