Wall Street Today | Tesla recalls over 475,000 U.S. cars on camera, trunk issues

U.S. stocks fell in thin trading a day after notching another all-time high in the final days of the year. Treasuries ticked higher.

The S&P 500 sank to session lows in the last few minutes of trading Thursday, a day after posting its 70th record close of the year. Big-tech stocks including $Microsoft(MSFT.US)$ and $Apple(AAPL.US)$ helped drag the $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ lower, while the $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ fell for the first time in seven days, snapping the longest rally since March.

Jobless Claims in U.S. unexpectedly declined in latest week

Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, illustrating still-solid labor demand despite the latest wave of coronavirus infections.

Initial unemployment claims totaled 198,000 in the week ended Dec. 25, down 8,000 from the prior period’s revised level, Labor Department data showed Thursday. Economists had expected 206,000 applications, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Cruise warning

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said to cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status as “even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants.”

Airline cancellations are already piling up in the U.S., with more than the day before New Year's Eve as coronavirus cases climbed and heavy snow brewed in the West.

Americans rebuff Omicron as activity picked up in Christmas week

Americans didn't let omicron stop them from going out for some last-minute holiday shopping and entertainment.

Activity at businesses including restaurants and retail stores increased as much as 4.8% in the week leading up to Christmas compared with the beginning of the month, according to figures from SafeGraph, which tracks mobile-phone geolocation data. Foot traffic peaked mid-week before declining on Dec. 24 as some shops closed for the holidays.

Tesla recalls over 475,000 U.S. cars on camera, trunk issues

$Tesla(TSLA.US)$ recalled some 475,000 cars in the U.S. -- nearly equivalent to its global deliveries last year -- because of technical defects that may increase the risk of accidents.

The company plans to recall all Model 3 vehicles made between 2017 and 2020 -- that's as many as 356,309 cars. The cable harness for the rear-view camera may be damaged by opening and closing the trunk and prevent the image from displaying, it told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Apple puts India iPhone maker on probation for labor violations

$Apple(AAPL.US)$ put 's factory in southern India on probation following worker protests and an investigation that revealed substandard living conditions.

Foxconn, which uses the facility to assemble iPhones among other gadgets, apologized for the lapses in health standards and pledged to revamp its management and operations in the country. The factory, located in Sriperumbudur on the outskirts of Chennai, was shut down after the protests and will resume operations once "necessary improvements" are made.

Google and tech rivals tap cash reserves to realize cloud ambitions

Google and its rivals are wielding a new weapon in the battle for cloud-computing market share: big-dollar investments in companies that agree to sign on to their services.

With Thomas Kurian serving as cloud chief executive since 2019 after a long tenure at $Oracle(ORCL.US)$, the $Alphabet-A(GOOGL.US)$ unit has been tapping its $142 billion treasure chest of cash to make it more attractive to customers. Google has taken equity stakes over the past year in companies including Univision Communications Inc. and $CME Group(CME.US)$ in turn winning multiyear commitments to its cloud service worth as much as $1 billion or more.

Teva found liable for fueling opioid addiction in New York

A jury in New York state found drugmaker $Teva Pharmaceutical Industries(TEVA.US)$ liable for creating a public nuisance in the state and two Long Island counties amid the national opioid epidemic.

The New York trial, which stemmed in part from a lawsuit filed by the attorney general’s office in 2019, has been held up as a potential bellwether for the thousands of cases brought by state and local governments against the pharmaceutical industry.