Microsoft, other U.S. firms help indexes recoup losses

The stock market closed out its best week in nearly two years on a positive note Friday, helped by strong quarterly earnings from Microsoft and other big U.S. companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 127.51 points, or 0.8 percent, to 16,805.41. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 13.76 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 1,964.58 and the Nasdaq composite rose 30.92 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 4,483.72.

NBCUniversal settles suit over wages for $6.4 million

Nearly 9,000 unpaid interns stand to benefit from a $6.4 million settlement with NBCUniversal.

Unpaid interns who worked on “Saturday Night Live” and other shows brought a class action suit last July in Manhattan federal court claiming NBCUniversal violated the law by classifying them as nonemployee interns and paid them nothing or less than minimum wage, when they were actually doing employee work.

Advertisement

NBCUniversal said that even though it’s settling the suit, it denies the allegations and admits no wrongdoing.

UPS discusses improving upon last holiday season

UPS might levy surcharges or even turn away some holiday shipments this year if retailers surprise the delivery giant by dropping off more packages than they had planned.

Executives discussed the possibilities Friday as they detailed plans for improving on last holiday season, when many consumers didn’t get their packages by Christmas.

Online shopping is growing faster than the store-based kind. UPS predicted that December shipments will rise 11 percent over the same month last year.

– From news service reports


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.