Economics in the News – Dec. 23-29

Economics impacts our lives every day. Below are some of the top storylines from this past week in economic news.

• The U.S. stock market continued to set new record highs following the Christmas holiday. The Wall Street Journal ($) reports that the Nasdaq Composite Index pushed above 9,000 for the first time, while the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 also set new all-time highs. 

• Former Boeing Co. CEO Dennis Muilenburg resigned from his post last week, as reported by NPR. The aerospace company has been under intense scrutiny in recent months, trying to move beyond the crisis prompted by a pair of deadly crashes of its 737 MAX airplanes that killed 346 people.

• Holiday spending was up in 2019, according to Barron’s. Shoppers spent 19% more in online retail this year compared to 2018 while in-store purchases rose 1.2%. E-commerce comprised of 15% of total sales.
  
  
• The state of California expanded its digital privacy rights that are stronger than any in the United States. The Associated Press reports that starting Jan. 1, Californians will have the right to review their privacy information gathered by big tech companies and stop these companies into selling that information or to delete it.