Stocks finished Friday on a mixed note; the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke a three-day losing streak while the Nasdaq lost ground for a fourth straight day.
Retail sales in September rose 1.9%, easily surpassing the 1.2% expected by economists. Those numbers paint a somewhat reassuring picture of the economy, at least for now.
More surprising numbers released Friday included the U.S. government’s budget deficit for fiscal 2020, which came in at $3.13 trillion — the largest ever on record and more than double the previous record of $1.4 trillion from fiscal 2009.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 28,606.
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Hertz’s miraculous ride. Shares of Hertz (ticker: HTZ), the car rental giant currently in the bankruptcy process, soared 142% on Friday following news it had raised $1.65 billion in debtor-in-possession financing — an arcane type of debt that will allow Hertz to continue operations for the time being but simply kicks the can down the road on how the company will be reorganized (or liquidated) moving forward.
It’s not necessarily a good thing for HTZ shareholders — certainly not to the tune of a 142% gain. The company’s debt load is such that common stock owners will likely still be largely wiped out.
Coke abandons Tab. Coca-Cola ( KO) is ditching Tab, its diet soda drink, by the end of the year. The company is working through a strategic culling of underperforming brands in search of growth. It’s also discontinuing the Odwalla brand in the U.S.
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Hertz Soars 142% on $1.6 Billion Financing Deal originally appeared on usnews.com
