- Stocks are regaining some ground on Wall Street. The major indexes spent much of the day lower after China made moves to cool down its booming housing market. Beijing ordered an increase in minimum down payments in areas where prices are deemed to be rising too fast and a crackdown on efforts to evade limits on how many properties each buyer can acquire.
- Warren Buffet has been offering fresh investment advice. In an interview on CNBC this morning, the billionaire investor says stocks are a good investment, long-term government bonds are "the dumbest investment" and ketchup is "forever." That was a reference to his recent deal to buy H.J. Heinz for $23.3 billion.
- Hess is getting out of the gas station business and ridding itself of its energy trading and marketing businesses. The oil company says it is shifting focus further into exploration and production. It's also nominating a slate of six independent directors to the company board, rejecting the nominees chosen by Elliott Management. The hedge fund is one of the Hess' largest shareholders and last month accused the board of "poor oversight," saying the company's management was responsible for more than a "decade of failures."
- Monster Beverage is hitting back at a lawsuit alleging its energy drinks were responsible for the death of a 14-year-old Maryland girl. The company says no blood test was performed to confirm that the girl died of "caffeine toxicity." The family claims the girl went into cardiac arrest after drinking two 24-ounce cans of Monster drinks in a 24-hour period.
- Jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney says it's uncovered fraudulent testing of engine parts. The United Technologies subsidiary says it began an investigation in June 2011 after an employee anonymously alleged that test data had been altered over 15 years at Carmel Forge, another United Technologies unit, in Israel. Pratt & Whitney say the probe prompted personnel changes and stronger software controls, but there were no recalls needed.
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