The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow soaring 188 points to 24,946. Nasdaq slipped 3 points to 7493.
Unilever has chosen to consolidate its headquarters in Rotterdam rather than in London. The consumer goods giant is the third largest company in Britain and has maintained two headquarters since the 1929 merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers with Netherlands based Margarine Unie. The maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Magnum ice cream employs approximately 169,000 workers around the world with 7,300 based in the UK.
General Motors will spend $100 million to upgrade two facilities at its Orion Township plant in Michigan to build self driving cars. Production is scheduled to begin next year on an autonomous version of the Cruise. The car maker has sought approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make and operate cars that have no steering wheels.
Wells Fargo may be sanctioned for forcing auto insurance policies on customers who borrowed money to buy cars. Wells Fargo had claimed last year that a third party vendor engaged in the deceptive practice but the bank had received payouts for the insurance policies. Approximately 570,000 customers who already had auto insurance were forced to buy policies as part of the auto loans.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 3 points to 2,753. Bitcoin climbed $167 to $8,201.
