The markets retreated from early morning highs but continued trading in positive territory during the midday with the Dow gaining 30 points to 20,689. Nasdaq added 4 points to 5,902.
Volkswagen will settle excess diesel emissions claims from ten states by paying $157.45 million in fines and penalties. Massachusetts, which will receive $20 million, and New York, which will receive $32.5 million, both said that their portion of the settlement was the largest environmental fine that they have ever received. The ten states had originally sued for penalties in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
McDonald's will begin using fresh ground beef to make its signature Quarter Pounder hamburgers in mid-2018. The change is part of the fast food chain's efforts to compete with rivals who market their fresh beef burgers. McDonald's assured customers that the price of a fresh beef Quarter Pounder will remain relatively the same.
AT&T won a government contract to build a wireless broadband network that spans the entire country for first responders. The network will provide police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel with a single communications network that will replace thousands of different systems and technologies that are incompatible. AT&T will receive performance and milestone based payments in the first five years of the contract that will total $6.5 billion.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index added 3 points to 2,364. Bitcoin fell $13 to $1030.
