Maria Bartiromo, Doug McMillon
Wal-Mart President & CEO Doug McMillon is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo during her "Mornings with Maria Bartiromo" program on the Fox Business Network, in New York, Tuesday, June 23, 2015. Wal-Mart says it's removing items featuring the Confederate flag from shelves and its website.
(Richard Drew, Associated Press)
Stock market news:
Stocks ended today's choppy session slightly higher, though modest gains were enough to push the Nasdaq Composite to a record closing level. The Nasdaq gained 6.12 points to 5,160.09, closing at a record for the second consecutive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 24.76 points to end at 18,144.54 and the S&P 500 eked out a gain of 1.41 points to settle at 2,124.27. (MarketWatch)
Optimism that a deal could still be at hand to stave off a Greek default lifted European shares today. (Reuters)
The euro posted its biggest daily decline against the dollar in three months as a resolution to the latest installment of Greece's debt crisis appeared at hand and a Federal Reserve official bolstered confidence in higher U.S. interest rates arriving this year. (Wall Street Journal)
Business news:
Walmart, Amazon, eBay and Sears all announced bans on the sale of Confederate flag merchandise, amid an intensifying national debate over the use of the controversial flag. (CNN News)
Sysco's $3.5 billion merger with US Foods should be stopped for further review, a U.S. federal judge ruled today, handing a major victory to the U.S. government, which had filed an antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking the controversial merger. (Reuters)
Olive Garden, the recently floundering casual dining chain owned by Darden Restaurants, is getting its groove back and aims to continue that momentum by building up its take-out business. (Fortune)
An E. coli scare has caused a voluntary recall of bottled water across much of the northeastern United States. (RT News)
Boeing today named Dennis Muilenburg as chief executive officer, effective July 1, succeeding Jim McNerney. (Reuters)
Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in May, pulled down by a sharp drop in demand for aircraft. (Associated Press)
Border security is being stepped up in northern France and Dover, England, after migrants sought to exploit ferry strike action in Calais as hundreds of migrants at the French port tried to board vehicles heading across the English Channel to the UK today. (BBC News)
Technology news:
Video streamer Netflix announced today it approved a 7-for-1 stock split - ending years of waiting by investors as the stock price soared to nosebleed levels. (USA Today)
Verizon Communications closed on its $4.4 billion acquisition of digital content provider AOL. (RCR Wireless News)
BlackBerry is not for sale, says Chief Executive Officer John Chen -- at least at the current price. (Bloomberg News)
Amazon has announced its voice-activated "Echo" device, used to control other devices in your home such as lights and switches, is open for preorders to anyone in the U.S. (VentureBeat)