Tumbling tech stocks drag Wall Street to the finish line of another losing week

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst week for big technology stocks since the COVID crash in 2020 dragged Wall Street across the finish line of another losing week. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% Friday to close out its third straight losing week. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has less of an emphasis on tech, was an outlier and rose 0.6%. The market’s worst performers included several stocks that had been its biggest stars. Super Micro Computer lost more than a fifth of its value. Nvidia was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

Bitcoin’s next ‘halving’ is right around the corner. Here’s what you need to know

NEW YORK (AP) — Sometime in the next few days or even hours, the “miners” who chisel bitcoins out of complex mathematics are going to take a 50% pay cut — effectively slicing new production of the world’s largest cryptocurrency in half. That could have a lot of implications, from the price of the asset to the day-to-day operations of bitcoin miners themselves. And, as with everything in the cryptoverse, the future is hard to predict. Beyond its infamous volatility, bitcoin is still a relatively young asset. This next halving will be only the fourth to take place since the digital currency’s 2009 launch.

Biden administration restricts oil and gas leasing in 13 million acres of Alaska’s petroleum reserve

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. oil industry’s top lobbying group says Biden administration rules restricting oil and gas leasing in 13 million acres of Alaska’s petroleum reserve are “misguided.” The American Petroleum Institute says the rules limit development in a region “intended by Congress to bolster America’s energy security.” The Biden administration Friday finalized rules that would restrict new oil and gas leasing and development in portions of the federal petroleum reserve in Alaska that are considered particularly sensitive as the Arctic continues to warm. The decision finalizes protections for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska first proposed last year. Environmentalists are elated. But Senate Republicans says the Democratic president’s action will lead to energy insecurity.

BNSF Railway says it didn’t know about asbestos that’s killed hundreds in Montana town

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — BNSF Railway attorneys are expected to argue before jurors that the railroad should not be held liable for the lung cancer deaths of two former residents of an asbestos-contaminated Montana town. Closing arguments are scheduled Friday in a civil lawsuit against the railroad. The town of Libby, Montana, is among the deadliest sites in the federal Superfund pollution program. The asbestos came from a nearby vermiculite mine that used BNSF to ship its product across the U.S. The estates of the deceased plaintiffs say dust from a rail yard sickened and killed them. Attorneys for the railroad now owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate say it was not told the vermiculite was dangerous by mine owner W.R. Grace & Co.

— Bulletin wire reports