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FTC bans General Motors (GM) data sharing, says it sold driver information to third party. (00:27) U.S. Department of Energy finalizes $1.66B loan guarantee for Plug Power (PLUG). (01:33) Luxury twist: Walmart (WMT) adds Chanel, Gucci, and Prada to its Marketplace platform. (02:12)
This is an abridged transcript.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged General Motors (NYSE:GM) and its subsidiary OnStar shared data about drivers with third parties without the drivers consent.
The U.S. automaker has now agreed to a five-year ban on disclosing data to consumer reporting agencies.
The customers were encouraged to sign up for OnStar and its Smart Driver feature when they purchased a GM (GM) car. According to the FTC, the customers were told that the system would use driver behavior data to help improve their driving.
However, it sold customer driving data including geolocation and behaviors such as hard braking, late-night driving, and speeding to consumer reporting agencies.
The complaint outlines that insurance companies use reports from those same agencies to deny or cancel coverage or even raise premiums.
As part of the settlement, there’s a list of do’s and don’ts that the company must adhere to including not disclosing data for five years and after the time is up, limiting the data it does collect.
GM (GM) stock price traded marginally lower, down 0.14% to $51.77 on Thursday during after market hours of trading.
Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) +2.9 % in premarket action after announcing it closed a $1.66B loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.
The funds will help finance the construction of up to six projects to produce and liquify zero- or low-carbon hydrogen at scale.
Plug (PLUG) said its green hydrogen plant in Graham, Texas, will be its first facility to benefit from the financing.
The company’s current hydrogen generation network, with plants in Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana, has a liquid hydrogen production capacity of ~45 tons/day.
Walmart (WMT) is adding tens of thousands of pre-owned luxury products to its marketplace through a partnership with Rebag.
The partnership will include handbags, jewelry, watches, and other luxury items from a long list of high-end retailers that includes Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci, among others.
Rebag is an e-commerce platform and retail store founded in 2014 by a team from Harvard Business School that specializes in buying, selling, and trading second-hand luxury accessories.
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Now let’s take a look at the markets ahead of the opening bell. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is up 0.3% at $78/barrel. Bitcoin is up 3% at $102,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 1% and the DAX is up 0.9%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) dropped 11% following weaker-than-expected Q4 results, which saw a 5% decline in revenue.
On today’s economic calendar:
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