IRVING, Texas (AP) — A rape allegation against rapper Jay-Z, whose company Roc Nation has produced some of the NFL's entertainment presentations including the Super Bowl halftime show, won’t impact the league's relationship with the music mogul.
“We’re aware of the civil allegations and Jay-Z’s really strong response to that," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday after the conclusion of the league's winter meetings. "We know the litigation is happening now. From our standpoint, our relationship is not changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.”
A woman who previously sued Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging she was raped at an awards show after-party in 2000 when she was 13 years old, amended the lawsuit Sunday to include a new allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, said the rape allegation made against him is part of an extortion attempt. The 24-time Grammy Award winner called the allegations “idiotic” and “heinous in nature” in a statement released by Roc Nation, one of his companies.
The NFL teamed up with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019 for events and social activism. The league and the entertainment company extended their partnership a few months ago.
Kendrick Lamar will perform the Super Bowl halftime show at The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9. Roc Nation and Emmy-winning producer Jesse Collins will serve as co-executive producers of the halftime show.
Beyonce, who is married to Jay-Z, will perform at halftime of the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game on Christmas.
“I think they’re getting incredibly comfortable with not just with the Super Bowl but other events they’ve advised us on and helped us with,” Goodell said. “They’ve been a big help in the social justice area to us on many occasions. They’ve been great partners.”
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FILE - Musician Jay-Z stands on the field before an NFL football game between the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys, on Nov. 24, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes got back to climbing on Wednesday after the latest update on inflation appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to break its first two-day losing streak in nearly a month and finished just short of its all-time high. Big Tech stocks led the way, which drove the Nasdaq composite up 1.8% to top the 20,000 level for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, lagged the market with a dip of 99 points, or 0.2%.
Stocks got a boost as expectations built that Wednesday’s inflation data will allow the Fed to deliver another cut to interest rates at its meeting next week.
Traders are betting on a nearly 99% probability of that, according to data from CME Group, up from 89% a day before. If they’re correct, it would be a third straight cut by the Fed after it began lowering rates in September from a two-decade high. It’s hoping to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target.
Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation.
“The data have given the Fed the ‘all clear’ for next week, and today’s inflation data keep a January cut in active discussion,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
Expectations for a series of cuts to rates by the Fed have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times this year, with the latest coming last week.
The biggest boosts for the index on Wednesday came from Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks. Their massive growth has made them Wall Street’s biggest stars for years, though other kinds of stocks have recently been catching up somewhat amid hopes for the broader U.S. economy.
Tesla jumped 5.9% to finish above $420 at $424.77. It’s a level that Elon Musk made famous in a 2018 tweet when he said he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share.
Stitch Fix soared 44.3% after the company that sends clothes to your door reported a smaller loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also gave financial forecasts for the current quarter that were better than expected, including for revenue.
GE Vernova rallied 5% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500. The energy company that spun out of General Electric said it would pay a 25 cent dividend every three months, and it approved a plan to send up to another $6 billion to its shareholders by buying back its own stock.
On the losing end of Wall Street, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment tumbled 20.1% after reporting a worse loss for the latest quarter than expected. It also said CEO Chris Morris has resigned, and the board has been working with an executive-search firm for the last few months to find its next permanent leader.
Albertsons fell 1.5% after filing a lawsuit against Kroger, saying it didn’t do enough for their proposed $24.6 billion merger agreement to win regulatory clearance. Albertsons said it’s seeking billions of dollars in damages from Kroger, whose stock rose 1%.
A day earlier, judges in separate cases in Oregon and Washington nixed the supermarket giants’ merger. The grocers contended a combination could have helped them compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, but critics said it would hurt competition.
After terminating the merger agreement with Kroger, Albertsons said it plans to boost its dividend 25% and increased the size of its program to buy back its own stock.
Macy’s slipped 0.8% after cutting some of its financial forecasts for the full year of 2024, including for how much profit it expects to make off each $1 of revenue.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 49.28 points to 6,084.19. The Dow dipped 99.27 to 44,148.56, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 347.65 to 20,034.89.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.27% from 4.23% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, edged up to 4.15% from 4.14%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier and slipped 0.8% as Chinese leaders convened an annual planning meeting in Beijing that is expected to set economic policies and growth targets for the coming year.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1%, up for a second straight day as it climbs back following last week’s political turmoil where its president briefly declared martial law.
AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
People gather in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A banner for Alaska Air Group hangs on the front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person gestures in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
