Shares of cash-strapped Sears rose Thursday as the department store company secured a $200 million line of credit from its CEO's hedge fund. The credit can be boosted up to $500 million, and will be used to fund operations. (WSJ)
Uber expects to provide 15 million rides across its 450 cities on the ride-hailing company's busiest night of the year, New Year's Eve, three times as many rides as in 2015. (Recode)
Representatives of the hip-hop group Run-DMC are suing Amazon, Wal-Mart, and a handful of other retailers for $50 million. The lawsuit claims the retailers sold products with the group's name without permission. (USA Today)
Snapchat parent Snap Inc. will market its upcoming initial public offering by embracing a vision that the company can become a massive content distributor like Facebook, sources told The Wall Street Journal. (WSJ)
Contract renewal negotiations between cable company Charter Communications and CNBC parent company NBCUniversal ground to a halt Thursday, an impasse that could lead to Charter shutting down NBC channels on New Year's Day. (LA Times)
Chipmaker Qualcomm said it reached a global patent-licensing agreement with Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu. The move solidifies Qualcomm's hold on the Chinese smartphone market. (WSJ)
Moscow on Friday quickly responded to U.S. sanctions, announcing plans to expel 35 U.S. diplomats and ban U.S. officials from using certain Russian facilities. The move came a day after President Barack Obama announced similar measures for what it said was Russian state-sponsored hacking before the U.S. election. (CNBC)
President-elect Donald Trump played down concerns over Russian interference in the U.S. election that led to the sanctions, but agreed to meet with intelligence officials next week for a briefing. (CNBC)
Snap Inc. may be the biggest tech player gearing up for an initial public offering in 2017, but over a dozen obscure software companies like Apttus, Tintri, and Okta could be just as important to a stale IPO market, analysts say. (Reuters)
BY THE NUMBERS
The year's final economic report comes at 9:45 a.m. ET, when the Chicago Purchasing Manager's Index is released. Consensus forecasts call for a reading of 56.8 for December, still well into expansion territory, but down from November's 57.6.
No earnings reports are due today.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Mylan (MYL) is among our stocks to watch, after the drugmaker announced the launch of a generic version of Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Concerta, a drug designed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.