Elon Musk says Tesla plans pickup truck
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said the electric car company will make a pickup truck after the release of its next model.
In a message on Twitter late Tuesday, Musk said: “I promise that we will make a pickup truck right after Model Y.” The Model Y is an electric SUV that’s due for release in about two years.
He said the pickup would probably be slightly bigger than a Ford F-150.
Musk, who had previously hinted that a pickup model was due, was responding to suggestions he had solicited through Twitter about what the company could improve.
Tesla has mainly focused on producing passenger cars over the past decade but has branched out in recent years. It plans to make electric semis and has invested in battery production.
Home sales rise just 0.2 percent
Slightly more people signed contracts in November to buy homes – with pending sales rising just 0.2 percent as the housing market copes with a dwindling supply of properties on the market.
The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its index of pending home sales was 109.5 in November. The modest increase follows a 3.5 percent increase in October.
More Americans are shopping for homes as the economy has improved. The low 4.1 percent unemployment rate has helped lift demand from would-be homebuyers, as the slow recovery from the 2008 financial crisis has built up momentum after years of steady but unspectacular gains. Yet the demand has done little to bring more home-sellers into the market, causing a shortage of listings that has pushed up prices and spawned a rush to buy in many metro areas.
Consumer confidence dips but remains high
Americans were a bit less confident this month than they were in November, but their spirits remained high during the holiday shopping season.
The Conference Board said Wednesday that its consumer confidence index dipped to 122.1 in December from a revised 128.6 in November.
“Despite the decline in confidence, consumers’ expectations remain at historically strong levels, suggesting economic growth will continue well into 2018,” said Conference Board economist Lynn Franco.
The business research group’s index measures consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Their view of the conditions today rose, but their expectations slid.
Samsung heir faces longer time in prison
Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a 12-year prison term for Samsung’s jailed billionaire heir Lee Jae-yong, who maintained his innocence during an appeal of his conviction on bribery and other charges.
In August, a lower court sentenced Lee to five years in prison for offering bribes to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her confidante while Park was in office. Both Lee and prosecutors, who earlier had requested a 12-year prison term, appealed that ruling.
On Wednesday, prosecutors said during Lee’s appeal that they still want Lee to receive 12 years in prison, according to the Seoul High Court. Yonhap news agency later cited the court as saying it will issue a ruling on Lee on Feb. 5, but calls to the court went unanswered.
If the court’s ruling is appealed again either by Lee or prosecutors, his case will be handed over to the Supreme Court, which will make a final ruling on him.
Lee’s bribery case is part of a huge political scandal that led to the ouster of Park in late March after millions of South Koreans took to streets for anti-government rallies for months. Park and her friend, Choi Soon-sil, were arrested and charged with taking bribes from Samsung in return for helping Lee cement his control of the company for a smooth transfer of power.
Prosecutors have also charged both Park and Choi with pressuring Samsung and other big businesses to donate a total of 77.4 billion won ($68 million) for the launch of two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi.