NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump used his image as a successful New York businessman to become a celebrity, a reality television star and eventually the president. Now he will get to revel in one of the most visible symbols of success in the city when he rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday as he's also named Time Magazine's Person of the Year. Trump is expected to be on Wall Street to mark the ceremonial start of the day's trading, according to four people with knowledge of his plans. He will also be announced Thursday as Time's 2024 Person of the Year , according to a person familiar with the selection. The people who confirmed the stock exchange appearance and Time award were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It will be a notable moment of twin recognitions for Trump, a born-and-bred New Yorker who at times has treated the stock market as a measure of public approval and has long-prized signifiers of his success in New York's business world and his appearances on the covers of magazines — especially Time. Trump was named the magazine's Person of the Year in 2016, when he was first elected to the White House. He had already been listed as a finalist for this year's award alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, X owner Elon Musk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kate, the Princess of Wales. Time declined to confirm the selection ahead of Thursday morning's announcement. “Time does not comment on its annual choice for Person of the Year prior to publication,” a spokesperson for the magazine said Wednesday. The ringing of the bell is a powerful symbol of U.S. capitalism — and a good New York photo opportunity at that. Despite his decades as a New York businessman, Trump has never done it before. It was unclear whether Trump, a Republican, would meet with New York's embattled mayor, Democrat Eric Adams , who has warmed to Trump and has not ruled out changing his political party. Adams has been charged with federal corruption crimes and accused of selling influence to foreign nationals; he has denied wrongdoing. Trump himself was once a symbol of New York, but he gave up living full-time in his namesake Trump Tower in Manhattan and moved to Florida after leaving the White House. CNN first reported Wednesday Trump’s visit to the stock exchange and Politico reported that Trump was expected to be unveiled as Time's Person of the Year. The stock exchange regularly invites celebrities and business leaders to participate in the ceremonial opening and closing of trading. During Trump’s first term, his wife, Melania Trump, rang the bell to promote her “Be Best” initiative on children’s well-being. Last year, Time CEO Jessica Sibley rang the opening bell to unveil the magazine's 2023 Person of the Year: Taylor Swift . After the Nov. 5 election, the S&P 500 rallied 2.5% for its best day in nearly two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,508 points, or 3.6%, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 3%. All three indexes topped records they had set in recent weeks. The U.S. stock market has historically tended to rise regardless of which party wins the White House, with Democrats scoring bigger average gains since 1945. But Republican control could mean big shifts in the winning and losing industries underneath the surface, and investors are adding to bets built earlier on what the higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation that Trump favors will mean. Trump has long courted the business community based on his own status as a wealthy real estate developer who gained additional fame as the star of the TV show “The Apprentice” in which competitors tried to impress him with their business skills. He won the election in part by tapping into Americans' deep anxieties about an economy that seemed unable to meet the needs of the middle class. The larger business community has applauded his promises to reduce corporate taxes and cut regulations. But there are also concerns about his stated plans to impose broad tariffs and possibly target companies that he sees as not aligning with his own political interests. Trump spends the bulk of his time at his Florida home but was in New York for weeks this spring during his hush money trial there. He was convicted, but his lawyers are pushing for the case to be thrown out in light of his election. While he spent hours in a Manhattan courthouse every day during his criminal trial, Trump took his presidential campaign to the streets of the heavily Democratic city, holding a rally in the Bronx and popping up at settings for working-class New Yorkers: a bodega, a construction site and a firehouse. Trump returned to the city in September to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Manhattan tower and again in the final stretch of the presidential campaign when he held a rally at Madison Square Garden that drew immediate blowback as speakers made rude and racist insults and incendiary remarks . At the stock exchange, the ringing of the bell has been a tradition since the 1800s. The first guest to do it was a 10-year-old boy named Leonard Ross, in 1956, who won a quiz show answering questions about the stock market. Many times, companies listing on the exchange would ring the bell at 9:30 a.m. to commemorate their initial offerings as trading began. But the appearances have become an important marker of culture and politics -- something that Trump hopes to seize as he’s promised historic levels of economic growth. The anti-apartheid advocate and South African President Nelson Mandela rang the bell, as has Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone with his castmates from the film “The Expendables.” So, too, have the actors Robert Downey Jr. and Jeremy Renner for an “Avengers” movie and the Olympians Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin. In 1985, Ronald Reagan became the first sitting U.S. president to ring the bell. “With tax reform and budget control, our economy will be free to expand to its full potential, driving the bears back into permanent hibernation,” Reagan said at the time. “We’re going to turn the bull loose.” The crowd of traders on the floor chanted, “Ronnie! Ronnie! Ronnie!” The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed in 1985 and 1986, but it suffered a decline in October 1987 in an event known as “Black Monday.” Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 6, 2024-- The board of directors of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today declared a quarterly dividend of 45.5 cents per share, payable Jan. 31, 2025, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 3, 2025. The five-cent, or 12.3%, increase from the prior quarterly rate of 40.5 cents per share results in an expected annualized dividend of $1.82 per share compared with the prior annualized rate of $1.62 per share. While subsequent dividends will be subject to board approval, the company expects to pay three additional dividends in 2025: Record Date Payable Date April 4, 2025 April 30, 2025 July 11, 2025 July 31, 2025 Oct. 3, 2025 Oct. 31, 2025 About Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and solutions that serve a wide range of market participants, including individual and institutional investors in public and private capital markets, financial advisors and wealth managers, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and issuers of fixed-income securities. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $328 billion in AUMA as of Sept. 30, 2024. The Company operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company . Follow Morningstar on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MorningstarInc. Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as “consider,” “future,” “maintain,” “may,” “expect,” “potential,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “will,” or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. These statements, including statements regarding future dividend payments, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failure to prevent and/or mitigate cybersecurity events and the failure to protect confidential information, including personal information about individuals; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our credit ratings operations, investment advisory, environmental, social, and governance, and index businesses; failing to innovate our product and service offerings, or anticipate our clients’ changing needs; the impact of artificial intelligence and related technologies on our business, legal, and regulatory exposure profile and reputation; failing to detect errors in our products or the failure of our products to perform properly due to defects, malfunctions, or similar problems; failing to recruit, develop, and retain qualified employees; prolonged volatility or downturns affecting the financial sector, global financial markets, and the global economy and its effect on our revenue from asset-based fees and our credit ratings business; failing to scale our operations and increase productivity in order to implement our business plans and strategies; liability for any losses that result from errors in our automated advisory tools or errors in the use of the information and data we collect; inadequacy of our operational risk management, business continuity programs and insurance coverage in the event of a material disruptive event; failing to close, or achieve the anticipated economic or other benefits of, a strategic transaction on a timely basis or at all; failing to efficiently integrate and leverage acquisitions and other investments, which may not realize the expected business or financial benefits, to produce the results we anticipate; failing to maintain growth across our businesses in today's fragmented geopolitical, regulatory, and cultural world; liability relating to the information and data we collect, store, use, create, and distribute or the reports that we publish or are produced by our software products; the potential adverse effect of our indebtedness on our cash flows and financial and operational flexibility; challenges in accounting for tax complexities in the global jurisdictions which we operate in and their effect on our tax obligations and tax rates; and failing to protect our intellectual property rights or claims of intellectual property infringement against us. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties, among others, can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our most recent Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results and other future events may vary significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are, however, advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K. ©2024 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. MORN-C View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241205277268/en/ Landon Hudson, +1 312 696-6037 ornewsroom@morningstar.com KEYWORD: ILLINOIS UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING ASSET MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FINANCE SOURCE: Morningstar, Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/06/2024 04:15 PM/DISC: 12/06/2024 04:13 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241205277268/enFor decades, China has dominated critical minerals, with Canada and the US, among other nations, all too willing to let Beijing do the mining and/ or processing and sell the end-products. Fighting back But Washington has finally begun to recognize its critical minerals vulnerability. The movement to lessen dependence started in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump. Trump authorized the Pentagon to utilize funding available under Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) — a tool established during the Cold War to ensure the US could secure goods needed for national security — to support the re-establishment of a US rare earths supply chain. In 2022, a bipartisan group of senators led by Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin wrote to President Joe Biden urging him to authorize the Pentagon to tap into DPA funds to bolster domestic supplies of other critical minerals. The request resonated with President Joe Biden, who used the DPA authority to designate battery minerals and metals – graphite, lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt – as “essential to the national defense.” For all the partisanship pulling Washington apart, an emerging consensus on critical minerals – and the dangers of Chinese dependency – began to take shape. The result: a bipartisan understanding that China is “the enemy”, with both Democrats and Republicans supporting legislation that keeps Chinese goods behind high tariff walls and other restrictive measures. In fact the US government has committed billions worth of loans and grants to support a domestic critical mineral supply chain — as the country seeks to become more resource-independent and less beholden to China and other countries for minerals critical to a clean-energy future, and to the tech-intensive defense systems that safeguard national security. China’s latest move Earlier this week, the Chinese government showed that it isn’t waiting for the Trump administration to take power in January 2025, to get an edge in the coming trade war. Beijing announced on Tuesday it is banning exports to the United States of several critical minerals and further tightening sales of graphite. The move came after the White House on Monday slapped fresh curbs on the sale of memory chips made by US and foreign companies to China, said Bloomberg , adding the Biden administration’s goal is to slow China’s development of advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence systems that may help its military. The country’s Commerce Department said gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials will no longer be shipped to the US. Bloomberg reported the targeted materials are used in everything from semiconductors to satellites and night-vision googles, but noted China’s sales to the US had already plunged following export restrictions on gallium and germanium announced last year. However, according to the US Geological Survey , a total export ban on gallium and germanium would deliver a $3.4 billion hit to the US economy. Even that may understate the knock-on impact, as these metals and minerals are embedded in larger technology systems increasingly important to U.S. competitiveness. Trump and minerals While Trump has opposed the Biden Inflation Reduction Act and other clean-energy initiatives that are the darlings of progressives, one area that is likely to see a continuance is critical minerals. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, “Trump voiced his support for domestic mining, which could result in a more profound permitting reform and further financial support for domestic mining projects.” Recall Trump’s support for coal miners during his first presidential term, and his “drill baby drill” mantra bolstering the oil & gas industry. In 2020 Trump declared a national emergency regarding US dependence on a range of critical minerals. Trump has already announced that his administration will “pursue a path towards US energy dominance” that will require substantial amounts of minerals, from tungsten in exploration drill bits to copper in electrical transmission lines. However, according to a recent guest column on Mining.com , fragile mineral supply chains pose a risk to energy dominance; not having sufficient supplies could mean significant delays and may drive up prices. Because many minerals are sourced from a limited number of countries, US energy initiatives are particularly vulnerable to disruptions. Authors Gregory Wischer and Dr. Shubham Dwivedi declare that the most secure source of energy and minerals is domestic production. “Ultimately, the pursuit of US energy dominance could coincide with a push for US mineral independence,” the authors conclude. US manufacturing renaissance Trump’s push for energy independence and support for the mining side of critical minerals is coinciding with a renaissance and a re-think in US manufacturing. It actually started last year with a total investment of $246 billion. Where is all this money coming from? You guessed it: the government. Earlier this week Wolf Street posted an article titled ‘Factory Construction Spending Soars to New Record, +16% YoY, +242% since 2019: Result of Corporate & Strategic Rethink’. The gist of the story is that the Biden administration has been spending billions on manufacturing, but it’s high-tech industry not low-tech. According to the Census Bureau, investments in the construction of manufacturing plants jumped to a record $21.1 billion in October, up by 4% from the prior month, up by 16.3% from a year ago, up by 177% from the beginning of 2022, and up by 242% since 2019. The folly of tariffs Yet all of this, and the mining of critical metals, could be undermined by Trump’s tariff policy. A study on the effects of the 2018-19 tariffs shows that US consumers bore most of the cost. Now Trump is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on all good imported from Mexico and Canada, and 60% from China. 25% tariffs on $974 billion worth of trade into the US in 2022 = $243B worth of tariffs Americans will pay extra for. This isn’t even counting the proposed 60% tariffs on Chinese imports. How long before we all say enough is enough to America’s bullying and start trading more with others? In fact many businesses are expected to shift their production to other countries to avoid paying the exorbitant tariffs, states CNN. Countries likely to benefit from the US-Canada-Mexico-China trade war include Vietnam for low-value goods; nations that can out-compete Mexico on cars, i.e., Japan and South Korea; clothes and shoes from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Cambodia; and Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan for electronics. China has already got the ball rolling by building a port in Chancay, Peru that will bypass North America and allow shipments from South America to go directly to China. Chinese imports will flow tariff-free into countries like Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia. Nearly 150 countries have signed on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, of which the port is a part. Two mining industry umbrella groups have come out strongly against the Trump tariffs. The Mining Association of Canada says China’s move to ban exports of raw metals to the US underscores the need for trade cooperation between Canada and its southern neighbor. “Imposing tariffs on Canadian mineral and metal exports to the US would run counter to the shared goals of secure and reliable supply chains,” Pierre Gratton, the mining association’s president, said in Tuesday’s statement . More than half of Canada’s mineral exports — valued at more than CAD$80 billion (USD$56.9 billion) — were destined for the US in 2022. According to Black Press Media: Michael Goehring, president and CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia, said Wednesday that China’s decision to ban exports of certain critical minerals and rare earths to the United States demonstrates why it is “vital” for Canada and the U.S. to reduce their dependence on authoritarian regimes for critical mineral supplies and mineral processing... “B.C. has, or produces, 16 of the 50 minerals the United States has identified as being critical to the nation’s economic and national security. In fact, seven per cent of B.C.’s exports to the US in 2022 were critical minerals and metals, including aluminum, germanium, gallium, indium, lead and zinc.”... With 17 new critical mineral projects under development, British Columbia can make what Goehring called “a meaningful contribution to North America’s future”while creating jobs for workers, stability for resource communities and shared prosperity throughout B.C. Conclusion China’s restrictions on graphite and other critical metals are making it harder for the United States to obtain the raw materials required for both economic and defense/ military purposes. Graphite is the ideal material for defense thanks to its unique properties, i.e., it is able to withstand very high temperatures with a high melting point; it is stable at these high temperatures; it is lightweight and easy to machine; and it is corrosion-resistant. Trump says he supports the mining of critical minerals on US soil but he is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on minerals imported from Canada and Mexico. Instead of joining forces with countries friendly to its interests, like Canada, the United States is becoming more insular and protectionist at the same time as China is becoming more outward-looking. While there is little that Canada can do to change Trump’s mind his tariff policy makes greenfield and brownfield mining projects in the United States, free from tariffs, all the more desirable. Graphite One Inc. (TSX.V:GPH, OTCQX:GPHOF) has significant financial backing from the Department of Defense, the Export-Import Bank of the United States. and political support from the highest levels of government, including the White House, Alaska senators, Alaska’s governor, and the Bering Straits Native Corporation. Graphite One could take a leading role in loosening China’s tight grip on the US graphite market by mining feedstock from its Graphite Creek project in Alaska and shipping it to its planned graphite product manufacturing plant in Voltage Valley, Ohio. Initially, G1 will produce synthetic graphite and other graphite products, followed by natural graphite materials once Graphite Creek moves through permitting to production. While the fog of trade war is gathering, Graphite One could supply a significant portion of the amount of graphite demanded by the United States, reducing or even eliminating dependence on China. Graphite One Inc. TSXV:GPH, OTCQX:GPHOF 2024.12.05 share price: Cdn$0.80 Shares Outstanding: 137.8m Market cap: Cdn$111.1M Ahead of the Herd newsletter, aheadoftheherd.com, hereafter known as AOTH. Please read the entire Disclaimer carefully before you use this website or read the newsletter. If you do not agree to all the AOTH/Richard Mills Disclaimer, do not access/read this website/newsletter/article, or any of its pages. By reading/using this AOTH/Richard Mills website/newsletter/article, and whether you actually read this Disclaimer, you are deemed to have accepted it.

Dear Senator-elect Angela Alsobrooks, It’s December 2024, and multiple women have been held hostage in Gaza for nearly 450 days. UN Women, the organization responsible for advocating for justice for Romi Gonen, Naama Levy, and all other female victims of Hamas’ sexual violence, has been mostly silent regarding their abduction and the massive sexual violence that took place on Oct. 7, 2023. Every day that passes is another day that Israeli women are subject to sexual violence. In an with The 19th in April, you spoke about your time in public office, saying, “I loved fighting for women, and I also loved, after the cases were done, talking to them in my office — supporting and encouraging the women who had had horrible things happen to them, to their children and families.” Your record of advocating for justice for women has been beyond exceptional. It is your passion for justice and your record of leadership that has led us to call upon you for help. We urge you to publicly support Israeli women who were sexually assaulted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack and who are being assaulted in Gaza right now, and to condemn sexual violence by saying that you believe Israeli women. Rape and sexual assault have no place in war and it is important to stand in solidarity with these victims. Your advocacy is all the more important because of the recent wave of antisemitism, misogyny and atrocity denial that is affecting survivors and harming more general efforts to combat sexual assault. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 people, holding them as hostages. During the attack, many Israeli women and girls were subjected to and extreme acts of cruelty. In many cases, they were gang-raped, tortured and mutilated before they were killed. Videos of naked and bloodied women filmed by Hamas, photographs of bodies and eyewitness accounts provide of gender-based violence and brutality, intended to cause as much pain to victims as possible. For Hamas, the cruelty of this sexual violence was the point. Political attacks, propaganda, overwhelming post-traumatic stress and shame have been inflicted on survivors of these assaults, thus making many of them reluctant to come forward. Despite these obstacles, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel that sexual violence was systematic, widespread and a “clear operational strategy” of Hamas. There is further evidence that the Israeli hostages in Gaza are still being sexually assaulted. A horrifying video posted on Oct. 7 showed a young woman named being dragged by her hair and forced into the back of a Jeep, with her ankles slashed and her sweatpants stained with blood. Released hostages said that Levy was alive but wounded and being abused. The former hostage Amit Soussana to both doctors and reporters about how she was tortured and sexually assaulted during her captivity and urged that a deal be reached, so the remaining hostages can be freed. As American-Jewish feminists, we have witnessed the deafening silence coming from countless champions of feminist causes, from the Women’s March to the United Nations. We need our leaders on all levels of government to set the standard that all survivors of sexual violence deserve to be believed. Senator-elect Alsobrooks, please believe Amit. Please believe Naama. Please believe us when we say we are in dire need of leadership to demand justice for our murdered and abducted sisters. Please say, “I believe Israeli women” and support a deal to free the hostages, so that the women who are being abused and tortured can be liberated and return to their families and friends.WINNIPEG - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew offered condolences Monday to the families affected by two fatal police shootings in the province and spoke to the challenge faced by officers on the front lines. “I want to take the opportunity to thank police officers across this province who go to work and keep us safe each and every day,” Kinew said while at the convention for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. The night before, a street standoff involving police left one man dead and an officer recovering from a stab wound to the throat. Kinew told reporters no one wants to see a person die after an altercation with police but officers are often tasked with responding to high-risk situations. “Police officers have a difficult job to do, that’s at the best of times, so I support law enforcement,” he said. “When we’re thinking about the holidays and people going to the malls and people going to the shopping areas around the province, people have got to be safe.” Police were called early Sunday evening to the Unicity shopping area in the city’s far west about an officer who had been stabbed in the throat and a suspect who had been shot. Acting police Chief Art Stannard later told reporters that officers had been in the area as part of a retail theft initiative, which sees police work in hot spots in the city that have seen a rise in retail theft and violent crime. Police said the man who was shot was given CPR at the scene before he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. They said the injured officer was also transported to hospital and treated for his injury. Police declined to provide more details about what happened, including the age or identity of the man killed, noting the case is being reviewed by the police watchdog agency — the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba. The agency confirmed it’s investigating the death of the man but did not provide any other details. Videos circulating on social media appear to show a man being shot outside a bus shelter. In a 24-second clip, two police officers tell a person “to put it down” and “to drop it.” The man appears to advance toward the officers and at least one officer begins shooting. It’s not clear in the video whether the man who was shot was holding a weapon. Stannard told reporters Sunday he’s aware of the video and asked the public to avoid rushing to judgment. Coun. Markus Chambers, chair of the Winnipeg Police Board, said Sunday’s incident is tragic for all involved and noted it could renew calls for the board to implement body cameras. “Body-worn cameras likely wouldn’t have resulted in this not happening, but it is a mechanism of looking at the accountability around what happened,” Chambers said. The councillor said the board would be monitoring the rollout of body cameras in RCMP detachments across the province to see if they’re effective. It was the second fatal police shooting in three days. A 17-year-old boy from Norway House Cree Nation was shot and killed by an RCMP officer on Friday. Mounties said they received a report that a man was agitated and armed with an edged weapon in a home on the First Nation, north of Winnipeg. RCMP said the teen was outside with the weapon when officers arrived and, despite numerous orders to drop it, he moved toward them and was shot. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2024.

DNC chair race: Here’s how Maryland’s Martin O’Malley plans to help Democrats winAvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages