GM Stock – Stocks lower…Pipeline cyber security…GM, union agree

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed lower on Wall Street, giving up an early gain and losing momentum after a solid start to the week. The S&P slipped 0.2% Tuesday. Gains by several Big Tech companies helped limit the loss in the Nasdaq to less than 0.1%. An index of small-company stocks fell 1%. Banks and energy companies fell the most. Investors are still worried that rising inflation could eventually prompt central banks to withdraw help for the economy. Homebuilders rose following a report that U.S. home prices jumped in March by the most in more than seven years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will issue cybersecurity regulations in the coming days for U.S. pipeline operators following a ransomware attack that led to fuel shortages across much of the Eastern Seaboard. The Transportation Security Administration has primary oversight responsibility for the security of the nation’s network of pipelines. A U.S. official says the agency is expected to issue a security directive later this week that will include a requirement that pipeline companies report cyber incidents to the federal government. The directive is expected to prompt concern, if not outright opposition, from private operators wary of increased government regulation.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors now says it will support efforts by the United Auto Workers union to organize employees at two U.S. electric vehicle battery factories that it’s building in Ohio and Tennessee with a joint venture partner. The company’s statement Tuesday departs from GM’s past stance that the joint venture called Ultium LLC would decide on a bargaining strategy. But it falls into line with President Joe Biden’s promise to create good-paying union jobs in the transition from combustion vehicles to electric. It also comes after the UAW has made strong public statements that GM and crosstown rival Ford have a moral obligation to pay top union wages at joint venture battery plants.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California and the U.S. government have agreed to allow massive wind energy farms off the state’s central and northern coasts. The pact announced Tuesday that would float hundreds of turbines off the coast of Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay has been promoted as a breakthrough to eventually power 1.6 million homes. The plan would place 380 turbines some 20 miles off the coast of scenic Morro Bay. Officials plan to finalize the locations next month and could offer leases for sale next year. The announcement is part of President Joe Biden’s plan to create 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.

NEW YORK (AP) — ExxonMobil is facing a major challenge from a group of investors in one of the biggest fights a corporate boardroom has endured over its stance on climate change, an issue of rising urgency for many shareholders. The investor group is pushing to replace four of the oil giant’s board members with executives they say are better suited to both strengthen the company’s finances and lead it through the transition to cleaner energy. The fight represents a moment of reckoning for major publicly traded companies to address a global crisis.