📉 Dow drops more than 600 points as US stocks end sharply lower ahead of highly-anticipated inflation data

All three major stock benchmarks closed sharply lower Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite suffering the biggest loss as investors worry about slowing growth and inflation data that will be released Friday.

Casino stocks and tech stocks were among the market’s biggest decliners on Thursday: Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell over 5%, while tech giants Meta* and Amazon dropped 6% and 4%, respectively.

Stocks continue to get hit by ongoing investor concerns about high inflation leading to a possible recession, with the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates by 0.50% at its upcoming policy meeting this month.

*Meta, Facebook, and Instagram are banned in Russia over extremist activities.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

⚖️ FBI Arrests Michigan GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Ryan Kelley for Role in Jan 6

Ryan Kelley, 40, was arrested in western Michigan, FBI spokeswoman Mara Schneider said. He appeared at a brief hearing Thursday afternoon in federal court in Grand Rapids, where he was released from custody without posting bail. The government did not ask that Kelley be detained.

His arrest came hours before the House committee investigating the insurrection holds a widely anticipated public hearing, showing never-seen video, audio and an array of evidence highlighting the deadly violence that erupted on Jan. 6, 2021.

He is among more than 800 people who are facing criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. More than 300 people have pleaded guilty, largely to misdemeanor offenses punishable by no more than one year in prison. Some who’ve pleaded guilty to misdemeanors have been sentenced to short stints behind bars while others have been sentenced to home confinement or probation.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

⚡️ Bennie Thompson: 'The American people deserve answers'

‼️ Cheney: Trump ‘Believed his supporters’ were ‘doing what they should be doing’

🗳 Massachusetts Trader Joe’s Workers File for Union Vote in Potential First for Grocery Chain

Trader Joe’s workers in western Massachusetts are just the latest to push for union representation amid a growing drive by US workers to seek collective bargaining for better pay and working conditions.

It could become the first of more than 530 Trader Joe's stores to be represented collectively in negotiations with their employer. The company shares an owner with German grocery store chain Aldi.

Following the trend set by Amazon and Starbucks workers, Trader Joe’s “crew members” are seeking to be represented by a labor union of their own creation - Trader Joe’s United - instead of a larger union.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

‼️ Who Are Nick Quested And Caroline Edwards?

The House select committee’s hearing will include televised testimony from two key witnesses: filmmaker Nick Quested, who followed the Proud Boys before and during the rioting, and US Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards.

In the lead-up to the Capitol riot, Quested was present for rioters' breaking through fencing and police barricades. Among key material provided to the panel by Quested is video showing the infamous ‘QAnon Shaman,’ who was sentenced more than three years in prison for his participation in the storming of the Capitol.

Quested also provided footage of a garage meeting between Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio and Elmer Rhodes.

As for Edwards, she was the first law enforcement officer who was injured as Trump supporters made to move on the Capitol building. Video has captured the moment that the officer was thrown to the ground by rioters. Edwards was later diagnosed with having a concussion.

🛸 NASA is putting together a research team to study UFOs

Today, NASA announced that it is putting together an independent team of researchers this fall to study sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, the updated term now used to refer to UFOs. The space agency says it plans to study these sightings from a scientific perspective but also stressed that “there is no evidence UAPs are extra-terrestrial in origin.”

The study will be open and unclassified, according to Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for science at NASA. In June of last year, the Pentagon released its own report on the potential origins of UAPs, listing five possible explanations for what pilots have been seeing in the skies. While many of the explanations were more benign — such as airborne clutter and natural atmospheric phenomenon — the Pentagon also listed a fifth classification of “other” for events and sightings it could not explain.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

Spotify comes for audiobooks

Spotify wants to make audiobooks the next pillar of its business. On Wednesday, company executives pitched the audiobooks business to investors as their next target for industry domination. When they launch the audiobooks vertical, it could have huge ramifications for the publishing industry.

Spotify’s first big step into that business is its acquisition of Findaway, which was announced last year. The audiobook platform is in many ways like Anchor. It allows authors to create, distribute, and monetize their work, and with the acquisition, Spotify will snag a key part of the audiobook ecosystem.

Earlier this week, the APA released its 2021 stats on the size of the industry. Conducted by Edison Research, the study found that the audiobook market grew by 25 percent in 2021 to $1.6 billion, which would make it slightly larger than the $1.45 billion podcast market that same year. 

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

📹🎞 Russian armed forces have delivered about 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid to residents of the Kharkov region

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

LIVE UPDATES | Four killed, six wounded in Ukrainian shelling of DPR - Donetsk

⚡️ LPR forces with help of Russian army continue offensive in Severodonetsk region, Ukrainian forces suffer multiple losses, Lugansk says

🎨US entrepreneur, Hilton hotel heiress, DJ, and media personality Paris Hilton has initiated a new fund in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), launched to support the acquisition of digital artworks by women artists.

According to the museum, the fund will acquire art by women with diverse artistic practices, including artificial intelligence, augmented reality, animation, graphics, photography, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), software, and video art.

“As an activist and entrepreneur who likes to push the boundaries in many male-dominated fields, I immediately identified the need to support women in Web3,” Hilton said, referring to a new kind of internet service that is built using decentralized blockchains.