Stocks

Dow rebounds, tech shares drop again

U.S. stock indexes found their footing after a sharp early loss and finished mixed. Technology companies sank for the third day in a row. Stocks slumped in morning trading following big declines late last week. Some of the largest losses went to technology companies, including payment and credit card companies. Indexes in Europe also dropped as Italy vowed to ramp up spending that will increase its deficit. The S&P 500 index dipped 1.14 points to 2,884.43. The Dow Jones industrial average reversed an early loss of 223 points and rose 39.73 points, or 0.2 percent, to 26,486.78. The Nasdaq composite sank 52.50 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,735.95. The Russell 2000 index slipped 2.60 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,629.51. The Nasdaq and Russell are each coming off their worst week since late March. Benchmark U.S. crude oil slid 0.1 percent to $74.29 a barrel in New York.

DIGITAL

Google will shutter Plus social network

Google is shutting down its long-shunned Plus social network for consumers, following its disclosure of a flaw discovered in March that could have exposed some personal information of up to 500,000 people. The announcement came in a Monday blog post, which marked Google's first public description of the privacy bug. Google deliberately avoided disclosing the problem at the time, in part to avoid drawing regulatory scrutiny and damaging its reputation, according to a Wall Street Journal story that cited anonymous individuals and documents. The Mountain View, Calif., company declined to comment on the Journal's report, and didn't fully explain in its blog post why it held off on revealing the bug until Monday.

AVIATION

American changes its rebooking policy

American Airlines is telling employees to think twice before rebooking stranded customers on rival airlines, and regular economy-class passengers are the most likely to suffer when there are long delays or canceled flights. A new policy at American directs airport agents not to rebook economy passengers on competing airlines — with no stated limit on how long they must wait for a seat on another American flight. A manager can make exceptions in a few cases, such as people flying to a wedding or funeral and those who would be stranded overnight with no hotel room. Agents can still put economy passengers on American's international partner airlines, but that won't help customers flying within the U.S. By contrast, American told agents in late September to help the airline's best customers get to their destinations quickly, even if it means putting them on Delta or United.

ENTERTAINMENT

Netflix selects New Mexico site for new hub

Netflix has chosen New Mexico as the site of a new U.S. production hub and is in final negotiations to buy an existing multimillion-dollar studio complex on the edge of Albuquerque, government and corporate leaders announced Monday. It's the company's first purchase of such a property, and upcoming production work in Albuquerque and at other spots around New Mexico is forecast to result in $1 billion in spending over the next decade.

NEWS SERVICES