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By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A quiet finish for the U.S. stock market on Tuesday masked big swings underneath the surface as companies talked about how discouraged their customers are feeling and some tech stocks continued to feel the downside of the artificial-intelligence boom.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% after flipping earlier between a gain of 0.5% and a loss of nearly 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 32 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.1%.

Paramount Skydance helped lead the market and rose 4.9% after Warner Bros. Discovery said it would allow Paramount a chance to give its “best and final” bid to buy the entertainment company. Paramount is trying to top an offer from Netflix.

Warner Bros. Discovery rose 2.7%, and Netflix added 0.2%.

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By MICHELLE CHAPMAN and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery is briefly reopening takeover talks with Skydance-owned Paramount to hear the company’s “best and final” offer, while the Hollywood giant continues to back the studio and streaming deal it struck with Netflix.

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In a Tuesday regulatory filing, Warner said it had received a waiver from Netflix to reopen talks with Paramount for the next seven days, or until Monday. Warner said this will allow the companies to discuss unresolved “deficiencies” and “clarify certain terms” of Paramount’s latest bid. read more

By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — For years, it was a daily McDonald’s trip for a cup of coffee with 10 sugars and five creams. Later, it was Starbucks caramel macchiatos with almond milk and two pumps of syrup.

Coffee has been a morning ritual for Chandra Donelson since she was old enough to drink it. But, dismayed by rising prices, the 35-year-old from Washington, D.C., did the unthinkable: She gave it up.

“I did that daily for years. I loved it. That was just my routine,” she says. “And now it’s not.”

Years of steadily climbing coffee prices have some in this country of coffee lovers upending their habits by nixing café visits, switching to cheaper brews or foregoing it altogether.

Coffee prices in the U.S. were up 18.3% in January from a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released on Friday. Over five years, the government reported, coffee prices rose 47%.

That extraordinary rise has brought some to take extraordinary measures.

“Before, I thought, ‘There’s no way I could make it through my day without coffee,’” says Liz Sweeney, 50, of Boise, Idaho, a former “coffee addict” who has cut her consumption. “Now my car’s not on automatic pilot.” read more

By Lily Meier, Max Rivera and Denise Lu, Bloomberg News

Dollar Tree’s 9,000th store opened last year within a few miles of a Louis Vuitton, a steakhouse selling $525 Wagyu beef and Audi, Porsche and Ferrari dealerships, where the average car costs more than what a typical Dollar Tree shopper makes in a year.

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Inside, while most everyone is looking for a deal — it’s not necessarily because they need one. On opening day, three Range Rovers were sitting in the parking lot.

“I always call Dollar Tree ‘the add on,’” said Stephanie Williams, while browsing the store on a recent Monday, because it’s where she goes to find frivolous “add ons” to her shopping list. She was eyeing gift bags for candy she’d bought her coworkers. read more

By CHAN HO-HIM, AP Business Writer

HONG KONG (AP) — World shares mostly advanced on Monday and gold declined. Japanese stocks dipped and several stock markets in Asia were closed or trading for a half-day ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX was up 0.2% to 24,958.01. Britain’s FTSE gained 0.3% to 10,479.47, while the CAC 40 in Paris also rose 0.3% to 8,333.81.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.2% to 56,806.41, after the government reported that Japan’s economy grew more slowly than economists had expected in the latest October-December quarter, at an annualized 0.2%.

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)