News Headlines - 24 December 2016

▽Stocks close flat as Dow fails to reach 20,000 ahead of Christmas

U.S. equities closed mostly flat on Friday ahead of the Christmas holiday, as the Dow Jones industrial average failed again to reach the psychologically important level of 20,000.

▽Credit Suisse agrees $5.3 billion U.S. deal on mortgages

Credit Suisse had agreed in principle to pay U.S. authorities $2.48 billion to settle claims it misled investors in residential mortgage-backed securities it sold in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, the Swiss bank said on Friday.

▽Nokia and Apple File Competing Lawsuits Over Patents - WSJ

The suits, filed this week​in the U.S. and Germany, mark the second time in the past seven years that the companies have squared off in a dispute over patents. In 2011, Apple settled a two-year patent case with Nokia and agreed to pay licensing royalties for use of some Nokia patents in iPhones.

▽Ericsson, Cisco to target corporate, public sector clients in 2017 | Reuters

Global telecoms equipment gear maker Ericsson plans to expand its partnership with Cisco Systems Inc by serving new corporate clients and the public sector in 2017, its North American chief told Reuters in an interview.

▽China's Liaoning aircraft carrier heading to Pacific for exercise- Nikkei Asian Review

A naval formation including China's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, headed for the western Pacific Ocean on Saturday for an open-sea training exercise, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
It is believed to be the first time for a Chinese aircraft carrier to sail to the Pacific Ocean.