Boeing plea deal with U.S. government rejected

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and why Boeing can’t catch a break.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Giddens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:02Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04The economy added 227,000 jobs in November, which was slightly ahead of forecast.

00:10The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent.

00:13Meanwhile, average hourly earnings were up 4 percent from a year ago.

00:17All said, this report points to a labor market that continues to slow enough to suggest the

00:23Federal Reserve can cut interest rates at its December meeting.

00:28In other business news, a federal judge has rejected Boeing's offer to accept responsibility

00:33surrounding one of the plane maker's darkest chapters in history.

00:38Boeing was all set to plead guilty to misleading the Federal Aviation Administration before

00:43the two deadly 737 MAX plane crashes in 2018 and 2019.

00:49Judge Reed O'Connor knocked down the plea agreement because he was not pleased with

00:53the selection process for an independent monitor.

00:56The chosen person would be responsible for overseeing Boeing's safety and quality progress.

01:02The original plea agreement would have given that responsibility to the Department of Justice,

01:07but the judge said, quote, at this point, the public interest requires the court to

01:11step in.

01:13Marginalizing the court in the selection and monitoring of the independent monitor, as

01:18the plea agreement does, undermines public confidence in Boeing's probation.

01:24The judge pointed to a January incident where a door on a 737 MAX flew off mid-flight as

01:29a sign the DOJ was not up to the job.

01:33As part of the now-rejected agreement, Boeing was to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy

01:38to defraud the United States.

01:40The agreement came with fines totaling $487 million.

01:44Families of the crash victims criticized the plea deal, saying Boeing can afford to pay

01:50nearly $25 billion.

01:53That will do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:56I'm Conway Gittens with the Street.