Johnson & Johnson is forcefully denying a media report that it knew for decades about the existence of trace amounts of asbestos in its baby powder, and more in Friday’s Markets In Brief.

The report Friday by the Reuters news service sent company shares into a tailspin, suffering their worst sell-off in 16 years.

Reuters is citing documents released as part of a lawsuit by plaintiffs claiming that the product can be linked to ovarian cancer. The New Jersey company has battled in court against such claims and on Friday called the Reuters report, “one-sided, false and inflammatory.”

Shares are down more than 10 percent, the most severe decline since 2002.

MARKETS IN BRIEF

Obama-Era Rule Leads to $150M in Student Loan Forgiveness

The U.S. Education Department says it will start forgiving federal loans for 15,000 former students whose colleges closed before they could graduate.

Department officials say the $150 million in loans will automatically be wiped clean, including about $80 million for former students of the defunct Corinthian Colleges for-profit chain, which collapsed in 2015.

The loans are being forgiven under an Obama-era rule that recently took effect after a federal judge ruled that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was unlawfully delaying it.

DeVos has said the rule is “bad policy” and still aims to replace it, but it could be 2020 before any new rule takes effect.

Borrower advocacy groups and some Democrats applauded the loan discharges, but several said it shouldn’t have taken a court order to get relief for students.

US Retail Sales Rose Scant 0.2% in November

U.S. retail sales increased a slight 0.2% in November, as strong sales tied to holiday shopping were offset by lower gasoline prices.

The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales have climbed a solid 5.3% so far this year. In November, non-store retail sales — a category that includes Internet brands such as Amazon — jumped 2.3%. Furnishers, electronics stores and health stores also enjoyed a solid bump as the holiday shopping season got into full swing.

But some of that sales growth was hampered by gas stations, which saw a 2.3% drop in purchases last month. Higher gas prices in October, along with increased auto-buying, had helped propel broader retail sales gains of 1.1% during that month. Excluding gas, November retail sales rose a healthy 0.5%.

US Industrial Production Climbed 0.6 Percent in November

U.S. industrial production climbed 0.6 percent on surging output at mines and utilities. But manufacturing production was flat.

The Federal Reserve said Friday that that utility output rose 3.3 percent as power companies were busier because of unusually cold weather. Mining output rose 1.7 percent on higher production at coal mines and oil and gas drillers.

Overall industrial production is up 3.9 percent from November 2017.

But manufacturing was flat in November after falling 0.1 percent in October. Factories are contending with a stronger dollar that makes their products more expensive in foreign markets, slowing global growth and import taxes that raise their costs.

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