The Score is a weekly review of the biggest stock moves and the news that drove them. The U.S. may be getting closer to a transcontinental railroad. Railroad operator Union Pacific is holding talks to acquire its smaller rival Norfolk Southern, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Major U.S. equities indexes were little changed to lower at midday Friday as investors digested the latest corporate earnings news.

A late-in-the-game demand by Norfolk Southern railroad is hiking the price of an already over-budget rail yard the South Carolina State Ports Authority is building to support cargo shipments through the Port of Charleston.

Norfolk Southern’s decision to vent and burn five tank cars of vinyl chloride following the 2023 train derailment is the center of the most recent lawsuit filed against the railroad by residents who lived through the rail disaster.