Business category, Page 140
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rise this week to 6.94%
WASHINGTON — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates inched up this week ahead of another expected rate increase by the Federal Reserve when it meets early next month. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the key 30-year rate ticked up this week to 6.94% from 6.92% last...
Fewer Americans apply for jobless benefits last week
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remains historically low even as the U.S. economy slows in the midst of decades-high inflation. Jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 15 declined by 12,000 to 214,000 from 226,000 last week, the Labor Department reported...
Poor, less white U.S. neighborhoods get worst internet deals
A couple of years into the pandemic, Shirley Neville had finally had enough of her shoddy internet service. “It was just a headache,” said Neville, who lives in a middle-class neighborhood in New Orleans whose residents are almost all Black or Latino. “When I was getting ready to use my...
BMW investing $1.7B in South Carolina as automaker shifts to EVs
DETROIT — BMW will invest $1 billion in its sprawling factory near Spartanburg, S.C., to start building electric vehicles and an additional $700 million to build a electric-battery plant nearby. The German automaker’s announcement Wednesday reflects its commitment to transitioning to electric-vehicle production in North America, in line with similarly...
IRS ups standard deductions, tax brackets due to inflation
WASHINGTON — Taxpayers will get fatter standard deductions for 2023 and all seven federal income tax bracket levels will be revised upward as the government allows people to shield more of their money from taxation because of persistently high inflation. For couples who file jointly for tax year 2023, the...
USDA announces $1 billion debt relief for 36,000 farmers
DES MOINES, Iowa — The federal government announced Tuesday a program that will provide $1.3 billion in debt relief for about 36,000 farmers who have fallen behind on loan payments or face foreclosure. The Department of Agriculture announced the farm loan relief program funded from $3.1 billion set aside in...
11 more crash deaths are linked to automated-tech vehicles
DETROIT — Eleven additional people were killed in U.S. crashes involving vehicles that were using automated driving systems during a four-month period earlier this year, according to newly released government data, part of an alarming pattern of incidents linked to the technology. Ten of the deaths involved vehicles made by...
Semafor news site makes debut, intent on reinventing news
NEW YORK — The media organization Semafor launched on Tuesday with no less an ambition than reinventing the news story. Semafor is the brainchild of Ben Smith — former media reporter for The New York Times and, before that, former editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed — and Justin Smith, ex-CEO of Bloomberg...
‘Bad situation’: Soaring U.S. dollar spreads pain worldwide
The cost of living in Cairo has soared so much that security guard Mustafa Gamal had to send his wife and year-old daughter to live with his parents in a village 70 miles south of the Egyptian capital to save money. Gamal, 28, stayed behind, working two jobs, sharing an...
Stocks rise broadly on Wall Street, clawing back more ground
NEW YORK — Stocks rose broadly in Tuesday morning trading on Wall Street as the market continues to claw back more of the ground it lost in the miserable past few weeks. The S&P 500 rose 2% as of 10:13 a.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 568 points, or...
Meta agrees to sell Giphy, ending battle with U.K. regulators
LONDON — Facebook parent Meta said Tuesday that it will sell off Giphy after running out of options to thwart a ruling by U.K. regulators, who again found that the deal to buy the GIF-sharing platform would limit competition and innovation. Britain’s competition watchdog had ordered Meta last year to...
At $85 million, MacKenzie Scott gives Girl Scouts its largest-ever individual donation
NEW YORK — Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA and 29 of its local branches, the 110-year-old organization said Tuesday, calling it a vote of confidence. “Her support of our organization means honestly just as much as the donation,” Sofia Chang, CEO of GSUSA,...
Comcast will boost internet speeds in Northeast states
For the second time this year, Comcast will boost internet speeds on its most popular Xfinity customer plans, the cable giant announced Monday. Comcast is facing continued competitive pressure from rivals, such as AT&T, Verizon, and Google Fiber, to increase speeds. This summer, Comcast announced that it had lost residential...
John Dorfman: Stealing from the best: Here is my purloined portfolio
A politician would be silly not to do opposition research. A baseball team would be goofy not to use scouting reports. By the same token, an investment manager would have to be singularly incurious not to check out what other managers are buying and selling. Once a year in this...
Stocks rally on Wall Street in latest volatile move
Wall Street kicked off a busy week of corporate earnings with a broad rally Monday, the latest about-face for a market that has been unsteadily lurching between gains and losses in recent weeks. The S&P 500 climbed 2.6%, more than recovering the ground it lost in a sell-off Friday. The...
Kanye West to buy conservative social media platform Parler
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social network Parler shortly after being booted off Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts. Parlement Technologies, which owns the platform, and West, legally known as Ye, said the acquisition should be completed in the fourth quarter, but...
Greensburg beef jerky business aiding troops, veterans
A Salem man who started a beef jerky business in California six years ago is competing for a slice of the $1.2 billion annual domestic meat jerky market. Part of the mission of Air Force veteran Christopher Prascus’ Soldier Boy Beef Jerky is to give back to those who serve...
Small businesses brace for cautious holiday shoppers
NEW YORK — Small businesses are stocking the shelves early this holiday season and waiting to see how many gifts inflation-weary shoppers feel like giving. Holiday shopping was relatively strong during the past two years as shoppers flocked online to spend, aided by pandemic stimulus dollars. Sales in November and...
Pa. plan for electric vehicle supercharger stations becoming reality
Davie Huddleston wasn’t looking for an electric vehicle. He loves his gas-powered Nissan Murano convertible. But his two daughters kept insisting, and he finally bought one. “They should sell electric vehicles,” he said of his daughters. “It was constant. And they had a point for my every objection. But it...
Musk has a ‘super app’ plan for Twitter. It’s super vague
Elon Musk has a penchant for the letter “X.” He calls his son with the singer Grimes, whose actual name is a collection of letters and symbols, “X.” He named the company he created to buy Twitter “X Holdings.” His rocket company is, naturally, SpaceX. Now he also apparently intends...
Apple workers in Oklahoma vote to unionize in 2nd labor win
NEW YORK — Workers at an Apple store in Oklahoma City voted to unionize, marking the second unionized Apple store in the U.S. in a matter of months, according to the federal labor board. The vote on Friday signaled another win for the labor movement, which has been gaining momentum...
Shell Pipeline Co., contractor fined $670K for repeated chemical releases
The Shell Pipeline Co. and a contractor will pay $670,000 for violations that released chemicals into local waterways, including the Ohio River. The state Department of Environmental Protection, Shell and its contractor, Minnesota Limited, agreed to the settlement. The DEP said in a release that 67 inspections showed repeated violations...
Fighting food poisoning: Sweeping poultry changes proposed
DES MOINES, Iowa — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday proposed sweeping changes in the way chicken and turkey meat is processed that are intended to reduce illnesses from food contamination but could require meat companies to make extensive changes to their operations. Despite decades of efforts to try...
Biden pushing lower prescription drug costs in midterm press
LOS ANGELES — President Joe Biden is set to highlight his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs on Friday as part of his three-state Western tour this week, as he confronts a sobering inflation report in the waning weeks before midterm elections. Biden will head to a community college...
Banking breakup between Kanye West, JPMorgan planned for weeks
NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West are ending their business relationship, but the breakup is not a result of the controversy over the hip-hop star’s recent antisemitic comments. The letter ending West’s relationship with JPMorgan was tweeted Wednesday by conservative activist Candice Owens,...
