Business category, Page 172
Biden boosts fuel-economy standards to fight climate change
WASHINGTON — In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration is raising vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. A final rule being issued Monday would raise mileage standards starting in the 2023 model year, reaching a projected industry-wide target of 40 miles...
Wall Street joins global slump for stocks on omicron jitters
NEW YORK — Stocks on Wall Street added to their recent string of losses Monday, joining a worldwide slump by financial markets amid worries about how badly the omicron variant, inflation and other forces will hit the economy. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% for its third straight drop. The decline...
Biogen cuts the price tag on its Alzheimer’s drug in half
Biogen is slashing the price of its Alzheimer’s treatment in half months after it debuted to widespread criticism for an initial cost that could reach $56,000 annually. The drugmaker said Monday that it will cut the wholesale acquisition cost of the drug by about 50% next month. That means the...
Inflation squeezes holiday budgets for low-income shoppers
NEW YORK — Emarilis Velazquez is paying higher prices on everything from food to clothing. Her monthly grocery bill has ballooned from $650 to almost $850 in recent months. To save money, she looks for less expensive cuts of meat and has switched to a cheaper detergent. She also clips...
Do employers have to follow Biden’s vaccine mandates?
Tens of millions of workers across the U.S. are in limbo as federal courts have issued different rulings related to President Joe Biden’s covid-19 vaccine mandates for larger private companies, certain health care workers and federal government contractors. A federal appeals court panel has allowed a vaccine requirement for employers...
Labor board certifies first union at a U.S. Starbucks store
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The National Labor Relations Board confirmed a vote Friday to form a union at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, meaning the coffee retailer, for the first time, will have to bargain with organized labor at a company-owned U.S. store. “We don’t want to fight Starbucks — we’re...
Kellogg’s reaches tentative agreement with striking workers
OMAHA, Neb. — Kellogg’s has reached a new tentative agreement with its 1,400 striking cereal plant workers that could bring an end to the strike that began Oct. 5. Members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union will vote on the new offer that includes cost-of-living...
Mortgage rates up slightly this week to a still-low 3.12%
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The average interest rate on a long-term mortgage in the U.S. ticked up slightly this week but remains historically low just as the Federal Reserve announces that it will begin tightening credit. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year,...
Fed will tighten credit faster and sees 3 rate hikes in 2022
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will quicken the pace at which it’s pulling back its support for the economy as inflation surges, and it expects to raise interest rates three times next year. In an abrupt policy shift, the Fed announced Wednesday that it will shrink its monthly bond purchases...
Stocks fall on Wall Street ahead of Fed policy statement
Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve after its last policy meeting of the year. The S&P 500 index fell 0.2% as of 1:32 p.m. Eastern and is coming off of two days of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial...
Retail sales rise 0.3% in November as Americans brush off rising prices
NEW YORK — Americans slowed their spending in November from October, but continued shopping despite higher prices and shortages in stores. Retail sales rose a modest seasonally adjusted 0.3% in November from the month before when sales rose a revised 1.8%, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday, a bit weaker...
Kroger ending some covid-19 benefits for unvaccinated staffVideo
Kroger, the country’s biggest traditional grocery chain, is ending some benefits for unvaccinated workers as big employers attempt to compel more of their workforce to become vaccinated with cases of covid-19 again rising. Unvaccinated workers will no longer be eligible to receive up to two weeks paid emergency leave if...
Japan’s Toyota promises more electric models, investmentVideo
TOKYO — Japanese automaker Toyota is beefing up its electric vehicle lineup, offering 30 new fully electric models by 2030, its president, Akio Toyoda, said Tuesday. Toyota Motor Corp. plans to sell 3.5 million electric vehicles globally in 2030, he said, up from its earlier plan to sell 2 million...
Resale is making gains in December holiday gift shopping
NEW YORK — Second hand. Like new. Thrift. Buy Nothing. Gently used. There are lots of ways to describe consumption in the booming resale market. Add “Merry Christmas!” to the list. Resale has taken off among those looking to save the planet and spend less on gifts during what can...
John Dorfman: The Bunny roared in 2021
The Bunny Portfolio is hopping again. It bounced to a 36.6% return in the past year. I named this hypothetical portfolio after the Energizer Bunny of battery-commercial fame, which is “still going” long after you’d expect it to lose its energy. The companies in the Bunny Portfolio have done well...
Stocks end higher, closing out best week since February
Technology companies led a rally on Wall Street that powered the S&P 500 to an all-time high and gave the index its best weekly gain since February. The S&P 500 rose 1%, enough to recoup its losses from a day earlier. The benchmark index closed higher four of the last...
Gaming while driving: Tesla allows it, Mercedes does recall
A few days after reports surfaced that Tesla allows drivers to play video games on dashboard touch screens while vehicles are moving, Mercedes-Benz has issued a U.S. recall for a simliar issue. The German automaker said in documents posted Friday by U.S. regulators that the issue affected 227 vehicles and...
U.S. consumer inflation up 6.8% in past year, most since 1982
WASHINGTON — Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.8% in November compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, energy, housing and other items left Americans enduring their highest annual inflation rate in 39 years. The Labor Department also reported Friday that prices rose 0.8% from October to November...
In a first, Starbucks workers agree to union in Buffalo
BUFFALO — Starbucks workers have voted to unionize at a store in Buffalo, N.Y., over the company’s objections, pointing the way to a new labor model for the 50-year-old coffee giant. The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday that workers voted 19-8 in favor of a union at one of...
Stocks end modestly higher after a choppy day of tradingVideo
Major stock indexes weathered a bout of choppy trading Wednesday on Wall Street and closed higher for the third day in a row. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, with 62% of the stocks within the benchmark index closing higher. The muted trading followed a strong start to the week that...
Instagram CEO faces senators amid anger over potential harmVideo
WASHINGTON — The CEO of Facebook’s Instagram is facing lawmakers angry over revelations of how the popular photo-sharing platform can harm some young users and demanding that the company commit to making changes. Adam Mosseri is testifying Wednesday at a Senate hearing as Facebook, whose parent now is named Meta...
U.S. business advertise near-record 11 million open jobs
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted 11 million open jobs in October, nearly matching a record high reached in July and a sign that companies were confident enough in the economy to expand. A government report Wednesday also showed that the number of people quitting their jobs dropped slightly in October...
Major outage hits Amazon Web Services; many sites affected
Amazon Web Services suffered a major outage Tuesday, the company said, limiting service at many key and popular sites. The company provides cloud computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including the Associated Press. Amazon said in a post an hour after the outage began that it had identified...
Toyota to build $1.3B battery plant in North Carolina
RALEIGH — Toyota announced on Monday that it plans to build a $1.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant near Greensboro, N.C., that will employ at least 1,750 people and help meet the auto giant’s growing goals of electric vehicle sales this decade. Company leaders joint Gov. Roy Cooper and other...
Stocks rise broadly on Wall Street, travel companies reboundVideo
Stocks rose broadly Monday on Wall Street, nearly reversing the S&P 500’s losses from last week, when jitters over a new coronavirus variant roiled markets. The benchmark index rose 1.2%. More than 85% of stocks in the index gained ground, with technology companies and banks accounting for a large slice...
