Business category, Page 185
Stocks climb on Wall Street, notching more record highs
A broad rally on Wall Street pushed stocks higher Thursday, nudging the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes to record highs. The gains reversed the market’s modest losses from a day earlier. Despite a choppy week of trading, the major indexes are on pace for weekly gains. The S&P 500 rose...
Longtime AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, a Nemacolin native, has died
WASHINGTON — Richard Trumka, the powerful president of the AFL-CIO who rose from the coal mines of Pennsylvania to preside over one of the largest labor organizations in the world, died Thursday. He was 72. The federation confirmed Trumka’s death in a statement. He had been AFL-CIO president since 2009,...
Shipping snags prompt U.S. firms to mull retreat from China
WASHINGTON — Game maker Eric Poses last year created The Worst-Case Scenario Card Game, making a wry reference to the way the coronavirus had upended normal life. He had no idea. In a twist that Poses never could have predicted, his game itself would become caught up in the latest...
Stocks slip on Wall Street, pulling S&P 500 below record
Stocks gave back some of their recent gains Wednesday after a disappointing jobs report stoked worry about the strength of the economic recovery as a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus spreads. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, easing back from the all-time high the benchmark index set a day earlier....
Delta variant forces cancellation of New York auto show
The New York International Auto Show has become a casualty of the fast-spreading coronavirus delta variant. Show organizers said Wednesday that they’ve decided to cancel it this year, a little over two weeks before the scheduled start. The reasons are the growing spread of the variant and recent restrictions announced...
Despite chip shortage, GM posts $2.8B profit, ups guidance
DETROIT — Despite a computer chip shortage that temporarily closed some of its factories, General Motors made a healthy $2.8 billion net profit in the second quarter. The earnings came even though GM plants cranked out 200,000 fewer vehicles than they did during the same period in 2019, the last...
Stocks shake off a wobbly start, end higher on Wall Street
Technology and health care companies led a broad rally on Wall Street Tuesday that helped stocks overcome a wobbly start and recoup their losses from a day earlier. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% after having been down 0.3% in the early going. The gain inched the benchmark index to an...
Tyson Foods, Microsoft to require vaccination for U.S. workers
ARLINGTON, Va. — Meat processer Tyson Foods said Tuesday it will require all of its U.S. employees to get vaccinated against covid-19, becoming one of the first major employers of frontline workers to do so amid a resurgence of the virus. Microsoft also announced Tuesday that it will require proof...
Florida takes Ben & Jerry’s divestment step over Israel
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida has taken a step to halt investment of state resources in the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s over its decision to stop selling ice cream in contested parts of Israel. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that the State Board of Administration added London-based Unilever...
Reese Witherspoon sells Hello Sunshine, joins new company
It’s a perfect day for Reese Witherspoon as the actress and producer is selling the media company she founded to a newly formed company backed by private equity firm Blackstone Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal was worth about...
John Dorfman: Allstate, PulteGroup show value plus growth
In a romantic partner, would you prefer good looks or intelligence? Silly question. Of course, you’d like both. Yet in the stock market, investors often feel they can go for value or growth but not both. Sometimes you can find both in a single stock. And once a year, I...
Treasury Department’s borrowing plans assume debt-limit deal
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has unveiled plans to borrow $673 billion in the current quarter while employing emergency measures to keep the government from an unprecedented default on the national debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday announced a new round of measures to keep the government under the...
Air travel hits another pandemic high, flight delays grow
Air travel in the U.S. is hitting new pandemic-era highs, and airlines are scrambling to keep up with the summer-vacation crowds. Despite rising numbers of coronavirus infections fueled by the delta variant, the U.S. set another recent high mark for air travel Sunday, with more than 2.2 million people going...
U.S. employers ratchet up the pressure on the unvaccinated
NEW YORK — Employers are losing patience with unvaccinated workers. For months, most employers relied on information campaigns, bonuses and other incentives to encourage their workforces to get the covid-19 shot. Now, a growing number are imposing rules to make it more onerous for employees to refuse, from outright mandates...
Pennsylvania Lottery sets record for sales, profit
Pennsylvania Lottery officials on Monday announced that the Lottery generated a record profit of more than $1.3 billion during the 2020-21 fiscal year. Officials said this is the tenth consecutive year that it has generated more than $1 billion for senior programs, which include property tax and rent rebates, free...
Stocks end mixed after starting August off on a choppy note
Stocks gave back some of their recent gains Monday after a day of choppy trading on Wall Street led the major indexes to a mixed finish. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in the final hour of trading after holding a slight gain for much of the afternoon. The benchmark index...
Square to buy installment payment firm Afterpay in $29B deal
Digital payments company Square Inc. says it has agreed to acquire Afterpay, which provides a “buy now, pay later” option for merchants, in an all-stock deal valued at about $29 billion. Square said Sunday it has agreed to buy all of the Australian company’s shares, and that the transaction’s estimated...
TVA demolishes 50s-era Johnsonville coal plant
NEW JOHNSONVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority has demolished a shuttered coal plant that began generating electricity in the 1950s. The implosion early Saturday destroyed a 600-foot smokestack and 10 boilers at the former Johnsonville Fossil Plant. The TVA is clearing the site for possible new energy technologies. The...
Ammunition shelves bare as U.S. gun sales continue to soar
SEATTLE — The covid-19 pandemic, coupled with record sales of firearms, has fueled a shortage of ammunition in the United States that’s impacting law enforcement agencies, people seeking personal protection, recreational shooters and hunters — and could deny new gun owners the practice they need to handle their weapons safely....
Coffee prices on the rise
Coffee lovers may have to dig deeper into their pockets as the cost of coffee beans has shot up due largely to a July 20 frost in Brazil that has destroyed crops. Andrew Oakes, owner of Fresh Roasted Coffee in Sunbury, said the price of green, unroasted beans has risen...
Stocks slip but are still on track for 6th monthly gain
Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Friday with internet retail giant Amazon weighing down major indexes following a weak sales report and forecast. The S&P 500 index fell 0.4% as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern and is on pace for a weekly loss, though still poised to finish out...
Wall Street pushes broadly higher after two days of losses
Stocks on Wall Street bounced back from a two-day slide Thursday, placing the S&P 500 on pace for its second straight weekly gain. The S&P 500 index rose 0.4%, powered by broad gains. About 77% of the stocks in the benchmark index closed higher. Technology stocks and banks made some...
German federal court sides with Lindt in gold bunny battle
A German federal court ruled Thursday that the golden shade of the foil wrap on Lindt & Spruengli’s Gold Bunny, a popular chocolate Easter bunny, enjoys protected status. The Federal Court of Justice delivered its verdict in a battle between Switzerland’s Lindt and a German company, Heilemann, which in 2018...
Robinhood makes Wall Street debut, stumbles at start
Robinhood made its own leap into the stock market Thursday, the one it helped reshape by bringing millions of new investors to Wall Street, and its shares were falling in their first day of trading. Robinhood Markets’ stock was at $36.16, as of 1 p.m. Eastern time, down 4.7% from...
Transportation panel to issue plan on Pa. gas tax elimination
HARRISBURG — A transportation funding commission set up by Gov. Tom Wolf to find ways to end Pennsylvania’s reliance on its gas tax will issue a $15.6 billion package of recommendations, which lean heavily on shifting to a vehicle-miles-traveled fee that numerous states are exploring. The Transportation Revenue Options Commission...
