Business category, Page 188
Stocks solidly higher as investors turn to company earnings
Stocks were solidly higher Friday, putting the market on track to end this holiday-shortened week with a slight gain and more record highs. Investors will turn their attention toward company earnings, which kick off next week. The S&P 500 index was up 1% as of 2:31 p.m. Eastern. The Dow...
Highmark seeks to buy Gateway Health; deal looks to add 355K insurance members
Highmark Health’s insurance arm looks to grow by more than 350,000 members if state regulators approve a proposed deal to acquire sole ownership of Gateway Health. The acquisition instantly would expand Highmark’s insurance rolls from 6 million to 6.355 million members, a nearly 6% increase. For nearly three decades, Highmark...
Biden tells Putin that Russia must crack down on cybercriminals
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than...
Biden set to sign competition order targeting big business
President Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers’ wages and consumer protections. The sweeping order includes 72 actions and recommendations that...
GM recall: Side air bags can explode in Chevy, GMC pickups
DETROIT — General Motors is recalling more than 400,000 pickup trucks in the U.S. because the side air bags can explode without warning and spew parts into the cabin. The recall covers certain 2015 and 2016 Chevrolet and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks. Documents posted Friday by U.S....
Pop into the Lawrenceville Pop-Up Market
When Rona Chang saw the impact that covid-19 had on fellow small businesses, she literally took to the street. Chang organized a pop-up market in September in Lawrenceville for vendors that relied upon in-person shopping as their primary income. Chang, who manages her business, Otto Finn, out of Radiant Hall...
Amtrak plan to replace dozens of aging trains: cost $7.3B
DETROIT — Amtrak plans to spend $7.3 billion to replace 83 passenger trains, some nearly a half-century old, though much of the funding must still be approved by Congress. Amtrak said Wednesday that under the contract with German manufacturer Siemens AG, some of the trains will be hybrids, able to...
Fed officials discuss timing of reducing bond purchases
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials began debating at their June meeting when and how they would reduce the monthly bond purchases that they have used to keep longer-term interest rates in check. The discussions, revealed in the minutes of the Fed’s June meeting released Wednesday, indicate that the Fed is...
Chinese social media giant WeChat shuts LGBT accounts
China’s most popular social media service has deleted accounts on LGBT topics run by university students and nongovernment groups, prompting concern the ruling Communist Party is tightening control over gay and lesbian content. WeChat sent account holders a notice they violated rules but gave no details, according to the founder...
Patio furniture shortage tells U.S. economic tale
COCKEYSVILLE, Maryland — People used to go to Valley View Farms to buy five tomato plants and end up with $5,000 in patio furniture. This year is different. After a record burst of sales in March, the showroom floor is almost empty of outdoor chairs, tables and chaises for people...
Trump files suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against three of the country’s biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ CEOs, at a press conference Wednesday in New Jersey. He...
Fake unemployment claims, real checks hit Western Pa. mailboxes; what to do if a fraudster targets you
Beware of fake unemployment claims hitting your mailbox as fraudsters continue to target Pennsylvania’s labor coffers at alarming rates. Scammers have been signing up unwitting — and still fully employed — residents for jobless benefits as part of a surge in sophisticated identity theft schemes to steal taxpayer money during...
S&P 500 sees 1st decline after 7 straight gains; oil falls
Banks and energy companies helped pull stocks mostly lower Tuesday on Wall Street, ending the S&P 500’s seven-day run of record high closes. The benchmark index fell 0.2% after having been down 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%. Tech stocks rose, helping the Nasdaq to a modest gain...
New U.S. rules to protect animal farmers expected soon
OMAHA, Neb. — The Biden administration plans to issue a new rule to protect the rights of farmers who raise cows, chickens and hogs against the country’s largest meat processors as part of a plan to encourage more competition in the agriculture sector. The new rule that will make it...
Pentagon cancels disputed JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Tuesday it is canceling a cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion and will instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon. “With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long...
U.S. service sector grows, albeit slightly slower in June
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Growth in the services sector, where most Americans work, slowed in June following record expansion in May. The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its monthly survey of service industries retreated to a reading of 60.1, following an all-time high reading of 64 in May....
Heinz launches campaign targeting hot dog, bun mismatched packaging
Heinz has had it. Tired of seeing hot dogs and buns sold in mismatched quantities — wieners in packages of 10, buns in packs of eight — the world-famous condiment maker launched a campaign Tuesday to encourage manufacturers to finally get on the same page. The ketchup king started a...
John Dorfman: Thor and KB Home are on the casualty list
You might think only a bumbling company could see its stock decline in the second quarter. After all, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index returned 8.55% for the three months through June. But it isn’t so. About a third of all stocks were down in the quarter. Some are good...
Amazon begins new chapter as Jeff Bezos hands over CEO role
NEW YORK — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO on Monday, handing over the reins as the company navigates the challenges of a world fighting to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. Andy Jassy, who ran Amazon’s cloud-computing business, replaced Bezos, a change the company announced in February. Bezos,...
Used car prices jump as new car production dropsVideo
Those looking to buy a late-model car, truck or sport utility vehicle may suffer from sticker shock when they see the price of used vehicles, which the U.S. government’s consumer price index calculates have risen by about 30% since May 2020. “It’s all about the inventory. There’s a high demand...
Ransomware hits hundreds of U.S. companies, security firm says
WASHINGTON — A ransomware attack paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies on Friday, according to a cybersecurity researcher whose company was responding to the incident. The REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be behind the attack, said John Hammond of the security firm Huntress...
Richard Branson plans 1st space trip days before Jeff Bezos blasts off
Richard Branson plans to fly to space on July 11, days before a similar journey by fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos. The shares of Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. surged. The VSS Unity spacecraft will also carry three Virgin Galactic employees and two pilots from the launch site in New Mexico,...
Stocks climb on Wall Street following encouraging jobs data
NEW YORK — Stock indexes are ticking higher on Wall Street Friday after a report showed the nation’s job market was even stronger last month than expected. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in morning trading and on pace for its seventh straight gain, though slightly more stocks were falling...
Wall Street hits another record; energy stocks, banks gain
Stocks finished broadly higher Thursday on Wall Street, adding to the gains that helped the market close out its best first half of a year since the dotcom bubble. The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, marking its sixth straight gain and fourth consecutive record high. The price of U.S. crude oil...
CBO projects federal deficit will hit $3 trillion this year
The Congressional Budget Office says that the federal budget deficit will again hit $3 trillion this year, $745 billion more than its estimate five months ago, as it takes into account the cost of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue plan. In an updated forecast Thursday, the CBO said...
