Business category, Page 205
Sheetz announces pay increases, plan to give new moms time off with pay
Altoona-based Sheetz today said it will invest $28.5 million in employee wage increases and give new mothers 12 weeks off with full pay. Sheetz said the pay increases will be effective Feb. 12 for “the majority” of its 18,000 employees. Sheetz did not elaborate on how much the wage increases...
Taxing time: How the pandemic will affect filing your taxes
The pandemic has made everything a bit trickier — tax filing season is no exception. The whole process is starting a bit later this year and there are a few wrinkles to be aware of for those who received unemployment benefits, worked from home, took on gig work, were a...
U.S. stocks edge lower after S&P 500 winning streak ends
Stocks edged lower in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday, a day after the S&P 500 ended a six-day winning streak. A report showing that inflation remained tame last month was encouraging for investors because it suggested the U.S. economy is in a strong position to receive more stimulus without...
Aunt Jemima brand gets a new name: Pearl Milling Company
Aunt Jemima is making her last batch of pancakes. Quaker Oats said Tuesday that its Aunt Jemima brand pancake mix and syrup will be renamed Pearl Milling Company. Aunt Jemima products will continue to be sold until June, when the packaging will officially change over. Quaker Oats, a division of...
Election of Democratic chair portends change at Postal Service
WASHINGTON — A former labor leader and Obama administration official was elected Tuesday to serve as chair of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, marking the first step in a potential shakeup under President Joe Biden. Ron Bloom replaced a former Republican National Committee chair, Robert “Mike” Duncan, who...
U.S. hiring plunged in December even as job openings ticked up
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers cut back sharply on hiring in December, particularly industries slammed by the pandemic such as restaurants and hotels, as virus infections soared and governments responded with tighter restrictions. The number of available jobs rose slightly and layoffs fell, according to the Labor Department’s Tuesday report, known...
Family of novice investor who killed himself sues Robinhood
LOS ANGELES — The family of a novice stock trader who killed himself after mistakenly believing he lost more than $700,000 are suing Robinhood Financial, claiming the popular stock-trading platform’s business practices “directly” led to their son’s death. The complaint, filed Monday in state court in Santa Clara County, Calif.,...
John Dorfman: Alphabet, Dolby lead the Balance Sheet Powerhouses
While many individuals and governments have fallen deeply into debt during the pandemic, many companies have strengthened their balance sheets. Each year (2001-06 and 2011 to the present), I’ve compiled a list of companies that qualify as Balance Sheet Powerhouses. Until now, the largest number of companies that made the...
Stocks push to more gains, and record highs, on Wall StreetVideo
Stocks notched more gains and pushed to new highs Monday, extending a winning streak that just gave the market its best weekly gain since November. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, it’s sixth straight gain. The three major indexes climbed to an all-time high, as did a benchmark of smaller company...
Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, will accept as payment soonVideo
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Holders of Bitcoin may be able to cash in some of their investment in the digital currency for a brand new electric car. Electric automaker Tesla said Monday that it has invested around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and it plans to begin accepting the digital currency...
Super Bowl ads aim to entertain with light humorVideo
As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl 55 in Tampa Bay, Florida, a different kind of action is taking place off the field. After a year of pandemic fear and isolation and a tumultuous election, brands are waging battle during the game’s commercial...
Stocks rise on Wall Street, despite dismal jobs report
Stocks were moving higher in afternoon trading on Friday, despite the fact that Wall Street got a dismal jobs report for January that showed the U.S. economy remaining in dire straits due to the pandemic. Investors continue to hope that more help for the economy is on the way from...
End of an era: Last 2 Kmart stores in Pa. to close
It appears to be an end of an era. Kmart, the store known for its discount prices and its “blue light specials” is closing its last two stores in Pennsylvania. The last two Kmart stores in the state including the last Kmart in the midstate will be closing in Transformco’s...
U.S. employers add just 49K jobs as unemployment falls to 6.3%
WASHINGTON — U.S employers added just 49,000 jobs in January, a sign that that the viral pandemic retains a tight grip on the economy nearly a year after it triggered a painful recession. The tepid increase followed a decline of 227,000 jobs in December, the first loss since April. The...
U.S. trade deficit rises to 12-year high $679 billion
WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit rose 17.7% last year to $679 billion, highest since 2008, as the coronavirus disrupted global commerce and confounded President Donald Trump’s attempts to rebalance America’s trade with the rest of the world. The gap between the value of the goods and services the United...
City Brewing in Latrobe pondering next move after losing Iron City accountVideo
The Latrobe brewery once home to Rolling Rock beer in its classic green bottles is poised to lose another iconic local brew: Iron City Beer. Pittsburgh Brewing Co. announced plans to make its popular lager at a former glass plant in East Deer. The company revealed late Wednesday it will...
More GameStops possible as small investors flex muscles
LOS ANGELES — GameStop and a handful of other stocks whose meteoric rise last month shocked Wall Street began falling back to Earth this week. But the campaign that briefly pushed GameStop up by 1,600% at the expense of hedge funds that were betting it would lose value, known as...
Solid company earnings and hopes for aid send stocks higher
Stocks moved higher in early trading on Thursday, helped by strong company earnings as well as optimism that Washington can reach a deal for another round of fiscal stimulus for the millions of Americans who need it. The S&P 500 index was up 0.4% as of 9:55 a.m. Eastern. The...
U.S. unemployment claims fall to 779,000 but job cuts grind on
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined to 779,000 last week, a still-historically high total that shows that a sizable number of people keep losing jobs to the viral pandemic. Last week’s total dropped from 812,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday, and is the...
Parler CEO John Matze says he’s been terminated by company’s board
Parler, the social media platform partial to the far right, has dismissed its CEO John Matze, according to several media outlets. Matze confirmed the decision in a text to Reuters, which was originally reported by Fox News. Parler CEO John Matze said he was fired on Friday by the social-media...
Major stock indexes end with modest gains on Wall Street
Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading with modest gains Wednesday, as investors focused on some strong earnings reports from Big Tech companies while remaining cautiously optimistic that Washington will deliver more economic stimulus. The S&P 500 inched up 0.1% after swinging between a gain of 0.6% and a...
GameStop’s stupefying stock rise doesn’t hide its reality
NEW YORK — Behind GameStop’s stock surge is the grim reality of its prospects: The video game retailer is floundering even as the industry around it is booming. GameStop has been swept up in a battle between big-moneyed hedge funds betting against it and small investors trying to prop it...
Pittsburgh region struggles to recover as unemployment rises slightly
The Pittsburgh area’s recovery from depths of the pandemic-caused recession slowed in December, as 5,300 jobs were lost in the region, pushing the unemployment rate up slightly at the end of the year, the state said Tuesday. “We‘re still kind of scuffling along,” said Frank Gamrat, executive director of the...
Dick’s Sporting Goods sues Baseball Reference over GameChanger trademark infringement
A Dick’s Sporting Goods subsidiary is suing the company that operates the popular Baseball Reference website, alleging trademark infringement. GameChanger, which is owned by Dick’s, is a software application for youth baseball and softball. The app provides statistics tracking, as well as the ability to live stream games. According to...
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, will step down as CEO
NEW YORK — Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon as an online bookstore and built it into a shopping and entertainment behemoth, will step down later this year as CEO, a role he’s had for nearly 30 years, to become executive chairman, the company announced Tuesday. Bezos, 57, will be replaced...
