Business category, Page 207
Fed stresses its commitment to low rates for the long run
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve pledged on Wednesday to keep its low interest rate policies in place even well after the economy has sustained a recovery from the viral pandemic. The Fed said in a statement after its latest policy meeting that the improvement in the economy and job market...
Stocks have their worst day since October as Big Tech sinksVideo
Technology companies led a broad sell-off in stocks Wednesday, knocking more than 600 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average and handing the market its worst day in nearly three months. The S&P 500 fell 2.6%, its biggest single-day drop since it lost 3.5% on October 28. It had set...
In GameStop saga unfolding on Wall Street, 2 Goliaths fall
In the David and Goliath saga surrounding the struggling retail chain GameStop, Goliath has fallen. Two Goliaths, actually. A pair of professional investment firms that placed big bets that money-losing video game retailer GameStop’s stock will crash have largely abandoned their positions. The victors: an army of smaller investors who...
Twitter permanently bans My Pillow CEO
Twitter has permanently banned My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell’s account after he continued to perpetuate the baseless claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Twitter decided to ban Lindell, who founded bedding company My Pillow, due to “repeated violations” of its civic integrity policy, a spokesperson said...
The January effect is alive and well in 2021
So far, this January looks the way Wall Street folklore says it should. Stock traders talk about the “January effect” and the “January barometer.” The January effect is actually a confluence of three effects. The market in general tends to rise in January. Small stocks usually do better than large....
Smaller investors face down hedge funds, as GameStop soarsVideo
NEW YORK — A head-scratching David and Goliath story is playing out on Wall Street over the stock price of a money-losing videogame retailer. An army of smaller-pocketed, optimistic investors is throwing dollars and buy orders at the stock of GameStop — in direct opposition to a group of wealthy...
Godiva closing its U.S. chocolate stores, including 1 at Ross Park Mall
Luxury chocolatier Godiva is closing all of its brick and mortar stores in the United States. The company will exit its 128 physical locations, some through sales and others through closures, by the end of the first quarter of 2021. Locally, Godiva has a store at Ross Park Mall in...
More cancellations for Carnival amid jumbled vaccine rollout
Carnival Cruise Line is canceling and delaying more U.S. trips with new cases of covid-19 averaging about 170,000 per day in the country amid a jumbled rollout of vaccines. Carnival’s planned seasonal service out of San Diego has been suspended until further notice, and cruises scheduled through April 2023 were...
Google says Chrome cookie replacement plan making progress
LONDON — Google says it’s making progress on plans to revamp Chrome user tracking technology aimed at improving privacy even as it faces challenges from regulators and officials. The company gave an update Monday on its work to remove from its Chrome browser so-called third-party cookies, which are used by...
A bumpy day on Wall Street ends with stock indexes mixedVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks swerved to a mixed finish Monday on Wall Street, ahead of a deluge of corporate earnings reports scheduled to arrive this week. The S&P 500 rose 13.89 points, or 0.4%, to 3,855.36 as gains for influential Big Tech stocks were big enough to steady the index...
Budweiser joins Coke, Pepsi brands in sitting out Super Bowl
NEW YORK — For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all of its ad time to introduce a beer called Bud Light, the beer giant isn’t advertising its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, it’s donating the money it would have spent on the ad to...
Britain’s Boris Johnson presses Biden for new trade deal
WASHINGTON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made clear to President Joe Biden on Saturday that he’s eager to forge a new U.S.-U.K. trade deal. The push for a new deal came in a broad-ranging call between the two leaders that touched on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic...
Pennsylvania casinos saw revenue drop by $759 million in 2020, state reports
Pennsylvania casinos saw total revenues decrease by $759 million in 2020, a year plagued by the coronavirus pandemic that forced the properties to shutter for several months. According to a new report from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, $2.65 billion was generated last year from the state’s 13 casinos through...
Google threatens to pull search engine in Australia
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Google on Friday threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government went ahead with plans to make tech giants pay for news content. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison quickly hit back, saying “we don’t respond to threats.” “Australia makes our rules for...
Stocks slip on Wall Street as worldwide rally takes a pause
NEW YORK — Wall Street is tapping the brakes on its record-setting rally this week, as markets worldwide take a pause on Friday. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in afternoon trading, a day after inching up to its second straight all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down...
Stocks drift to mixed close; S&P 500 ekes out another record
NEW YORK — Stock indexes capped a day of choppy trading with a mixed finish Thursday, though solid gains by technology companies helped lift the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite to more record highs. The S&P 500 edged up less than 0.1%. Traders bid up shares in Big Tech stocks,...
U.S. jobless claims decline to a still-high 900,000
WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, lowering claims to 900,000, still a historically high level that points to further job cuts in a raging pandemic. The Labor Department’s report Thursday underscored that President Joe Biden has inherited an economy that faltered this winter as virus cases...
Amazon offers assist with U.S. covid vaccine distribution
SEATTLE — Amazon is offering its colossal operations network and advanced technologies to assist President Joe Biden in his vow to get 100 million covid-19 vaccinations to Americans in his first 100 days in office. “We are prepared to leverage our operations, information technology, and communications capabilities and expertise to...
NRA says it is ‘not afraid’ of New York lawsuit, will continue fight
The National Rifle Association of America is “not afraid” of a lawsuit threatening it with dissolution in New York and is prepared to proceed with the legal battle despite its bankruptcy filing, a lawyer for the group said in court. The gun rights group is “not in any way attempting...
Wall Street hits records as hopes build for more stimulus
NEW YORK — Wall Street marked the dawn of President Joe Biden’s administration with stocks rallying to record highs as hopes build that new leadership in Washington will mean more support for the struggling U.S. economy. The S&P 500 rose 1.4%, topping its previous all-time high set earlier this month....
GM teams up with Microsoft on driverless cars
SILVER SPRING, Md. — General Motors is teaming up with Microsoft to accelerate its rollout of electric, self-driving cars. In the partnership announced Tuesday, the companies said Microsoft’s Azure cloud and edge computing platform would be used to “commercialize its unique autonomous vehicle solutions at scale.” Microsoft joins General Motors,...
Wall Street’s momentum swings back as stocks, yields tick up
Wall Street kicked off a holiday-shortened week with broad gains for stocks Tuesday, as the market recovered most of its losses from last week. The S&P 500 gained 0.8%, pulling to within 1% of its record high set earlier this month. About 60% of the companies in the benchmark index...
Stores drop MyPillow after CEO pushes election conspiracies
The founder of MyPillow, a vocal and in the past few weeks very visible supporter of President Donald Trump, says a backlash against the company has begun after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol this month. Mike Lindell, the company CEO and also the face of the brand, said major...
Western Union bringing money transfer system to Walmart
Walmart customers will soon be able to use Western Union’s money transfer services at locations across the United States. Walmart announced today that Western Union’s services in its stores will include domestic and international money transfers, bill payments and money orders. Services will be offered at more than 4,700 Walmart...
Homebuilders hit a downdraft, land on Casualty List
Not every stock that gets whacked deserves it. Stocks may fall because of bad news that’s real but temporary. They may fall because a company sacrifices short-term profits for long-term benefits. They may fall because investors, moving as a herd, take a dislike to a particular industry. That’s why I...
