Business category, Page 223
Stocks start September off with more gains, led by techVideo
Wall Street kicked off September with another set of milestones Tuesday, as an afternoon rally carried the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite to all-time highs. The S&P 500 bounced back from a modest loss in the early going to finish 0.8% higher a day after the benchmark index wrapped up...
Apple, Google build virus-tracing tech directly into phones
Apple and Google are trying to get more U.S. states to adopt their phone-based approach for tracing and curbing the spread of the coronavirus by building more of the necessary technology directly into phone software. That could make it much easier for people to get it on their phone even...
Survey: U.S. factories grow in August for 3rd straight monthVideo
WASHINGTON — American factories expanded last month at the fastest pace since late 2018, continuing a rebound from the coronavirus recession. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, reported Tuesday that its manufacturing index climbed to 56 in August from 54.2 in July, highest since November 2018....
Samsung touts $2,000 foldable phone as a ‘VIP’ experienceVideo
SAN RAMON, Calif. — Samsung’s second attempt at a foldable smartphone will come with a $2,000 price tag and a few elite perks aimed at affluent consumers still able to afford the finer things in life during tough times. The phone, dubbed the Z Fold2, will include a VIP package...
15 years later, Walmart to launch its answer to Amazon Prime
NEW YORK — Walmart is launching a new membership service that it hopes can compete with Amazon Prime. Called Walmart+, it will cost $98 a year, or $12.95 a month, and give members same-day delivery on 160,000 items, a fuel discount at certain gas stations and a chance to check...
GM, Ford complete U.S. contracts to build ventilators
DETROIT — General Motors says it has finished making 30,000 medical breathing machines for the U.S. government to help treat coronavirus patients. The Department of Health and Human Services contracted with GM to build the ventilators at a converted auto electronics plant in Kokomo, Indiana, at a cost of $489.4...
Trump administration finalizes coal plant pollution rollback
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Trump administration on Monday finalized its weakening of an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing polluted wastewater from coal-burning power plants that has contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers The change will allow utilities to use cheaper technologies and take longer to comply with pollution reduction guidelines...
Amazon wins FAA approval to deliver packages by drone
NEW YORK — Getting an Amazon package delivered from the sky is closer to becoming a reality. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it had granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones. Amazon said that the approval is an “important step,” but added that it is still testing and...
MGM Resorts plans to lay off 18,000 workers
MGM Resorts is laying off 18,000 people as an unchecked pandemic leaves economic scars across a broad swath of U.S. industries, particularly those that rely on healthy crowds of people. MGM furloughed 62,000 of its 70,000 employees when casinos in Nevada were forced to close on March 17. Many of...
Bankruptcy looming for parent company of Westmoreland, Monroeville malls
After months of struggling to regain lost revenues after foot traffic was essentially choked off at malls across the country, mall owner CBL Properties announced a restructuring plan that could lead to a bankruptcy filing in the coming months. The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company, which owns Monroeville and Westmoreland malls, is...
S&P 500 notches this year’s longest weekly winning streakVideo
NEW YORK — The gains keep piling up on Wall Street, and the S&P 500 rallied again on Friday to close out its fifth straight winning week. The benchmark index rose 23.46, or 0.7%, to 3,508.01, setting another record high and several more superlatives. It was the seventh straight day...
Hempfield paves way for Menards home improvement store
Hempfield supervisors cleared the way for a new home improvement store in the township. Menards, a Wisconsin-based chain, is slated to occupy the site where the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center stands near Westmoreland Mall. While specific details for the project were not available, Patrick Karnash, director...
Stocks climb after Fed says rates may stay low for longer
NEW YORK — Stocks edged further into record heights on Wall Street Thursday after the Federal Reserve made a major overhaul to its strategy, one that could keep interest rates low for longer. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% after earlier veering through a jumbled day of trading. Prices for stocks,...
U.S. rolls out free app for alerts on vehicle recalls
DETROIT — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is offering a smartphone app that will alert drivers if their vehicles are recalled. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was scheduled to roll out the free app for both Android and Apple phones Thursday. Owners key in or scan their 17-digit...
More than 1 million Americans file for unemployment, againVideo
WASHINGTON — Just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten jobs even as the housing market, auto sales and other segments of the economy rebound from a springtime collapse. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of...
U.S. economy plunged an annualized 31.7% in 2nd quarterVideo
BALTIMORE — The U.S. economy shrank at an alarming annual rate of 31.7% during the April-June quarter as it struggled under the weight of the viral pandemic, the government estimated Thursday. It was the sharpest quarterly drop on record. The Commerce Department downgraded its earlier estimate of the U.S. gross...
More blowout profit from tech companies push S&P 500 higher
More blowout profit reports from big tech companies are pushing the S&P 500 toward another record Wednesday. The benchmark index was up 0.8% in afternoon trading, even though most of the stocks within it were falling. Technology stocks accounted for the lion’s share of the gains, outweighing losses in health...
Orders for big-ticket US manufactured goods jumped 11.2%
WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods jumped 11.2% in July, the third consecutive monthly gain. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the July advance followed a 7.7% increase in June. The July increase was led by a strong advance in the volatile transportation sector, which was...
Excela hires new chief operating officer
Sixteen months after a shake-up in the top leadership at Greensburg-based Excela Health, the health care system has a new chief operating officer. Jeffrey A. Tiesi, a Bethel Park native who was the senior vice president and chief operating officer at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., has been...
Facebook to pay $125 million in back taxes to France
PARIS — Facebook’s French subsidiary has agreed to pay $125 million in back taxes and penalties following persistent government efforts to get online giants to pay more taxes where they make their money. The agreement came after French tax authorities carried out an extensive audit of a decade of Facebook’s...
TikTok sues Trump over his pending order to ban its app
NEW YORK — Video app TikTok is suing the Trump Administration over its efforts to ban the popular Chinese-owned service over national-security concerns. TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, insisted Monday that it is not a national-security threat and that the government is acting without evidence or due process....
U.S. stocks join global rally amid covid treatment hopesVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks are climbing on Wall Street Monday, adding to their record-breaking run from last week. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% in midday trading, following up on solid gains for stock markets across much of Europe and Asia. The S&P 500 pushed further into record territory after...
Jim Bakker gets PPP loans during legal fight on fraud claims
When the U.S. government extended pandemic hardship loans to thousands of religious institutions, Jim Bakker and Morningside USA, his ministry in Blue Eye, Mo., were among the most high-profile recipients. On April 28, the pastor received approval for an amount between $650,000 and $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds....
‘Road to recovery’: Dealers say car sales brisk across Pittsburgh region
After the mid-March economic shutdown to halt the spread of covid-19, Paul Schimizzi didn’t know what to expect when his auto dealership reopened in May. “I didn’t know if we were going to sell 50 cars,” the president of Hillview Motors in Hempfield said. Instead, the dealership sold substantially more...
AP: U.S. faces back-to-school laptop shortage
SAN FRANCISCO — Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found. The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP...
