Business category, Page 229
U.S. manufacturing bounces back in June on reopenings
SILVER SPRING, Md. — U.S. manufacturing rebounded in June as major parts of the country opened back up, ending three months of contraction in the sector caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its manufacturing index rose to 52.6...
U.S. construction spending fell 2.1% in May
WASHINGTON — U.S. construction spending fell 2.1% in May with both home building and nonresidential activity declining. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday the May decline followed an even larger 3.5% fall in April. Construction spending was also down in March, falling 0.3%. The construction industry has been rocked by...
U.K. regulator urges reforms to curb Google, Facebook ad power
LONDON — British regulators want new rules to foster competition in digital advertising markets and rein in the industry’s dominant players, Google and Facebook. The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at the U.S. tech giants in a report Wednesday that recommends the British government adopt a new regulatory approach...
China takes measures against 4 U.S. media companiesVideo
BEIJING — China has demanded staff and business information from four U.S. media companies including the Associated Press in what it called a necessary response to similar demands by Washington on Chinese state-controlled news outlets. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian announced Wednesday that the AP, United Press International, CBS and...
Facebook bans violent ‘boogaloo’ groups, not the term itself
OAKLAND, Calif. — Facebook has banned an extremist anti-government network loosely associated with the broader “boogaloo” movement, a slang term supporters use to refer to a second Civil War or a collapse of civilization. But the platform didn’t try to name the group, underscoring the difficulty of grappling with an...
Wall Street tacks more onto its best quarter since 1998
Wall Street capped its best quarter since 1998 Tuesday with more gains, a fitting end to a stunning three months for investors as the market screamed back toward its record heights after a torrid plunge. The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%, bringing its gain for the quarter to nearly 20%. That...
John Dorfman: Biogen and Southwest are on the Casualty List
Texas opened its bars and then closed them again. Apple Inc. opened its stores and then re-shut 32 of them. Walt Disney Co. has postponed the reopening of its theme parks. These are just some of the hundreds of ripple effects from the pandemic. In a climate of rampant uncertainty,...
Reddit, Twitch clamp down Trumpist forums for hate speech
Reddit, an online comment forum that is one of the internet’s most popular websites, on Monday banned a forum that supported President-Donald Trump as part of a crackdown on hate speech. The Trump forum, called The_Donald, was banned because it encouraged violence, regularly broke other Reddit rules, and defiantly “antagonized”...
Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed
NEW YORK — Billions of dollars offered by Congress as a lifeline to small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic are about to be left on the table when a key government program stops accepting applications for loans. Business owners and advocacy groups complain that the money in the Paycheck...
Ford lets buyers return vehicles if they lose their job
Have you bought a new Ford and then lost your job? You can return it under a new program. On Monday the car company launched the Ford Promise program, which lets buyers who purchased or leased a vehicle through Ford’s finance arm to return the vehicle within the first year...
Gilead’s $2,340 price for coronavirus drug draws criticismVideo
The maker of a drug shown to shorten recovery time for severely ill covid-19 patients says it will charge $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries. Gilead Sciences announced the price Monday for remdesivir, and said...
Starbucks latest to say it will pause social media ads
Starbucks is the latest company to say it will pause social media ads after a campaign led by civil rights organizations called for an ad boycott of Facebook, saying it doesn’t do enough to stop racist and violent content. Starbucks said Sunday that its actions were not part of the...
Fracking pioneer Chesapeake files for bankruptcy protection
NEW YORK — Chesapeake Energy, a shale drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Oklahoma City-based company said Sunday that it was a necessary decision given its debt. Its debt load is currently nearing $9 billion. It...
Businesses weigh reopening — or closing again — as cases rise
It’s not the reopening businesses were hoping for. After months of shutdown, restaurants, stores and even amusement parks announced their reopening with fanfare. But now that states like Texas and Arizona are seeing alarming surges in reported cases of covid-19, businesses large and small must decide whether to keep their...
Facebook to label all rule-breaking posts – even Trump’s
OAKLAND, Calif. — Facebook said Friday that it will flag all “newsworthy” posts from politicians that break its rules, including those from President Donald Trump. Separately, Facebook’s stock dropped more than 8%, erasing roughly $50 billion from its market valuation, after the European company behind brands such as Ben &...
U.S. consumer spending up 8.2%, partly erasing record plunge
WASHINGTON — American consumers increased their spending by a record 8.2% in May, partly erasing record plunges the previous two months, against the backdrop of an economy that’s likely shrinking by its steepest pace on record this quarter. Last month’s rebound in consumer spending followed spending drops of 6.6% in...
Building at Jeannette Industrial Park to be renovated with $657K state grant
A $657,000 project to renovate an unoccupied building at Jeannette Industrial Park was approved Thursday by the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. TBI Contracting of McKeesport was awarded the contract, according to an announcement. Workers will install energy-efficient interior lighting, add insulation, replace the floor and doors, add a women’s...
Stocks sink as virus cases jump, forcing states to backtrack
Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street Friday as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in the U.S. hit an all-time high, stoking worries among investors that the reopening of businesses they are banking on to revive the economy will be derailed. The S&P 500 slid 2%, giving up all...
Families of 3 deceased workers sue Tyson over Iowa outbreak
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The families of three workers who died after contracting the coronavirus in an Iowa meat plant outbreak sued Tyson Foods and its top executives Thursday, saying the company knowingly put employees at risk and lied to keep them on the job. The lawsuit alleges that Tyson...
California to vote on 1st-in-US electric truck sales rule
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California regulators approved new rules on Thursday that would force automakers to sell more electric work trucks and delivery vans, a first-of-its-kind rule aimed at helping the nation’s most populous state clean up its worst-in-the-nation air quality. The rules require a certain percentage of work truck sales...
Banks lead gains for stocks on Wall Street in jumpy trading
Financial companies led stocks broadly higher on Wall Street Thursday as traders welcomed news that the Federal Reserve and other regulators are removing some limits on the ability of banks to make investments. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% following a jumpy day of trading. At one point, the index was...
Chuck E Cheese files for bankruptcy as pandemic takes a bite
NEW YORK — Chuck E Cheese, the restaurant chain that became a Mecca for children and a crucible for many of their parents, is filing for bankruptcy protection. CEC Entertainment Inc. has reopened 266 of its 612 company-operated Chuck E Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza restaurants, but did not elaborate...
Macy’s cuts corporate headcount by 3,900 as virus takes toll
NEW YORK — Macy’s said Thursday it’s laying off 3,900 people corporate staffers, roughly 3% of its overall workforce, as the pandemic takes a financial toll on the iconic department store chain’s sales and profits. The company said in a release that the headcount reduction will save the company $630...
U.S. GDP fell at 5% rate in 1st quarter; worse is likely on the way
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank at a 5.0% rate in the first quarter with a much worse decline expected in the current three-month economic period, which will show what happened when the pandemic began spread across the U.S. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the decline in the gross...
Bayer paying up to $10.9B to settle Monsanto weedkiller case
BERLIN — Bayer will pay up to $10.9 billion to settle litigation over the subsidiary Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, which has faced thousands of lawsuits over claims it causes cancer, the German-based company said Wednesday. Bayer said it was also paying up $1.22 billion to settle two additional areas of intense...
