Business category, Page 283
Stocks inch up on conflicting U.S. economic data, Fed remarks
U.S. stock indexes edged higher in afternoon trading Tuesday as investors weighed conflicting reports on how the U.S. economy is doing and remarks by the head of the Federal Reserve. Gains in technology and communications companies helped lift the market after a mid-afternoon slide, outweighing losses in health care and...
Women leaders are redefining businessesVideo
There was never any question that Mona Pappafava-Ray and Lori V. Albright would follow in the footsteps of their fathers. While the tool-and-die business has always been a male-dominated space, the two women — both of whom worked in their fathers’ shops right out of school — have emerged as...
U.S. appeals court clears AT&T’s $81B merger with Time Warner
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner, rejecting the Trump administration’s claims that the $81 billion deal will harm consumers and reduce competition in the pay TV market. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington came Tuesday in the high-stakes...
Fiat Chrysler to add 6,500 jobs in Detroit area with $4.5B investment
DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday announced a $4.5 billion investment plan it said would increase its workforce in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs by about 6,500 jobs to build all-new or next-generation SUVs. Under the plan, the company said it would reopen a shuttered engine plant in the city...
FBI seeks businesses that may have fallen victim to insurance scheme
The FBI is looking nationwide for businesses that may have fallen victim to an insurance and fraud scheme, according to a news release. In January, the American Labor Alliance and two of its executives were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail...
Another ceasefire: Can the U.S. and China end their trade war?
WASHINGTON — Relief swept across world financial markets Monday after President Donald Trump pushed back a March 2 deadline in a trade dispute with China. But the respite might not last. The world’s two biggest economies have squared off over Beijing’s aggressive campaign to turn Chinese companies into world leaders...
Your phone could soon recognize you based on how you move or walk
Within 18 months, your phone may be able to identify you based on the gait of your walk, the tension in your hand or the way your thumb moves across the touch screen. That’s the Pentagon’s plan: It’s in the final phase of testing technology that will reduce smartphone users’...
SEC wants Tesla CEO Elon Musk held in contempt for tweeting
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweeting habits have triggered another legal challenge from stock market regulators worried about him using his Twitter account to mislead investors. The latest dust-up emerged late Monday when the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal court in New York to hold Musk...
John Dorfman: Williams-Sonoma and Movado at inflection point
If you want an edge in investing, one path is to find companies whose stocks are cheap but whose profits are improving. I went hunting for some this weekend, and found a few, including Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSM) and Movado Group Inc. (MOV). To qualify for consideration in today’s column, a...
Driverless vehicles the subject of tech talk in Pittsburgh
An engineering association will hold its first meetup Tuesday for a discussion with industry leaders on self-driving vehicles. Scheduled speakers include Sterling Anderson, Aurora Innovation co-founder, and Tara Andringa, coalition manager for Partners for Automated Vehicle Education, or PAVE, an alliance of industry, nonprofit and academic institutions formed to educate...
Stocks rise broadly after Trump postpones tariff increase
NEW YORK — Stocks moved broadly higher on Wall Street after President Donald Trump agreed to hold off on raising tariffs on Chinese goods, which would have escalated a damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Investors had been growing increasingly optimistic over the last two weeks that...
Warren Buffett praises potential successors, but he has no plans to retire
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the economy continues growing although the rate of improvement has slowed, and the ongoing U.S. trade dispute remains a concern. Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday after releasing his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders over the weekend. “Right now things look fine,” said...
Warren Buffett praises potential successors, but no plans to retire
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett says two potential successors earned roughly $18 million each last year managing Berkshire Hathaway’s dozens of operating companies. Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday after releasing his annual letter to shareholders over the weekend. Buffett says Greg Abel and Ajit Jain have both done a great...
Pittsburgh might not be as hard-working as you think
Lazy bunch of … Pittsburghers, according to a study from WalletHub, are the 103rd hardest-working group in the United States. Say it a different way: Pittsburghers don’t really work that hard. Hang on a second. Pittsburgh? Not hard-working? That has to be wrong, right? Pittsburgh is as blue-collar as it...
China’s Huawei unveils 5G phone with folding screen
BARCELONA, Spain — China’s Huawei unveiled a new folding-screen phone on Sunday, joining the latest trend for bendable devices as it challenges the global smartphone market’s dominant players, Apple and Samsung. Huawei revealed its Mate X phone on the eve of MWC Barcelona, a four-day showcase of mobile devices, as...
Ground-breaking electric Chevrolet Volt runs out of juice
DETROIT — As their company was swirling around the financial drain in the early 2000s, General Motors executives came up with an idea to counter its gas-guzzling image and point the way to transportation of the future: an electric car with a gas-engine backup that could travel anywhere. At Detroit’s...
EU says it’s ready to hit back if U.S. imposes car tariffs
BUCHAREST, Romania — A European Union official says “there is full support” from member states to hit back if President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on cars and car parts. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said EU trade ministers had discussed the bloc’s trading relationship with Washington during an informal meeting...
Stocks climb, giving S&P 500 its 4th straight weekly gain
Technology and health care companies led U.S. stocks higher Friday, erasing some of the market’s losses from a day earlier and giving the benchmark S&P 500 its fourth straight weekly gain. The broad rally came as investors grew hopeful that the latest round of talks between the U.S. and China...
Kraft Heinz plunges near record low on $15.4 billion writedown
Kraft Heinz Co. recorded a $15.4 billion non-cash charge to write down assets including some of its most well-known brands, a striking acknowledgment that changing consumer tastes have destroyed the value of some of the company’s most iconic products. The packaged food giant’s charge to reduce the goodwill value of...
Trump challenges U.S. companies to speed up work on 5G networks
President Donald Trump challenged U.S. telecommunications companies on Thursday to boost their efforts to build advanced networks and said leadership should come from competition, not by blocking competitors. “American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind,” Trump tweeted. “There is no reason that we should be lagging...
‘Ugly produce’ trend may have limits, as grocers end tests
URBANDALE, Iowa — Is the “ugly produce’” trend already reaching the end of its shelf life in supermarkets? Walmart and Whole Foods in recent years tried selling some blemished fruits and vegetables at a discount, produce they said might otherwise be trashed because it’s not quite the right size, shape...
The Home Depot hiring 700 workers for Pittsburgh-area stores
The Home Depot says it is hiring 700 employees in the Pittsburgh area in preparation for spring, its busiest selling season. Hiring events are being held at several Pittsburgh area stores until 7 p.m. Thursday. Candidates are encouraged to apply online at prior to attending the event, but walk-ins also...
U.S. home sales tumbled 1.2 percent in January
WASHINGTON — U.S. home sales fell 1.2 percent in January to their worst pace in more than three years, as persistent affordability problems have put a harsh chill in the real estate market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of existing homes declined 1.2 percent to a...
Nestlé, AT&T pull YouTube ads over pedophile concerns
Several companies, including AT&T and Nestlé, are pulling advertisements from YouTube over concerns about inappropriate comments on videos of children. A video from a popular YouTuber and a report from Wired showed that pedophiles have made unseemly comments on innocuous videos of kids. The comments reportedly included timestamps that showed...
America’s shale boom keeps rolling even as wildcatters save cash
America’s surging shale oil production shows little sign of abating, despite industrywide spending cuts, as explorers learn to do more with less. Almost all the independent producers have reduced their budgets for 2019, but many still expect to deliver double-digit growth in production this year, fourth-quarter earnings reports show. Growth...
