Business category, Page 64

LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell for the fourth month in a row in September, held back by surging mortgage rates and a thin supply of properties on the market. Existing home sales fell 2% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of...

HELSINKI — Telecom gear maker Nokia said Thursday that it is planning to cut up to 14,000 jobs worldwide, or 16% of its workforce, as part of a push to reduce costs following a plunge in third-quarter sales and profit. The Finnish wireless and fixed-network equipment provider said the planned...

Over the summer, Swifties were willing to shell out notoriously high prices to get a seat at the Taylor Swift “Eras Tour.” Now, Uncle Sam wants to collect on those who resold their tickets on online marketplaces. This year, the Internal Revenue Service is requiring third-party businesses, like Ticketmaster, StubHub...

A year into a tumultuous strike, negotiations between journalists and workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and management remain at a standstill. Journalists are tired and frustrated, management isn’t budging, and no date is set for a looming decision on a labor ruling that could change the course of the lengthy...

Rite Aid Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, lost little time in announcing its plans to shutter nine stores in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Stores on the closing list are ones on Stevenson Boulevard in New Kensington; Route 22 in Murrysville; Route 30 in Hempfield; Library Road in Bethel Park;...

LONDON — Elon Musk’s social media platform X has begun charging a $1 fee to new users in the Philippines and New Zealand, in a test designed to cut down on the spam and fake accounts flourishing on the site formerly known as Twitter. The company said late Tuesday that...

After five years in Sharpsburg, the pet shop Sara’s Pets and Plants has closed its doors. But the nonprofit rescue associated with the store will continue its mission to aid exotic animals and place them in loving homes. Owner Sara Smith said the cost of operating the for-profit shop became...

PNC Financial Services Group remains “stable,” following a recent announcement of layoffs and other cuts to expenses, according to credit analyst group Fitch Ratings. An issuer default rating is an assessment of how vulnerable an institution is to defaulting on financial obligations. Fitch Ratings held the bank’s long-term and short-term...

WASHINGTON — The IRS plans to invite select taxpayers across 13 states to try out the agency’s pilot electronic free file tax return system beginning in January. The agency estimates that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers will participate in the limited rollout of the program for the 2024 filing season....

The question before Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Tuesday wasn’t whether UPMC should be allowed to build a hospital in Jefferson Hills. The Pittsburgh-based health care giant proposing the controversial project told the court it isn’t anywhere near that discussion yet. Instead, the only question now — five years into the...

Rite Aid’s plan to close more stores as part of its bankruptcy process could hurt access to medicine and care, particularly in some majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in rural areas, experts say. The drugstore chain said late Sunday that its voluntary Chapter 11 process will allow it to...

Reese’s may be in violation of state and federal laws with its new sweepstakes offer currently advertised on packs of peanut butter cups. The promotion on two-cup packages reads “You could win $25,000” and, in smaller print, “See details inside.” But only after consumers have bought and opened a package...

NEW YORK — Americans kept spending in September at a solid pace even as they grappled with higher prices and interest rates. Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, more than twice what economists had expected, and close to a a revised 0.8% bump in August, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday....

NEW YORK — Bank of America posted a 10% rise in third quarter profits Tuesday, helped by higher interest rates that allowed the bank to charge more for loans at the same time that it kept expenses under control. However, CEO Brian Moynihan warned Tuesday that Americans continue to slow...

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford on Monday called on autoworkers to come together to end a monthlong strike that he says could cost the company the ability to invest in the future. In a rare speech coming during contract talks in the company’s hometown of Dearborn,...

PHILADELPHIA — Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell part of its business as it attempts to restructure while dealing with losses and opioid-related lawsuits. The company said Rite Aid stores will continue to fill prescriptions, and customers will still be able to visit its locations...

If government regulators prevail against Google in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century, it’s likely to unleash drastic changes that will undermine the dominance of a search engine that defines the internet for billions of people. As the 10-week trial probing Google’s business practices nears its midway...

Robert Megela goes out of his way to recycle — about 17 miles out of his way. Megela, 70, of Penn Township will drive from his home to the Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling Center in Pleasant Unity to drop off used glass items, which are not collected by the township’s...

Leechburg has taken recycling into its own hands. The Kiski River town in Armstrong County operates its own recycling center with an all-volunteer staff of about a dozen dedicated people from the Leechburg, Apollo and Allegheny Township areas, said Leechburg Council President Tom Foster. And it has been doing it...

On top of the former steel mill along the Monongahela River, a couple of thousand lives are thriving. And buzzing. To keep an eye on them, one must climb a ladder to the roof and duck beneath a dozen or so steel I-beams that crisscross the top of the 1,200-foot-long...

NEW YORK — Best Buy is saying goodbye to movie-watching with physical discs. The consumer electronics retailer plans to phase out its DVD and Blu-ray sales by early 2024 — with physical movies set to be sold in-stores and online as they are today through the holidays, Best Buy confirmed...

United States domestic oil production hit an all-time high last week, contrasting with efforts to slice heat-trapping carbon emissions by the Biden administration and world leaders. And it conflicts with oft-repeated Republican talking points of a Biden “war on American energy.” The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported...

PNC Financial Services Group said it will cut its workforce by 4% by year’s end as it looks to pare down expenses. The move is expected to slash costs by $325 million in 2024, the Downtown Pittsburgh-based bank said on its third-quarter earnings call Friday. PNC did not specify what...

Microsoft has completed its acquisition of video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, closing one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history that could have repercussions across the video game industry. The notice that the deal has gone through came seven hours after Microsoft got final approval from Britain’s...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Clean-energy projects in seven states from Pennsylvania to California have been selected by the Biden administration for a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel, a key component of President Joe Biden’s agenda to slow climate change. His goal is to establish seven...