Business category, Page 155
Sheryl Sandberg, longtime No. 2 executive at Facebook, steps down
SAN FRANCISCO — Sheryl Sandberg, the No. 2 executive at Facebook owner Meta, is stepping down, according to a post Wednesday on her Facebook page. Sandberg has served as chief operating officer at the social media giant for 14 years. She joined from Google in 2008, four years before Facebook...
Pittsburgh area added jobs in April, but still below pre-pandemic levels
The Pittsburgh area economy added about 19,000 nonfarm jobs in April, a bright spot in a seven-county marketplace that has added 173,000 jobs during the past two years, but remains about 52,000 jobs shy of its pre-pandemic levels , according to state data. “This shows weakness in the market,” said...
Highmark reports $150M net loss in 1st quarter, citing market volatility, inflation
Highmark Health reported a net loss of $150 million in the first quarter of 2022, driven by losses from the company’s stock market portfolio and increased costs at the company’s large hospital system, Allegheny Health Network. Financial reports released by Highmark showed the company brought in $6.4 billion in revenue...
Stocks slip on Wall Street as messy May comes to a close
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are slipping in midday trading on Tuesday, as Wall Street nears the end of a tumultuous month, bruised by worries about a possible recession, inflation and rising interest rates. The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower, after briefly erasing all of an earlier drop of 1.3%...
Air travelers face cancellations over Memorial Day weekend
Airline travelers are not only facing sticker shock this Memorial Day weekend, the kickoff to the summer travel season. They’re also dealing with a pileup of flight cancellations. More than 1,200 flights were canceled as of 2 p.m EST Saturday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. That followed more than...
Wall Street breaks 7-week losing streak, longest since 2001
Technology companies led a broad rally for stocks Friday as Wall Street notched its best week in 18 months. The gain broke a seven-week losing streak for the market, the longest such stretch since 2001. The S&P 500 rose 2.5% and finished 6.6% higher for the week, its best weekly...
Better results from retailers help send stock market higherVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly higher Thursday on Wall Street as investors cheered a strong set of quarterly results from Macy’s and other retailers. The S&P 500 rose 2% and is on pace for its first weekly gain after seven straight losses, its longest such stretch since 2001. The...
Broadcom to buy VMware for $61 billion in record chip deal
Broadcom Inc. agreed to buy cloud-computing company VMware Inc. for about $61 billion, sealing one of the largest technology deals in history and advancing the chipmaker’s quest to become a force in corporate software. VMware shareholders can choose to receive either $142.50 in cash or 0.2520 shares of Broadcom stock...
Housing supply squeeze finally begins to ease
During the record-breaking housing boom of the past two years, a drastic under-supply of homes for sale has bedeviled buyers and delighted sellers. Now, the squeeze is slowly easing — a shift that could mark the start of a much-anticipated cooling of the white-hot housing market. The abnormal conditions of...
Fewer Americans apply for jobless benefits last week
WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week with the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits already near five-decade lows. Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 8,000 to 210,000 for the week ending May 21, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications are generally representative of the number...
Fed officials signal rates may head to ‘restrictive’ levels
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials agreed when they met earlier this month that they might have to raise interest rates to levels that would weaken the economy as part of their drive to curb inflation, which has reached a four-decade high. At the same time, many of the policymakers also...
Student loan forgiveness unlikely to boost the economy
The Biden administration has been considering a plan to cancel at least $10,000 of federal student-loan debt. President Biden promised something of the sort during the 2020 presidential campaign. And with about 45 million current and former students carrying $1.76 trillion in debt, some sort of debt forgiveness is appealing...
Pittsburgh-based Locomation showcases self-driving truck technology
Pittsburgh-based Locomation, a company developing self-driving trucks, touted its technology Monday when they invited state leaders to tour its Lawrenceville facility. Department of Community and Economic Development Acting Secretary Neil Weaver and Deputy Secretary of Technology and Innovation Steve D’Ettorre visited the site, which has been supported by Gov. Tom...
John Dorfman: Time to weed your holdings, upgrade your portfolio
With the stock market down 18% from its peak as of May 20, now is a good time for a portfolio upgrade. You can weed out losing holdings and get a tax deduction on your 2020 tax return. With the proceeds, you can buy first-rate replacements at prices well off...
Wall Street ends higher following 7 straight weeks of losses
NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly higher Monday, an upbeat start to the week on Wall Street after seven weeks of declines that nearly ended the bull market that began in March 2020. The S&P 500 rose 1.9%, with technology and financial sector stocks doing much of the heavy lifting...
Starbucks leaving Russian market, shutting 130 stores
Starbucks is pulling out of the Russian market. In a memo to employees Monday, the Seattle coffee giant said it decided to close its 130 stores and no longer have a brand presence in Russia. Starbucks said it will continue to pay its nearly 2,000 Russian employees for six months...
GOP directs culture war fury toward green investing trend
SALT LAKE CITY — Republicans are coming out swinging against Wall Street’s growing efforts to consider factors like long-term environmental risk in investment decisions, the latest indication that the GOP is willing to damage its relationship with big business to score culture war points. Many are targeting a concept known...
Wall Street nears bear market at the end of a bruising week
Another drop for stocks on Friday has pushed the S&P 500 index 20% below its peak set early this year. The benchmark index was down 2% for the day in early afternoon trading and on pace for its seventh straight losing week. Rising interest rates, high inflation, the war in...
Economics 101: What rising interest rates, inflation mean for you
The price of just about everything has gone up. Inflation, the rate at which prices rise in the economy, is the worst it’s been in 40 years. The Federal Reserve, the central bank for the U.S. — more commonly known as the Fed — announced earlier this month that it...
New Twitter policy aims to pierce fog of war misinformation
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is stepping up its fight against misinformation with a new policy cracking down on posts that spread potentially dangerous false stories. The change is part of a broader effort to promote accurate information during times of conflict or crisis. Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer...
Fed nominee Michael Barr calls inflation ‘far too high’
WASHINGTON — Michael Barr, President Joe Biden’s pick to be the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator, pledged Thursday to help reduce high inflation and provide “clear rules” to govern financial innovation. “I would be strongly committed to bringing down inflation to the Federal Reserve’s target” of 2%, Barr said in...
Wall Street edges lower, stabilizing a day after big drop
NEW YORK — Another volatile day on Wall Street ended with more losses for stocks Thursday, drawing the S&P 500 closer to its first bear market since the beginning of the pandemic. The index, a benchmark for many funds, fell 0.6% after easing off a deeper stumble. The latest decline...
Stocks fall sharply as Target’s woes renew inflation fears
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,100 points and the S&P 500 had its biggest drop in nearly two years Wednesday, as big earnings misses by Target and other major retailers stoked investors’ fears that surging inflation could cut deeply into corporate profits. The broad...
Musk wars with Twitter over his buyout deal – on Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that taking over Twitter would enable him to rid the social media platform of its annoying “spam bots.” Now he’s arguing — without presenting any evidence — that there might be just too many of those automated accounts for the $44 billion deal to move...
Prosecutors: NYC investment adviser blamed in $5B fraud
NEW YORK — Bus drivers, subway conductors and religious and charitable organizations nationwide were among victims when fraud speeded the downfall of private investment funds once worth $11 billion, causing a loss of $5 billion for investors, authorities said Tuesday. Additional details were expected to be released at a news...
