Business category, Page 16
Retail sales up 0.6% in August from July even as tariffs hurt jobs, lead to price hikes
NEW YORK — Shoppers increased their spending at a better-than-expected pace in August from July, helped by back-to-school shopping, even as President Donald Trump’s tariffs start to hurt the job market and lead to price increases. Retail sales rose 0.6% last month from July, when sales were up a revised...
Orr’s Jewelers leaving Squirrel Hill for Strip District bustle
Orr’s Jewelers is closing its Squirrel Hill store after more than two decades and opening a new one in the Strip District to capitalize on the neighborhood’s rapid redevelopment. The 10,000 square-foot Strip District shop will open by the end of the year in a converted warehouse on the 1600...
New bill seeks ‘commonsense’ curbs on Pittsburgh vape shops to protect kids
Pittsburgh officials are considering new restrictions on vape shops in an effort to limit kids’ exposure to stores selling nicotine and CBD. The measure, introduced to City Council on Tuesday, would not allow new vape shops to open within 1,500 feet of elementary or secondary schools, licensed daycare facilities, religious...
Costco recalls Prosecco because bottles could shatter without warning
Costco is recalling bottles of store brand Prosecco because they could shatter without warning. In a notice on the company’s website Tuesday, Costco said the recall affects Kirkland Signature Prosecco Valdobbiadene purchased between April 25 and August 26. The affected bottles were sold in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota,...
Dorfman: Company execs remain skittish about buying own shares
This column frequently tracks insider buys by companies’ chief executives. Lately, they are scarce. Executives normally sell more shares than they buy because their cup is periodically refilled via stock-option grants. Over the past 21 years, according to Gurufocus.com, dollar volume for buys has usually run about 34% of the...
Senate approves White House economist to serve on Fed board
WASHINGTON — The Senate has approved one of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers for a seat on the Federal Reserve’s governing board, giving the White House greater influence over the central bank just two days before it is expected to vote in favor of reducing its key interest rate....
Appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to unseat Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook ahead of rate vote
WASHINGTON — An appeals court ruled Monday that Lisa Cook can remain a Federal Reserve governor, rebuffing President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove her just ahead of a key vote on interest rates. The Trump administration is expected to quickly turn to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch bid to...
DEP gives preliminary nod to $10B Homer City plant, environmental group sounds alarm
State environmental regulators say they intend to approve an air quality plan for a proposed natural gas-fired power plant near Homer City, despite concerns from an environmental group that the facility would become the largest air polluter in Pennsylvania. The Department of Environmental Protection said the air quality plan submitted...
Trump again calls to end quarterly earnings reports, hitting corporate fault line
President Donald Trump again called for an end to quarterly earnings reports, tapping into a long-running fault line in American capitalism over how much information should be disclosed by public companies. In a social media post on Monday, Trump echoed comments he made during his first term to end the...
Shipping companies support a 1st-ever global fee on greenhouse gases, opposed by Trump officials
Nearly 200 shipping companies said Monday they want the world’s largest maritime nations to adopt regulations that include the first-ever global fee on greenhouse gases to reduce their sector’s emissions. The Getting to Zero Coalition, an alliance of companies, governments and intergovernmental organizations, is asking member states of the International...
U.S., China reach a framework deal for the ownership of TikTok
A framework deal has been reached between China and the U.S. for the ownership of popular social video platform TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after trade talks this weekend in Spain. Bessent said in a press conference after the latest round of trade talks between the world’s two...
The Fed faces economic uncertainty and political pressure as it decides whether to cut rates
WASHINGTON — In a sign of how unusual this week’s Federal Reserve meeting is, the decision it will make on interest rates — usually the main event — is just one of the key unknowns to be resolved when officials gather Tuesday and Wednesday. For now, it’s not even clear...
FAA seeks $3.1 million in fines from Boeing over safety violations, 2024 midair panel blowout
The Federal Aviation Administration is seeking $3.1 million in fines from Boeing over safety violations, including ones related to an Alaska Airlines jetliner losing a door plug panel on its fuselage in midflight. The proposed penalty is for safety violations that occurred from September 2023 through February 2024, the FAA...
Boeing workers reject their latest contract offer, extending strike at 3 Midwest plants
Another contract proposal has been rejected by Boeing workers who now have been on strike for nearly six weeks from three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed. The vote on Friday refusing the latest proposal sends the workers back to the picket lines, according to the union...
BNY AI lab coming to Carnegie Mellon as $10M investment in on-campus research
Bank of New York Mellon is creating an artificial intelligence lab at Carnegie Mellon University as part of a $10 million investment into research and recruiting at the school. The partnership was unveiled Thursday just before the start of Pittsburgh’s AI Horizons Summit, a two-day event for government and industry...
Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumps 29% following Ellison takeover report
Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumped more than 25% on Thursday after a report that the Larry Ellison-backed Paramount was preparing a cash bid to buy the company that owns HBO, CNN and the Warner Bros. studio. The Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners acquired Paramount last month, and has signaled...
Trump administration requests emergency ruling to remove Lisa Cook from Fed board
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. The request represents an extraordinary effort by the White House to shape the board before the Fed’s interest...
Rising inflation and a deteriorating job market puts the Fed and Americans in a difficult spot
WASHINGTON — Inflation rose last month as the price of gas, groceries and airfares jumped while new data showed applications for unemployment aid soared, putting the Federal Reserve in an increasingly tough spot as it prepares to cut rates at its meeting next week despite persistent price pressures. Consumer prices...
Inflation likely rose last month as Trump’s sweeping tariffs boost goods prices
WASHINGTON — U.S. inflation likely ticked higher last month as the Trump administration’s import taxes have lifted the price of goods, potentially putting the Federal Reserve in a tough spot when it meets next week. Economists forecast that consumer prices rose 2.9% in August from a year earlier, according to...
South Korea says charter plane carrying South Korean workers will leave Atlanta on Thursday
FOLKSTON, Ga. — A South Korean charter plane arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday to take home Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia last week. Its planned return the same day was canceled, and South Korea’s Foreign Ministry later said the flight would take place at noon Thursday,...
Musk loses crown as world’s richest to software giant Larry Ellison in new Bloomberg ranking
NEW YORK — Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday, according to wealth tracker Bloomberg, as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. A college dropout, the 81-year-old...
U.S. supply chain prices unexpectedly fell 0.1% in August
WASHINGTON — U.S. producer prices fell unexpectedly last month, dropping 0.1% from July. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which captures inflation in the supply chain before it hits consumers — showed that wholesale inflation decelerated in August after advancing 0.7% in July. Wholesale services...
Westmoreland airport authority ‘strong about Spirit’ while staying in touch with other carriers
Westmoreland County Airport Authority officials say they’ll stick with Spirit for commercial flights at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport although the budget carrier is headed into cloudy skies with its second bankruptcy declaration in less than a year. Spirit initially sought bankruptcy protection in November and emerged from Chapter 11 in...
Court rules Lisa Cook can remain a Fed governor for now while fighting Trump’s attempt to fire her
WASHINGTON — A federal court ruled Tuesday that embattled Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire her. The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over...
U.S. Steel to end steel production at Illinois plant but no layoffs
HARRISBURG — U.S. Steel will stop processing steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in Illinois, three months after Nippon Steel sealed a deal with President Donald Trump to buy the iconic American steelmaker by giving the government a say over decisions that affect domestic steel production. U.S. Steel...
