Business category, Page 160
Highmark Health reports $174M in net losses during first half of the year
Pittsburgh-based health care giant Highmark Health on Tuesday reported a net loss of $174 million during the first six months of the year, driven by steep investment losses. Highmark Health reported $12.9 billion in revenue during the first half of the year, up 25% over the same period a year...
Musk cites whistleblower as new reason to exit Twitter deal
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter lobbed more accusations at each other Tuesday in the latest round of legal filings over Musk’s efforts to rescind his offer to buy the social media platform. Musk filed more paperwork in his bid to terminate the deal, this time based on information in...
John Dorfman: As the Fed tightens, what stocks may do well
He wasn’t kidding. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, said Friday that the Fed’s Open Markets Committee will “use our tools forcefully,” and keep raising interest rates until inflation comes down. This is “no place to stop or pause,” he said. Investors winced, and stocks tumbled. The so-called...
LG, Honda to set up U.S. joint venture to make EV batteries
TOKYO — Major South Korean battery maker LG and Japanese automaker Honda are investing $4.4 billion in a joint venture in the United States to produce batteries for Honda electric vehicles in the North American market, the two companies said Monday. The plant’s site is still undecided, but construction will...
Michigan Chipotle store’s workers unionize, a 1st for chain
LANSING, Mich. — Workers at a Chipotle store in Michigan have voted to unionize, becoming the first of the Mexican fast-food chain’s 3,000 locations to do so amid a broader unionization push across the country. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said workers at a Chipotle store in Lansing, Mich., “voted...
Small businesses feel the pinch from slowing housing market
NEW YORK — The chill in the housing market is rippling out to the carpenters, landscapers and other small businesses that lose out when fewer homeowners are renovating their properties. Inflation was already causing some homeowners to delay big renovation projects as prices for building materials, fixtures and appliances jumped....
Moderna sues Pfizer, BioNTech over patents behind covid vaccine
Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna is suing Pfizer and the German drugmaker BioNTech, accusing its main competitors of copying Moderna’s technology in order to make their own vaccine. Moderna said Friday that Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine Comirnaty infringes on patents Moderna filed several years ago protecting the technology behind its preventive...
Inflation eases as consumer prices rise 6.3% in July
WASHINGTON — Inflation eased last month as energy prices tumbled, raising hopes that the surging costs of everything from gasoline to food may have peaked. According to a Commerce Department report Friday that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, consumer prices rose 6.3% in July from a year earlier...
Powell: Fed could keep lifting rates sharply ‘for some time’
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a stark message Friday: The Fed will likely impose more large interest rate hikes in coming months and is resolutely focused on taming the highest inflation in four decades. Powell acknowledged that the Fed’s continued tightening of credit will cause...
Hampton location makes 11th Starbucks in Pittsburgh area to unionize
Starbucks baristas in Hampton voted 15-0 Thursday to join Workers United Pennsylvania Joint Board, an affiliate of Services Employees International Unit, for representation in collective bargaining. The store is located in the Hampton Shoppes strip mall at 4655 Route 8 in Hampton. The union will cover about 31 full-time and...
Government revision shows economy shrank 0.6% last quarter
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.6% annual rate from April through June, the government said Thursday in an upgrade from its initial estimate. It marked a second straight quarter of economic contraction, which meets one informal sign of a recession. Most economists, though, have said they doubt...
California moves toward phasing out gas-fueled vehiclesVideo
SACRAMENTO — California plans to require all new cars, trucks and SUVs to run on electricity or hydrogen by 2035 under a policy approved Thursday by regulators that seeks a dramatic cut in carbon emissions and an eventual end to gasoline-powered vehicles. The decision by the California Air Resources Board...
Inflation drives shoppers to Dollar Tree, Dollar General
NEW YORK — Dollar Tree and Dollar General reported rising sales in the second quarter as four-decade high inflation drove more more customers to the bargain chain stores for everything from lightbulbs to groceries. Dollar stores tend to sell items in small quantities, not big packages, allowing low-income customers to...
Congress wants to hear what Twitter whistleblower has to say
WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers are anxious to hear from Twitter’s former security chief, who has alarmed Washington with allegations that the influential social network misled regulators about its cyber defenses and efforts to control fake accounts. Leaders of several congressional panels are poring over the disclosures by respected cybersecurity expert...
Pitt to partner with Massachusetts company at biomanufacturing center in Hazelwood
A major biomanufacturing partnership is coming to Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood Green development. The University of Pittsburgh on Thursday announced a 30-year partnership that will bring Massachusetts-based ElevateBio to the university’s Pitt BioForge Biomanufacturing Center at Hazelwood Green. Officials said the partnership will bolster the development of innovative cell and gene therapies....
Cineworld considers bankruptcy as cinema struggles continue
LONDON — Conditions are dimming at many movie theaters around the world. Cineworld Group PLC, one of the industry’s biggest theater operators, confirmed Monday that it’s considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., as it contends with billions of dollars in debt and more empty seats in...
Tesla hopes new investors go for the ride after stock split
NEW YORK — Unlike its cars, Tesla shares are about to get less expensive. Tesla is splitting its stock 3 for 1, so after the close of trading Tuesday, investors will receive two additional Tesla shares for every one they owned as of Aug. 17. In theory, that should drop...
Euro falls below parity with the dollar. What’s the impact?
The euro has fallen below parity with the dollar, diving to its lowest level in 20 years and ending a one-to-one exchange rate with the U.S. currency. It’s a psychological barrier in the markets. But psychology is important, and the euro’s slide underlines the foreboding in the 19 European countries...
Park outside: Fire risk prompts Hyundai, Kia hitch recalls
DETROIT — Hyundai and Kia are telling owners of some of their large SUVs to park them outdoors and away from buildings after a series of fires involving trailer hitch wiring. The Korean automakers are recalling more than 281,000 vehicles in the U.S. because of the problem, but they haven’t...
Whistleblower accuses Twitter of cybersecurity negligence
A former head of security at Twitter alleged that the company misled regulators about its poor cybersecurity defenses and its negligence in attempting to root out fake accounts that spread disinformation, according to a whistleblower complaint filed with U.S. officials. The revelation could create serious legal and financial problems for...
John Dorfman: Occidental Petroleum, U.S. Steel look good on cash flow
Suppose you run a successful food-delivery business. Two years ago, you spent $1 million on a fleet of a dozen new trucks. On your books and tax records this year, you will subtract $200,000 from your earnings (profits) reflecting depreciation on those trucks. But you aren’t actually laying out any...
Stocks fall broadly on Wall Street, extending market lossesVideo
Another broad stock market sell-off on Monday deepened Wall Street’s losses from last week, leaving the S&P 500 with its biggest slide since mid-June. The benchmark index fell 2.1%, nearly doubling its losses from last week, when it broke a four-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.9%...
Ford cutting 3,000 white-collar jobs in bid to lower costs
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is cutting about 3,000 white-collar jobs as it attempts to lower costs and make the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles. Leaders of the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker made the announcement Monday in a companywide email, saying that 2,000 full-time salaried workers would be let...
Wanted: 7,000 construction workers for Intel chip plants
JOHNSTOWN, Ohio — Ohio’s largest-ever economic development project comes with a big employment challenge: how to find 7,000 construction workers in an already booming building environment when there’s also a national shortage of people working in the trades. At hand is the $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing operation near the state’s...
Georgia jury awards $1.7 billion in Ford truck crash case
WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Ford Motor Co. says it plans to appeal a $1.7 billion verdict against the automaker after a pickup truck crash that claimed the lives of a Georgia couple, a company representative said Sunday. Jurors in Gwinnett County, just northeast of Atlanta, returned the verdict late last week...
