Business category, Page 168
John Dorfman: 3 bank CEOs gobble up their own stock
Chief executives at three regional banks have bought their own companies’ stock last month. That, coupled with the fact that bank stocks were strong in May, suggests that adding a bank stock to your portfolio now might be a good move. First Citizens First Citizens BancShares Inc. (FCNCA) is a...
Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal
DETROIT — Elon Musk is threatening to end his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to give him information about its spam bot accounts. Lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the threat in a letter to Twitter dated Monday that the social platform...
Bidding war for Spirit Airlines heats up ahead of vote
The bidding war over Spirit Airlines is ramping up again with JetBlue boosting its offer for the discount carrier just days after rival Frontier upped its own bid for Spirit. Spirit shareholders are also scheduled to vote Friday on Frontier’s offer. JetBlue said Monday that it will now provide a...
Inflation divide: The wealthy splurge, the poorest pull back
NEW YORK — Americans at the low end of the income rung are once again struggling to make ends meet. A confluence of factors — the expiration of federal stimulus checks and surging inflation on staples like gas and food — are driving an even bigger wedge between the haves...
Abbott restarts baby formula plant linked to contamination
WASHINGTON — Abbott Nutrition has restarted production at the Michigan baby formula factory that has been closed for months due to contamination, the company said Saturday, taking a step toward easing a nationwide supply shortage expected to persist into the summer. The February shutdown of the largest formula factory in...
Tenants grapple with rent hikes amid overall inflation spike
LOS ANGELES — At a time when rising gasoline and food prices are already straining Americans’ budgets, many apartment tenants are grappling with soaring rents. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area in Florida saw overall median rent soar over 50% in April from a year ago, to $3,045 a...
Report: Musk seeks to cut 10% of Tesla workforce
Tesla shares tumbled about 9% Friday on a report that CEO Elon Musk is considering laying off 10% of the company’s workers, as well as new questions from U.S. regulators over complaints of the electric vehicles braking for no reason. In an email Thursday to Tesla executives titled “pause all...
Red-hot summer job market awaits U.S. teens as employers sweat
WASHINGTON — Mary Jane Riva, CEO of the Pizza Factory, has a cautionary message for her customers this summer: Prepare to wait longer for your Hawaiian pie or calzone. The Pizza Factory’s 100 West Coast locations are desperately short of workers. With about 12 employees per store, they’re barely half-staffed...
Ford to add 6,200 jobs near Ohio, Michigan and Missouri
DETROIT — Ford will add 6,200 factory jobs in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio as it prepares to build more electric vehicles and roll out two redesigned combustion-engine models. The company says it will invest $3.7 billion in the three states between now and 2026. It also will convert about 3,000...
Spotify podcasters are making $18,000 a month with nothing but white noise
People on the prowl for a new podcast to consume often go for a stimulating option like a political debate or a true crime mystery to quicken the pulse. But when the din of the world becomes too much, listeners often need the opposite vibe: something soothing and sedating, maybe...
OPEC+ alliance boosts oil production as energy prices soar
LONDON — The OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries including Russia will raise production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, offering modest relief for a global economy suffering from soaring energy prices and the resulting inflation. The decision Thursday steps up the pace by the alliance,...
Stocks slide as strong economic data raises rate worriesVideo
NEW YORK — A swift jump in Treasury yields rattled Wall Street on Wednesday, pulling stocks broadly lower at the start of another month in what’s been a turbulent year for the market. The S&P 500 ended 0.7% lower after an early morning gain quickly gave way to choppy trading....
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...
