Business category, Page 175
Hertz to buy up to 65,000 electric vehicles from Polestar
Car rental company Hertz is planning to buy up to 65,000 electric vehicles from Swedish premium electric car maker Polestar over the next five years as it looks to boost its electric vehicle rental fleet. Financial terms were not disclosed. The vehicles are expected to be available in Europe in...
Starbucks halts stock buybacks as Schultz pivots to workers
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Starbucks founder and new interim CEO Howard Schultz announced Monday that the coffee chain was suspending its share repurchase program to “invest more profit into our people and our stores.” The pivot in strategy comes just three weeks after Starbucks announced that Schultz, who bought the...
Airlines cancel more than 3,300 U.S. flights over weekend
Airlines have canceled more than 3,300 U.S. flights this weekend and delayed thousands more, citing weather in Florida and other issues. FlightAware, a website that tracks flights, noted major disruptions at several Florida airports, including Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, as well as Baltimore and other airports around the country....
U.S. auto sales fall in Q1 as chip shortage slows factories
DETROIT — New-vehicle sales in the U.S. fell about 12% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, as the global computer chip shortage continued to slow factories amid high consumer demand. General Motors reported Friday that its sales were down 20% for the quarter, while Toyota sales were...
Amazon workers in NYC vote to unionize, a first for company
NEW YORK — Amazon workers in Staten Island, N.Y., voted to unionize on Friday, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history and handing an unexpected win to a nascent group that fueled the union drive. Votes were still being tabulated but union supporters secured a...
Stocks end lower, ending market’s worst quarter in 2 yearsVideo
A late burst of selling left stocks broadly lower Thursday on Wall Street, as the market closed out its worst quarter since the pandemic broke out two years ago. Despite posting a 3.6% gain for March, a dismal January and February left U.S. indexes lower for the year to date....
WVU nonprofit arm takes over shuttered plant, tenants sought
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A nonprofit arm of West Virginia University took ownership of a shuttered pharmaceutical plant Thursday with the goal of improving area job and education opportunities. WVU Medicine will work with the university through the WVU Innovation Corp. to oversee the 1.1-million-square-foot facility in Morgantown. Discussions with potential...
Got a dime? Businesses seek Treasury help with coin shortage
WASHINGTON — Got a dime you can spare? Coins are in short supply. Again. Retailers, laundromats and other businesses that rely on coins want Americans to empty their piggy banks and look under couch cushions for extra change and “get coin moving.” A group of trade associations that represent individual...
A key inflation gauge sets 40-year high as gas and food soar
WASHINGTON — An inflation gauge closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4% in February compared with a year ago, with sharply higher prices for food, gasoline and other necessities squeezing Americans’ finances. The figure reported Thursday by the Commerce Department was the largest year-over-year rise since January 1982. Excluding...
Facebook resorts to old smear tactics against TikTok
WASHINGTON — Eleven years ago, Facebook was caught red-handed after it hired a prominent public relations firm to try to plant stories harshly criticizing Google’s privacy practices in leading news outlets. In 2018, it hired the PR firm Definers to do opposition research on the company’s critics, including billionaire philanthropist...
Stocks fall, breaking a 4-day winning streak on Wall Street
Technology companies led stocks lower Wednesday on Wall Street, ending a four-day winning streak for the market, after an economic report stoked worries about the health of the economy. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after having been down nearly 1.1% at one point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%,...
FTC sues Intuit to stop ‘bait-and-switch’ TurboTax ads
The Federal Trade Commission is suing TurboTax maker Intuit, saying its ads for “free” tax filing misled consumers. Intuit says it will fight the suit. The consumer protection agency said Tuesday that millions of consumers cannot actually use the free tax-prep software option — two-thirds of tax filers in 2020....
Wall Street builds on gains as talks on Ukraine progress
Stocks notched more gains Tuesday on Wall Street as investors welcomed encouraging economic data and as talks on ending the war in Ukraine showed signs of progress. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, its fourth straight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1% higher and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.8%....
U.S. job openings, quitting at near record high in February
WASHINGTON — Job openings hovered at a near-record level in February, little changed from the previous month, continuing a trend that Federal Reserve officials see as a driver of inflation. There were 11.3 million available jobs last month, matching January’s figure and just below December’s record of 11.4 million, the...
U.S. consumers still confident, but outlook not as rosy
SILVER SPRING, Md. — U.S. consumer confidence bounced back in March and remains high, though consumers’ short-term outlook is not quite as rosy. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index — which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their outlook...
TV ratings company Nielsen acquired in $16 billion deal
NEW YORK — Nielsen is being acquired for $16 billion, including debt, about a week after the TV ratings and marketing data company rejected a $9 billion offer. A group of private equity investors led by Brookfield Business Partners will invest approximately $2.65 billion via preferred equity, convertible into 45%...
John Dorfman: In the Dow, 3 Stocks I Like, 3 I’d Avoid
At times like these, when investors are nervous, many will flee to the safety of the biggest, best-known stocks. The 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average fit that description. They are chosen for the index specifically because they are industry leaders. Investors have reason to be skittish at...
Walmart to end cigarette sales in some stores
NEW YORK — Walmart will no longer sell cigarettes in some of its stores though tobacco sales can be a significant revenue generator. Wall Street Journal was the first to report the development Monday. It noted some stores in California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico were on the list, citing...
Heineken to pull its beer out of Russia
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch brewing giant Heineken says it is pulling out of Russia amid Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine. The company said Monday that its business in Russia “is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment. As a result, we have decided to leave Russia.” It...
Tesla seeks 2nd stock split in less than 2 years
NEW YORK — Shares of Tesla rose sharply Monday after the electric car maker announced its second stock split in less than two years. The company said in a regulatory filing, and also in a tweet, that it plans to make a request at its upcoming annual shareholders meeting to...
Liz Weston: 3 tasks for new retirees that will pay off later
After a working lifetime of alarm clocks and meetings, you might be looking forward to a lot more unstructured time once you retire. But taking care of one more to-do list early on can set you up for a better retirement. The following assumes you’ve already done some basic financial...
Amazon tries to stave off union drive on 2 fronts
Amazon is gearing up for its toughest labor fight yet, with two separate union elections coming to a head as soon as next week that could provide further momentum to the recent wave of organizing efforts across the country. Warehouse workers in Staten Island, N.Y., and Bessemer, Ala., will determine...
Amid gas woes, NYC ride-hail drivers seek fuel surcharges
NEW YORK — With fuel prices approaching $5 a gallon at some New York City gas stations, drivers for Uber and Lyft and the city’s taxi fleets are demanding rate surcharges to help offset the rising cost of keeping cars on the road. A group of upset taxi drivers rallied...
Stocks close higher as choppy trading persists, oil slips
Technology companies led a broad rally for stocks Thursday on Wall Street, reversing most of the major indexes’ losses from a day earlier and extending the market’s recent run of uneven trading. The S&P 500 rose 1.4%, more than making up for its pullback a day earlier. More than 85%...
USPS doubles number of EV delivery trucks in initial order
One in five of the first batch of next-generation U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles will be electric-powered, officials said Thursday. The Postal Service formally placed its initial $2.98 billion order for 50,000 vehicles with at least 10,019 of them being battery-electric vehicles. That represents a doubling of electric vehicles from...
