Business category, Page 179
Volvo adds 195,000 vehicles to recall for dangerous air bags
DETROIT — Volvo is recalling another 195,000 vehicles in the U.S. because the front driver’s air bags could explode and send shrapnel into the cabin. It’s the company’s third U.S. recall for the issue with air bag inflators made by supplier ZF/TRW. It stems from the death of an unidentified...
Trump announces launch of his own social media site
NEW YORK — Nine months after being expelled from social media for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s launching a new media company with its own social media platform. Trump says his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology...
Existing home sales surge as interest rates point higher
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes bounced back in September to their strongest pace since January as mortgage rates tick higher, motivating buyers to get off the sidelines. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing homes sales rose 7% compared with August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate...
Stocks end higher, bringing S&P 500 to the cusp of a record
Solid earnings from health care companies helped send stocks higher on Wall Street Wednesday and pushed the benchmark S&P 500 to the brink of another record high. The market has been gaining ground as investors shift their focus to the latest round of corporate earnings. Stocks have been choppy for...
Workers fed up with nights, weekends seek flexible schedules
After struggling to hire workers for its outlet store in Dallas, Balsam Hill finally opened on Sept. 1. But the very next day, the online purveyor of high-end artificial holiday trees was forced to close after four of its five workers quit. The main gripe for three of them? Working...
Bitcoin tops $66,000, hits high on mainstreaming excitement
NEW YORK — Bitcoin jumped to a record Wednesday, topping $66,000 for the first time, as it rides a wave of excitement about getting further accepted by the financial establishment. Bitcoin was trading at $66,901.30, up 7.6%, as of 10:52 a.m. It’s roared back after sinking below $30,000 during the...
Facebook paying fine to settle U.S. suit on discrimination
Facebook is paying a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims to resolve the Justice Department’s allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreigners with special visas to fill high-paying jobs. Facebook also agreed in the settlement announced Tuesday to train its employees...
Tech, health care stocks lead Wall Street indexes higher
Health care and technology companies led a broad rally for stocks on Wall Street Tuesday as investors welcomed another batch of encouraging company earnings reports. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, driving the benchmark index to its fifth straight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq...
Health clubs want you back. Here’s what they’re offering
Health club chains are pedaling hard to woo pandemic-weary consumers back to the gym. But some of the largest companies are taking different paths as the industry waits to see whether covid-19 infection rates recede enough to make consumers feel safe to resume communal workouts. Discount chains YouFit and Planet...
John Dorfman: Purloined Portfolio aims to steal from managers I respect
If you’re going to steal, steal from the best,” Woody Allen once said. Once a year, I try to do that. My annual Purloined Portfolio features ideas I lift from other money managers. My Purloined Portfolio from last year returned 45.9%, thanks mostly to gains in Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, idea...
1st ETF linked to Bitcoin is set to make its debut
Interested in Bitcoin but don’t want to open a crypto trading account? Wall Street has something for you.ProShares said Monday it plans to launch the country’s first exchange-traded fund linked to Bitcoin. The ETF with the ticker symbol “BITO” is expected to begin trading Tuesday, barring any opposition from regulators....
Ford Foundation to divest millions from fossil fuels
The Ford Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the United States, announced Monday that it will divest millions from fossil fuels, following similar investment decisions made by other sizable foundations in recent years. For years, climate activists have put pressure on endowed institutions, like Ford, to end their...
Toyota to build $1.29B U.S. battery plant employing 1,750
DETROIT — Toyota plans to build a new $1.29 billion factory in the U.S. to manufacture batteries for gas-electric hybrid and fully electric vehicles. The plant location wasn’t announced, but the company said it eventually will employ 1,750 people and start making batteries in 2025, gradually expanding through 2031. The...
Bitcoin-mining power plant raises ire of environmentalists
An obstacle to large-scale bitcoin mining is finding enough cheap energy to run the huge, power-gobbling computer arrays that create and transact cryptocurrency. One mining operation in central New York came up with a novel solution that has alarmed environmentalists. It uses its own power plant. Greenidge Generation runs a...
Instagram fretted about retaining, engaging teenagers, report says
The photo-sharing app Instagram spent time focusing on how to retain and engage teenagers, The New York Times reported, citing internal documents. Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram was privately worried about potentially losing teenage users to other social-media platforms, calling it an “existential threat,” according to a marketing presentation for 2018, the...
Supply-chain surcharge? Sherwin-Williams latest company to add sneaky fee
Hugo Granadino recently stopped by the Sherwin-Williams paint store in Inglewood, Calif., to pick up some rollers and brushes. He’s repainting the den of his South Los Angeles home. After the purchase, Granadino, 40, took a look at his receipt and was surprised to see a 4% “supply chain charge.”...
High court rejects natural gas company’s pipeline appeal
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts has rejected a Supreme Court appeal by the St. Louis-based natural gas company Spire Inc. to allow it to keep operating a pipeline through Illinois and Missouri. Roberts did not comment Friday in refusing to temporarily pause a lower court order affecting the operation...
Resilient shoppers push retail sales up 0.7% in September
NEW YORK — Americans continued to spend at a solid clip in September even while facing sticker shock in grocery aisles, car lots and restaurants as snarled global supply chains slow the flow of goods. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in September from the month before, the U.S....
Stocks climb the most since March as momentum buildsVideo
Technology companies powered a broad rally for stocks Thursday on Wall Street, lifting the S&P 500 to its biggest gain since March. The benchmark index rose 1.7% a day after breaking a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 1.7%. More than...
Microsoft shutting down LinkedIn in China
REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft is shutting down its LinkedIn service in China later this year after internet rules were tightened by Beijing, the latest American tech giant to lessen its ties to the country. The company said in a blog post Thursday it has faced a “significantly more challenging operating...
Modest gain breaks a 3-day losing streak for S&P 500 index
Major stock indexes closed mostly higher Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak for the S&P 500 despite another choppy day of trading. The benchmark index rose 0.3% after having been down 0.5% in the early going. It’s still on pace for a 0.6% weekly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average...
Delta posts $1.2 billion Q3 profit, touts holiday bookings
Delta Air Lines posted a $1.2 billion profit for the third quarter on Wednesday, helped by the latest installment of federal pandemic aid for the airline industry, but warned that rising fuel prices will lead to a “modest” loss in the fourth quarter. The airline also expects higher labor costs...
Inflation rises 5.4% from year ago, matching 13-year highVideo
WASHINGTON — Consumer prices rose 0.4% last month, slightly higher than August’s gain and pushing annual inflation back to the highest increase in 13 years. The consumer price index rose 5.4% in September from a year ago, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up slightly from August’s gain of 5.3% and...
U.S. regulators seek answers from Tesla over lack of recall
DETROIT — U.S. safety investigators want to know why Tesla didn’t file recall documents when it updated Autopilot software to better identify parked emergency vehicles, escalating a simmering clash between the automaker and regulators. In a letter to Tesla, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told the electric car maker...
Explainer: Why Social Security COLA will jump next year
WASHINGTON — Rising inflation is expected to lead to a sizeable increase in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2022. Exactly how much will be revealed Wednesday morning after a Labor Department report on inflation during September, a data point used in the final calculation. Over the last...
