Business category, Page 195
Pandemic caused a drinking boom in Pa. as liquor control board reports record sales, profits
Pennsylvanians bought more wine and liquor during the pandemic than ever before, according to financial numbers released Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Sales for the fiscal year ending June 30 totaled $2.9 billion, including sales taxes. It was $349.4 million — 13.7% — higher than the 2019-20 fiscal...
Biden administration files antitrust lawsuit over American Airlines-JetBlue partnership
The Biden administration’s Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit to challenge the partnership between American Airlines and JetBlue that links the two carrier’s operations tightly at four of the busiest airports in the Northeast, saying the tie-up will reduce competition and drive fares higher. The deal between American Airlines...
After a wobbly day, major indexes end mixed on Wall Street
NEW YORK — A late-afternoon burst of buying on Wall Street faded in the final minutes of trading Tuesday, leaving the major stock indexes mixed. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after spending much of the day wavering between small gains and losses. The modest pullback followed the benchmark index’s biggest...
John Dorfman: A 97% gain wins my short-selling contest
Providing after-school online tutoring to students in China used to seem like a good business. Not anymore. For much of 2020, Gaotu Techedu Inc., one of the companies in this field, had been dogged by allegations that it had inflated its financial results. Then in July 2021 came the final...
Stocks drop the most since May on worries over China, Fed
Stocks on Wall Street closed sharply lower Monday, mirroring losses overseas and handing the S&P 500 index its biggest drop in four months. Worries about debt-engorged Chinese property developers — and the damage they could do to investors worldwide if they default — rippled across markets. Investors are also concerned...
Twitter to pay $809.5 million to settle shareholder lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter said Monday it will pay $809.5 million to settle a consolidated class action lawsuit alleging that the company misled investors about how much its user base was growing and how much users interacted with its platform. The San Francisco company said the proposed settlement, which must...
Stocks end lower after a brief afternoon recovery fades
Another day of choppy trading on Wall Street left stocks mostly lower, cutting into the major indexes’ gains for the week. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each lost about 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to eke out a gain of 0.1%. More stocks fell than...
Popeyes restaurant proposed for New Kensington’s Giant Eagle plaza
A restaurant that caused a nationwide sensation with its chicken sandwich could be coming to New Kensington soon. A Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant would be built in front of the Giant Eagle store along Tarentum Bridge Road, according to documents submitted to the city. The restaurant would be located between...
Texas company to pay nearly $3M for Clean Air Act violations
POINT COMFORT, Texas — A Texas plastics company has agreed to pay nearly $3 million in civil penalties for violating the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Formosa Plastics Corp. also agreed to improve its risk management program at its petrochemical plant in Point Comfort. The U.S....
Problems continue to plague El Savador’s bitcoin rollout
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — One week after El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, problems continued to plague the system Tuesday. El Salvador rolled out a digital wallet known as the “Chivo” on Sept. 8, but the system has often been down for maintenance. It...
Apple’s next iPhone mirrors last year’s, adds more storage
Apple unveiled its next iPhone line-up, including a model that offers twice the storage available in earlier versions and other modest upgrades to last year’s editions that proved to be a big hit among consumers devouring the latest technology during the pandemic. The pre-recorded video event streamed Tuesday gave Apple...
New Kensington’s Sweet Tillies one of 15 companies to be featured at National Small Business Week summit
A New Kensington business owner will be featured Wednesday at the conclusion of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s three-day National Small Business Week virtual summit. Amy Johnson owns Sweet Tillies, a baklava bakery that is among several new, small businesses that have opened in the city’s downtown. Johnson said her...
Apple fixes security hole reportedly used to hack an iPhone
BOSTON — Apple released a critical software patch to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action. Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said the security issue was exploited to plant spyware on a...
Child tax credit payments go out this week. Here’s what to know.
Eligible families are set to receive a third round of monthly child tax credit direct payments this week. The temporarily enhanced tax credits — included in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Biden in March — provide eligible parents with up to $3,600 per child...
John Dorfman: Insiders buy at Terminex, Westlake
Ever have a problem with mice or termites in your house? If so, there’s a decent chance you called Terminex. Terminex Global Holdings Inc. (TMX), based in Memphis, Tenn., is the largest pest control company in the U.S. It has 2.8 million customers in 47 states and 22 countries. Brett...
Online bets on NFL games seen surging as season begins
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A company that most of the legal U.S. sports betting industry uses to verify that its customers are where they say they are reported on Monday a record number of transactions over the first weekend of the NFL season. That helps confirm an expected a big...
U.S. will give aircraft companies $482 million for pandemic
The Biden administration is making $482 million available to aviation industry manufacturers to help them avert job or pay cuts in the pandemic. The taxpayer-funded relief will cover up to half of the payroll costs at 313 companies, according to the Transportation Department, which said Thursday will help save up...
Stocks edge higher, regrouping after a down week
A late-afternoon burst of buying helped stock indexes close mostly higher Monday on Wall Street, snapping a five-day losing streak for the S&P 500. The benchmark index shook off an afternoon slump to finish 0.2% higher. Banks, energy companies and communication stocks accounted for much of the index’s broad gains....
Judge loosens Apple’s grip on app store in Epic decision
SAN RAMON, Calif. — A federal judge ordered Apple to dismantle a lucrative part of the competitive barricade guarding its closely run iPhone app store, but rejected allegations that the company has been running an illegal monopoly that stifles competition and innovation. The ruling issued Friday continues to chip away...
U.S. investigating airlines over slow refunds during pandemic
WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department is detailing efforts it says it is making to help airline customers who were wrongfully denied refunds after flights were canceled or changed during the pandemic. The department says in a new report that it investigated 20 airlines over failures to issue prompt refunds to...
Federal mandate takes vaccine decision off employers’ hands
Larger U.S. businesses now won’t have to decide whether to require their employees to get vaccinated against covid-19. Doing so is now federal policy. President Joe Biden announced sweeping new orders Thursday that will require employers with more than 100 workers to mandate immunizations or offer weekly testing. The new...
Fast hiring: UPS to hire 100,000, many in 30 minutes or less
NEW YORK — Besides packages, UPS is promising to deliver something else fast: job offers. The package delivery company said Thursday that it plans to hire more than 100,000 people for the busy holiday shipping season, many of whom will get job offers within 30 minutes of applying. UPS needs...
Stocks higher in early trading, still lower for the week
Stocks were slightlyi higher Thursday morning on Wall Street, as the market continues to wobble between gains and losses in this holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 index rose 0.2% as of 10 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. The S&P 500...
Ford pulls plug on India production after decade of losses
Ford will cease production in India for vehicles sold there by next year after logging accumulated operating losses of more than $2 billion over the past 10 years. The restructuring means job losses of about 4,000, the company said in a filing Thursday with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Demand...
Economic oddity: Record job openings and many unemployedVideo
WASHINGTON — The disconnect is jarring: Across the United States, employers who are desperate to fill jobs have posted a record-high number of job openings. They’re raising pay, too, and dangling bonuses to people who accept job offers or recruit their friends. And yet millions more Americans are unemployed compared...
