Business category, Page 197
U.S. home prices soar at record pace in June
WASHINGTON — U.S. home prices jumped by a record amount in June as homebuyers competed for a limited supply of available houses, the latest evidence that the housing market remains red-hot. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 19.1% in June compared with a year earlier, the largest...
John Dorfman: Lab Corp., 4 other stocks boast value, momentum
Twice a year in this column, I hunt for stocks that seem to possess both value and momentum. Even though the market has hit records lately, it’s still possible to find stocks that have both qualities. Here are five I recommend. Each of them has beaten the Standard & Poor’s...
As Ida leaves Gulf, analysts foresee modest economic damage
WASHINGTON — With more than 1 million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi having lost power, Hurricane Ida is sure to take a toll on the energy, chemical and shipping industries that have major hubs along the Gulf Coast. But the impact on the overall U.S. economy will likely be modest...
S&P 500, Nasdaq notch more records even as the Dow slips
Gains for several Big Tech stocks helped push the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite to more record highs Monday on Wall Street, even as weakness elsewhere in the market sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average and small-company stocks lower. The S&P 500 also set a record high last Friday...
Virus variant batters airline bookings for Labor Day weekend
After a surge in bookings early this summer, U.S. airline passengers are planning fewer trips as the spread of the coronavirus delta variant continues to discourage travel. Spending for the Labor Day holiday was down 16% from 2019 as of Aug. 21, while bookings were off 15%, according to the...
PNC to raise base wages to $18 an hour, latest bank to do so
NEW YORK — PNC Bank is the latest large U.S. financial services company to increase wages in a bid to keep and attract employees, raising its minimum wage to $18 an hour while also giving higher-paid workers a bump in pay. The bank said Monday that the wage increase will...
Universal Studios sets opening for 1st theme park in China
BEIJING — Universal Studios announced Monday that its first theme park in China will open in the country’s capital in September. The company set the opening date for Sept. 20, according to a statement and video posted on the Chinese social media site WeChat. Under construction since 2016, the theme...
Amazon teams with Affirm to offer buy-now-pay-later option
Amazon is teaming with payments company Affirm to offer online shoppers a buy-now-pay-later option that does not involve credit cards. San Francisco-based Affirm Holdings Inc. announced Friday that its flexible payment service will soon be available on Amazon.com. The news sent Affirm’s stock up more than 35% in after-hours trading....
Hempfield casino seeks workers; to hold dealers’ school
The Live! Casino at Westmoreland Mall will hold two hiring fairs at its recruitment center next week, joining so many other employers in the region competing for workers. The casino in Hempfield will hold the hiring events from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. Monday, across...
T-Mobile CEO ‘truly sorry’ for hack of 50M users’ data
BELLEVUE, Wash. — T-Mobile says it has notified nearly all of the millions of customers whose personal data was stolen and that it is “truly sorry” for the breach. CEO Mike Sievert said in a written statement Friday that the company spends lots of effort to try to stay ahead...
UPMC touts growing North Hills hospital hub, $12B in midyear revenue
UPMC executives boasted Thursday of “transforming” the health system’s North Hills footprint into a hub of innovative, high-demand health care services — such as robotic lung cancer detectors, more options for women and children, and a new mobile unit set to hit the streets next week. “We’ve added an extremely...
Apple loosens app store payment rules in lawsuit settlement
Apple has agreed to let developers of iPhone apps email their users about cheaper ways to pay for digital subscriptions and media by circumventing a commission system that generates billions of dollars annually for the iPhone maker. The concession announced late Thursday, which covers emailed notifications but does not allow...
NFL players experiment with ‘Guardian Caps’ to protect heads
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For Carolina Panthers rookie offensive lineman Brady Christensen any chance to protect his brain is a no-brainer — even if he thinks he may look a little goofy doing so. That’s why Christensen is among a growing number of NFL players taking advantage of the new “Guardian...
Modest gains produce more record highs for S&P 500, Nasdaq
Stocks on Wall Street closed with modest gains Wednesday, driving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time highs for the second day in a row. Financial and energy companies led the way higher among stocks in the S&P 500. The benchmark index rose 0.2%, marking its fifth straight gain. A...
Delta will charge unvaccinated employees $200 per monthVideo
Delta Air Lines will charge employees on the company health plan $200 a month if they fail to get vaccinated against covid-19, a policy the airline’s top executive says is necessary because the average hospital stay for the virus costs the airline $40,000. CEO Ed Bastian said that all employees...
Modest gains nudge Nasdaq above 15,000 for 1st time
Wall Street delivered more milestones Tuesday after a modest pickup in stocks nudged the S&P 500 to an all-time high and the Nasdaq composite climbed above 15,000 for the first time. The benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.2% after a relatively quiet day in the market. Banks and a mix...
Walmart to launch delivery service for other businesses
NEW YORK — Walmart said Tuesday it will start farming out its delivery service, using contract workers, autonomous vehicles and other means to transport rival retailers’ products directly to their customers’ homes as fast as just a few hours. The nation’s largest retailer said it will dispatch contract workers from...
Worker support grows for harsher vaccine stances from employers
As U.S. regulatory approval of Pfizer’s covid-19 shot paves the way for companies to get more aggressive with inoculations, American workers are increasingly supportive of punitive measures for unvaccinated colleagues. A survey released Tuesday by human-resources consultant Eagle Hill showed that 41% of workers polled agreed that non-vaccinated employees should...
Waymo expanding autonomous ride service to San Francisco
Waymo, the Google self-driving vehicle spinoff, is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing service to San Francisco. Selected “trusted tester” customers in the city by the bay will be able to hail a ride in self-driving Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles, the company said. For now the vehicles will have human backup drivers...
John Dorfman: 5 stocks that look good based on cash flow
If you were invisible, the perfect industrial spy, you could lurk in a company’s headquarters and watch every dollar coming in and going out. That would give you an excellent fix on the company’s cash flow. And cash flow, many investors believe, is a great measure of a company’s health....
Stocks rise broadly; Pfizer gains after FDA approves vaccine
Stocks notched gains Monday on Wall Street, pushing the Nasdaq composite to an all-time high and helping the S&P 500 more than make up for its losses last week. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, after spending much of the day within striking distance of notching its own record high. The...
GM extends recall to cover all Chevy Bolts due to fire risk
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — General Motors said Friday it is recalling all Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles sold worldwide to fix a battery problem that could cause fires. The recall and others raise questions about lithium ion batteries, which now are used in nearly all electric vehicles. Ford, BMW and Hyundai...
Pennsylvania jobless rate down, payrolls up 29K in July
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped to a new post-pandemic low and the labor force shrank in July as payrolls jumped by nearly 29,000, according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 6.6% from June’s adjusted rate, the state Department of Labor...
MLB to end 70-year partnership with Topps trading cards
Major League Baseball is ending a 70-year relationship with trading card company Topps after signing a new partnership with a rival company. The loss of the MLB partnership immediately scuttled a deal announced earlier this year that would have made Topps a publicly traded company. The special-purpose acquisition company Mudrick...
Stocks open slightly higher, still headed for a weekly loss
Stocks were slightly higher in morning trading Friday, but the gains were not enough to erase the market’s losses from earlier in the week. The S&P 500 index was up 0.6% as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.6% higher as well while the Nasdaq composite...
