Business category, Page 201
Have an idea to improve masks? Biden administration holds $500K contest
President Joe Biden’s administration is looking for ways to improve face masks — and will give out $500,000 in prizes to help do it. The Mask Innovation Challenge invites Americans to submit ideas to make masks more comfortable to wear and to eliminate “barriers to use,” such as discomfort, contact...
Some businesses want masks on, even as states drop mandates
NEW YORK — Although Texas no longer requires people to wear masks to protect against covid-19, customers do need them to enter De J. Lozada’s store. “We cannot afford to take chances with the lives of my staffers. They’re young people and their parents have entrusted me with their care,”...
Stocks close broadly higher after big job gains in March
Stocks on Wall Street notched broad gains Monday as investors welcomed more signs that the economy is on the path to recovery, The S&P 500 rose 1.4% to an all-time high after closing above the 4,000-point mark for the first time last Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also set...
GameStop finally announces a share sale
Two months after a market phenomenon took shares of GameStop to the moon, the video game retailer said Monday that it will sell up to 3.5 million of its shares with the price still vastly elevated. The company said the shares will be sold through an “at-the-market” offering, which lets...
Amazon apologizes to congressman for bogus ‘peeing’ tweet
NEW YORK — Amazon is sorry for tweeting about peeing. The company apologized in a late Friday blog post for a tweet it sent to a congressman more than a week ago denying that its employees work so hard they must urinate in empty water bottles. It also admitted that...
Global stocks rise; Treasury yields rally after jobs report
NEW YORK — Stocks rose in many of the markets worldwide that were open on Good Friday, while Treasury yields rallied after a report showed U.S. employers added hundreds of thousands more jobs last month than economists expected. The U.S. bond market closed early after an holiday-shortened session that saw...
TribLIVE High School Sports Network’s Justin LaBar recognized in Editor & Publisher
TribLIVE High School Sports Network’s general manager Justin LaBar has been recognized by Editor & Publisher, a national industry magazine that focuses on the news industry. LaBar was selected for the publication’s list of 25 news professionals under the age of 35. LaBar, who holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting...
March hiring accelerated to 916K, yet many jobs remain lost
America’s employers unleashed a burst of hiring in March, adding 916,000 jobs in a sign that a sustained recovery from the pandemic recession is taking hold as vaccinations accelerate, stimulus checks flow through the economy and businesses increasingly reopen. The March increase — the most since August — was nearly...
Manhattan office space soars to highest level in 3 decades
The amount of office space available in Manhattan is at the highest level in at least 30 years. The availability rate jumped to 17.2% in the first quarter, according to a report Thursday by Savills. Much of that was driven by a surge in sublease space, which reached 22 million...
Egypt expects $1 billion in damages over stuck ship in Suez
CAIRO — Egypt is expecting more than $1 billion in compensation after a cargo ship blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week, according to the top canal official. He also warned the ship and its cargo will not be allowed leave Egypt if the issue of damages goes to...
Wall Street moves higher, pushing S&P 500 over 4,000 level
Stocks were moderately higher Thursday, helped by a rise in technology companies as well as smaller companies, which would benefit from a quickly growing economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 11:44 a.m. Eastern, crossing the 4,000-point mark for the first time. The benchmark index is coming off its...
Wall Street ticks higher, led by tech and smaller stocks
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are drifting higher in morning trading on Wednesday, as investors wait to hear the details about Washington’s next mammoth push for the economy. The S&P 500 was up 0.6%, ahead of a speech later in the day where President Joe Biden is expected to discuss...
Volkswagen hoaxes media with fake statement on name change
DETROIT — Volkswagen of America issued false statements this week saying it would change its brand name to “Voltswagen,” to stress its commitment to electric vehicles, only to reverse course Tuesday and admit that the supposed name change was a joke. Mark Gillies, a company spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that the...
NCAA, former athletes head to Supreme Court over how football, basketball players are rewarded
WASHINGTON — The NCAA and former college athletes are getting ready to play ball at the Supreme Court. With the March Madness basketball tournament ongoing, the high court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case about how colleges can reward athletes who play Division I basketball and football. The NCAA...
An unwelcome prank: Volkswagen purposely hoodwinks reporters
NEW YORK — Journalists are used to being wary about odd pranksters pulling April Fool’s Day hoaxes at this time of year. Few expect it from a multi-billion dollar corporation. Volkswagen admitted Tuesday that it had put out a false news release saying that it had changed the name of...
‘Lighting a fuse’: Amazon vote may spark more union pushes
What happens inside a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, could have major implications not just for the country’s second-largest employer but the labor movement at large. Organizers are pushing for some 6,000 Amazon workers there to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on the promise it will lead to...
Stocks slip in mixed trading as rate pressure ratchets up
NEW YORK — Rising Treasury yields put pressure once more on big technology companies Tuesday, pulling U.S. stock indexes further below their recent all-time highs. The S&P 500 lost 0.3%. Health care stocks also dragged down the market, outweighing gains by banks, industrial stocks and companies that rely on consumer...
Virgin Galactic rolls out latest generation of spaceshipVideo
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Virgin Galactic rolled out its newest spaceship Tuesday as the company looks to resume test flights in the coming months at its headquarters in the New Mexico desert. Company officials said it will likely be summer before the ship — designed and manufactured in California — undergoes...
Highmark Inc. purchases naming rights to Buffalo Bills’ stadium
Pittsburgh is no longer the only city with a Highmark Stadium. The Buffalo Bills’ home is also called Highmark Stadium. The team made it official with a formal announcement Tuesday morning. Highmark BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, a newly rebranded health insurer, has purchased the naming rights for what...
AP source: VW plans brand-name change to ‘Voltswagen’ in U.S.
DETROIT — Volkswagen plans to change its brand name in the United States to “Voltswagen” as its shifts its production increasingly toward electric vehicles and tries to distance itself from an emissions cheating scandal. A person briefed on the plan said a formal announcement is planned for Tuesday. The person...
John Dorfman: 5 intriguing stocks to target outside U.S.
I think a big boom is coming in the U.S., which may keep a richly valued stock market out of trouble. But you never know. Some international diversification is usually a good idea. And I think it’s wise now, since U.S. stock valuations are high and interest rates are rising...
News Corp. buys Houghton Mifflin Harcourt books division
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is buying Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s book-publishing division, with titles by J.R.R. Tolkien and the Curious George children’s series, for $349 million. News Corp. owns HarperCollins, one of the industry’s largest book publishers, and will operate the division, called HMH Books & Media, the New York company...
Paris court convicts, fines pharma firm for deadly diet pill
A French pharmaceutical company on Monday was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of euros in damages and fines for its role in one of the nation’s biggest modern health scandals, with a Paris court finding the firm guilty of manslaughter and other charges for selling a diabetes drug blamed...
Late fade pushes S&P 500 slightly below its record high
Stock indexes closed mostly lower Monday, pulling the S&P 500 slightly below the all-time high it set last week, while nudging the Dow Jones Industrial Average to another record high. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, recovering most of a 0.8% slide earlier in the day. Banks had some of the...
Southwest Airlines orders 100 Boeing 737 Max planes
NEW YORK — Southwest Airlines said Monday it’s expanding its all-Boeing fleet with an order for 100 737 MAX airplanes. The Max was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two crashes that killed 346 people. Regulators in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Brazil and other countries cleared the plane to resume...
