Business category, Page 239
Sheetz to extend pay increase for employees during pandemic
Sheetz announced Thursday it is extending its extra pay for employees until June 4. When the $3 an hour increase was announced March 25, it was set to run through April 23, for all employees working during the pandemic. “This extension is to express our continued gratitude for our hardworking...
Workers must risk infection or losing unemployment payments
ATLANTA — Some of the millions of American workers laid off because of the coronavirus are beginning to face a tough choice — return to work and risk infection, or stay home and risk losing unemployment payments. The decision is most pressing in states where governors have started allowing businesses...
Pennsylvania auditor general will look into how state handled business waivers
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale will audit how the state managed the waiver process used to give businesses exemptions to Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown order. “Some business owners complained that the department’s waiver process was too slow and not transparent enough,” DePasquale said. The announcement came a day after Senate...
You can skip mortgage payments for 6 months. But many fear what comes after that
In March, like millions of others, Thomas Taylor saw his income plummet. The global pandemic left the 42-year old furloughed from his two bartending jobs and staring down a $2,600 monthly mortgage payment on his condo in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Taylor reached out to his mortgage company for help but...
Wall Street pulls back as dismal economic data piles higher
Stocks are falling on Wall Street Thursday after more reports made clear the worldwide devastation the coronavirus outbreak is causing for the economy. The dour figures helped drive most U.S. stocks to losses, and the S&P 500 was down 1.4% in afternoon trading. Treasury yields also sank, while European stocks...
Census surveys could help small businesses post-pandemic
Greg Cammerata, a Hempfield restaurant owner, is hopeful a new survey rolled out by the U.S. Census Bureau will bring additional aid to small businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re not a corporate place,” said Cammerata, who owns IronRock Tap House. “We’re local people that did this restaurant. We don’t...
30 million have sought U.S. unemployment aid since virus hitVideo
WASHINGTON — More than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s. Roughly 30.3 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the six weeks since the coronavirus outbreak...
Fed signals it will likely hold interest rates near zero for months
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is signaling that it will keep its key short-term interest rate near zero for the foreseeable future as part of its extraordinary efforts to bolster an economy that is sinking into its worst crisis since the 1930s The Fed says it will also continue to...
U.S. pending home sales sank 20.8% in March
BALTIMORE — U.S. home sales showed signs of collapsing in March, as the number of contract signs plunged sharply because of the coronavirus outbreak. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its pending home sales index, which measures signed buyer contracts, plummeted a seasonally adjusted 20.8% in March from...
U.S. study finds Gilead drug works against coronavirusVideo
For the first time, a major study suggests that an experimental drug works against the new coronavirus, and U.S. government officials said Wednesday that they would work to make it available to appropriate patients as quickly as possible. In a study of 1,063 patients sick enough to be hospitalized, Gilead...
Pandemic brings fortunes to Amazon — and headaches, tooVideo
Amazon has spent years honing the business of packing, shipping and delivering millions of products to doorsteps around the world. Now it has a captive audience. With much of the globe in various stages of a lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s largest online retailer has become a...
Stocks charge higher on hopes for progress in fighting coronavirusVideo
Stocks around the world whipped higher Wednesday, riding a wave of optimism on encouraging data about a possible treatment for covid-19. The upswell of hope was so strong that investors completely sidestepped a report showing the outbreak drove the U.S. economy to its worst quarterly performance since the Great Recession....
U.S. economy shrank at 4.8% rate last quarter as virus struckVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank at a 4.8% annual rate last quarter as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country and began triggering a recession that will end the longest expansion on record. The Commerce Department estimated Wednesday that the gross domestic product, the total output of...
2005 video game event offers insights into coronavirus pandemic
Video games tend to be viewed as a fun departure from reality by those who play them and a total waste of time by many who don’t. It might be that neither of those perspectives is very close to the truth, as illustrated by the way a 15-year-old event in...
Treasury plans to reclaim stimulus payments sent to deceased
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department is planning to instruct people whose deceased relatives received coronavirus stimulus payments to return the money to the federal government, according to a department spokesman. The Treasury is aware that some individuals who have recently died received the $1,200 economic impact payments and plans to...
Analyst: Ford needs to consider merger after $2B lossVideo
Ford Motor Co. and its competitors have warned for weeks that their finances are teetering on the brink of uncertainty as a global pandemic continues to brutalize America and bring manufacturing to a standstill. While the current landscape is grim, coming months promise to be unrelenting. The cold reality for...
Companies seek to limit legal liability for virus infectionsVideo
As companies start planning their reopenings, business groups are pushing Congress to limit liability from potential lawsuits filed by workers and customers infected by the coronavirus. They appear to have the White House’s ear. President Donald Trump has floated shielding businesses from lawsuits. His top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said...
Pandemic exposes gaps in travel insurance coverage
NORFOLK, Va. — For many people, travel insurance has been little more than a box that pops up on a booking site to offer some cheap peace of mind. But the coverage’s limitations have been brought into stark relief during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving would-be travelers frustrated over denied claims...
Slumping tech favorites pull major US stock indexes lower
Wall Street jostled to a mixed finish Tuesday, as former stalwarts ran out of momentum and some of the market’s most beaten-down stocks turned into winners. The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% after stocks that have held up the best through this year’s sell-off fell to some of the market’s sharpest...
Southwest posts 1st quarterly loss in almost a decadeVideo
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines is posting its first quarterly loss in almost a decade and doesn’t see any improvement right now with most planes grounded on the tarmac. Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said in a prepared statement that, “The U.S. economy has been at a standstill, and the current...
Coronavirus is expected to reduce meat selection and raise pricesVideo
DES MOINES, Iowa — Meat isn’t going to disappear from supermarkets because of outbreaks of the coronavirus among workers at U.S. slaughterhouses. But as the meat plants struggle to remain open, consumers could face less selection and slightly higher prices. Industry leaders acknowledge that the U.S. food chain has rarely...
Tesla says its cars automatically stop for traffic lightsVideo
DETROIT — After testing on public roads, Tesla is rolling out a new feature of its partially automated driving system designed to spot stop signs and traffic signals. The update of the electric car company’s cruise control and auto-steer systems is a step toward CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to convert...
FNB donates $50K to Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
First National Bank’s parent company, FNB Corp., is donating $50,000 to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for use in its covid-19 emergency food relief effort. The donation, announced Monday, is part of FNB’s $1 million commitment to support efforts throughout the seven states the Pittsburgh-based bank serves. “Providing food...
IRS adds details to online stimulus money toolVideo
For nearly two weeks now, taxpayers have been able to use a tool on the IRS website to find out the status of their coronavirus stimulus money. Now, the Get My Payment tool has been expanded to include more information about your payment from the government’s $2.2 trillion economic relief...
This Monroeville businessman created the modern conference call, and he’s not done yetVideo
It’s mid-afternoon. You’re in your home office when the laptop pings to remind you of the daily meeting starting in five minutes. If it’s a video call, you make sure your face is presentable. Maybe you slip on a work shirt and smile, knowing they’ll never suspect how your bottom...
