Business category, Page 239
Orders for big-ticket US manufactured goods jumped 11.2%
WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods jumped 11.2% in July, the third consecutive monthly gain. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the July advance followed a 7.7% increase in June. The July increase was led by a strong advance in the volatile transportation sector, which was...
Excela hires new chief operating officer
Sixteen months after a shake-up in the top leadership at Greensburg-based Excela Health, the health care system has a new chief operating officer. Jeffrey A. Tiesi, a Bethel Park native who was the senior vice president and chief operating officer at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., has been...
Facebook to pay $125 million in back taxes to France
PARIS — Facebook’s French subsidiary has agreed to pay $125 million in back taxes and penalties following persistent government efforts to get online giants to pay more taxes where they make their money. The agreement came after French tax authorities carried out an extensive audit of a decade of Facebook’s...
TikTok sues Trump over his pending order to ban its app
NEW YORK — Video app TikTok is suing the Trump Administration over its efforts to ban the popular Chinese-owned service over national-security concerns. TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, insisted Monday that it is not a national-security threat and that the government is acting without evidence or due process....
U.S. stocks join global rally amid covid treatment hopesVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks are climbing on Wall Street Monday, adding to their record-breaking run from last week. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% in midday trading, following up on solid gains for stock markets across much of Europe and Asia. The S&P 500 pushed further into record territory after...
Jim Bakker gets PPP loans during legal fight on fraud claims
When the U.S. government extended pandemic hardship loans to thousands of religious institutions, Jim Bakker and Morningside USA, his ministry in Blue Eye, Mo., were among the most high-profile recipients. On April 28, the pastor received approval for an amount between $650,000 and $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds....
‘Road to recovery’: Dealers say car sales brisk across Pittsburgh region
After the mid-March economic shutdown to halt the spread of covid-19, Paul Schimizzi didn’t know what to expect when his auto dealership reopened in May. “I didn’t know if we were going to sell 50 cars,” the president of Hillview Motors in Hempfield said. Instead, the dealership sold substantially more...
AP: U.S. faces back-to-school laptop shortage
SAN FRANCISCO — Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found. The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP...
How will office life be different in a pandemic?
How will office life be different in a pandemic? The office you once knew is likely to look vastly different. Companies are taking a variety of steps to keep people a safe distance apart, such as using staggered shifts or asking people to come in on alternating days. Cubicles may...
Pittsburgh tech company adds ultraviolet disinfection robots to its portfolioVideo
Most people think of ultraviolet light as the main reason for wearing sunscreen. Chris Proud, CEO at Safe Space Technologies in Pittsburgh, sees it as another weapon in the battle against the coronavirus. Safe Spaces’ parent company, Miller Process, focuses on collaborative robots, networking services and automation for a variety...
China, U.S. say talks on implementing trade pact coming soon
BEIJING — Chinese and U.S. trade envoys will hold a meeting by phone “in the near future” to discuss an agreement aimed at resolving a tariff war, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said Thursday. The spokesman, Gao Feng, gave no details of the timing at a ministry news briefing. White House...
U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly increase to more than 1 millionVideo
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased last week, a stumble for the labor market in its long road to recovery. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs rose by 135,000 to more than 1.1 million in the week ended Aug. 15, Labor Department data showed Thursday. Continuing claims —...
Airbnb bans house parties worldwide, citing virus mandates
Airbnb is banning house parties worldwide as it tries to clean up its reputation and comply with coronavirus-related limits on gatherings. The San Francisco home sharing company will limit occupancy in its rental homes to 16 people. It may offer exceptions for boutique hotels or other event venues. Airbnb said...
Fed officials worried about withdrawal of government support
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers lifted their spending in May and June but businesses remained cautious because of the tremendous uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook, Federal Reserve officials said at a policy meeting last month. The nascent economic recovery faces several risks, Fed officials said in discussions during their most recent...
As Trump threatens ban, TikTok launches U.S. ad campaignVideo
TikTok on Tuesday announced a nationwide ad campaign that features people who create content for the viral social video app. The move comes as the company, owned by China-based ByteDance, faces growing pressure from President Trump, who believes the app is a national security threat because of its ties to...
Amazon’s hiring of 1,500 in Pittsburgh region provides boost during pandemic
Amazon announced Tuesday that more than 1,500 people will be hired to work in its new 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center and a new delivery station, both of which are in Findlay and are set to open later this year. When Amazon broke ground on the fulfillment center in October, the...
Pandemic-induced spending spurs sales at Home Depot, WalmartVideo
Americans turned to Walmart and Home Depot for supplies and do-it-yourself projects as they stayed close to home at a time when new cases of virus surged, resulting in soaring sales for their fiscal second quarter. Walmart’s online sales nearly doubled in the fiscal second quarter, helped by an expansion...
S&P 500 closes at a record, erasing last of pandemic lossesVideo
NEW YORK — Wall Street clawed back the last of the historic, frenzied losses unleashed by the new coronavirus, as the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high Tuesday. The day’s move was a relatively mild one, nudging the index up 7.79 points, or 0.2%, to 3,389.78. That eclipses the...
Owners of Live! Casino Pittsburgh release online gaming site prior to casino opening
A new online gaming site will give a “sneak peek” into two casinos being built on opposite ends of Pennsylvania, including one under construction at Westmoreland Mall. PlayLive!, which launched this week, features more than 100 gaming options, including classic slots and table games, along with online-only titles and jackpot...
Price for pepperoni spikes as covid pandemic produces shortageVideo
Add pepperoni to the list of items in short supply because of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, small pizza shops across the country are reporting higher prices for the tasty topping, Bloomberg News reports. The news service found a restaurant in South Dakota is now paying $4.12 a pound...
Virus pandemic reshaping air travel as carriers struggle
In a bid to survive, airlines are desperately trying to convince a wary public that measures like mandatory face masks and hospital-grade air filters make sitting in a plane safer than many other indoor settings during the coronavirus pandemic. It isn’t working. Surveys indicate that instead of growing comfortable with...
Taller cubicles, one-way aisles: Office workers must adjust
NEW YORK — Bergmeyer, a design firm in Boston, has erected higher cubicles, told employees to wear masks when not at their desks and set up one-way aisles in the office that force people to walk the long way around to get to the kitchen or the bathroom. “The one-way...
Facing incurable, speech-robbing disorder, Westmoreland Chamber CEO Chad Amond forges ahead
The first signs of trouble were unmistakably odd. It wasn’t like Chad Amond to forget the name of someone he knew as they greeted. Not once but twice. And it certainly wasn’t like him to ask his wife, Amy, when she brought home a new type of his favorite ginger...
Stocks drift on Wall Street following latest run at record
NEW YORK — After a day of drifting between small gains and losses, major stock indexes ended more or less where they started on Friday, but still notched gains for the week. The S&P 500 ended down less than 1 point, even though more stocks rose than fell within the...
U.S. retail sales regain pre-virus pace but slowdown is likely
WASHINGTON — Americans increased their retail purchases by 1.2% in July, with solid gains in appliances and clothing, restoring sales to their level before the viral pandemic erupted in March. Sales at retail stores and restaurants have now risen for three straight months, after enormous plunges in March and April,...
