Business category, Page 260
Coal giant Murray Energy seeks bankruptcy protection
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A major U.S. coal mining company is seeking bankruptcy protection, joining a growing list of struggling coal operations as communities switch away from fossil fuel to less-polluting renewable energy or natural gas. Ohio-based Murray Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Tuesday. Several other major coal producers...
U.S. consumer confidence falls for third consecutive month
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence fell for a third consecutive month in October as optimism about job prospects and business conditions down the road grew weaker. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index edged down to 125.9 in October, compared with 126.3 in September. Feelings about the present situation...
Horsepower, literally: Finnish horse show runs on manure
HELSINKI — In a glimpse of the future, an entire sports event has been run on horse manure. The world’s governing equestrian body on Monday praised a climate-friendly scheme by a Finnish equestrian event to generate all its electricity needs from horse manure, saying the initiative paves way in cutting...
Take a look inside John Dorfman’s ‘Billion Dollar’ Portfolio
Is there a perfect size for a stock? Perhaps not. Size doesn’t matter — at least, not as much as profitability, growth and valuation. And yet, there is a size to which I am particularly partial. It’s right around $1 billion. To me, that is the dividing line between small-capitalization...
Apple debuts AirPods Pro with noise cancelling, higher priceVideo
ATLANTA — Apple is offering a $250 version of its wireless AirPods Pro earbuds with a new design and noise cancellation feature. AirPods have become one of Apple’s most popular products since it was introduced three years ago. The new design features three sizes of flexible ear tips rather than...
AT&T makes changes in response to activist investor push
NEW YORK — AT&T said it will look for more parts of its business to sell off and add two new board members after pressure from an activist investor. The moves are part of a plan to boost results that also includes paying down debt from its $81 billion Time...
GM workers ratify contract, ending contentious 40-day strike
ROMULUS, Mich. — A contentious 40-day strike that crippled General Motors’ U.S. production came to an end Friday as workers approved a new contract with the company. The four-year deal will now be used as a template in bargaining with crosstown rival Ford Motor Co., the union’s choice for the...
American Express ‘Green Card’ turns 50, gets needed revamp
NEW YORK — For 50 years, the American Express “Green Card” has been everywhere its card members wanted to be. Launched in 1969, the Green Card gave travelers a sense of importance they didn’t feel carrying travelers’ cheques. For many people, it was their first AmEx card. Over time, however,...
Google claims breakthrough in blazingly fast computing
SAN FRANCISCO — Google announced Wednesday it has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing, saying it has developed an experimental processor that took just minutes to complete a calculation that would take the world’s best supercomputer thousands of years. The feat could open the door someday to machines so blazingly...
Snyder of Berlin sold to competitor Utz
Snyder of Berlin, a well-known Somerset County producer of potato chips, pretzels, popcorn and other snacks, has been sold to Utz Quality Foods, its York County-based competitor, the company said Wednesday. Snyder of Berlin had been owned by food conglomerate Conagra Brands Inc. Utz bills itself as the largest family-managed,...
Amazon breaks ground on Findlay warehouse that will create 800 jobs in Pittsburgh regionVideo
Eight hundred jobs that each pay at least $15 per hour will be coming to Findlay thanks to Amazon, which broke ground Wednesday on a new fulfillment center that is expected to be open by the 2020 holiday shopping season. Construction has already started at the site, adjacent to the...
Nike CEO Mark Parker to step down in JanuaryVideo
NEW YORK — Nike said Tuesday that its longtime CEO Mark Parker is stepping down early next year. He will be replaced by board member John Donahoe, who formerly ran e-commerce company eBay. Parker will become executive chairman of the board. Nike’s sales have been on the rise as the...
High prices drove U.S. home sales down 2.2% in September
WASHINGTON — U.S. home sales fell 2.2% in September, as rising home prices and lower inventories have stifled homebuyers. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that homes sold last month declined at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.38 million units, ending a two-month streak of sales gains. Existing-home...
Macy’s to stop selling real fur by end of fiscal year 2020
NEW YORK — Macy’s Inc. says it will stop selling real fur by the end of its fiscal year 2020 at its namesake stores, Bloomingdale’s, as well as at its discount outlets. As part of the announcement, the department store chain says it will close its fur vaults and salons....
Purloined Portfolio a collection from bright minds
Stolen fruit, anyone? Filings with the Securities and Exchange Administration make it easy to follow what almost any U.S. money manager is doing with his or her portfolio. I like to keep tabs on what my competitors are doing, especially the competitors I respect. Once a year, I feature some...
Online ordering boom gives rise to virtual restaurantsVideo
NEW YORK — Frato’s Pizza looks like a typical family restaurant, with its black-and-white checkered floor and red chairs. But in the kitchen, the cooks are whipping up dishes for four other restaurants at the same time. There is, of course, the gourmet pizza that patrons have come to expect...
Stocks end lower; S&P 500 notches 2nd straight weekly gain
The S&P 500 index closed out an uneven week of trading on Wall Street with its second straight weekly gain, even though stock indexes ended lower Friday. Technology companies led the slide, erasing some of the market’s gains from a day earlier. Communication services, industrials and health care stocks also...
Comcast opens store in North Huntingdon
Comcast Corp. opened an Xfinity store along Route 30 in North Huntingdon, part of an expansion that has seen the Philadelphia-based communications company open 12 stores in Western Pennsylvania. The global media company, which provides cable television service and high-speed internet and phone service, opened the store at 8691 Route...
Juul halts sales of fruit, dessert flavors for e-cigarettesVideo
WASHINGTON — Juul Labs stopped selling fruit and dessert flavors Thursday, acknowledging the public’s “lack of trust” in the vaping industry. The voluntary step is the company’s latest attempt to weather a growing political backlash blaming its flavored-nicotine products for hooking a generation of teenagers on electronic cigarettes. Juul, the...
U.S. home construction fell 9.4% last month
WASHINGTON — U.S. home building fell last month, driven by a sharp decline in the construction of new apartments. The Commerce Department said Thursday that housing starts dropped 9.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.26 million. The construction of new apartments plunged 28.3% to an annual pace of...
Netflix heads into showdown with slowing subscriber growthVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix’s subscriber growth is bogging down even before the leading video streaming service confronts high-powered threats from Apple and Walt Disney Co. The latest sign of the challenges the company is facing emerged Wednesday with the release of its third-quarter results. The numbers provided further evidence that...
Technology companies lead modest slide for U.S. stock indexes
A day of mostly listless trading on Wall Street ended Wednesday with modest losses as the stock market gave back some of its gains from the day before. Technology stocks accounted for most of the selling, which lost some of its momentum toward the end of the day. Energy companies...
Solid company earnings power broad rally for U.S. stocks
Stocks notched solid gains on Wall Street Tuesday as investors welcomed surprisingly good quarterly results from some of the nation’s biggest companies. Strong earnings from UnitedHealth Group, JPMorgan Chase and other companies helped power the market’s broad gains, erasing modest losses from a day earlier. Investors are looking to the...
New Jersey breaks its monthly sports betting record
ATLANTIC CITY — Gamblers wagered a record-breaking $445 million on sports in New Jersey in September, the largest monthly total in the state since legal sports betting began in June 2018. The release of figures Tuesday came as the rapidly growing New Jersey sports betting market challenges Nevada for nationwide...
Harley temporarily suspends electric motorcycle production
NEW YORK — Harley-Davidson is suspending production of its highly anticipated electric motorcycle because of technical issues that arose during a final quality check. The manufacturer is counting on the LiveWire motorcycle to attract younger customers and counter flagging sales in the United States as its traditional customer base ages....
