Business category, Page 277
Google offers cheaper Pixel phones to spur sales
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google is releasing cheaper versions of its smartphone in an effort to appeal to budget-minded consumers who aren’t willing to spend $800 on the Pixel 3. The more affordable phones are a response to a worldwide slowdown in smartphone sales, which has been partially driven by...
Kennametal posts 10th consecutive year-over-year quarterly growth
Kennametal Inc. this week announced its net income rose to $70.1 million for the quarter ending March 31, up $17 million from the same quarter a year ago, even through sales fell by $10.7 million to $597.2 million. The Pittsburgh-based industrial toolmaker, which has a corporate campus in Unity, earned...
Google expected to show off new hardware, AI at annual event
SAN FRANCISCO — Google CEO Sundar Pichai is expected to showcase much-anticipated updates to the company’s hardware lines and artificial intelligence. Google will also likely address privacy updates as concerns about data sharing continue to plague the tech industry. Facebook dedicated much of its own conference last week to addressing...
John Dorfman: 4 stocks with tiny debt or none at all
Low debt is a characteristic I love when picking stocks. The low-debt stock list you are about to read is the 17th in a series, published pretty much every year in May. My picks in the first 16 low-debt lists have averaged a total return (including dividends) of 28.5% in...
Warren Buffett says trade war with China would be bad for world
OMAHA, Neb. — Investor Warren Buffett says if the U.S. has a full-blown trade war with China, it will be bad for the entire world. Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday with Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who serves on Berkshire’s board. Over the weekend,...
Boeing held off for months on disclosing faulty alert on 737 Max
Boeing knew months before a deadly 737 Max crash that a cockpit alert wasn’t working the way the company had told buyers of the single-aisle jetliner. But the planemaker didn’t share its findings with airlines or the Federal Aviation Administration until after a Lion Air plane went down off the...
Microsoft offers software tools to secure elections
Microsoft announced an ambitious effort it says will make voting secure, verifiable and more transparent with open-source software. Two of the three top U.S elections vendors have expressed interest in potentially incorporating the software into their voting systems. The software kit is being developed with Galois, an Oregon-based company separately...
Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time
Would you let a stranger eavesdrop in your home and keep the recordings? For most people, the answer is, “Are you crazy?” Yet, that’s essentially what Amazon has been doing to millions of us with its assistant Alexa in microphone-equipped Echo speakers. And it’s hardly alone: Bugging our homes is...
Markets swoon after Trump threatens to hike China tariffs
BANGKOK — World markets swooned Monday after President Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on imports from China at a time when investors were expecting trade tensions to subside. The CAC 40 in France lost 2.2% in early trading to 5,428.65 while Germany’s DAX skidded 2.1% to 12,150.16. London’s markets...
Kraft Heinz restates earnings over period of 2+ years
PITTSBURGH — Kraft Heinz is restating its financial results for the years 2016, 2017, and for the first nine months of 2018. The company said in February that it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission over its procurement operations. Kraft Heinz Co. said in a regulatory filing...
Trump threatens to raise Chinese tariffs to 25% this week
WASHINGTON — President Trump turned up the pressure on China on Sunday, threatening to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump’s comments, delivered on Twitter, came as a Chinese delegation was scheduled to resume talks in Washington on Wednesday aimed at resolving a trade war that has...
No green thumb? Robot planter can walk to sunlight, throws tantrum for water
Be honest: How many plants have you killed? Maybe you forgot to water it. Maybe you failed to move it into the sun. But what if your planter could tell you when to water it? What if it didn’t need you to get it some sunlight? Enter the HEXA Plant...
U.S. adds robust 263K jobs; unemployment at 49-year low: 3.6%
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a robust 263,000 jobs in April, suggesting that businesses have shrugged off earlier concerns that the economy might slow this year and anticipate strong customer demand. The unemployment rate fell to a five-decade low of 3.6% from 3.8%, though that drop partly reflected an increase...
Facebook bans ‘dangerous individuals’ cited for hate speech
SAN FRANCISCO — After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on “dangerous individuals.” The company also removed right-wing personalities Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with...
Environmental groups file notice to sue U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel could be facing another federal lawsuit, air quality advocates announced Thursday. Environmental Integrity Project, the Breathe Project and the Clean Air Council filed a notice to U.S. Steel as well as federal, state and local agencies for air pollution stating that they intend to sue U.S. Steel over...
Maine becomes 1st state to ban single-use foam containers
AUGUSTA — Maine has banned single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, becoming the first state to do so. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill, which takes effect in 2021, into law Tuesday. Environmental groups have sought such bans amid rising public awareness...
London marathon runners quench thirst with sports drink in edible seaweed pods
No, the runners did not have to eat them, but they could. The golf ball-sized pouches made from seaweed and filled with a sports drink were handed out to thousands of runners for the London marathon on April 28. The marathon offered “race organizers and company officials a mass experiment...
Fed signals neither a rate hike nor a cut is likely soon
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and signaled that it’s unlikely to either raise or cut rates in coming months amid signs of renewed economic health but unusually low inflation. The Fed left its benchmark rate — which influences many consumer and business loans...
Apple’s fiscal 2Q revenue, profit sag amid iPhone slump
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s sales are still shrinking amid weakening iPhone demand, despite the company’s effort to emphasize services designed to bring in a steady flow of money from the 1.4 billion of its devices still in use. Revenue for the January-March quarter fell 5% from the same time in...
GM needed help beating profit estimates, so it called a Lyft
General Motors Co. needed a little help from ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. to beat analysts for first-quarter profit as cost cuts only partially made up for lower sales. The Detroit-based company posted adjusted earnings of $1.41 a share for the first three months of the year, topping analysts’ average projection...
U.S. workers’ compensation rose moderately in 1st quarter
WASHINGTON — Wages and benefits for U.S. workers rose 0.7% in the first three months of the year, a modest gain that matched the previous quarter’s increase. The data, released Tuesday by the Labor Department, suggests that growth in workers’ compensation has stalled in recent months. In the first quarter,...
JPMorgan Chase offered customers some financial advice. It didn’t go well.Video
JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, attempted to offer its financially-strapped customers some advice Monday. It quickly backfired. If their balances are low, the bank suggested customers “make coffee at home” or “eat the food that’s already in the fridge.” JPMorgan Chase’s brief attempt at levity turned into a social...
John Dorfman: 5 stock choices from my ‘Old Faithful’ screen
My “Old Faithful” stock screen is one of my favorites. I’ve written 16 columns about Old Faithful, beginning in 1999. The average one-year gain has been 19.99%, compared to 6.33% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over the same periods. Figures are total returns including dividends. Twelve of the...
Marriott looks to challenge Airbnb with push into home-sharing
Marriott is pushing more heavily into home-sharing, confident that its combination of luxury properties and loyalty points can lure travelers away from rivals like Airbnb. The world’s biggest hotel company will soon start taking reservations through its website for 2,000 homes in 100 markets in the U.S., Europe and Latin...
Burger King may sell plant-based burger across U.S.
TORONTO — Burger King could soon be selling plant-based burgers nationwide. Restaurant Brands International, Burger King’s parent, said Monday that a month-long test of the Impossible Whopper at 59 restaurants in St. Louis has gone so well that it will start testing it in additional markets. The company said it...
