Business category, Page 286
Working parents are an endangered species. That’s why Democrats are talking child care.
Democrats’ child-care proposals, such as the plan put forward by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., last week, target an increasingly rare breed: the working parent. Parents make up a smaller share of the U.S. labor force now than at any other time in at least a century, according to our analysis...
Gap to create 2 independently publicly traded companies
NEW YORK — Gap Inc. is splitting into two. The retailer said Thursday that it’s creating two independent publicly traded companies — low-priced Old Navy and a yet-to-be named company, which will consist of the iconic Gap brand, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix and Hill City. The San Francisco-based company said...
J.C. Penney closes more stores as sales deteriorate
NEW YORK — J.C. Penney is closing more stores after a weak holiday sales season. Net income tumbled nearly 70 percent and revenue slid 8 percent in the fourth-quarter, the most crucial period of the year for retailers who bank on a surge in holiday sales. The company did beat...
U.S. economic growth just missed 3 percent mark in 2018
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy slowed in the final three months of last year to an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent, the slowest pace since the beginning of 2018, as the government shutdown and other factors took a toll on growth. Economists believe growth has slowed even more in...
SeaWorld parks see first annual gain in attendance since 2015
Last year proved to be a comeback for long beleaguered SeaWorld Entertainment, which saw its first annual gain in attendance since 2015, the company reported Thursday. Total visitation in 2018 grew by approximately 1.8 million guests to reach 22.6 million, an increase of 8.6 percent. Company revenue also rose by...
Hyundai, Kia recall over 500K vehicles as fire risk spreads
DETROIT — Hyundai and Kia have added more than a half-million vehicles to 3½-year string of U.S. recalls for engine failures and fires. Three recalls released Thursday by the government add new problems and vehicles to the Korean automakers’ list of safety woes, which have brought hundreds of complaints about...
Taxed and confused? Here’s where to get tax filing help
It’s tough to know all the answers at tax time, particularly in a year with massive tax law changes. Sometimes people need help, but where should they turn? Here are a few options: IRS The IRS has answers to most tax questions online. Its website also has a number of...
Coal official allegedly cheated on safety tests, putting miners at risk of black lung
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A coal company manager took part in cheating on tests designed to protect miners from contracting deadly black lung disease, a federal grand jury has charged. The grand jury issued a new indictment adding Glendal “Buddy” Hardison to a group of mine officials charged with conspiring to...
Race for shareholder profits has left workers in the dust, according to new research
A relentless focus on maximizing shareholder value has contributed to stagnant middle-class wages in the United States and fueled the rise of a society increasingly divided between haves and have-nots, according to a new working paper published by the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive economic think tank. “Nearly fifty years of...
Stair-climbing robot is hitting streets in FedEx delivery test
Call it R2-D2 without the attitude. FedEx Corp. envisions a not-too-distant future in which it relies on Star Wars-style robots for more deliveries, as portrayed in a company video. Imagine a box-shaped bot that can roll out of a neighborhood pharmacy and drop off prescription medicine at a nearby house....
A very merry Christmas at Best Buy with sales booming
NEW YORK — Best Buy put up some big holiday sales numbers Wednesday, more evidence that Americans are willing and able to spend on gadgets and big TVs. The nation’s consumer electronics chain delivered a better-than-expected 3 percent increase in sales at established stores for the fiscal fourth quarter. The...
Bayer vows strong defense in Roundup cancer cases
BERLIN — Germany’s Bayer AG, which bought Monsanto Co. last year, has underlined its determination to fight cases involving the Roundup weed-killer in the face of more than 11,000 lawsuits so far. In August, a San Francisco jury awarded a man $289 million after determining Roundup, part of the Monsanto...
Workers at ex-GE Transportation plant go on strike
ERIE — Workers at the former GE Transportation plant in northwestern Pennsylvania have gone on strike for the first time in a half-century, and a day after completion of a merger between GE Transportation and Wabtec. Employees at the plant now owned by Wabtec (the former Westinghouse Airbrakes Technologies Corp.)...
Stocks inch up on conflicting U.S. economic data, Fed remarks
U.S. stock indexes edged higher in afternoon trading Tuesday as investors weighed conflicting reports on how the U.S. economy is doing and remarks by the head of the Federal Reserve. Gains in technology and communications companies helped lift the market after a mid-afternoon slide, outweighing losses in health care and...
Women leaders are redefining businessesVideo
There was never any question that Mona Pappafava-Ray and Lori V. Albright would follow in the footsteps of their fathers. While the tool-and-die business has always been a male-dominated space, the two women — both of whom worked in their fathers’ shops right out of school — have emerged as...
U.S. appeals court clears AT&T’s $81B merger with Time Warner
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner, rejecting the Trump administration’s claims that the $81 billion deal will harm consumers and reduce competition in the pay TV market. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington came Tuesday in the high-stakes...
Fiat Chrysler to add 6,500 jobs in Detroit area with $4.5B investment
DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday announced a $4.5 billion investment plan it said would increase its workforce in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs by about 6,500 jobs to build all-new or next-generation SUVs. Under the plan, the company said it would reopen a shuttered engine plant in the city...
FBI seeks businesses that may have fallen victim to insurance scheme
The FBI is looking nationwide for businesses that may have fallen victim to an insurance and fraud scheme, according to a news release. In January, the American Labor Alliance and two of its executives were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail...
Another ceasefire: Can the U.S. and China end their trade war?
WASHINGTON — Relief swept across world financial markets Monday after President Donald Trump pushed back a March 2 deadline in a trade dispute with China. But the respite might not last. The world’s two biggest economies have squared off over Beijing’s aggressive campaign to turn Chinese companies into world leaders...
Your phone could soon recognize you based on how you move or walk
Within 18 months, your phone may be able to identify you based on the gait of your walk, the tension in your hand or the way your thumb moves across the touch screen. That’s the Pentagon’s plan: It’s in the final phase of testing technology that will reduce smartphone users’...
SEC wants Tesla CEO Elon Musk held in contempt for tweeting
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweeting habits have triggered another legal challenge from stock market regulators worried about him using his Twitter account to mislead investors. The latest dust-up emerged late Monday when the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal court in New York to hold Musk...
John Dorfman: Williams-Sonoma and Movado at inflection point
If you want an edge in investing, one path is to find companies whose stocks are cheap but whose profits are improving. I went hunting for some this weekend, and found a few, including Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSM) and Movado Group Inc. (MOV). To qualify for consideration in today’s column, a...
Driverless vehicles the subject of tech talk in Pittsburgh
An engineering association will hold its first meetup Tuesday for a discussion with industry leaders on self-driving vehicles. Scheduled speakers include Sterling Anderson, Aurora Innovation co-founder, and Tara Andringa, coalition manager for Partners for Automated Vehicle Education, or PAVE, an alliance of industry, nonprofit and academic institutions formed to educate...
Stocks rise broadly after Trump postpones tariff increase
NEW YORK — Stocks moved broadly higher on Wall Street after President Donald Trump agreed to hold off on raising tariffs on Chinese goods, which would have escalated a damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Investors had been growing increasingly optimistic over the last two weeks that...
Warren Buffett praises potential successors, but he has no plans to retire
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the economy continues growing although the rate of improvement has slowed, and the ongoing U.S. trade dispute remains a concern. Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday after releasing his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders over the weekend. “Right now things look fine,” said...
