Business category, Page 288

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expressing optimism about trade negotiations with China as U.S. officials are expected in Beijing for talks aimed at easing a trade battle. Trump said Sunday he spoke recently to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump says: “I really believe they want to make a deal....

Eddie Lampert is struggling to convince bankers for Sears Holdings Corp. that his bid to keep the retailer alive is adequate. But he’ll have a little more time to try. The hedge-fund manager came up short Friday in meeting Sears’ conditions for what it considers a qualified bid to rescue...

NEW YORK — A new year calls for sparkly new sheets. But shoppers looking for high-quality linens without hurting their budget may want to skip the so-called white sales at mass retailers. A new cast of startups, including Parachute, Brooklinen and Boll & Branch, are cutting out middlemen and selling...

NEW YORK — Small business issues often win bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, but given the divisions in the incoming 116th Congress, advocates for companies have low expectations. Even after lawmakers deal with the partial government shutdown, a Democratic House, a Republican Senate and ongoing investigations of the Trump White...

Last year, Microsoft Corp.’s Azure security team detected suspicious activity in the cloud computing usage of a large retailer: One of the company’s administrators, who usually logs on from New York, was trying to gain entry from Romania. And no, the admin wasn’t on vacation. A hacker had broken in....

LOS ANGELES — People relied on the most popular mobile weather app to track forecasts that determined whether they chose jeans over shorts and packed a parka or umbrella, but its owners used it to track their every step and profit off that information, Los Angeles prosecutors said Friday. The...

DETROIT — Ford is recalling more than 953,000 vehicles worldwide to replace Takata passenger air bag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel. The move includes over 782,000 vehicles in the U.S. and is part of the largest series of recalls in U.S. history. Included are the 2010 Ford Edge...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that President Donald Trump has not tried to fire him and that he would not resign from his position if Trump asked him to do so. Trump has repeatedly blamed Powell for the market decline and the dimming outlook for the U.S. economy...

NEW YORK — Global stocks are jumping Friday as investors welcomed news of trade talks between the U.S. and China next week and the U.S. government reported a big increase in hiring in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared about 500 points. China’s Commerce Ministry said the talks will...

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers dramatically stepped up their hiring in December, adding 312,000 jobs in an encouraging display of strength for an economy in the midst of a trade war, slowing global growth and a partial shutdown of the federal government. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate...

BETHESDA, Md. — Fewer Marriott guest records that previously feared were compromised in a massive data breach, but the largest hotel chain in the world confirmed Friday that approximately 5.25 million unencrypted passport numbers were accessed. The compromise of those passport numbers has raised alarms among security experts because of...

DALLAS — Not many CEOs dress up as Elvis Presley, settle a business dispute with an arm-wrestling contest, or go on TV wearing a paper bag over their head. Herb Kelleher did all those things. Along the way, the co-founder and longtime leader of Southwest Airlines also revolutionized air travel...

Nearly two decades after its release, “Minority Report” still seems to be as prescient as the film’s eerie crime-fighting “precogs,” offering a clarifying vision of the future that continues to manifest in the real world. Though it debuted way back in 2002, the film highlighted technologies such as driverless cars,...

NEW YORK — Stocks tumbled Thursday on Wall Street, with technology companies suffering their worst loss in seven years, after Apple reported that iPhone sales in China are slumping. The rare warning of disappointing results from Apple reinforced investors’ fears that the world’s second-biggest economy is losing steam and that...

SUMMIT, N.J. — Bristol-Myers Squibb is spending $74 billion on fellow drugmaker Celgene in a deal aimed at stocking the combined company’s development pipeline with cancer, immunology and cardiovascular treatments. Bristol would gain the cancer treatment Revlimid in the cash-and-stock deal announced Thursday, as well as inflammatory disease treatments and...

All of a sudden, the fundamentals aren’t looking as strong. First it was Apple’s $5 billion revenue miss, hints of which lopped 30 percent from its stock over three months. Now it’s a closely watched gauge of U.S. factory activity, which dropped to a two-year low and missed every estimate...

ATLANTA — Airlines are getting pummeled after a major carrier trimmed its revenue expectations for the fourth quarter. Delta Air Lines said Thursday that fourth-quarter revenue will rise about 7 percent, a half-point lower than it was expecting. The Atlanta airline says prices for tickets sold close to departure —...

Several Western Pennsylvania agribusiness start-ups that use technology innovations will share the spotlight beginning Saturday at the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. Five of six companies to be featured in the Farm Show Innovation Showcase are located on the western end of the state. Included are three Allegheny County...

WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses added a robust 271,000 jobs in December. Payroll processor ADP said Thursday that last month’s job gains marked a sharp upturn from November’s gain of 157,000. The gains, if backed up by government numbers due Friday, could be strong enough to reduce the unemployment rate. ADP...

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple acknowledged that demand for iPhones is waning, fulfilling the worst fears of investors concerned that the company’s most profitable product has lost some of its luster. The reckoning came in the form of a warning that Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered to the company’s shareholders in...

Global markets went into a steep decline out of the gate on Wednesday, then seesawed as the volatility of 2018 continued into the new year. The Dow Jones industrial average swung between being down nearly 400 points and up 86 points, before closing up 18 points, or .08 percent, finishing...

DETROIT — Shares of electric car and solar panel maker Tesla Inc. tumbled Wednesday after the company cut vehicle prices by $2,000 and announced fourth-quarter sales figures that fell short of Wall Street estimates. The company said in a statement before the markets opened that it delivered over 245,000 electric...

The roller coaster ride on Wall Street resumed on Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year, as stocks plunged in the morning and then climbed their way back by midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 398 points in the first few minutes of trading...