Business category, Page 43
The U.S. is missing again as G20 finance chiefs meet in South Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 developed and developing nations gathered in South Africa on Wednesday for a two-day meeting marked by the absence of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several other high-profile figures. Bessent’s absence follows a boycott...
BP to slash spending on net zero ventures as it focuses on oil and gas again
LONDON — British energy company BP confirmed Wednesday that it would slash spending on green ventures and increase its oil and gas production, a change in direction that it hopes will bolster its flagging share price but has been met with incredulity from climate action campaigners. In a statement titled...
Alcoa CEO predicts Trump aluminum tariffs will cost 100,000 jobs
Bill Oplinger, CEO of Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer Alcoa, warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s 25% import tax on aluminum could kill off around 100,000 U.S jobs. “This is bad for the aluminum industry in the U.S. It’s bad for American workers,” Oplinger told a crowd at a metals and mining...
Nippon to meet with federal officials in bid to salvage U.S. Steel deal
Nippon Steel plans to meet with federal officials to work out a solution to the U.S. Steel takeover, and will use the existing merger agreement as a starting point in negotiations. The Japanese steelmaker’s chief operating officer, Tadashi Imai, unveiled the plan to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. Imai’s stance...
Starbucks is cutting ‘less popular’ drinks from its menu. Here’s what’s going away
NEW YORK — Starbucks is making cuts to its menu, with some of the coffee giant’s “less popular beverages” set to take their final bow next week. In an announcement Monday, Starbucks outlined plans to remove a selection of its drinks — including several blended Frappuccino beverages, the Royal English...
U.S. consumer confidence plummets in February, biggest monthly decline since 2021
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday, with inflation seemingly stuck and a trade war under President Donald Trump seen by a growing number of Americans as inevitable. The Conference Board reported that its...
Delta CEO promotes DEI initiatives as ‘merit-based’ following Trump executive orders
Amid the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back DEI initiatives across the federal government, many companies have dropped their diversity, equity and inclusion commitments, from Disney and Google to Amazon. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which is a federal contractor, is threading a needle: It’s promoting its DEI initiatives as merit-based...
John Dorfman: Want to predict the economy? Well, then enter my derby
Terry Johnson, the winner of my Derby of Economic Forecasting Talent (DEFT) for 2024, likes to count trucks. Specifically, he counts the number of big rigs — 18-wheelers and the like — on a 45-mile stretch between Lincoln and York, Neb. More trucks means the economy is doing well. Fewer...
Fabric and craft retailer Joann to go out of business and close all of its stores
NEW YORK — Fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc., which has been a destination for generations of quilters, knitters and lovers of crafts projects for 80 years, is going out of business and shuttering all its stores. The announcement comes after the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
Apple announces $500 billion investment in U.S. amid tariff threats that could affect iPhoneVideo
NEW YORK — Apple announced Monday that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. The move comes just days after President Donald Trump said Apple CEO...
FDA moves to rehire medical device staffers fired only days earlier
Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back. Beginning Friday night, FDA employees overseeing medical devices and other key areas received calls and emails notifying them that their recent terminations had been...
Starbucks lays off 1,100 corporate employees as coffee chain streamlines
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and...
From farmland to Miracle Mile: Monroeville poised for change as it marks 75 years
N. Michael Marie had a front-row seat as Monroeville grew from a farming community into the hub of activity that it is today. Marie, 72, is the owner of Nick Marie’s Esta Esta, the restaurant his parents, Nick and Helen Marie, opened in 1955. Marie grew up above the space...
Wilkinsburg rising: Scrappy suburb sports signs of long-sought revivalVideo
One late January morning, Dontae Comans pushed his two youngsters in a shopping cart down the tidy aisles of Wilkinsburg’s new Aldi supermarket, the latest success story in the tattered borough’s ongoing revival. Moments earlier, Comans, Wilkinsburg’s first-term mayor, had presided over a grand-opening ceremony before joining scores of his...
Cryptocurrency exchange says it was victim of $1.5 billion hack
A major cryptocurrency exchange says it was the victim of a sophisticated hack that stole about $1.5 billion worth of digital currency, marking one of the biggest online thefts of all time. Bybit said Friday a routine transfer of Ethereum, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, between digital wallets was...
Slide for Walmart pulls Wall Street from its record, and Dow drops 450Video
NEW YORK — A sharp slide for Walmart on Thursday helped pull Wall Street off of its record. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% for its first drop after setting all-time highs in each of the last two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 450 points, or 1%, and the...
New York sues vape distributors over Elf Bar and other fruit and candy e-cigarettes
New York on Thursday sued some of the country’s biggest distributors of electronic cigarettes, accusing the companies of violating state laws that prohibit the sale of vaping flavors and designs that appeal to children. Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit targeting middlemen that distribute fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes such...
Is spending all day on your feet at work an occupational hazard?
NEW YORK — While traveling in Europe, Margaux Lantelme noticed something different about the store cashiers: they did their work sitting down. It was a stark contrast to Chicago, where Lantelme works the register at REI and cashiers typically spend eight hours a day on their feet. For Lantelme, a...
John Dorfman: How to make a terrible stock market bet
There are no sure ways to win in the stock market. But here’s a fairly sure way to lose: Invest in a stock that sells for 100 times revenue or more. The price/sales ratio for General Motors is less than one, for McDonald’s Corp. about 9, and for Microsoft about...
USAID shutdown is upending livelihoods for nonprofit workers, farmers and other Americans
WASHINGTON — There’s the executive in a U.S. supply-chain company whose voice breaks while facing the next round of calls telling employees they no longer have jobs. And a farmer in Missouri who grew up knowing that a world with more hungry people is a world that’s more dangerous. And...
Proposed Pa. minimum wage hike is bitter pill for many business owners
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage by more than 100% — from $7.25 to $15 an hour — is being panned by area business owners. Most say they already pay workers more than the minimum wage, and the rate should be set by the market, not by...
Paramount, YouTube TV strike deal, averting CBS outage
LOS ANGELES — Google’s YouTube and Paramount Global have struck a new distribution contract, averting a threatened blackout of CBS and other television channels for nearly 8 million YouTube TV customers. The deal was clinched Saturday night, about 48 hours after the previous pact had expired. The two sides then...
From brownfield to crown jewel: Piatt’s $740M Esplanade project aims to spur Ohio River revival
When drivers emerge from the Fort Pitt Tunnel, they’re greeted by a majestic view of Pittsburgh’s dazzling rivers, the iconic Point State Park fountain and the city’s soaring skyline. And when Lucas Piatt glances left as he drives along the Fort Pitt Bridge, he can already envision the massive Ferris...
Tres Jolie owner Sheryl Delphey has been keeping Blawnox stylish for nearly 40 years
A salon owner in Blawnox touted for offering excellent customer service wants everyone to have a good hair day. Tres Jolie (translated in French to “very beautiful”) is owned and operated by Sheryl Delphey of Blawnox. “I planned to go to school to study optometry,” Delphey said. “But I was...
Charleroi glass plant operators extend operation 3 months, through the end of July
Workers at a Charleroi glass plant learned this week the Pyrex cookware factory would remain open for at least three months, extending its operation through the end of July, a union official said. Some union workers at the Corelle Brands LLC who were anticipating a layoff learned on Thursday that...
