Business category, Page 93
Home sales slumped to slowest pace in more than 13 years in October as prices, borrowing costs soar
LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slumped in October to their slowest pace in more than 13 years as surging mortgage rates and rising prices kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines. Existing home sales fell 4.1% last month from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate...
Musk’s X sues liberal advocacy group Media Matters over its report on ads next to hate groups’ posts
Elon Musk’s social media company X filed a lawsuit against liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America on Monday, saying it manufactured a report to show advertisers’ posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist posts in order to “drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.” Media Matters, a Washington,...
Key Fed official sees possible ‘golden path’ toward lower inflation without a recession
WASHINGTON — Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, suggested Monday that the economy appears to be on what he calls the “golden path,” another term for what economists call a “soft landing,” in which the Fed would curb inflation without causing a deep recession. “Any time...
What’s open and closed on Thanksgiving this year?
The holiday season is here, which means spending time with family on Thanksgiving and also, for millions of people, hunting for the best deals on Black Friday. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November each year, which takes place this week. A lot of national retailers are keeping...
Shippers anticipate being able to meet holiday demand
Carriers like the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and United Parcel Service have capacity to meet projected demand this holiday season, which is cheery news for shippers and shoppers alike. Like last year, there’s expected to be little drama compared to struggles during the pandemic when people hunkered down at home...
Company that created ChatGPT is thrown into turmoil after Microsoft hires its ousted CEO
The company that created ChatGPT was thrown into turmoil Monday after Microsoft hired its ousted CEO and many more employees threatened to follow him in a conflict that centered in part on the safest way to build artificial intelligence. The developments followed a weekend of drama that shocked the AI...
John Dorfman: 5 stocks to loosen your belt for
Thanksgiving is a time to loosen your belt. That’s why, each year around Thanksgiving, I loosen my stock-valuation belt a little in this column, and suggest five stocks that look good to me even though they are a little more expensive than I normally prefer. These are GARP stocks. The...
Why Americans feel gloomy about the economy despite falling inflation and low unemployment
WASHINGTON — Inflation has reached its lowest point in 2 1/2 years. The unemployment rate has stayed below 4% for the longest stretch since the 1960s. And the U.S. economy has repeatedly defied predictions of a coming recession. Yet according to a raft of polls and surveys, most Americans hold...
Pittsburgh tourism bounces back from pandemic freefall, new report shows
Andrew Masich said he started to notice a change last year. The Sen. John Heinz History Center president and CEO watched attendance numbers dip at the Strip District museum during the covid-19 pandemic. Then, this summer, he saw attendance soar when the Allegheny Regional Asset District provided funding allowing the...
New president named at #1 Cochran
Auto dealer #1 Cochran has named a new president. Denny Patton, current vice president and chief operating officer, will succeed Rob Cochran as president. Cochran, who has held the role since 1992, will remain CEO and transition to chairman. Cochran will maintain his involvement in the business. He said the...
IBM pulls ads from Elon Musk’s X after report says they appeared next to antisemitic posts
IBM has stopped advertising on social media platform X after a report said its ads were appearing alongside material praising Adolf Hitler and Nazis — a fresh setback as the site formerly known as Twitter tries to win back big brands and their ad dollars. The U.S. tech company made...
‘Not science fiction:’ Robotics Network’s Discovery Day showcases tech in Pittsburgh
The humanoid robot waved at the crowd, folded its arms toward its chest, and bowed in greeting. Then it stepped sideways to show some motor skills. It’s a prototype of Agility Robotics’ bipedal robot, Digit, which is meant to work in warehouses alongside humans to handle the more tedious and...
Kraft Heinz announces new leadership
Packaged food giant Kraft Heinz announced changes to its leadership team in the coming year, months after naming a new chief executive. The maker of Heinz Ketchup and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese appointed Carlos Abrams-Rivera as CEO and a member of the board, effective Jan. 1. Until then, Abrams-Rivera will...
Amazon will allow U.S. customers to buy cars on its site from local car dealers starting next year
NEW YORK — Want to buy a car on Amazon? Well, now you might get your chance. The e-commerce giant will launch vehicle sales in the U.S. next year and allow local car dealers to sell directly to customers on its site. In a joint announcement with car manufacturer Hyundai...
Barefoot workers and cracked floors were found at a factory that made recalled eyedrops, FDA says
WASHINGTON — An Indian company that recently recalled eyedrops sold in the U.S. had a host of sanitation and manufacturing problems, including barefoot workers, cracked floors and altered records, U.S. health inspectors found. Food and Drug Administration officials uncovered more than a dozen problems at the Mumbai plant operated by...
U.S. applications for jobless claims rise in a labor market that remains very healthy
More Americans filed for jobless claims last week, but the labor market remains broadly healthy in the face of retreating inflation and elevated interest rates. Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 13,000 to 231,000 for the week ending Nov. 11, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the most in three...
Invenergy scraps plan for gas-fueled power plant in southern Allegheny County
A Chicago-based company has scrapped plans to build a natural gas-fueled power plant on the Youghiogheny River in southern Allegheny County. Invenergy requested to terminate its Allegheny County Health Department permit for the project last week, according to county records. A company spokesperson said Invenergy was dropping the proposal in...
Want to buy now, pay later this holiday season? Ask yourself these 5 questions first
Shoppers gearing up for the 2023 holiday season won’t have to look hard for a convenient way to pay for all those presents. ” Buy now, pay later,” a type of payment plan that divides the total cost of your purchase into smaller installments, is offered at most major retailers,...
U.S. producer prices slide 0.5% in October, biggest drop since 2020
WASHINGTON — U.S. wholesale prices fell sharply last month as inflationary pressure continued to ease after a year and a half of higher interest rates. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — dropped 0.5% in October from September,...
Target puts up strong 3rd quarter numbers with customers under pressure from inflation
NEW YORK — Target on Wednesday reported better-than-expected profits and sales in its third quarter, benefiting from efforts to hold down costs. Revenue slipped more than 4%, however, with customers saddled with broadly higher costs as the holiday season nears. The Minneapolis retailer has been trying to right itself after...
John Dorfman: Kraft Heinz, Capital One look good based on book value
I believe the value approach to investing is in the early stages of a comeback, after a decade in retreat. Roughly speaking and oversimplifying, value was usually a good stock-picking method from 1930 to 2013. Since then, growth and momentum investors have smiled, while value investors have wept. A stock...
Westmoreland airport contemplates future as airline merger looms
Local leaders insist they don’t know what the future holds for Arnold Palmer Regional Airport amid fears the Unity facility’s lone carrier could pull up stakes pending the outcome of a proposed airline merger. “We don’t have a plan,” said Westmoreland County Airport Authority board member Richard Ridilla. “No one...
Astrobotic expansion could spur creation of ‘space district’ in Pittsburgh, officials say
Pittsburgh’s leading space company said Tuesday it plans to move some of its operations into a $20 million office building on the North Side and more than double its workforce. Astrobotic, a Manchester-based company that builds equipment to send to the moon, said it has bought a five-story building on...
Disney says it has $40 billion economic impact in Florida as it battles DeSantis in court
ORLANDO, Fla. — Disney on Tuesday released a study showing its economic impact in Florida at $40.3 billion as it battles Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees over their takeover of the district that governs the entertainment company’s massive resort in central Florida. Disney accounted for 263,000 jobs in...
YouTube creators will soon have to disclose use of gen AI in videos or risk suspension
YouTube is rolling out new rules for AI content, including a requirement that creators reveal whether they’ve used generative artificial intelligence to make realistic-looking videos. In a blog post Tuesday outlining a number of AI-related policy updates, YouTube said creators that don’t disclose whether they’ve used AI tools to make...
