Business category, Page 105
Number of Americans applying for jobless aid rises, but not enough to cause concern
The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits jumped last week, but not enough to raise concern about the consistently strong U.S. labor market. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose by 21,000 to 248,000 for the week ending August 5, from 227,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday....
Sustainable Pittsburgh selected for clean energy workforce initiative
Sustainable Pittsburgh wants Southwestern Pennsylvania to be a leader in the growing field for clean jobs. The Downtown Pittsburgh-based nonprofit has been selected by Jobs for the Future as a Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge Member. The organization will join other groups across the country to prepare individuals for climate-resilient...
4 LGBTQ+ retirement hurdles and what to do about them
In many ways, retirement planning for someone in the LGBTQ+ community is the same as anyone else’s retirement planning: save more, spend less, invest for the long term. But for LGBTQ+ people, there are unique challenges. Historically lower incomes mean they have less to save overall. Because they’re less likely...
Zoom, which thrived on the remote work revolution, wants workers back in the office part-time
NEW YORK — The company whose name became synonymous with remote work is joining the growing return-to-office trend. Zoom, the video conferencing pioneer, is asking employees who live within a 50-mile radius of its offices to work onsite two days a week, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email. The...
ESPN strikes $1.5B deal to jump into sports betting with Penn Entertainment
You know ESPN the sports media giant. Now brace yourself for ESPN Bet, a rebranding of an existing sports-betting app owned by Penn Entertainment, which is paying $1.5 billion plus other considerations for exclusive rights to the ESPN name. The deal, announced Tuesday, could take Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN into...
John Dorfman: Sane Portfolio enjoyed a good year
The Sane Portfolio wasn’t intended to burn up the track. This is a hypothetical portfolio I devised in 1999 and have refreshed almost every year since. It’s intended as a slightly conservative, middle-of-the-road collection of stocks. But in the past year it’s risen 23%. To be eligible for the Sane...
Credit-card balances in the U.S. top $1 trillion for 1st time
Credit-card balances surpassed $1 trillion for the first time last quarter in data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, showing how even more widespread credit has become among American consumers as the US economy recovered from the pandemic. Balances increased by $45 billion, the most of all debt...
Soaring sales of diabetes drug Mounjaro, widely used for weight loss, sends Eli Lilly to new heights
INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly’s diabetes treatment Mounjaro, which is widely used for weight loss, raked in nearly $1 billion in second-quarter sales, or more than $200 million above what Wall Street had expected. Shares of the drugmaker soared 17% to an all-time-high Tuesday after Lilly said Mounjaro sales swelled more...
Trucking giant Yellow Corp. declares bankruptcy after years of financial struggles
NEW YORK — Trucking company Yellow Corp. has declared bankruptcy after years of financial struggles and growing debt, marking a significant shift for the U.S. transportation industry and shippers nationwide. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which was filed Sunday, comes just three years after Yellow received $700 million in pandemic-era loans...
Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X
NEW YORK — Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face-off in late June. Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts, and the...
Nucor, Albemarle show value, growth
Hatfield vs. McCoy. Montague vs. Capulet. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Great feuds, each. But what about value and growth, the two main schools of investing? They don’t have to be enemies. Once a year, I write a column on stocks I believe show value and growth characteristics. For 17 columns...
Bakery Square food hall gets new management, restaurant lineup
Ownership of a Bakery Square food hall has officially changed management after about two months of shakeups among the restaurants inside. The site off Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh’s East End is now called City Kitchen, with management operations fully shifted from New York City-owned Galley Group to Shaka Restaurant Group....
U.S. economy likely generated 200,000 new jobs in July, showing more resilience in face of rate hikes
WASHINGTON — The American economy has generated at least 200,000 new jobs for a record 30 straight months. And the streak likely continued into July. But just barely. The Labor Department’s latest jobs report, out Friday, is expected to show that employers tacked on exactly 200,000 jobs last month, according...
Economy likely generated 200,000 new jobs in July, showing more resilience in face of rate hikes
WASHINGTON — The American economy has generated at least 200,000 new jobs for a record 30 straight months. And the streak likely continued into July. But just barely. The Labor Department’s latest jobs report, out Friday, is expected to show that employers tacked on exactly 200,000 jobs last month, according...
Saudi Arabia extends cut of 1M barrels of oil a day through September, trying to boost prices
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia said Thursday it will extend its unilateral production cut of 1 million barrels of oil a day through the end of September in its effort to boost flagging energy prices. The Saudi reduction, which began in July, comes as the other OPEC+ producers...
Adidas brings in $437 million from the first Yeezy sale. Part of that will go to anti-hate groups
FRANKFURT, Germany — Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to...
Bud Light parent says U.S. market share stabilizing after transgender promotion cost sales
Bud Light’s parent company expressed confidence Thursday that its U.S. market share has stabilized after a promotion with a transgender influencer cost it sales. Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Thursday that its U.S. revenue fell 10.5% in the second quarter. Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent...
IRS aims to go paperless by 2025 as part of its campaign to conquer mountains of paperwork
Most taxpayers will be able to digitally submit a slew of tax documents and other communications to the IRS next filing season as the agency aims to go completely paperless by 2025. The effort to reduce the exorbitant load of paperwork that has plagued the agency — dubbed the “paperless...
X marks the lawsuit: Elon Musk’s social media company sues nonprofit highlighting site’s hate speech
WASHINGTON — X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has sued a group of researchers — alleging their work highlighting an increase in hate speech on the platform cost the company millions of dollars of advertising revenue. The suit, filed late Monday night in U.S. District Court in...
Fitch downgrades U.S. credit rating, citing mounting debt and political divisions
WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings has downgraded the United States government’s credit rating, citing rising debt at the federal, state, and local levels and a “steady deterioration in standards of governance” over the past two decades. The rating was cut Tuesday one notch to AA+ from AAA, the highest possible rating....
Unemployment rate in Pittsburgh region dips to new record low
The unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh area inched down to 3.9% during the month of June, a new record low. The drop of two-tenths of a percentage brings the rate to the lowest point since 1976, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry. David...
Job openings fall to lowest level in 2 years as demand for workers cools
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted fewer jobs in June, a sign that the red-hot demand for workers that has been a key feature of the post-pandemic economy is cooling a bit. Job openings dropped to 9.6 million in June, the Labor Department said Tuesday, down slightly from the previous month...
GM recalls nearly 900 vehicles with Takata air bag inflators, blames manufacturing problem
DETROIT — General Motors is recalling nearly 900 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada with Takata air bag inflators that could explode and hurl shrapnel in a crash. The recall covers certain Chevrolet Camaro, Sonic and Volt vehicles as well as the Buick Verano, all from the 2013 model year....
Millennial Money: Mystery travel lets you focus on the fun, not the details
Travel planning can be a real chore. Booking flights, deciding on the right hotel and building an itinerary might be fun for some, but others dread it. That’s why some travelers are opting for an unorthodox travel strategy that eliminates the planning stage altogether. It’s called “mystery” or “suprise” travel,...
Bed Bath & Beyond is back, this time as an online retailer
NEW YORK — Overstock has officially relaunched the Bed Bath & Beyond domain online Tuesday in the U.S., after acquiring the bankrupt retail chain’s intellectual property assets for $21.5 million last month. The online retailer Overstock.com said in late June that it was dumping its name online and it will...
