Business category, Page 158
Airfares hit highest level in years despite falling fuel prices
LOS ANGELES — Jet fuel prices have been dropping dramatically since May, and the nation’s airlines now have more workers on staff than before the pandemic. So Americans preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas travel should expect lower airfares and fewer delays and cancellations, right? Don’t get your hopes up. Ticket...
Global markets fall sharply on worries about rates, economy
Stocks tumbled worldwide Friday on more signs the global economy is weakening, just as central banks raise the pressure even more with additional interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 fell 2.3% in early afternoon trading, adding a dismal cap on what’s already been a rough week. It’s almost all the...
U.S. Sen. Warnock: Electric car tax credit needs ‘flexibility’
SAVANNAH, Ga. — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock urged the U.S. Treasury secretary Friday to use “maximum flexibility” in implementing a revised tax credit for Americans buying electric vehicles, a perk that Hyundai stands to lose as the automaker invests billions of dollars to open its first American EV plant in...
Wall Street ends lower as global central banks raise ratesVideo
Stocks fell again Thursday, deepening Wall Street’s losses for the week, as central banks around the world hiked interest rates to fight inflation. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, its third straight drop. The benchmark index is down about 3% so far this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%...
Average long-term mortgage rates climb to 6.29% this week
WASHINGTON — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped by more than a quarter-point this week to their highest level since 2008 as the Federal Reserve intensified its effort to tamp down decades-high inflation and cool the economy. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate climbed to 6.29%,...
Walmart, Target begin holiday early to ease inflation sting
NEW YORK — Walmart and Target plan to begin offering deals and price matching offers earlier this year to keep up with Americans pressed by soaring inflation and looking for ways to ease the potential sting of holiday shopping. For two years now, shoppers have started preparing for the holidays...
Jerome Powell signals more pain to come with Fed sending rates higherVideo
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell vowed officials would crush inflation after they raised interest rates by 75 basis points for a third straight time and signaled even more aggressive hikes ahead than investors had expected. “We have got to get inflation behind us. I wish there were a painless way...
Home Depot workers petition to form 1st store-wide union
NEW YORK — Home Depot workers in Philadelphia have filed a petition with the federal labor board to form what could be the first store-wide union at the world’s largest home improvement retailer. The petition, filed with the National Labor Relations Board this week, seeks to form a collective bargaining...
Airbnb hosts are sick of Airbnb, too
Disgruntled Airbnb guests are taking to Twitter and TikTok to vent about everything from cleaning fees to misleading listings. But they aren’t the only ones with complaints: Airbnb hosts themselves have become increasingly disillusioned with the platform and its disrespectful guests. On message boards and Facebook groups, hosts are sharing...
U.S. home sales slipped, prices grew more slowly in August
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in August for the seventh month in a row, as sharply higher mortgage rates and rising prices made homebuying less affordable, further cooling the once red-hot housing market. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that existing home sales fell 0.4% last month...
Walmart to hire 40,000 mostly seasonal workers for holidays
NEW YORK — Walmart said it will hire 40,000 U.S. workers for the holidays, a majority of them seasonal workers. The move, announced Wednesday, comes as the nation’s largest retailer and largest private employer said it’s in a stronger staffing position heading into the holidays than last year and is...
Hertz to order up to 175K GM electric vehicles over 5 years
Hertz plans to order up to 175,000 electric vehicles from General Motors over the next five years. The agreement announced Tuesday includes electric vehicle deliveries through 2027 and will include SUVs, pickups and luxury automobiles from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop. The companies expect deliveries of the Chevrolet Bolt...
Spotify launches audiobook store with some 300,000 titles
NEW YORK — The expanding audio books market has a major new retailer: Spotify. On Tuesday, the music streaming service announced its long-rumored audiobook initiative, launching a store that includes more than 300,000 titles, including such popular works as Delia Owens’ “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” and Colleen...
How much ‘pain’? Fed to signal more rate hikes ahead
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell bluntly warned in a speech last month that the Fed’s drive to curb inflation by aggressively raising interest rates would “bring some pain.” On Wednesday, Americans may get a better sense of how much pain could be in store. The Fed is expected...
U.S. stocks rise ahead of expected interest rate hike by Fed
A choppy day of trading on Wall Street ended with stocks closing higher Monday as investors brace for another big interest rate increase this week from the Federal Reserve. The indexes swayed between modest gains and losses for much of the day before a burst of buying in the final...
John Dorfman: Short-selling contest has repeat winner
Laurent Condon, a professional trader in France, won my Short Sellers Don’t Have Horns short-selling contest — his second triumph in the annual competition. Condon won the contest in 2017-2018 and finished third the following year. He also has excelled in some of my other contests. In addition to the...
New Orlando terminal is $2.8 billion bet on Florida tourism
ORLANDO, Fla. — Visitors to the new terminal at Orlando International Airport may want to wear sunscreen, shades and a floppy hat. Sun rays beaming through the windows of its soaring ceilings don’t just peck at the passing passengers — they practically smooch them as if they were spending a...
Locked Up: The prison labor that built business empires like U.S. Steel
More than 150 years ago, a prison complex known as the Lone Rock stockade operated at one of the biggest coal mines in Tennessee. It was powered largely by African American men who had been arrested for minor offenses — like stealing a hog — if they committed any crime...
Serious breach at Uber spotlights hacker social deception
The ride-hailing service Uber said Friday that all its services were operational following what security professionals are calling a major data breach, claiming there was no evidence the hacker got access to sensitive user data. But the breach, apparently by a lone hacker, put the spotlight on an increasingly effective...
Wall Street slips as FedEx warning adds to market woes
Wall Street closed out the stock market’s worst week in three months with more losses Friday, as a stark warning from FedEx about rapidly worsening trends in the economy rattled already anxious investors. The S&P 500 fell 0.7%, with all but two of its 11 company sectors ending in the...
Mortgage rates hit 6%, first time since 2008 housing crash
WASHINGTON — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed over 6% this week for the first time since the housing crash of 2008, threatening to sideline even more homebuyers from a rapidly cooling housing market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate rose to 6.02% from 5.89% last...
As ‘buy now, pay later’ plans grow, so do delinquencies
NEW YORK — Americans have grown fond of “buy now, pay later” services, but the “pay later” part is becoming increasingly difficult for some borrowers. Buy now, pay later loans allow users to pay for items such new sneakers, electronics or luxury goods in installments. Companies such as Affirm, Afterpay,...
Patagonia founder donates company to environmental causes
The founder of outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia announced Wednesday that its profits would all go toward fighting climate change and conserving land. Yvon Chouinard said the company was now in the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit. The trust will oversee operations of the company and its...
Study: 1-in-5 U.S. adults bet money on sports in past year
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Nearly one in five U.S. adults bet money on sports over the past year, according to a survey released Wednesday. The report from the Pew Research Center shows that 19% of adults surveyed said they had wagered on sports. The most common way they did so...
1 rail union rejects deal, 2 accept ahead of strike deadline
OMAHA, Neb. — Members of one union rejected a tentative deal with the largest U.S. freight railroads Wednesday, while two ratified agreements and three others remained at the bargaining table just days ahead of a strike deadline, threatening to intensify snarls in the nation’s supply chain that have contributed to...
