Business category, Page 16

TORONTO — At 77 years old, Geoffrey Hinton has a new calling in life. Like a modern-day prophet, the Nobel Prize winner is raising alarms about the dangers of uncontrolled and unregulated artificial intelligence. Frequently dubbed the “Godfather of AI,” Hinton is known for his pioneering work on deep learning...

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge mostly held steady last month despite President Donald Trump’s broad-based tariffs, but a measure of underlying inflation increased. Prices rose 2.6% in July compared with a year ago, the Commerce Department said Friday, the same annual increase as in June. Excluding the...

WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week as employers appear to be holding onto their workers even as the economy has slowed. Applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 23 dropped 5,000 to 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Measures of the job market are being...

NEW YORK — YouTube TV says it’s reached a “short-term extension” in its contract dispute with Fox, meaning subscribers of the Google-owned streamer won’t see immediate disruptions of Fox channels on the platform. The current carriage agreement between YouTube TV and Fox originally faced a Wednesday afternoon deadline — with...

Brett Luedde says he’s in the business of happiness. The Highland Park native and his wife, Tera, have taken the reins at Clark Candies, a Tarentum institution churning out chocolates since 1937. The East First Avenue factory was founded by Tera’s grandfather and great- uncles, and run for many years by...

NEW DELHI — Steep U.S. tariffs on a range of Indian products took effect Wednesday, threatening a big blow to India’s overseas trade in its largest export market. President Donald Trump had initially announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods. But earlier this month he signed an executive order imposing...

Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize. In a post on its website, Cracker Barrel said it will retain its old logo, which features an older man in overalls sitting next to...

OMAHA, Neb. — The prospects for additional consolidation in the rail industry derailed this week when both of CSX’s potential partners said they weren’t interested in a deal. Investors widely speculated that CSX would be an acquisition target once rumors of merger talks between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern emerged...

Tensions escalated Tuesday between the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve. After President Donald Trump announced on social media that he was firing an official on the Fed’s chief governing body — something that hasn’t happened in U.S. history — the official, Fed Governor Lisa Cook, said she had no...

The only Hardee’s restaurant in the Pittsburgh region, and a cornerstone of the Millvale community, has closed. While a banner on the eatery at the convergence of North and Evergreen avenues thanks its customers for 50 years of business, the message under the red pylon sign simply said, “Closed.” Eric...

NEW YORK — Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the United States this week as part of President Donald Trump’s agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods and resetting global trade with tariffs. An executive order signed last month eliminates a widely used customs exemption...

LOS ANGELES — About 10 million YouTube TV subscribers could lose access to Fox News and Fox Corp. channels that broadcast sports in a fee dispute that comes just days before the start of college football. The Google-owned television service notified customers that Fox-owned channels, including Fox Business and local...

WASHINGTON — Americans’ view of the U.S. economy declined modestly in August as anxiety over a weakening job market grew for the eighth straight month. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index ticked down by 1.3 points to 97.4 in August, down from July’s 98.7, but in...

BRUSSELS — President Donald Trump vowed to impose new tariffs and export curbs on countries with digital taxes or regulations that affect American technology companies. Trump didn’t mention specific places but his comments were taken as a threat against the European Union’s digital rules to rein in companies like Google,...

NEW YORK — U.S. consumers have gotten used to shopping the world without paying customs duties on the international packages they receive from big e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu, specialty shops and businesses that sell goods through online marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy and eBay. That era is about to...

TOKYO — Shares sank Tuesday in Europe and Asia after President Donald Trump announced he was firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The announcement came after trading closed Monday on Wall Street, where benchmarks reversed some of their big gains notched last week on hopes for interest rate cuts from...

Since Cracker Barrel cleaned up its logo a week ago, it has been dressed down by those averse to the change. The restaurant and gift shop, a staple of roadside rest stops throughout the homeland, prides itself on a homey atmosphere that’s emblematic of an episode of “The Waltons.” Locally,...

Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence. The 61-page complaint filed in Texas federal court follows through on a threat that Musk made two weeks ago when...

Australia’s postal service has announced it will immediately partially suspend deliveries to the U.S. and its territories, after the Trump administration ended duty-free treatment for packages. The decision was in response to “significant changes” by the U.S. government and was in line with measures taken by other postal operators around...

Southwest Airlines will soon require travelers who don’t fit within the armrests of their seat to pay for an extra one in advance, part of a string of recent changes the carrier is making. The new rule goes into effect Jan. 27, the same day Southwest starts assigning seats. Currently,...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday night that he’s firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented move that would constitute a sharp escalation in his battle to exert greater control over what has long been considered an institution independent from day-to-day politics. Trump said in a letter posted...

Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo but apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week. “If the last few days have shown us anything, it’s how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel. We’re truly grateful for your heartfelt voices,” the company said Monday...

A federal judge Monday ordered a New York businessman to pay back more than $26 million to PNC after the bank caught what it described as large-scale check fraud. The order, crafted by attorneys on both sides and approved by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak, comes less than two...

NEW YORK — Keurig Dr Pepper said Monday it will buy Peet’s Coffee owner JDE Peet’s in a deal worth about $18 billion. When the acquisition is complete, the company plans to split into two separate companies, one focused on coffee and the other focused on beverages including Dr Pepper,...

Fox Chapel financial adviser Mike Dukovich is breathing life into a longtime Aspinwall office building, opening a branch of YTS Wealth Management in the former Bradford building that sits prominently at the town’s entrance. A leading independent wealth management firm, YTS opened at 133 Freeport Road. “The partnership bought the...