Business category, Page 202
Google says 20% of workers will be remote, many more hybrid
Google says it expects about 20% of its workforce to still work remotely after its offices reopen this fall, while some 60% will work a hybrid schedule that includes about three days in the office and two days “wherever they work best.” The remaining 20% can change their location to...
Nebraska launches ‘beef passport’ program for meat eating
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts ramped up his crusade for the meat industry on Wednesday by endorsing a new “beef passport” program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado’s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. Ricketts, a Republican, cast meat as essential to...
Stocks edge higher as tech gains offset healthcare slide
A choppy day of trading on Wall Street ended Thursday with stocks broadly higher and another all-time high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Banks and technology companies led a late-afternoon turnaround that pushed the S&P 500 to a 0.8% gain, reversing the benchmark index’s losses for the week. Gains...
Productivity rebounds at solid 5.4% rate in 1st quarter
U.S. productivity posted a sharp rebound between January and March after falling in the previous quarter. Labor costs declined slightly. Productivity increased at an annual rate of 5.4% in the first quarter, recovering from a 3.8% rate of decline in the fourth quarter of last year, the Labor Department reported...
U.S. unemployment claims fall to a pandemic low of 498,000
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 498,000, the lowest point since the viral pandemic struck 14 months ago and a sign of the job market’s growing strength as businesses reopen and consumers step up spending. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that...
Stock indexes mixed as tech rebound fades; Peloton sinks
Major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed Wednesday after an early technology company rebound faded, tempering the market’s recovery from a sell-off a day earlier. The S&P 500 eked out a 0.1% gain after having been up 0.7% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a 0.3% gain,...
Biden repeals Trump-era rule on gig workers
NEW YORK — The Biden administration nullified a Trump-era rule Wednesday that would have made it easier to classify workers as independent contractors, blocking a change supported by delivery and ride-hailing services. The Labor Department’s decision came just two days before the Trump-era rule was supposed to take effect. The...
Peloton recalls treadmills, halts sales, after a child dies
NEW YORK — Peloton is recalling about 125,000 of its treadmills, less than a month after denying they were dangerous and saying it would not pull them from the market, even though they were linked to the death of a child and injuries of 29 others. The company said Wednesday...
Covid restrictions to lift, but businesses still finding hiring workers difficult
Businesses across the region welcomed Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement Tuesday lifting covid-19 restrictions by Memorial Day, but they expressed cautious optimism alongside frustration as they now face the challenge of filling job openings. “It should be great, but on the other hand, we’re all in the same boat looking for...
GM profit surges to $2.98B on sales of higher-margin trucks
DETROIT — General Motors’ first-quarter net income surged to $2.98 billion as strong U.S. consumer demand and higher prices offset production cuts brought on by a global shortage of computer chips. Despite the semiconductor shortage, GM stuck with full-year pretax earnings guidance of $10 billion to $11 billion issued earlier...
Janet Yellen clarifies she is not predicting Fed rate increasesVideo
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that she is not predicting when the Federal Reserve may need to start raising interest rates. She was seeking to clarify her earlier remarks that rattled financial markets. Yellen suggested early Tuesday that interest rates may need to rise slightly to keep...
Technology shares sink broader market although Dow has gain
Technology companies dragged indexes lower Tuesday on Wall Street, pulling the market further from its recent all-time highs. The S&P 500 fell 0.7%, erasing its gains from last week. Big technology companies like Apple and Microsoft fell as the sector declined for the sixth straight day. Losses in communications stocks...
U.S. trade deficit hits record $74.4 billion in March
WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit surged to a record $74.4 billion in March as an improving U.S. economy drove purchases of imported foreign goods. The deficit, the gap between what America buys from abroad and what it sells to other countries, was 5.6% greater than the February gap of...
John Dorfman: 91-year-old man wins my stock-picking competition
In a crazy-good year for stocks, Robert Zedler, a 91-year-old retiree in Suffolk, Va., won Dorfman’s Three Stock Derby with a 334% return. Despite his age, Zedler’s picks in my stock-selection contest were newish companies. His biggest gainer was Plug Power Inc. (PLUG), a maker of hydrogen fuel cells. That...
Kennametal quarterly earnings up dramatically
A year after the pandemic clamped down on the world’s economy, Kennametal Inc. said Monday its net income for the three-month period ending March 31 rose dramatically to $22.9 million from $2.2 million a year ago, even though sales grew only slightly to $484.6 million, from $483 million for the...
Verizon sells internet trailblazers Yahoo and AOL for $5BVideo
AOL and Yahoo are being sold again, this time to a private equity firm. Wireless company Verizon will sell Verizon Media, which consists of the once-pioneering tech platforms, to Apollo Global Management in a $5 billion deal. Verizon said Monday that it will keep a 10% stake in the new...
Wall Street logs gains Monday on strong earnings
Health care and energy companies helped push stocks higher Monday, as Wall Street kicked off the first trading day in May with more gains after a four-month winning streak. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%. Industrial and financial stocks also helped lift the market. Falling technology and communication stocks, and companies...
Growth in U.S. manufacturing slowed in April from March high
WASHINGTON — Growth in U.S. manufacturing slowed slightly in April partly due to a snarled global supply chain after hitting a 37-year high in March. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Monday that its index of manufacturing activity fell last month to a reading...
Apple’s app store goes on trial in threat to ‘walled garden’
SAN RAMON, Calif. — On Monday, Apple faces one of its most serious legal threats in recent years: A trial that threatens to upend its iron control over its app store, which brings in billions of dollars each year while feeding more than 1.6 billion iPhones, iPads, and other devices....
Stocks move lower, still head for 3rd straight monthly gain
Stocks fell broadly in afternoon trading as investors backed away from technology and communications companies. Despite the decline, the market is on pace for its best month so far this year, as investors remain optimistic that the pandemic is slowly and steadily coming to a close. The S&P 500 was...
U.S. Steel nixes $1 billion upgrades at Mon Valley Works facilities
Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel will cancel plans for more than $1 billion in upgrades and investment at the Mon Valley Works facilities, CEO David Burritt said in a letter to the community released Friday. The projects, worth more than $1.2 billion collectively, were announced just under two years ago, in May...
U.S. wages and benefits jump as economy reopens
WASHINGTON — Wages and benefits grew quickly for U.S. workers in the first three months of the year, a sign that businesses are starting to offer higher pay to fill newly-opened jobs. U.S. workers’ total compensation rose 0.9% in the January-March quarter, the largest gain in more than 13 years,...
EU accuses Apple of antitrust breach over App Store rules
LONDON — European Union regulators are accusing Apple of violating the bloc’s antitrust laws, alleging that the company distorts competition for music streaming through rules for its App Store. The EU’s executive Commission said Friday it objected to how Apple applies rules in its App Store to music streaming services...
Stocks end higher, pushing S&P 500 to another record high
Stocks overcame a midday stumble on Wall Street to close broadly higher Thursday, driving the S&P 500 to another record high. The benchmark index rose 0.7% after having been down 0.2% earlier. Communications companied helped power a big part of the gain, led by a sharp rise in Facebook following...
Economy in first quarter grows at 6.4% annualized rate as effects of covid waneVideo
WASHINGTON — Just a year after a new coronavirus blew a crater-size hole in the U.S. economy, the recovery gained momentum in the first quarter as growth surged at a strong 6.4% annual rate, government data released Thursday show. Economists and government policymakers believe there’s more good news to come....
