Business category, Page 232
Fed officials worried about withdrawal of government support
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers lifted their spending in May and June but businesses remained cautious because of the tremendous uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook, Federal Reserve officials said at a policy meeting last month. The nascent economic recovery faces several risks, Fed officials said in discussions during their most recent...
As Trump threatens ban, TikTok launches U.S. ad campaignVideo
TikTok on Tuesday announced a nationwide ad campaign that features people who create content for the viral social video app. The move comes as the company, owned by China-based ByteDance, faces growing pressure from President Trump, who believes the app is a national security threat because of its ties to...
Amazon’s hiring of 1,500 in Pittsburgh region provides boost during pandemic
Amazon announced Tuesday that more than 1,500 people will be hired to work in its new 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center and a new delivery station, both of which are in Findlay and are set to open later this year. When Amazon broke ground on the fulfillment center in October, the...
Pandemic-induced spending spurs sales at Home Depot, WalmartVideo
Americans turned to Walmart and Home Depot for supplies and do-it-yourself projects as they stayed close to home at a time when new cases of virus surged, resulting in soaring sales for their fiscal second quarter. Walmart’s online sales nearly doubled in the fiscal second quarter, helped by an expansion...
S&P 500 closes at a record, erasing last of pandemic lossesVideo
NEW YORK — Wall Street clawed back the last of the historic, frenzied losses unleashed by the new coronavirus, as the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high Tuesday. The day’s move was a relatively mild one, nudging the index up 7.79 points, or 0.2%, to 3,389.78. That eclipses the...
Owners of Live! Casino Pittsburgh release online gaming site prior to casino opening
A new online gaming site will give a “sneak peek” into two casinos being built on opposite ends of Pennsylvania, including one under construction at Westmoreland Mall. PlayLive!, which launched this week, features more than 100 gaming options, including classic slots and table games, along with online-only titles and jackpot...
Price for pepperoni spikes as covid pandemic produces shortageVideo
Add pepperoni to the list of items in short supply because of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, small pizza shops across the country are reporting higher prices for the tasty topping, Bloomberg News reports. The news service found a restaurant in South Dakota is now paying $4.12 a pound...
Virus pandemic reshaping air travel as carriers struggle
In a bid to survive, airlines are desperately trying to convince a wary public that measures like mandatory face masks and hospital-grade air filters make sitting in a plane safer than many other indoor settings during the coronavirus pandemic. It isn’t working. Surveys indicate that instead of growing comfortable with...
Taller cubicles, one-way aisles: Office workers must adjust
NEW YORK — Bergmeyer, a design firm in Boston, has erected higher cubicles, told employees to wear masks when not at their desks and set up one-way aisles in the office that force people to walk the long way around to get to the kitchen or the bathroom. “The one-way...
Facing incurable, speech-robbing disorder, Westmoreland Chamber CEO Chad Amond forges ahead
The first signs of trouble were unmistakably odd. It wasn’t like Chad Amond to forget the name of someone he knew as they greeted. Not once but twice. And it certainly wasn’t like him to ask his wife, Amy, when she brought home a new type of his favorite ginger...
Stocks drift on Wall Street following latest run at record
NEW YORK — After a day of drifting between small gains and losses, major stock indexes ended more or less where they started on Friday, but still notched gains for the week. The S&P 500 ended down less than 1 point, even though more stocks rose than fell within the...
U.S. retail sales regain pre-virus pace but slowdown is likely
WASHINGTON — Americans increased their retail purchases by 1.2% in July, with solid gains in appliances and clothing, restoring sales to their level before the viral pandemic erupted in March. Sales at retail stores and restaurants have now risen for three straight months, after enormous plunges in March and April,...
TikTok and its employees prepare to fight Trump over app ban
TikTok and its U.S. employees are planning to take President Donald Trump’s administration to court over his sweeping order to ban the popular video app, according to a lawyer preparing one of the lawsuits. The employees’ legal challenge to Trump’s executive order will be separate from a pending lawsuit from...
Mazda-Toyota boosts investment in Alabama plant by $830M
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, the new joint-venture between the two auto companies, on Thursday announced an additional $830 million investment in its new Alabama plant. Gov. Kay Ivey said in a news release that the investment in the new auto facility is now $2.3 billion, up from the...
S&P 500 briefly rises above record close as stocks drift
NEW YORK — Wall Street is drifting on Thursday, and the S&P 500 is again on the verge of erasing the very last of its pandemic losses. The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in afternoon trading at 3,383.64. Earlier in the afternoon, it briefly rose above 3,386.15, which was the...
United plans more Florida flights, but coronavirus gets final say
DALLAS — United Airlines said Wednesday it plans to add up to 28 daily flights to Florida this winter, but the airline is prepared to reverse course if the rate of coronavirus cases in the state remains high. United said that it will increase flights from New York, Boston and...
Tribune Publishing closing 5 newsrooms including New York Daily News
Tribune Publishing Company, which owns some of the most storied newspapers in American journalism, said Wednesday that it is closing the newsrooms at five of them, including New York’s Daily News and The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md. The company said the newspapers — including the Orlando Sentinel in Florida,...
Stocks rebound on Wall Street, S&P 500 trades above recordVideo
Stocks marched broadly higher on Wall Street Wednesday, briefly nudging the S&P 500 above its all-time closing high set in February, before the coronavirus pandemic led to a historic market plunge. The benchmark index notched a 1.4% gain, its eighth in nine days. It ended within 0.2% of its record...
Report: Amazon and a mall developer are scoping out JC Penney and Sears stores for fulfillment centersVideo
J.C. Penney’s lenders extended a key deadline over the weekend as negotiations continue about the fate of the Plano, Texas-based retailer. The lenders filed a notice to extend the deadline as the Wall Street Journal reported speculation that Amazon may be interested in buying some of Penney’s stores with major...
Rate of firearms found in flight carry-ons has tripled amid pandemic
Far fewer people are flying during the covid-19 pandemic, but those who are seem more likely to try to bring firearms on the plane: The rate of passengers carrying guns through U.S. airport security tripled in July compared with the same month last year. Airport screeners for the Transportation Security...
Dick’s Sporting Goods bucks trend, will open 11 brick-and-mortar locations in 9 states
Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods will open 11 stores in nine states, including five of its recently unveiled warehouse and outlet stores, the company announced Friday. Two of the traditional stores will be in Massachusetts, along with one in New Jersey and another in Texas. The sports and outdoors retailer also...
Wall Street perks up; S&P 500 edges even closer to record
NEW YORK — Stocks are perking higher on Wall Street Thursday after a report showed the pace of layoffs across the country is slowing, though it remains incredibly high. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% in afternoon trading after spending much of the day waffling between smaller gains and losses....
Loves Furniture hiring to staff some of former Levin’s sites acquired in bankruptcy court
Loves Furniture, a new retail chain that formed when a private equity firm recently bought 27 Art Van, Levin and Wolf outlets in bankruptcy court, is looking to hire 1,000 workers in three states — including people to staff at the Mt. Pleasant store that for a century served as...
Clorox wipes will be hard to find through the rest of 2020
Clorox wipes are the new toilet paper. You’ll have a hard time finding the brand of cleaning wipes until early next year, company officials said in an earnings call Tuesday. Linda Rendle, CEO-elect for the Clorox Co., said they will continue to ramp up production through the rest of the...
Vegan frozen dessert sold at Aldi recalled for possible allergen
A vegan frozen dessert sold at Aldi has been recalled because it may contain a potential allergen. SmithFoods Inc. is voluntarily recalling 16-oz. pint packages of Earth Grown Vegan Non-Dairy Almond Based Frozen Desserts because it may contain cashews, which are not listed on the label, according to an announcement...
