Business category, Page 247
Fed to keep buying bonds and sees no rate hike through 2022
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve says it will keep buying bonds to maintain low borrowing rates and support the U.S. economy in the midst of a recession. And it says nearly all the Fed’s policymakers foresee no rate hike through 2022. The Fed has cut its benchmark short-term rate to...
Ford, VW to collaborate on vans, pickup, electric vehicleVideo
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford and Volkswagen will each offer a small city van, a larger cargo van, a small pickup truck and an electric vehicle as part of their global alliance announced last year. The companies announced some details of what the venture will yield Wednesday, with the city van...
Stocks slide on glum growth forecast, eye Fed decisionVideo
BANGKOK — World shares turned lower on Wednesday after a downbeat forecast for the global economy and as investors awaited the outcome of a Federal Reserve policy meeting. Markets in Europe and Wall Street futures shed their gains and were largely down for the day after the Organization for Economic...
Kennametal to cut global workforce 10% by end of year
Facing a weakness in its industrial markets caused by the covid-19 pandemic, Kennametal Inc. said Tuesday it is accelerating its plans to permanently cut about 10% of its salaried workforce, a reduction on a global scale it expects to substantially complete by the end of the year. Kennametal, an industrial...
4 casinos in region reopen with safety measures; 5th reopens Friday
The familiar ping of slot machines returned to four casinos in the region after a three-month closure due to public safety concerns caused by the coronavirus. The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County joined the Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore Tuesday as they reopened since being ordered to...
CrossFit founder, dropped by Reebok, apologizes about tweet
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The founder of CrossFit is apologizing for a Twitter post he made about racial inequality protests after Reebok cut ties with his company. On Saturday, the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation tweeted: “Racism is a Public Health Issue.” In a response, also on Twitter, CrossFit...
Tailoring portfolios to coronavirus and recession
February through May, my firm has been recasting our clients’ portfolios to reflect a continuing coronavirus epidemic and a recession of unknown length. We maintain a Model Portfolio, and about three quarters of our client accounts track it pretty closely. Here are the stocks in it, all of which I...
Union demands Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rescind ban on some journalists covering protests
The union representing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporters demanded Monday management rescind their ban on two black journalists covering protests over the death of George Floyd. The situation began to unfold a week ago, according to Michael Fuoco, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents most newsroom employees at the...
A U.S. recession began in February in the face of coronavirusVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy entered a recession in February as the coronavirus struck the nation, a group of economists declared Monday, ending the longest expansion on record. The economists said that employment, income and spending peaked in February and then fell sharply afterward as the viral outbreak shut down...
Most stocks on Wall Street rise again on hopes for economyVideo
NEW YORK — Most stocks are rising on Wall Street as markets continue to ride the high supplied by Friday’s surprisingly encouraging report on the U.S. jobs market. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in morning trading on Monday, bringing it back within 5.4% of its record set in February,...
Left out: More workers now losing hope of getting back jobs
NEW YORK — Eric Benz didn’t worry very much when his graphic design firm in Atlanta laid him off in March. He felt sure he’d be recalled to work once the viral pandemic eased and his firm’s clients resumed spending. Three months later, there’s been no call. Instead, Benz has...
Fox News apologizes for stock graphic referencing Floyd, MLK deaths
NEW YORK — One day after Fox News aired a graphic correlating stock market gains following notable tragic events involving black Americans, it offered an apology. The contrite concession came Saturday after outraged viewers howled over the insensitive chart shown during Friday’s broadcast of “Special Report With Bret Baier.” The...
Wall Street’s rally zooms higher after surprise gain in jobs
For weeks, critics said Wall Street’s big rally made no sense when the economy seemed set for only more despair. On Friday, it got a bit of validation. The S&P 500 jumped another 2.6% after a report said the U.S. job market surprisingly strengthened last month, bolstering hopes that the...
Putin chastises Russian tycoon over massive Arctic oil spillVideo
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday chastised the billionaire owner of a nickel giant for negligence over a massive fuel oil spill that has inflicted huge damage on a fragile Arctic region. An estimated 20,000 tons of diesel oil spilled into the Ambarnaya River last Friday from a...
Unemployment rate falls to 13.3%, with 2.5 million jobs addedVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in May to 13.3% — still on par with what the nation witnessed during the Great Depression — as states loosened their coronavirus lockdowns and businesses began recalling workers. The government said Friday that the economy added 2.5 million jobs last month,...
China easing airline access amid conflict with WashingtonVideo
BEIJING — Chinese regulators said Thursday more foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls ease, but it was unclear whether the change will defuse a fresh conflict with the Trump administration over air travel. The announcement came after Washington said Wednesday it would bar four...
82-year-old ‘Gamer Grandma’ takes YouTube break over commentsVideo
At 82, Shirley Curry doesn’t fit the mold. It’s endeared her to some online. For others, it’s made her a target. Curry of Rocky Mount, Va., was born the same year as the invention of what’s been hailed as the first programmable computer. Eight decades later, she shares with thousands...
Walmart drops ammunition, firearms on display in some stores
NEW YORK — Walmart says it has removed ammunition and firearms from displays at some of its stores in the wake of the killing of George Floyd that has set off sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality and injustice against African Americans. “As a responsible seller of hunting and sporting...
Pilgrim’s Pride CEO among indicted for chicken price fixing
The CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride is one of four current and former chicken company executives indicted Wednesday on charges of price-fixing. The U.S. Department of Justice said a federal grand jury in Colorado found that executives from Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride and Georgia-based Claxton Poultry conspired to fix prices and rig...
U.S. job losses in May could raise 3-month total to 30 million
The epic damage to America’s job market from the viral outbreak will come into sharper focus Friday when the government releases the May employment report: Eight million more jobs are estimated to have been lost. Unemployment could near 20%. And potentially fewer than half of all adults may be working....
AMC Theatres warns of ‘substantial doubt’ about its future
The AMC Theatres chain says it has “substantial doubt” it will be able to remain in business after closing all of its locations during the coronavirus pandemic. In the first quarter ending March 31, AMC reported revenue of $941.5 million, down from $1.2 billion in the same quarter last year....
Wall Street’s rally rolls into Day 4 on reopening hopes
Stocks are rising again Wednesday on optimism that the economy can climb out of its current hole more quickly than earlier feared. The S&P 500 was up 1.1% in midday trading, heading for its fourth straight gain as lockdowns loosen around the world and raise hopes for a coming economic...
Trump administration moves to block Chinese airlines from U.S.Video
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved Wednesday to block Chinese airlines from flying to the United States in an escalation of trade and travel tensions between the two countries. The Transportation Department said it would suspend passenger flights of four Chinese airlines to and from the United States starting June...
Stocks extend gains on Wall Street to a 3rd straight day
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street on Tuesday, extending the market’s winning streak to a third day. The latest gains, which followed a rally in global stocks, were driven by optimism that the global economy will begin to recover as governments gradually allow businesses that were closed due to...
Pittsburgh area jobless rate jumps to 16.8% in April
The Pittsburgh region’s jobless rate jumped to 16.8% in April, with 200,400 people unemployed in the seven-country region as pandemic-related shutdowns gripped the economy. The combined unemployment rate for Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties was the highest since January 1983, the state’s Center for Workforce Information...
