Business category, Page 260
AGs for crackdown on chemical used to sterilize medical devices
Half of all medical devices used in the United States — from bandages to implantable computers — are sterilized with a toxic gas that has come under critical scrutiny over concerns about air pollution that could cause cancer. Now Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined a coalition of 11...
Looking for next-level amenities with your rental? How about a rooftop farm?
MINNEAPOLIS — Apartment developers in the Twin Cities are accustomed to ginning up out-of-the-box amenities aimed at wooing renters and setting themselves apart in an increasingly competitive market. That includes decked-out dog spas, catering kitchens and refrigerated drop boxes for package delivery. Twin Cities-based Newport Midwest hopes to offer something...
Virus fears grip markets again; stocks and bond yields plungeVideo
NEW YORK — Fear dominated financial markets again on Thursday, and stocks fell sharply on worries about the fast-spreading virus outbreak. It’s the latest shudder in Wall Street’s wildest week in more than eight years. Major U.S. indexes lost roughly 3.5%, and Treasury yields touched more record lows in their...
Stocks soar on plans for more stimulus measures, Biden wins
The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than 1,100 points, or 4.5%, Wednesday on hopes that governments and central banks around the world will take more forceful measures to fight the virus outbreak. The gains more than recouped the market’s big losses from a day ealier as Wall Street’s wild,...
Twitter tests disappearing tweets, starts in Brazil
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is starting to test tweets that disappear after 24 hours, although initially only in Brazil. The company says the ephemeral tweets, which it calls “fleets” because of their fleeting nature, are designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the...
Virus hammers business travel as wary companies nix trips
Amazon and other big companies are trying to keep their employees healthy by banning business trips, but they’ve dealt a gut punch to a travel industry already reeling from the virus outbreak. The Seattle-based online retail giant has told its nearly 800,000 workers to postpone any non-essential travel within the...
Dow sinks 2.9% after rate cut fails to stem market’s dreadVideo
NEW YORK — Fear and uncertainty continue to control Wall Street, and stocks fell sharply Tuesday after an emergency interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to reassure markets wracked by worries that a fast-spreading virus will cause a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial average sank 785 points, or 2.9%....
W.Va. House passes bill making it easier to use solar energy
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It could soon be easier for power companies to use solar energy under a bill passed Tuesday in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Lawmakers voted 75-23 to approve the measure after around an hour of debate that revolved around whether it’s better to focus on coal...
Coronavirus spread prompts Fed to slash rates in surprise move
WASHINGTON — In a surprise move, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a sizable half-percentage point Tuesday in an effort to support the economy in the face of the spreading coronavirus. Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the virus “will surely weigh on economic...
Federal Reserve cuts benchmark rate by half-pointVideo
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a half-percentage point in its first emergency rate cut since the Great Recession in response to the spreading coronavirus. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the coronavirus “poses evolving risks to economic activity.” The Fed’s statement Tuesday also said...
Report: U.S. natural gas consumption set record in 2019
Consumption of natural gas, mostly for electric power uses, set a new record in the United States in 2019, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Use of natural gas for the creation of electric power grew by 7% — 2 billion cubic feet per day — but consumption remained relatively...
John Dorfman: Student in Milan, Italy, wins my forecasting derby
A student at the American School in Milan, Italy, won my annual Derby of Economic Forecasting Talent (DEFT) for 2019. Gregorio De Giuli, a 17-year-old high school senior, modestly attributed his success to “luck,” but there was more to it than that. “I looked at charts and followed the trend,”...
Dow notches largest-ever point gain as stocks surge on hopes for central bank help
The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 1,300 points, or 5%, Monday as stocks roared back from a seven-day rout on hopes that central banks will take action to shield the global economy from the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. The huge gains clawed back some of the ground lost...
AT&T launches new online TV service as video customers fall
NEW YORK — AT&T is launching a new internet-delivered TV service Monday as it struggles with a shrinking DirecTV satellite business. The new service, AT&T TV, will have most of the same channels offered on DirecTV, but it’ll come over the internet rather than a satellite dish. AT&T has been...
U.S. construction spending up 1.8% in January to record level
WASHINGTON — Spending on U.S. construction projects rose to an all-time high in January, helped by strong gains for home construction and government building projects. The Commerce Department said Monday that construction spending increased 1.8% in January, the strongest monthly rise in nearly two years, pushing totally spending to a...
Don’t succumb to stock market panic, advisers caution
Stocks tumbled, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged and the S&P 500 index fell dramatically — all over bad news out of China. That was a little more than a year ago — when Apple announced that iPhone sales in China were slumping. This year, the bad news out of...
Jack Welch, the GE chief who became a superstar, has died
BOSTON — Jack Welch, who transformed General Electric Co. into a highly profitable multinational conglomerate and parlayed his legendary business acumen into a retirement career as a corporate leadership guru, has died. He was 84. His death was confirmed Monday by GE. The cause of death was renal failure, his...
As stocks tumble amid spread of coronavirus, can central banks fix the crisis?
NEW YORK — As stocks around the world tumble on worries about a fast-spreading coronavirus, investors have been clamoring for the superheroes of the financial world to ride to the rescue once again. Yet this time, there are doubts: Can central banks really fix this crisis as they have so...
Joe Coulombe, founder of popular Trader Joe’s markets, dies
LOS ANGELES — Joe Coulombe envisioned a new generation of young grocery shoppers emerging in the 1960s, one that wanted healthy, tasty, high-quality food they couldn’t find in most supermarkets and couldn’t afford to buy in the few high-end gourmet outlets. So he found a new way to bring everything...
Teens love the video app TikTok. Do they love it too much?
From the perspective of teens, TikTok is a major new outlet for self-expression, one proudly home to the silly, the loud and the weird. To others, the Chinese-owned online video service is an unnerving black box that could be sharing information with the Chinese government, facilitating espionage or just promoting...
Virus’ effect on world economy grows more alarming
TOKYO — Concerns about the coronavirus outbreak’s threat to the world economy grew Saturday as authorities in the U.S. reported its first domestic death from the virus and President Donald Trump denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a “hoax” cooked up by his enemies. China’s manufacturing plunged...
Wall Street has worst week since 2008
Stocks sank around the globe again Friday as investors braced for more economic pain from the coronavirus outbreak, sending U.S. markets to their worst weekly finish since the 2008 financial crisis. The damage from the week of relentless selling was eye-popping: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3,583 points, or...
FCC proposes fines for phone companies that shared user data
NEW YORK — The Federal Communications Commission has proposed roughly $200 million in fines combined for the four major U.S. phone companies for improperly disclosing customers’ real-time location. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said during a news conference Friday that the fines amounted to $91 million for T-Mobile, $57 million for...
Amazon bans 1 million products because of coronavirus claims
Amazon has pulled more than 1 million items from its digital shelves due to claims that the products could either cure or help prevent the spread of coronavirus. The move comes during the same week that Facebook said it would ban advertisements on its platform for products purporting to cure...
General Motors to add 1,200 workers at 2 Michigan factories
DETROIT — General Motors is adding 1,200 jobs at two Michigan factories to build midsize SUVs and two new luxury sedans. GM said Friday that its Lansing Delta Township plant will get a third shift and 800 more workers to build the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave SUVs, which have...
