Business category, Page 265
Banks that shun risky borrowers offer rosy view of U.S. consumerVideo
NEW YORK — With most U.S. households spending more and paying their bills on time, their creditors are feeling more confident than ever. To hear the CEOs of the nation’s largest banks tell it this week, rarely has the American consumer been in better shape. But look deeper and it’s...
U.S. agency examining Tesla unintended acceleration complaint
DETROIT — The U.S. government’s auto safety agency is looking into allegations that all three of Tesla’s electric vehicle models can suddenly accelerate on their own. An unidentified person petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking for an investigation into the problem. An agency document shows 127 owner complaints...
Deaf man sues Pornhub for lack of closed captioning
A deaf man has filed a class-action lawsuit against adult website Pornhub, alleging that the company has violated federal law. According to a TMZ report, Yaroslav Suris claims the company has violated his and others’ rights under the American’s with Disabilities Act by denying the deaf and hearing-impaired access to...
Stock indexes rally to more record highs, led by tech gains
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street, pushing major indexes to new record highs. A batch of solid economic data injected more optimism into markets Thursday, a day after the U.S. and China signed an initial trade deal. Technology companies including Microsoft led the gains. Morgan Stanley rose sharply after...
Microsoft: ‘carbon-negative’ by 2030, even for supply chain
Microsoft is pledging to become 100% “carbon-negative” by 2030 by removing more carbon from the environment than it emits. CEO Satya Nadella said Thursday that the commitment will happen “not just across our direct emissions, but across our supply chain, too.” It’s a major step up from Microsoft’s previous green...
Retail trade group says 2019 holiday sales rose 4.1%
NEW YORK — The nation’s largest retail trade group says holiday sales increased 4.1%, the top end of its forecast. The National Retail Federation had expected growth in a range of 3.8% to 4.2% for the November and December period. The growth is nearly double the 2.1% growth seen during...
Remember DVDs? 2 studios have a plan to preserve the near-dead format
LOS ANGELES — The market for DVD and Blu-ray discs has been on life support for years, as streaming has become the technology of choice for home video customers. In the past decade, the U.S. market for physical discs has gone from a more than $10 billion business in the...
Remember DVDs? Two studios have a plan to preserve the near-dead format
LOS ANGELES — The market for DVD and Blu-ray discs has been on life support for years, as streaming has become the technology of choice for home video customers. In the past decade, the U.S. market for physical discs has gone from a more than $10-billion business in the United...
GM bids to buy land for a new battery factory in Lordstown
General Motors wants to build a new battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio, right next door to its former car assembly plant that it shuttered and sold last year. The automaker said it has a purchase agreement to buy a 158-acre vacant site in Trumbull County, Ohio. It is land GM...
Warner Bros. breaks ground on massive new studio with Gehry-designed ‘iceberg buildings’
Warner Bros. on Tuesday officially broke ground on a pair of Frank Gehry-designed office towers, which when completed will mark a major expansion of the Burbank, Calif.-based movie and TV studio’s headquarters. The project, first announced in April, was commemorated in a ceremony with Warner Bros. Chief Executive Ann Sarnoff...
Nissan adds nearly 346K vehicles to Takata recall saga
DETROIT — Nissan is recalling nearly 346,000 vehicles worldwide to replace dangerous Takata air bag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel. The Nissan front passenger inflators are among 10 million from 14 automakers that Takata is recalling. It’s the last recall that the bankrupt Takata agreed to in a...
Climate is changing. Investing needs to, too, says BlackRockVideo
NEW YORK — A changing climate means dramatic risks for the world — and for investments too, the chief of the world’s largest investment manager said Tuesday. To prepare for and protect against those risks, BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink said in his influential annual letter to CEOs that his firm,...
All 4 of analysts’ favorite stocks fell last year
The four stocks that Wall Street analysts most adored a year ago all fell. The analysts’ darlings as of January 2019 posted a 15% loss from Jan. 14, 2019 through Jan. 10, 2020. This happened even as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, widely used as a gauge of the...
U.S. drops designation of China as currency manipulator
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is dropping its designation of China as a currency manipulator in advance of the signing Wednesday of a Phase 1 U.S.-China trade agreement. The preliminary pact that the two sides are set to sign includes a section that’s intended to prevent China from manipulating its...
Microsoft ends free Windows 7 security updates on Tuesday
If you’re still using Microsoft’s Windows 7, your computer might soon be at risk. Microsoft will stop providing free security updates for the system on Tuesday, meaning computers using it will be more vulnerable to malware and hacking. Users who want to protect their computers need to upgrade to Windows...
Chat logs, emails show cavalier attitude by Boeing employees
NEW YORK (AP) — Internal documents reveal that Boeing employees were aware of problems with the Max 737 jet ahead of two deadly crashes, and that the company emphasized speed over safety during the approval process with the Federal Aviation Administration. The documents were made public Thursday by Boeing at...
U.S. adds 145,000 jobs; unemployment holds at 3.5%
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers downshifted on hiring in December, adding 145,000 jobs, with steady spending by Americans continuing to steer economic growth heading into a presidential election year. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate held at 3.5% for the second straight month, prolonging a half-century low. Hiring...
Boeing papers show employees slid 737 Max problems past FAA
Boeing employees raised doubts among themselves about the safety of the 737 Max, apparently tried to hide problems from federal regulators and ridiculed those responsible for designing and overseeing the jetliner, according to a batch of emails and texts released nearly a year after the aircraft was grounded over two...
Facebook again refuses to ban political ads, even false onesVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — Despite escalating pressure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Facebook reaffirmed its freewheeling policy on political ads Thursday, saying it won’t ban them, won’t fact-check them and won’t limit how they can be targeted to specific groups of people. Instead, Facebook said it will offer users slightly...
Facebook riles tiny Oregon town with plan for undersea cable
TIERRA DEL MAR, Ore. — A battle playing out in Oregon is pitting residents of a tiny coastal town with no stoplights or cellphone service against one of the world’s biggest tech companies. Locals in Tierra del Mar are trying to stop Facebook from using property in their quiet community...
Deadly crash of a Boeing jet in Iran adds to company’s woesVideo
Still reeling from a crisis involving its long-grounded Max jet, Boeing faces new questions after an earlier model of the 737 crashed Wednesday in Iran. It is too early to know what caused the crash and whether Boeing bears any responsibility for the lives of all 176 people who died...
Mack Trucks to lay off 300 at Pennsylvania assembly plant
MACUNGIE — Mack Trucks plans to lay off 305 employees at its assembly plant north of Philadelphia, the company said Wednesday. Mack blamed the layoffs at its Lower Macungue Township plant on a downturn in the heavy-duty truck market. They will take effect at the end of February, The (Allentown)...
Macy’s closing 29 more stores — 2 in Pennsylvania
NEW YORK — Macy’s is closing 29 stores in coming weeks despite the company reporting some improvement in comparable-stores sales during the crucial holiday shopping season. In an email to the Associated Press, the Cincinnati-based retailer said the store closures include 28 Macy’s locations and one Bloomingdale’s store. It was...
Takata recall of 10M inflators could be last of air bag saga
DETROIT — Takata is recalling 10 million more front air bag inflators sold to 14 automakers because they can explode with too much force and hurl shrapnel. The recall is the last one the bankrupt company agreed to in a 2015 settlement with the U.S. safety regulators. It could bring...
Facebook bans deepfakes in fight against online manipulation
LONDON — Facebook says it is banning “deepfake” videos, the false but realistic clips created with artificial intelligence and sophisticated tools, as it steps up efforts to fight online manipulation. The social network said late Monday that it’s beefing up its policies to remove videos edited or synthesized in ways...
