Business category, Page 3

MIFFLINBURG, Pa. — Christmas went on the auction block this week in Pennsylvania farm country, and there was no shortage of bidders. About 50,000 Christmas trees and enough wreaths, crafts and other seasonal items to fill an airplane hangar were bought and sold by lots and on consignment at the...

Universal Pictures’ two-part “Wicked” gamble continues to defy gravity at the box office. Just a year after part one brought droves of audiences to movie theaters around the country, even more people bought opening weekend tickets to see the epic conclusion, “Wicked: For Good.” According to studio estimates on Sunday,...

The core of Station Square — the struggling restaurant, entertainment and office complex on Pittsburgh’s South Shore — is under new ownership. Massachusetts-based WS Development announced Friday it purchased a huge chunk of the center along the Monongahela River from New York-based Brookfield Properties. “Station Square is an iconic place...

The merger of smaller regional hospital systems such as Independence Health with a larger health system — this one from West Virginia — is likely being driven, in part, by hospitals hurting from insufficient reimbursement for the cost of treating patients, a Pittsburgh-based health care consultant said. West Virginia University...

NEW YORK — Verizon is laying off more than 13,000 employees in mass job reductions that arrive as the telecommunications giant says it must “reorient” its entire company. The job cuts began on Thursday, per to a staff memo from Verizon CEO Dan Schulman. In the letter, which was seen...

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes increased last month to the fastest pace since February as lower mortgage rates helped pull more homebuyers into the market. Existing home sales rose 1.2% in October from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.10 million units, the National Association...

WASHINGTON — During the 43-day U.S. government shutdown, investors, businesses, policymakers and the Federal Reserve were groping in the dark for clues about the health of the American job market. The federal workers who collect data on hiring and unemployment had been furloughed and couldn’t do their jobs. Now that...

Industrial battery maker Eos Energy Enterprises announced Tuesday the federal government will buy 570,000 cut-rate shares in the company, which is relocating its headquarters to Pittsburgh. The Department of Energy has the right to buy the shares at a penny apiece within the next five years, according to financial disclosures...

WASHINGTON — For the second time in two days, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would like to appoint Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to chair the Federal Reserve. Yet Bessent keeps saying he doesn’t want the job, Trump added, in comments to the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum. “We’re thinking about...

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department said Wednesday that it will not be releasing a full jobs report for October because the 43-day federal government shutdown meant it couldn’t calculate the unemployment rate and some other key numbers. Instead, it will release some of the October jobs data — most importantly...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell by nearly 24% in August as President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs pushed imports lower. In a report delayed for more than seven weeks by the federal government shutdown, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that the gap between what the United States buys...

NEW YORK — Target’s third-quarter profit tumbled as the retailer struggles to lure shoppers that are being pressed by stubbornly high inflation. The Minneapolis company said Wednesday that it expects its sales slump to extend through the critical holiday shopping season. The company also announced that it’s planning to invest...

Since American Express started Small Business Saturday in 2010, Black Friday has typically been associated with hitting the malls and big-box retailers for after-Thanksgiving deals, while that Saturday is the day to support local businesses. But for Alec Munson, owner of B-Sides Vintage in Millvale since 2020, Black Friday had...

Roblox, a popular gaming platform that’s faced growing scrutiny over child safety concerns, said Tuesday it will require users to verify their age if they want to chat with other players. To do so, people will provide an ID or take a selfie through the Roblox app to prove they’re...

The flight disruptions during the record government shutdown that ended last week inspired a rare act of bipartisanship in Washington on Tuesday, when congressional representatives from both parties introduced legislation that would allow air traffic controllers to get paid during future shutdowns. The bill proposes funding salaries, operating expenses and...

HARRISBURG — The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday that it will loan $1 billion to help finance the restart of the nuclear power plant on Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island that is under contract to supply power to data centers for tech giant Microsoft. The loan is in line with...

NEW YORK — Honda is recalling more than 256,600 of its Accord Hybrid vehicles across the U.S., because of a software error that may result in sudden loss of drive power. According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall covers certain Honda Accord Hybrids between...

Should you go aristocratic? A dividend aristocrat is a company that has raised its dividend every year for the past 25 years. At the moment, there are 68 of them. These companies are obviously, in a sense, elite. They have demonstrated staying power and a willingness to share the wealth...

SAN FRANCISCO — Meta has prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued his ruling Tuesday...

Allegiant Air pilots picketing outside the new Pittsburgh International Airport terminal said they’re fed up with sluggish union contract talks and pay well below industry standards. Jumping to another carrier, including other budget airlines like Spirit or Southwest, could bring more than double the hourly pay, they said. “All we’re...

A federal bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday formally approved OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the harms of opioids. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane was set to give his reasoning Tuesday for approving the plan, which requires members of the Sackler family who own the...

A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has largely resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, “League of Legends,” to the New Jersey Transit system to even TribLive’s own site early Tuesday. At 10:40 a.m., Cloudflare said its...

To address mounting concerns about housing affordability, President Donald Trump recently floated the prospect of a 50-year mortgage, days after several key election contests that centered on cost-of-living issues. “All it means is you pay less per month,” Trump said in an interview last week. Yet the president’s idea is...

The door opens and in walks Bentley. He goes directly behind the counter … and waits. “Bentley knows where the treats are,” said Lee Ann Carey, owner of Three Dog Bakery in Sewickley. “Dogs will be on the sidewalk a few stores away and they just know where this shop...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump argued his administration was making process on lowering prices as he faces new political headwinds, pushing back on criticism from Democrats who blame his tariffs for high costs. Trump touted economic policies he said have drawn trillions in new investments to fuel private-sector job growth...