Business category, Page 300
CES gadget show offers fun, care in devices
LAS VEGAS — The CES 2019 gadget show opened its doors Tuesday, with tech companies from giants to tiny startups showing off their latest products and services. In recent years, CES’s influence has declined as Apple, Google and other major companies throw their own events to launch new wares. Still,...
5 things to know about U.S.-Chinese trade negotiations
BEIJING — The United States and China have held their first face-to-face trade talks since Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping agreed Dec. 1 to postpone further tariff increases in the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. The meetings are the start of what economists say are likely to...
U.S. stocks keep rising as investors hope for trade progress
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are higher Tuesday as industrial and internet companies rise, and the S&P 500 index is on track for its first three-day winning streak since November. The latest round of trade talks between the U.S. and China ended without word of progress, but with no evident...
Sears gets another reprieve from liquidation
NEW YORK — Sears is getting another reprieve from liquidation after its chairman and largest shareholder revised his bid to save the iconic brand. The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based retailer says it has accepted Eddie Lampert’s bid through an affiliate of his ESL hedge fund that could keep 425 stores open...
Toyota wants world to use its tech that keeps cars from crashing
Toyota — in an unusual move for the cut-throat car business — has decided to share with rivals an automated safety system that uses self-driving technology to keep cars from crashing. The system, known as Guardian, will take control of a car and steer it around an impending crash or...
U.S. job openings fell in November to still-strong 6.9 million
WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings fell in November from the previous month, but the number of available positions remained healthy. Job openings slipped 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted 6.9 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That is the fewest openings in five months, but still 16 percent higher than...
Millennial Money: How to buy happiness
If you have a few extra bucks that you don’t need for necessities like rent or loan payments, consider shopping for happiness. From ancient philosophers to current experts in behavioral economics, people have been pondering the link between money and happiness. Among them is author Gretchen Rubin , who thinks...
Russian church head: Smartphones could precede Antichrist
MOSCOW — The head of the Russian Orthodox Church says the data-gathering capacity of devices such as smartphones risks bringing humanity closer to the arrival of the Antichrist. In an interview shown Monday on state TV, Patriarch Kirill said the church does not oppose technological progress but is concerned that...
Amazon emerges as most valuable U.S. firm amid market turmoil
SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon has eclipsed Microsoft as the most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S. as a see-sawing stock market continues to reshuffle corporate America’s pecking order. The shift occurred Monday after Amazon’s shares rose 3 percent to close at $1,629.51 and lifted the e-commerce leader’s market value...
Pittsburgh-based EQT confirms layoffs, but details are scant
Pittsburgh-based shale gas producer EQT Corp. confirmed Monday it had laid off employees but would not say how many. The company’s new management team has “taken a number of decisive actions to improve operational efficiency, cash flow and EQT’s financial position,” it said in a statement released Monday. “We are...
New app offers one stop for subway, ride-hailing, bike-share and carpooling
A tech company launched an app Monday that offers public and private options to help people get around, including subway, buses, bike-share, ride-hailing companies and even temporary carpooling arrangements using a person’s social network. The SoMo app – short for social mobility – is the work of HERE Technologies, a...
Home items are getting smarter and creepier, like it or not
NEW YORK — One day, finding an oven that just cooks food may be as tough as buying a TV that merely lets you change channels. Internet-connected “smarts” are creeping into cars, refrigerators, thermostats, toys and just about everything else in your home. CES 2019, the gadget show opening Tuesday...
Seattle City Council members visit New York to warn about Amazon HQ2
Two politicians from Amazon.com’s hometown traveled across the country to New York to deliver a cautionary message about the company’s expansion in the city. Members of the Seattle City Council, Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda, are urging elected officials in New York to pass legislation now that will address potential...
U.S. stocks edge higher after huge swings in recent trading
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are edging higher in early trading on Wall Street Monday after enormous swings the previous two days. Representatives from the U.S. and China began a round of trade negotiations, and investors’ hopes that the two sides will finally make progress in talks have sent stocks...
No words: Mastercard to drop its name from logo
NEW YORK — Mastercard is at a loss for words. The digital payment company says it is dropping its name in some contexts, opting to let its familiar interlocking yellow and red circles represent the company at retail locations and online. The Purchase, New York-based company said Monday that the...
Trump expresses optimism in trade talks with China
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expressing optimism about trade negotiations with China as U.S. officials are expected in Beijing for talks aimed at easing a trade battle. Trump said Sunday he spoke recently to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump says: “I really believe they want to make a deal....
Survival of Sears hangs by thread as bid ruling said to be delayed
Eddie Lampert is struggling to convince bankers for Sears Holdings Corp. that his bid to keep the retailer alive is adequate. But he’ll have a little more time to try. The hedge-fund manager came up short Friday in meeting Sears’ conditions for what it considers a qualified bid to rescue...
Startups reinvent the sheet-buying experience
NEW YORK — A new year calls for sparkly new sheets. But shoppers looking for high-quality linens without hurting their budget may want to skip the so-called white sales at mass retailers. A new cast of startups, including Parachute, Brooklinen and Boll & Branch, are cutting out middlemen and selling...
Expect 2019 to be quiet in Congress _ for small business
NEW YORK — Small business issues often win bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, but given the divisions in the incoming 116th Congress, advocates for companies have low expectations. Even after lawmakers deal with the partial government shutdown, a Democratic House, a Republican Senate and ongoing investigations of the Trump White...
Artificial intelligence vs. hackers
Last year, Microsoft Corp.’s Azure security team detected suspicious activity in the cloud computing usage of a large retailer: One of the company’s administrators, who usually logs on from New York, was trying to gain entry from Romania. And no, the admin wasn’t on vacation. A hacker had broken in....
Weather Channel app accused of selling users’ personal data
LOS ANGELES — People relied on the most popular mobile weather app to track forecasts that determined whether they chose jeans over shorts and packed a parka or umbrella, but its owners used it to track their every step and profit off that information, Los Angeles prosecutors said Friday. The...
Ford recalls over 953,000 vehicles to replace inflators
DETROIT — Ford is recalling more than 953,000 vehicles worldwide to replace Takata passenger air bag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel. The move includes over 782,000 vehicles in the U.S. and is part of the largest series of recalls in U.S. history. Included are the 2010 Ford Edge...
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will not resign if Trump asks him
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that President Donald Trump has not tried to fire him and that he would not resign from his position if Trump asked him to do so. Trump has repeatedly blamed Powell for the market decline and the dimming outlook for the U.S. economy...
Stocks surge as U.S. and China plan trade talks; hiring climbs
NEW YORK — Global stocks are jumping Friday as investors welcomed news of trade talks between the U.S. and China next week and the U.S. government reported a big increase in hiring in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared about 500 points. China’s Commerce Ministry said the talks will...
U.S. employers added a stellar 312,000 jobs in December
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers dramatically stepped up their hiring in December, adding 312,000 jobs in an encouraging display of strength for an economy in the midst of a trade war, slowing global growth and a partial shutdown of the federal government. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate...
