Business category, Page 32

Applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose to a three-month high last week but remained within the same healthy range of the past three years. The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose by 22,000 to 242,000 for the week ending Feb. 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts projected...

The Banana Republic store on Walnut Street in Shadyside is set to close after being open for more than 30 years. Two signs posted in the store’s windows say “We’re Closing: March 2025.” A specific date has not been announced. The two-story store is located at 5542 Walnut St., at...

WASHINGTON — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions, according to a memo distributed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government. The memo expands the Republican president’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described...

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 developed and developing nations gathered in South Africa on Wednesday for a two-day meeting marked by the absence of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several other high-profile figures. Bessent’s absence follows a boycott...

LONDON — British energy company BP confirmed Wednesday that it would slash spending on green ventures and increase its oil and gas production, a change in direction that it hopes will bolster its flagging share price but has been met with incredulity from climate action campaigners. In a statement titled...

Bill Oplinger, CEO of Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer Alcoa, warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s 25% import tax on aluminum could kill off around 100,000 U.S jobs. “This is bad for the aluminum industry in the U.S. It’s bad for American workers,” Oplinger told a crowd at a metals and mining...

Nippon Steel plans to meet with federal officials to work out a solution to the U.S. Steel takeover, and will use the existing merger agreement as a starting point in negotiations. The Japanese steelmaker’s chief operating officer, Tadashi Imai, unveiled the plan to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. Imai’s stance...

NEW YORK — Starbucks is making cuts to its menu, with some of the coffee giant’s “less popular beverages” set to take their final bow next week. In an announcement Monday, Starbucks outlined plans to remove a selection of its drinks — including several blended Frappuccino beverages, the Royal English...

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday, with inflation seemingly stuck and a trade war under President Donald Trump seen by a growing number of Americans as inevitable. The Conference Board reported that its...

Amid the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back DEI initiatives across the federal government, many companies have dropped their diversity, equity and inclusion commitments, from Disney and Google to Amazon. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which is a federal contractor, is threading a needle: It’s promoting its DEI initiatives as merit-based...

Terry Johnson, the winner of my Derby of Economic Forecasting Talent (DEFT) for 2024, likes to count trucks. Specifically, he counts the number of big rigs — 18-wheelers and the like — on a 45-mile stretch between Lincoln and York, Neb. More trucks means the economy is doing well. Fewer...

NEW YORK — Fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc., which has been a destination for generations of quilters, knitters and lovers of crafts projects for 80 years, is going out of business and shuttering all its stores. The announcement comes after the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...

Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back. Beginning Friday night, FDA employees overseeing medical devices and other key areas received calls and emails notifying them that their recent terminations had been...

Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and...

N. Michael Marie had a front-row seat as Monroeville grew from a farming community into the hub of activity that it is today. Marie, 72, is the owner of Nick Marie’s Esta Esta, the restaurant his parents, Nick and Helen Marie, opened in 1955. Marie grew up above the space...

A major cryptocurrency exchange says it was the victim of a sophisticated hack that stole about $1.5 billion worth of digital currency, marking one of the biggest online thefts of all time. Bybit said Friday a routine transfer of Ethereum, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, between digital wallets was...

New York on Thursday sued some of the country’s biggest distributors of electronic cigarettes, accusing the companies of violating state laws that prohibit the sale of vaping flavors and designs that appeal to children. Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit targeting middlemen that distribute fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes such...

NEW YORK — While traveling in Europe, Margaux Lantelme noticed something different about the store cashiers: they did their work sitting down. It was a stark contrast to Chicago, where Lantelme works the register at REI and cashiers typically spend eight hours a day on their feet. For Lantelme, a...

There are no sure ways to win in the stock market. But here’s a fairly sure way to lose: Invest in a stock that sells for 100 times revenue or more. The price/sales ratio for General Motors is less than one, for McDonald’s Corp. about 9, and for Microsoft about...

WASHINGTON — There’s the executive in a U.S. supply-chain company whose voice breaks while facing the next round of calls telling employees they no longer have jobs. And a farmer in Missouri who grew up knowing that a world with more hungry people is a world that’s more dangerous. And...

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage by more than 100% — from $7.25 to $15 an hour — is being panned by area business owners. Most say they already pay workers more than the minimum wage, and the rate should be set by the market, not by...

LOS ANGELES — Google’s YouTube and Paramount Global have struck a new distribution contract, averting a threatened blackout of CBS and other television channels for nearly 8 million YouTube TV customers. The deal was clinched Saturday night, about 48 hours after the previous pact had expired. The two sides then...