Business category, Page 66
Fed Chair Powell says interest rate cut in September could be ‘on the table’ as inflation coolsVideo
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday set the stage for the central bank’s first rate cut in four years, citing greater progress toward lower inflation as well as a cooler job market that no longer threatens to overheat the economy. Still, the Fed kept its key interest...
CarShield to pay $10M to settle deceptive advertising charges
CarShield will pay $10 million to settle charges that its advertisements and telemarketing for its extended auto warranty plans are deceptive and misleading, the Federal Trade Commission said. Many customers found that repair claims were often not covered despite making payments of up to $120 per month, the FTC said...
Washington, D.C., sues StubHub, saying the resale platform inflates ticket prices with deceptive fees
WASHINGTON — The attorney general for Washington, D.C., sued StubHub on Wednesday, accusing the ticket resale platform of advertising deceptively low prices and then ramping up prices with extra fees. The practice known as “drip pricing” violates consumer protection laws in the nation’s capital, Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. “StubHub...
Paychecks grew more slowly this spring, a sign inflation may keep cooling
WASHINGTON — Pay and benefits for America’s workers grew more slowly in the April-June quarter than in the first three months of the year, a trend that could keep price pressures in check and encourage the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve. Compensation as measured by the government’s Employment Cost Index...
Boeing names new CEO as it posts a loss of more than $1.4 billion in second quarter
Boeing lost more than $1.4 billion in the second quarter and said a longtime industry executive will take over as chief executive of the troubled aircraft manufacturer next week. Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, 64, a former CEO at Rockwell Collins, will succeed David Calhoun as CEO, the company said. Boeing’s loss...
John Dorfman: A scorecard on women as CEOs
If Kamala Harris becomes president, she will break the ultimate glass ceiling. Other glass already has been shattered. About a quarter of U.S. senators are women, as are roughly a quarter of the nation’s governors. Women sit in the chief executive’s chair at about 10% of the corporations in the...
Meta agrees to $1.4B settlement with Texas in privacy lawsuit over facial recognition
AUSTIN, Texas — Meta has agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas in a privacy lawsuit over allegations that the tech giant used biometric data of users without their permission, officials said Tuesday. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the settlement is the largest secured by a single state....
Spirit Airlines is going upscale. In a break from its history, it will offer fares with extra perks
Spirit Airlines is moving farther away from its history as a fee-happy budget airline and will start selling tickets that include some of its most popular extras in bundles. The Florida-based airline said Tuesday the top ticket will be a “Go Big” package that includes priority check-in, a roomier seat,...
U.S. job openings fall slightly to 8.2 million, sign that high rates continue to cool labor market
WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings fell slightly last month, a sign that the American labor market continues to cool in the face of high interest rates. There were 8.18 million job vacancies in June, down from 8.23 million in May, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The U.S. economy and job...
U.S. Steel marketing blitz puts pressure on government to OK sale to Nippon Steel
U.S. Steel is banking on public pressure to push through a $14.9 billion acquisition by Nippon Steel as lawmakers and regulators balk at putting the domestic icon in foreign hands. An advertising campaign launched this year touts promises by Japan’s largest steelmaker to preserve jobs, upgrade plants and sustain American...
Justice Department says TikTok collected U.S. user views on issues like abortion and gun control
WASHINGTON — In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department is accusing TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion. Government lawyers wrote in documents filed...
6,300 University of Pittsburgh staffers gain chance to join Steelworkers union
For University of Pittsburgh staff who watched as 3,400 faculty colleagues gained collective bargaining rights a few years back, what’s coming in the mail soon represents their own moment of choice. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board will oversee another union election at Pitt. This time, it’s for 6,300 staff. Ballots...
California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 22, ending legal saga over status of gig drivers
The California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 22, the voter initiative that allows Uber, Lyft and other gig economy companies to classify drivers for their ride-hailing and delivery services as independent contractors rather than as employees. In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning, the state’s top court rejected claims...
Economic growth increased last quarter to a healthy 2.8% annual rateVideo
WASHINGTON — The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services —...
Workers go on strike at 5-star Paris hotel where IOC members are staying for Olympics
Workers went on strike Thursday at the five-star hotel in Paris where members of the International Olympic Committee are staying, walking out just a day before the opening ceremony of the Games. According to the major French union CGT, the IOC paid the hotel where staffers were striking, Hôtel du...
Average rate on a 30-year mortgage inches up to 6.78%, first uptick in 3 weeks
LOS ANGELES — Mortgage rates inched higher this week, keeping the average rate on a 30-year mortgage essentially flat and near the 7% range it’s been in most of this year. The rate rose to 6.78% from 6.77% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the...
Southwest Airlines plans to start assigning seats, breaking with a 50-year tradition
DALLAS — Goodbye, cattle call. Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it plans to drop the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years and will start assigning passengers to seats, just like all the other big airlines. The airline said it has been studying seating options, running tests...
Ford’s Q2 net income falls 4.7% as pretax profits drop at combustion engine unit
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.’s second-quarter net income fell 4.7% from a year ago as the company’s combustion engine unit posted a pretax loss due to higher warranty costs. The Dearborn, Mich., automaker said Wednesday it made $1.83 billion from April through June, compared with $1.92 billion a year ago....
NBA says it has entered deal with Amazon, not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s offer
The NBA said Wednesday that it is not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league and therefore has entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video, a move that would mean this coming season would end a nearly four-decade run...
Wall Street wipeout: S&P 500 falls 2% as Big Tech skids
NEW YORK — A wipeout on Wednesday sent U.S. stock indexes to their worst losses since 2022 after profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet helped suck momentum from Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. The S&P 500 tumbled 2.3% for its fifth drop in the past six days. The Dow...
Disney reaches tentative agreement with California theme park workers
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Disney has reached a tentative agreement with four unions representing thousands of workers at its California theme parks, including ride operators, candy makers and parking attendants. The coalition of unions said early Wednesday that its 14,000 workers will get to vote on the deal on Monday. No...
Strike at plant that makes truck seats forces production stoppage for Missouri General Motors
Production has halted at a Missouri General Motors plant that manufactures trucks and vans, the result of a strike at the company that supplies seats for the vehicles. About 480 workers at Lear Corp. in Wentzville walked out at midnight Sunday. The strike brought production to a standstill Monday at...
Crowdstrike blames update for letting bad data slip through causing global tech outage
Crowdstrike is blaming a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off last week’s global tech outage that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted banks, hospitals and retailers. Crowdstrike also said it would take...
How college sports video games became the entry point to dismantle the NCAA’s amateurism rules
Sonny Vaccaro knew nothing about the law. He did know a lot about college sports and was sure the athletes who were driving millions of dollars in revenue to their schools should be paid. Michael Hausfeld knew nothing about college sports, but it didn’t take long for the attorney who...
Google makes abrupt U-turn by dropping plan to remove ad-tracking cookies on Chrome browser
LONDON — Google is dropping plans to eliminate cookies from its Chrome web browser, making a sudden U-turn on four years of work to phase out a technology that helps businesses tracks users online. The company had been working on retiring third-party cookies, which are snippets of code that log...
