Wire stories category, Page 114
Tesla lost $700 million in first quarter on Model 3 problemsVideo
Tesla reported a massive loss in the first quarter of 2019 as it struggled to deliver its mass-market Model 3 and faced challenges including a diminished federal tax credit and slowing demand for its vehicles. The $702 million loss was higher than analysts forecast for the company, slightly less than...
Stocks rally to record on earnings surprisesVideo
The S&P 500 hit an all-time high Tuesday, marking the stock market’s complete recovery from a nosedive at the end of last year. The benchmark index’s previous record was set last September, shortly before the market sank in the fourth quarter amid fears of a recession, an escalating trade war...
Henry Bloch, co-founder of H&R Block, dies at 96
After returning from military service in World War II, 24-year-old Henry Bloch started a two-man bookkeeping shop in his home town of Kansas City, Mo., that offered tax preparation as a sideline. He spent years building the business and placed a help-wanted newspaper advertisement seeking a full-time accountant. The only...
Easton’s Weyerbacher Brewing files for bankruptcy, announces new majority owner
Weyerbacher Brewing Co. Inc., the 24-year-old Easton business known for its big Belgian-style brews, is restructuring its operations. The company on Monday announced it has finalized a partnership with 1518 Holdings LLC, a Philadelphia private investment group that will take a 55% ownership stake in Weyerbacher. As part of that...
Consumers are hanging onto old mobile phones in record numbers
Wireless customers are hanging on to their old phones longer than ever. That’s the message from Verizon Communications Inc., which said its upgrade rate fell to a record low last quarter – a harbinger of tough times ahead for the iPhone and other devices. Faced with $1,000 price tags on...
U.S. expands probe into air bag failures to 12.3M vehicles
DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators have expanded an investigation into malfunctioning air bag controls to include 12.3 million vehicles because the bags may not inflate in a crash. The problem could be responsible for as many as eight deaths. Vehicles made by Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Fiat...
America’s elderly are twice as likely to work now than in 1985Video
Just as single-income families began to vanish in the last century, many of America’s elderly are now forgoing retirement for the same reason: They don’t have enough money. Rickety social safety nets, inadequate retirement savings plans and sky high health-care costs are all conspiring to make the concept of leaving...
Starbucks adding needle-disposal boxes to restrooms
Starbucks, recognizing it’s often a safe space for the most vulnerable visitors, has installed needle-disposal boxes in some locations. The coffee giant started adding the boxes in several U.S. markets in January after receiving requests from employees last year, a spokeswoman said. It will add them to any store where...
Tesla gears up for fully self-driving cars amid skepticism
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla CEO Elon Musk appears poised to transform the company’s electric cars into driverless vehicles in a risky bid to realize a bold vision that he has been floating for years. The technology required to make that quantum leap is scheduled to be shown off to Tesla...
Earth, meet Polo: Ralph Lauren unveils plastic bottle shirt
NEW YORK — Polo Ralph Lauren on Thursday launched a version of its iconic polo shirt made entirely of recycled plastic bottles and dyed through a process that uses zero water. David Lauren, the youngest son of the company’s founder and its chief innovation officer, told The Associated Press ahead...
U.S. trade deficit narrows to $49.4 billion in February
WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell for the second straight month in February, and the politically sensitive deficit in the trade of goods with China narrowed. The Commerce Department says the gap between the goods and services that the United States sells and what it buys from the rest...
Bulging stockpiles to weigh on 2019 U.S. growth
The rising stockpiles of cars, furniture and other goods that helped the U.S. economy boom in 2018 are poised to cause a hangover this year. Inventory accumulation added an average 1.2 percentage point to U.S. growth in the third and fourth quarters, government figures show, and were a key to...
Banks lead U.S. stocks to slight gains amid mixed earnings
Stocks closed slightly higher on Wall Street on Tuesday, erasing the market’s modest losses from a day earlier. The gains, which followed a rally in overseas stock indexes, came as investors sized up the latest batch of company earnings reports. Financial stocks led the way higher as bond yields rose,...
It’s ‘up to Herman Cain’ if he wants to pursue Fed seat, White House says
WASHINGTON — The White House appears to be giving Herman Cain an out in his candidacy for a seat on the Federal Reserve board of governors amid Republican senators’ mounting opposition. President Trump said this month he is considering Cain for the central bank’s leadership. The president has voiced his...
Apple, Qualcomm settle bitter dispute over iPhone technology
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple and mobile chip maker Qualcomm have settled a bitter financial dispute centered on some of the technology that enables iPhones to connect to the internet. The surprise truce announced Tuesday came just as the former allies turned antagonists were facing off in a federal court trial...
Russian company to invest in Kentucky aluminum mill
FRANKFORT, Ky. — An aluminum company planning to build a $1.7 billion plant in Appalachia said Monday it’s forging a partnership with a Russian company that until recently faced U.S. sanctions. Russian aluminum giant Rusal wants to invest $200 million in a Kentucky taxpayer-backed aluminum rolling mill that Braidy Industries...
GM to reveal next-generation Corvette in July
FRANKFORT, Ky. — It’s just the thing to make the hearts of Corvette fans race: A new rendition of the classic sports car is coming. And General Motors has a big change in store for the eighth generation Corvette being revealed July 18. The engine in the new model is...
China’s auto show highlights electric ambitions
BEIJING — This year’s Shanghai auto show highlights the global industry’s race to make electric cars Chinese drivers want to buy as Beijing winds down subsidies that promoted sales. Communist leaders are shifting the burden to automakers by imposing mandatory sales targets for electrics, adding to financial pressure on them...
As cashless stores grow, so does the backlash
NEW YORK — Hembert Figueroa just wanted a taco. So he was surprised to learn the dollar bills in his pocket were no good at Dos Toros Taqueria in Manhattan, one of a small but growing number of establishments across the U.S. where customers can only pay by card or...
Uber to go public at last in what could be one of the biggest IPOs
The biggest IPO of the year is on its way. Uber’s initial public offering, expected to value the company at about $100 billion, could be among the largest in history, and will likely compete with Alibaba for the biggest tech IPO ever. Uber’s debut also would dwarf Facebook’s as the...
Amazon workers are listening to what you tell Alexa
Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia. Millions more are reluctant to invite the devices and their powerful microphones into their homes out of concern that someone might be listening. Sometimes, someone is. Amazon.com employs thousands...
Who’s winning, losing from coffee’s drop to a 13-year low
Coffee has been among the worst-performing commodities in the past few years as the world became awash with beans, and there are few signs of a meaningful rebound any time soon. With arabica languishing near a 13-year low and robusta futures also performing poorly, there are concerns that the industry’s...
Apple takes step toward curbing climate-warming emissions from its supply chain
Apple announced Thursday that 21 manufacturers in its supply chain have recently vowed to obtain all their electricity from renewable sources, bringing to more than 5 gigawatts the total amount of renewable energy that will be used by the company and its suppliers by 2020. That would bring the use...
Boeing makes 96 flights to test software on troubled Max jet
DALLAS — Boeing has made 96 flights to test a software update for its troubled 737 Max jet, according to the company’s CEO. Dennis Muilenburg said Thursday that more test flights are planned in the coming weeks as Boeing attempts to convince regulators that the plane is safe. The Max...
Jeff Bezos challenges retail rivals to match Amazon’s $15 minimum wage
Just five months after Amazon moved to a $15 minimum wage, chief executive Jeff Bezos has called on other retailers to match it. “Today I challenge our top retail competitors (you know who you are!) to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage,” Bezos said in a letter...
