Wire stories category, Page 121
United to pursue high-fare travelers with more premium seats
United Airlines will woo high-fare passengers by retrofitting more than 100 planes to add more premium seats on key routes. The airline also plans to start using a new 50-seat jet with mostly premium seats on some key business-travel routes. United announced the moves Wednesday. They are part of an...
Trade hawks quietly bristle as Trump’s China deadline approaches
One of President Trump’s most persistent economic promises has been to rewrite the U.S. relationship with China. Yet as he approaches a potential deal, some of the very hawks who have cheered on Trump’s trade war already fear he may end up falling short. With less than a month before...
Gannett board rejects hostile takeover bid. But that may be just the start.
Gannett’s board of directors said Monday that it had rejected a $1.36 billion buyout bid from Digital First Media, questioning the would-be buyer’s motives and accusing it of trying to conceal the company’s “inability to finance and complete” the deal. “After careful review and consideration, conducted in consultation with its...
Trump to tap David Malpass, critic of World Bank, to lead it
WASHINGTON — The World Bank may be poised for a shake-up with President Trump planning to nominate David Malpass, who has been a critic of the bank, to lead the institution focused on global poverty. Malpass’ selection was confirmed by a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity...
Crypto CEO dies holding only passwords that can unlock millions in customer coins
Digital-asset exchange Quadriga CX has a $200 million problem with no obvious solution — just the latest cautionary tale in the unregulated world of cryptocurrencies. The online startup can’t retrieve about $145 million in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether and other digital tokens held for its customers, according to court documents filed...
Sanders to pharma firm: Why are you charging $375,000 for life-saving drug?
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has sent a letter to Florida-based Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc. demanding to know why it is charging $375,000 for a drug that treats a rare disease. In the letter, released Monday, Sanders asked Catalyst CEO Patrick McEnany how many patients “will suffer or die” due to the...
Fiat Chrysler recalls over 660K trucks; steering could fail
DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler is recalling over 660,000 heavy-duty trucks worldwide because a loose nut can cause a loss of steering control. The recall covers Ram 3500 pickups from 2013 through 2017, as well as 2500 pickups and 3500 Chassis cabs from 2014 through 2017. The company says it’s aware...
S&P 500 win streak marks 5th day on solid company earnings
Technology companies helped lead stocks broadly higher on Wall Street Tuesday as strong earnings reports from several companies put investors in a buying mood. The rally, which briefly wavered around midday, extended the benchmark S&P 500 index’s winning streak to five days. Technology stocks, which have lagged the market in...
Lunar New Year allows U.S. companies to find prosperity too
As Asian-Americans across the U.S. mark the Lunar New Year on Tuesday, they can celebrate by eating Mickey Mouse-shaped tofu, sporting a pair of Year of the Pig-inspired Nike shoes and by snacking on pricey cupcakes. The delicacies and traditions that once made a generation of Asian-Americans feel foreign are...
Messaging platform provider Slack says it’s filed to go public
Slack Technologies Inc. said it has filed confidentially with regulators to list the company’s shares in the United States. The messaging platform company didn’t provide details of its plans in a statement Monday. Slack plans to forgo a traditional initial public offering and instead intends to sell its shares to...
Bud Light touches nerve with corn syrup Super Bowl ads
NEW YORK — Bud Light attacked rival brands in its Super Bowl ads, but it was the corn industry that felt stung. The spots trolled rival brands that use corn syrup. One showed a medieval caravan schlepping a huge barrel of corn syrup to castles owned by Miller and Coors....
Gannett turns down $1.36B buyout offer
MCLEAN, Va. — The publisher of USA Today and other newspapers is rejecting a $1.36 billion buyout from a hedge-fund backed media group with a history of taking over newspapers and slashing jobs. MNG Enterprises, better known as Digital First Media, made its unsolicited bid of $12 per share last...
GM plant closings will hit parts suppliers far and wide
TOLEDO, Ohio — The sting from a major restructuring at General Motors and its planned closings of five North American factories in the coming months is putting thousands of jobs at auto parts suppliers at stake, as well. While GM expects nearly all its U.S. blue-collar workers whose jobs are...
Stocks eke out gains after a bumpy day
NEW YORK — Stocks held on to tiny gains at the end of an up-and-down day of trading on Wall Street. Major indexes were higher for much of the morning as investors applauded the latest burst of hiring by U.S. employers. The enthusiasm was tempered, however, by a disappointing revenue...
U.S. employers add robust 304K jobs; joblessness up to 4%
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers shrugged off last month’s partial government shutdown and engaged in a burst of hiring in January, adding 304,000 jobs, the most in nearly a year. The healthy gain the government reported Friday illustrated the job market’s durability nearly a decade into the economic expansion. The U.S....
When marketing flops: 5 Super Bowl ads that backfired
Advertisers that spend millions of dollars on the Super Bowl are trying to avoid what the Ram truck company did with a Martin Luther King speech or what Groupon did spoofing promos for charities. Though such messages can get attention, it’s the wrong kind of attention. Groupon got buzz all...
U.S. average mortgage rates edge up; 30-year at 4.46 percent
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates edged up after declining in recent weeks. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.46 percent, from 4.45 percent last week. Despite the recent declines, home borrowing rates are above last year’s levels....
As Wall Street spasmed with fear, 401(k) savers held steady
NEW YORK— While professional traders on Wall Street scrambled to sell stocks amid a fear-fueled, nearly 20 percent drop for the S&P 500 late last year, most people at home remained relatively calm when it came to their own retirement savings. So say numbers from Fidelity Investments, which show that...
Fed keeps key rate unchanged and pledges to be ‘patient’
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is keeping its key interest rate unchanged and signaling it could leave rates alone in the coming months given economic pressures and mild inflation. The Fed also says it’s prepared to slow the reduction of its bond holdings if needed to support the economy. The...
Trump Organization to use E-Verify for worker status checks
NEW YORK — The Trump Organization, responding to claims that some of its workers were in the United States illegally, said Wednesday that it will use the E-Verify electronic system at all of its properties to check employees’ documentation. A lawyer for a dozen immigrant workers at the Trump National...
After bankruptcy, PG&E headed back to court over wildfires
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will be back in a U.S. courtroom a day after declaring bankruptcy, as it tries to convince a judge not to order dramatic steps to try to prevent its equipment from causing more wildfires. U.S. Judge William Alsup is scheduled to hear...
What industry has seen pay fall below average in the most states? Public schools.
In a search for jobs which once paid well, but have fallen below average in most states, we considered hundreds of industries. Public schools stood out. In the early 1990s, when today’s veteran educators were starting out, public-school teachers and support staff pulled in above-average paychecks in 26 of the...
China says U.S. charges against Huawei and its executive are ‘immoral’
BEIJING — The Chinese government Tuesday condemned U.S. indictments against the Chinese tech giant Huawei as “deep political motivations and manipulations,” as relations between the world’s two largest economies hardened on the eve of crucial trade talks. U.S. officials Monday announced indictments filed in New York accusing Huawei Chief Financial...
Stocks end mixed as Wall Street assesses earnings
NEW YORK — Stocks posted an uneven finish on Wall Street on Tuesday, handing the S&P 500 index its second decline in a row. An early gain faded as investors assessed a mixed bag of corporate results and looked ahead to a heavy schedule of news on companies and the...
U.S. consumers rattled by shutdown, roiling markets
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence tumbled this month to its lowest reading in a year and a half, tested by the partial government shutdown and roiling financial markets. Still, consumer spirits remain robust by historic standards. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index...
