Wire stories category, Page 2
Largest U.S. grid pushes power plants to secure gas through week
The largest U.S. grid operator is pushing power plants to secure natural gas supplies through the week amid expectations that frigid temperatures will drive electricity usage to a winter record. PJM Interconnection LLC is taking a rare step of committing to buy power from generators through 10 a.m. on Jan....
Trump housing finance chief OKs more mortgage spending and adds risk for government-backed lenders
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s federal housing finance director, Bill Pulte, quietly granted government-backed lenders the authority to nearly double a $200 billion bond purchase that Trump ordered to try to lower mortgage rates, a move that could introduce a new level of risk for the companies. An email obtained...
Prices ticked up in November as Americans keep spending, a key inflation measure shows
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge ticked up in November in the latest sign that prices remain stubbornly elevated, while consumers spent at a healthy pace. Consumer prices rose 2.8% in November from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday, up from a 2.7% annual pace in...
Wall Street has worst session since April as Trump threatens 8 European countries with tariffs over GreenlandVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks slumped Tuesday on Wall Street after President Donald Trump threatened to hit eight European countries with new tariffs as tensions escalate over his attempts to assert American control over Greenland. The losses were widespread, with nearly every sector losing ground. Major indexes in the U.S. extended...
Trump moves to make data centers pay for surging power costs
President Donald Trump and Northeast governors will direct the nation’s largest grid operator to hold an emergency power auction that would force technology giants to pay for the construction of a fleet of new plants. The unprecedented move, set to come Friday, aims to quell concerns about data centers driving...
Wall Street strengthens as Big Tech bounces back and oil prices ease
NEW YORK — Wall Street is strengthening on Thursday as tech stocks bounce back following an encouraging report from a Taiwanese chip giant and as oil prices ease sharply. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and was on track to break the two-day losing streak it’s been on since setting an...
Judge is asked for emergency hearing after Congress members blocked from ICE facility in Minneapolis
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration secretly reimposed a policy limiting Congress members’ access to immigration detention facilities a day after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, attorneys for several congressional Democrats said Monday in asking a federal judge to intervene. Three Democratic members of Congress...
Why the Federal Reserve has historically been independent of the White House
WASHINGTON— The Justice Department has threatened the Federal Reserve with a criminal indictment over the testimony of Fed Chair Jerome Powell this summer regarding its building renovations, Powell said over the weekend. It is a major escalation by the administration after repeated attempts by President Donald Trump to exert greater...
Judge says she’ll hold a limited hearing on seizure of Luigi Mangione’s backpack
NEW YORK — A federal judge on Monday said she will hold a short hearing in the next two weeks on procedures that police said allowed them to seize and look through Luigi Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. U.S. District Judge...
Trump ‘inclined’ to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after CEO response at White House meeting
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro. “I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters...
Trump pushes a 1-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates and banks balk
NEW YORK — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner. Trump was not clear in his...
Job openings slide to 2nd lowest level in 5 years as hiring remains sluggish
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted far fewer jobs in November than the previous month, a sign that employers aren’t yet ramping up hiring even as growth has picked up. Businesses and government agencies posted 7.1 million open jobs at the end of November, the Labor Department said Wednesday, down from...
Flights to the Caribbean resuming after Venezuela-related restriction lifts
The Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday lifted its prohibition on flights to the Caribbean and airlines have resumed normal flights. “The original restrictions around the Caribbean airspace are expiring at 12:00 am ET and flights can resume,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on social media site X. “Airlines are...
Calls for restraint, condemnation: World leaders react to U.S. action in Venezuela
The overnight attacks in Venezuela and the subsequent capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a U.S. military operation on Saturday triggered sharp international reactions, ranging from European Union calls for de-escalation to condemnations from some of Latin America’s most outspoken leaders, who described the use of force...
Why your holiday gift returns might go to a landfill and what you can do about it
The holiday season will soon come to a close, but the busiest time of the year for product returns is just beginning. The National Retail Federation estimates 17% of holiday purchases will be sent back this year. More retailers are reporting extended return windows and increased holiday staff to handle...
Consumer confidence slides in December to lowest level since U.S. tariffs rolled out in April
WASHINGTON — Consumers were less confident in the economy in December as Americans grow anxious about high prices and the impact of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 3.8 points to 89.1 in December from November’s upwardly revised reading of...
Fast shipping is increasing emissions. Here’s why delivery has become more polluting
It feels simple: You shop, find something you want and click to buy. It shows up today, overnight or tomorrow. We’ve gotten used to that speed. But that convenience comes with a climate cost. Multiple factors shape the environmental toll of a delivery. These include the distance from a fulfillment...
U.S. economy expands at surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in 3rd quarter
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy expanded at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the most rapid expansion in two years, as consumer and government spending, as well as exports, all grew. U.S. gross domestic product from July through September — the economy’s total output of goods...
Larry Ellison guarantees $40.4 billion in Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount is sweetening its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Larry Ellison, who is putting up billions of dollars to back the deal for his son’s company. On Monday, Skydance-owned Paramount announced that Larry Ellison — the founder of Oracle and father of...
An American Dream at risk: What happens to a small Nebraska town when 3,200 workers lose their jobs
LEXINGTON, Neb. — On a frigid day after Mass at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in rural Nebraska, worshippers shuffled into the basement and sat on folding chairs, their faces barely masking the fear gripping their town. A pall hung over the room just as it hung over the holiday season...
Cloudy future for bourbon has Jim Beam closing Kentucky distillery for a year
Bourbon maker Jim Beam is halting production at one of its distilleries in Kentucky for at least a year as the whiskey industry navigates tariffs from the Trump administration and slumping demand for a product that needs years of aging before it is ready. Jim Beam said the decision to...
Hyundai and Kia will repair millions of vehicles under a deal to fix anti-theft technology
Automakers Hyundai and Kia must offer free repairs to millions of models under a settlement announced Tuesday by Minnesota’s attorney general, who led an effort by dozens of states that argued the vehicles weren’t equipped with proper anti-theft technology, leaving them vulnerable to thefts. Under the nationwide settlement, the companies...
Ford scraps fully-electric F-150 Lightning as mounting losses and falling demand hits EV plans
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is pivoting away from its once-ambitious electric vehicle plans amid financial losses and waning consumer demand for the vehicles in lieu of investment in more efficient gasoline-engines and hybrid EVs, the company said Monday. The Detroit automaker, which has poured billions of dollars into electrification...
Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from immigration detentionVideo
GREENBELT, Md. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be freed from immigration detention while he fights to stay in the U.S., a judge ruled Thursday, handing a major victory to the immigrant whose wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador made him a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s immigration...
Federal Reserve cuts key rate but signals higher bar for future reductionsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve reduced its key interest rate by a quarter-point for the third time in a row Wednesday but signaled that it may leave rates unchanged in the coming months, a move that could attract ire from President Donald Trump, who has demanded steep reductions to borrowing...
