Wire stories category, Page 29
122-year-old U.S. Steel is reviewing ‘numerous’ buyout offers
After receiving two buyout offers in the past month, U.S. Steel said Tuesday it is in the process of reviewing multiple offers for the storied company and symbol of American industrialization. U.S. Steel rejected a $7.3 billion buyout proposal from rival Cleveland-Cliffs two weeks ago, and that offer was followed...
Have home prices bottomed? While low housing inventory stymies sales, bidding wars prop up prices
LOS ANGELES — The housing market remains in a deep sales slump, but the worst declines may be over when it comes to home prices. While home sales have fallen 22.3% through the first seven months of the year versus the same stretch in 2022, prices are being propped up...
Unionized UPS workers approve contract leaders agreed to in late July
The union representing 340,000 UPS workers said Tuesday that its members voted to approve the tentative contract agreement reached last month, putting a final seal on contentious labor negotiations that threatened to disrupt package deliveries for millions of businesses and households nationwide. The Teamsters said in a statement that 86%...
Europe’s sweeping rules for tech giants are about to kick in. Here’s how they work
LONDON — Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe are facing one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people encounter online. The first phase of the European Union’s groundbreaking new digital rules will take effect this week. The Digital Services Act is part...
Looking for a new car under $20,000? Good luck. Your choice has dwindled to just 1 vehicle
DETROIT — Just five years ago, a price-conscious auto shopper in the United States could choose from among a dozen new small cars selling for under $20,000. Now, there’s just one: The Mitsubishi Mirage. And even the Mirage appears headed for the scrap yard. At a time when Americans increasingly...
Emerging economies are pushing to end the dollar’s dominance. But what’s the alternative?
ABUJA, Nigeria — Business has vanished at Kingsley Odafe’s clothing shop in Nigeria’s capital, forcing him to lay off three employees. One culprit for his troubles stands out: The U.S. dollar’s strength against the Nigerian currency, the naira, has pushed the price of garments and other foreign goods beyond the...
Average long-term mortgage rate climbs to 7.09% this week to highest level in more than 20 years
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in more than 20 years, grim news for would-be homebuyers already challenged by a housing market that remains competitive due to a dearth of homes for sale. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate...
Intel calls off $5.4B Tower deal after failing to obtain regulatory approvals
HONG KONG — Intel will terminate a $5.4 billion deal to acquire Israeli chip manufacturer Tower Semiconductor after China failed to sign off on the deal amid rising tensions with the United States. It was a mutual decision between Intel and Tower, the companies said Wednesday. Intel said that the...
American industrial icon U.S. Steel is on the verge of being absorbed as industry consolidates further
With two bidders revealed in a matter of days and more in the wings, United States Steel Corp. — a symbol of American industrialization that for more than a century helped build everything from the United Nations building in New York City to the New Orleans Superdome — appears be...
A Pennsylvania study suggests links between fracking and asthma, lymphoma in children
HARRISBURG — Children who lived closer to natural gas wells in heavily drilled Pennsylvania were more likely to develop a relatively rare form of cancer, and nearby residents of all ages had an increased chance of severe asthma reactions, researchers said in reports released Tuesday evening. The taxpayer-funded research by...
In twilight of muscle car era, demand roars for new 486-horsepower V-8 Ford Mustang
DETROIT — New versions of the Mustang muscle car will begin shipping next week and more than two thirds of the orders include the big, 5-liter V-8 engine, Ford said Friday. Demand for roaring engines remains strong in an era when Detroit automakers are starting to phase out the rumbling...
Wall Street marches higher ahead of new numbers on U.S. inflation, jobs
Wall Street pointed toward gains before markets opened Thursday ahead of a closely watched U.S. inflation report. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 each climbed 0.5% before the opening bell. The U.S. government will give its monthly update on the inflation at the consumer level in...
Number of Americans applying for jobless aid rises, but not enough to cause concern
The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits jumped last week, but not enough to raise concern about the consistently strong U.S. labor market. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose by 21,000 to 248,000 for the week ending August 5, from 227,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday....
4 LGBTQ+ retirement hurdles and what to do about them
In many ways, retirement planning for someone in the LGBTQ+ community is the same as anyone else’s retirement planning: save more, spend less, invest for the long term. But for LGBTQ+ people, there are unique challenges. Historically lower incomes mean they have less to save overall. Because they’re less likely...
Zoom, which thrived on the remote work revolution, wants workers back in the office part-time
NEW YORK — The company whose name became synonymous with remote work is joining the growing return-to-office trend. Zoom, the video conferencing pioneer, is asking employees who live within a 50-mile radius of its offices to work onsite two days a week, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email. The...
ESPN strikes $1.5B deal to jump into sports betting with Penn Entertainment
You know ESPN the sports media giant. Now brace yourself for ESPN Bet, a rebranding of an existing sports-betting app owned by Penn Entertainment, which is paying $1.5 billion plus other considerations for exclusive rights to the ESPN name. The deal, announced Tuesday, could take Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN into...
WWE’s SummerSlam pulls in $7M in sponsorship revenue, up 23% from a year ago
WWE’s sponsorship revenue for SummerSlam rose 23% from a year ago to $7 million, the most for any event outside of WrestleMania. The Saturday event in Detroit also brought in huge merchandise sales, up 60% from a record set in 2021. It was the best performance in company history for...
Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X
NEW YORK — Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face-off in late June. Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts, and the...
Economy likely generated 200,000 new jobs in July, showing more resilience in face of rate hikes
WASHINGTON — The American economy has generated at least 200,000 new jobs for a record 30 straight months. And the streak likely continued into July. But just barely. The Labor Department’s latest jobs report, out Friday, is expected to show that employers tacked on exactly 200,000 jobs last month, according...
Adidas brings in $437 million from the first Yeezy sale. Part of that will go to anti-hate groups
FRANKFURT, Germany — Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to...
Bud Light parent says U.S. market share stabilizing after transgender promotion cost sales
Bud Light’s parent company expressed confidence Thursday that its U.S. market share has stabilized after a promotion with a transgender influencer cost it sales. Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Thursday that its U.S. revenue fell 10.5% in the second quarter. Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent...
IRS aims to go paperless by 2025 as part of its campaign to conquer mountains of paperwork
Most taxpayers will be able to digitally submit a slew of tax documents and other communications to the IRS next filing season as the agency aims to go completely paperless by 2025. The effort to reduce the exorbitant load of paperwork that has plagued the agency — dubbed the “paperless...
X marks the lawsuit: Elon Musk’s social media company sues nonprofit highlighting site’s hate speech
WASHINGTON — X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has sued a group of researchers — alleging their work highlighting an increase in hate speech on the platform cost the company millions of dollars of advertising revenue. The suit, filed late Monday night in U.S. District Court in...
Fitch downgrades U.S. credit rating, citing mounting debt and political divisions
WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings has downgraded the United States government’s credit rating, citing rising debt at the federal, state, and local levels and a “steady deterioration in standards of governance” over the past two decades. The rating was cut Tuesday one notch to AA+ from AAA, the highest possible rating....
Millennial Money: Mystery travel lets you focus on the fun, not the details
Travel planning can be a real chore. Booking flights, deciding on the right hotel and building an itinerary might be fun for some, but others dread it. That’s why some travelers are opting for an unorthodox travel strategy that eliminates the planning stage altogether. It’s called “mystery” or “suprise” travel,...
