Wire stories category, Page 77
Stocks climb, erasing earlier losses, as economy heats up
Stocks shook off an early slide and turned solidly higher in afternoon trading Friday, placing the market on track to snap a three-day losing streak. The S&P 500 was 1.9% higher as of 3:43 p.m. Eastern time, after spinning more than 360 degrees earlier. The benchmark index had jumped to...
Tech pulls stocks lower as bond yields continue upward march
Technology companies led another broad sell-off Thursday on Wall Street as a spike in bond yields put more pressure on the market’s high-flying stocks. The S&P 500 was fell 1.3%, its third straight loss. The benchmark index, which briefly dipped into the red for the year, is on track for...
Fed survey finds modest gains in the U.S. economy in February
WASHINGTON — A Federal Reserve survey of business conditions across the United States has found that economic activity was expanding at a modest pace in February. The Fed survey released Wednesday shows that the central bank’s business contacts were expressing optimism last month about a stronger rebound as more covid-19...
Bed Bath & Beyond goes with something new to revive brand
NEW YORK — Bed Bath & Beyond will launch a slew of new store brands to lure younger customers in a bid to energize sales at the home retail chain. The chain will begin selling eight new store brands this year, six of them in the first half of 2021....
Technology stocks lead indexes lower as yields resume climb
Technology companies led stocks lower on Wall Street as another rise in bond yields rattled investors. The S&P 500 fell 1.3% Wednesday, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.7%. Higher bond yields can signal that inflation could be on the way as the economy picks up. They can also make stocks...
Intel told to pay $2.18 billion after losing Texas patent trial
Intel Corp. was told to pay VLSI Technology LLC $2.18 billion by a federal jury in Texas after losing a patent-infringement trial over technology related to chip-making, one of the largest patent-damages award in U.S. history. Intel pledged to appeal. Intel infringed two patents owned by closely held VLSI, the...
Stocks drift lower on Wall Street; yields continue to ease
Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street after a wobbly day, giving back some of their big gains from a day earlier. The S&P 500 lost 0.8% Tuesday after flipping between small gains and losses throughout the day. A day before, it leaped 2.4% for its best performance since June....
Texas top utility regulator quits in fallout over blackouts
AUSTIN — Texas’ top utilities regulator resigned Monday in the widening fallout from blackouts triggered by an unusually heavy and widespread winter storm that left millions in the state without power and water for days. DeAnn Walker, the chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission, is the highest-ranking official to step...
Texas power company seeks bankruptcy protection after storm
The largest and oldest power cooperative in Texas is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing last month’s winter storm that left millions without power. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, which serves 16 distribution member cooperatives that cater to more than 1.5 million Texans across 68 counties from the Texas Panhandle...
United expands order for Boeing 737 Max aircraft
United Airlines is expanding its order of Boeing 737 Max airplanes and taking some deliveries sooner as it ramps up for an anticipated increase in travel demand. Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nocella said in a memo on Monday that the company placed an order for 25 new 737 Max aircraft...
Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how
PARIS — In an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s largest city lies a factory with gleaming new equipment imported from Germany, its immaculate hallways lined with hermetically sealed rooms. It is operating at just a quarter of its capacity. It is one of three factories that The Associated...
Warren Buffett again encourages investors to bet on America
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett encouraged investors to maintain their faith in America’s economy and the businesses his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns in a reassuring letter to his shareholders Saturday. Buffett hardly even addressed the coronavirus that ravaged many businesses last year, instead focusing on the long-term prospects for...
A bumpy day for stocks leaves indexes mixed; yields ease
Stocks ended a bumpy Friday mostly lower on Wall Street. Technology stocks recovered slightly following several days of heavy selling, but the Nasdaq still posted its biggest weekly loss since October. On Friday the S&P 500 gave back 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.5%. Treasury yields fell...
U.S. consumers rebound to boost spending 2.4% as income jumps
WASHINGTON — Bouncing back from months of retrenchment, America’s consumers stepped up their spending by a solid 2.4% in January in a sign that the economy may be making a tentative recovery from the pandemic recession. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department also showed that personal incomes, which provide the...
Best Buy cuts 5,000 jobs even as sales soared during pandemic
NEW YORK — Best Buy said Thursday that it laid off 5,000 full-time store workers earlier this month, even as the company’s sales soared during the pandemic as homebound people bought laptops, TVs and other gadgets. The company said it cut the jobs because more shoppers are choosing to buy...
Twitter to let users charge followers to see premium posts
Twitter is branching out from advertising to find more ways to make money — both for itself and for its most prolific users, whether those are businesses, celebrities or regular people. In an investor presentation Thursday, the social media company announced a new feature called “Super Follows,” which will let...
Twitter to let users charge followers to see premium postsVideo
Twitter is branching out from advertising to find more ways to make money — both for itself and for its most prolific users, whether those are businesses, celebrities or regular people. In an investor presentation Thursday, the social media company announced a new feature called “Super Follows,” which will let...
Is it a truck? Or duck? USPS unveils new delivery vehicles
The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday unveiled a new-generation vehicle coming to its fleet. The striking design — likened to a duck or “Pixar”-inspired car — is a major change from current delivery vehicles seen on the roads. Car and Driver called it a “visual abomination,” but probably better at...
Anticipating 2021 boom, Q4 GDP revised up slightly to 4.1%
WASHINGTON — The economy grew at a 4.1% pace in the final three months of 2020, slightly faster than first estimated, ending a year in which the overall economy, ravaged by a global pandemic, shrank more than in any year in the past seven decades. The influx of new government...
Tech rout pulls Nasdaq down 3.5%, biggest loss since October
Rising bond yields triggered a broad sell-off on Wall Street Thursday that erased the market’s gains for the week and handed the Nasdaq composite its biggest loss in nearly four months. The S&P 500 dropped 2.4%, led lower by heavy selling in technology and communications companies. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell...
U.S. jobless claims fall to 730,000 but layoffs remain high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week but remained high by historical standards. Applications for benefits declined 111,000 from the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 730,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It is the lowest figure since late November. Still, before the virus...
Facebook says it will pay $1B over 3 years to news industryVideo
Facebook, following in Google’s footsteps, says it plans to invest $1 billion to “support the news industry” over the next three years. The social networking giant, which has been tussling with Australia over a law that would make social platforms pay news organizations, said it has invested $600 million since...
Federal judge says California can enforce net neutrality law
SACRAMENTO — A federal judge ruled that California can for the first time enforce its tough net neutrality law, clearing the way for the state to ban internet providers from slowing down or blocking access to websites and applications that don’t pay for premium service. Former Gov. Jerry Brown signed...
Chairman Jerome Powell: Fed is in no hurry to raise interest ratesVideo
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Wednesday that the central bank will not start raising interest rates until it believes its goals on maximum employment and inflation have been reached. Powell also warned that many who had worked in industries hardest hit by the pandemic and...
USPS selects Oshkosh Defense to build greener mail truck
WASHINGTON — The United States Post Office said Tuesday that it has chosen Oshkosh Defense to build its next-generation mail-delivery vehicle, part of an effort to make the USPS more environmentally friendly by switching a portion of its huge fleet to electric vehicles. Oshkosh Defense, a division of Wisconsin-based Oshkosh...
