Wire stories category, Page 89
Stocks rebound on Wall Street, S&P 500 trades above recordVideo
Stocks marched broadly higher on Wall Street Wednesday, briefly nudging the S&P 500 above its all-time closing high set in February, before the coronavirus pandemic led to a historic market plunge. The benchmark index notched a 1.4% gain, its eighth in nine days. It ended within 0.2% of its record...
Report: Amazon and a mall developer are scoping out JC Penney and Sears stores for fulfillment centersVideo
J.C. Penney’s lenders extended a key deadline over the weekend as negotiations continue about the fate of the Plano, Texas-based retailer. The lenders filed a notice to extend the deadline as the Wall Street Journal reported speculation that Amazon may be interested in buying some of Penney’s stores with major...
Rate of firearms found in flight carry-ons has tripled amid pandemic
Far fewer people are flying during the covid-19 pandemic, but those who are seem more likely to try to bring firearms on the plane: The rate of passengers carrying guns through U.S. airport security tripled in July compared with the same month last year. Airport screeners for the Transportation Security...
Wall Street perks up; S&P 500 edges even closer to record
NEW YORK — Stocks are perking higher on Wall Street Thursday after a report showed the pace of layoffs across the country is slowing, though it remains incredibly high. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% in afternoon trading after spending much of the day waffling between smaller gains and losses....
With loan money gone, restaurants are at mercy of coronvirus
NEW YORK — The check has arrived and beleaguered restaurant owners across America are looking down on their empty wallets. Government covronavirus loans in the spring helped eating establishments rehire laid-off employees and ride out the pandemic’s initial surge and wave of shutdown orders. But that Paycheck Protection Program money...
Spirit Airlines warns of layoffs, ExpressJet’s fate in doubt
Spirit Airlines has warned up to 30% of its employees that they will lose their jobs in October, and regional carrier ExpressJet’s future is in doubt after losing a key contract as the virus pandemic continues to hammer the airline industry. Spirit is the latest airline to deliver layoff warnings...
U.S. consumer spending up 5.6%, but virus could stall gains
WASHINGTON — American consumers increased their spending in June by a solid 5.6%, helping regain some of record plunge that occurred after the coronavirus struck hard in March and paralyzed the economy. But the virus’ resurgence in much of the country could impede further gains. Last month’s rise in consumer...
Amid the pandemic, Big Tech reports mixed earningsVideo
Big Tech companies reported mixed quarterly earnings on Thursday, a day after their top executives faced a tough congressional grilling over their market power and alleged monopolistic practices. All four were affected by the pandemic, although in strikingly different ways. Google and Facebook reported slowing growth in the April-June quarter...
4 Big Tech CEOs tell Congress they don’t stifle competitionVideo
WASHINGTON — The leaders of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google fended off accusations Wednesday that their companies stifle competition, under intense questioning from lawmakers who have been i nvestigating Big Tech’s market dominance for the past year. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, in his first appearance before Congress, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar...
U.S. expected to report record-breaking economic plunge
WASHINGTON — Having endured what was surely a record-shattering slump last quarter, the U.S. economy faces a dim outlook as a resurgent coronavirus intensifies doubts about any sustained recovery the rest of the year. A huge plunge in consumer spending as people stayed home and avoided shopping, traveling or gathering...
Pandemic drives average age of cars in U.S. to a record high
Drivers are holding on to cars and trucks longer during the coronavirus pandemic. The average age of a vehicle on U.S. roads rose by a month this year to a record 11.9 years. The IHS Markit consulting firm says the pandemic has caused consumers to put the brakes on spending...
Workers praise Disney virus safety, but will visitors come?
ORLANDO, Fla. — Every week, it seems, Kaila Barker, her husband and their five children change their minds about whether to travel from their home in Connecticut to Florida’s Walt Disney World as planned in September. On the one hand, the lack of crowds means more opportunities to go on...
U.S. meatpackers don’t have many answers for lack of distancing
As part of an investigation into the spread of coronavirus at U.S. meat plants, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker released responses from major producers that defended their operations during the pandemic. The four biggest meatpackers — Tyson Foods Inc., JBS USA, Cargill Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc. —...
U.S. new home sales jump 13.8% in June
WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes rose a sharp 13.8% in June, the second straight increase after two months when sales plunged as the country went into lockdown because of the coronavirus. The Commerce Department reported Friday that the June gain pushed sales of new homes to a seasonally adjusted...
Wall Street stumbles after rise in layoffs, tech weakness
NEW YORK — Wall Street is stumbling on Thursday, undercut in part by a discouraging report showing that layoffs are picking up across the country with coronavirus counts. Technology stocks had the sharpest losses after a better-than-expected profit report from Microsoft wasn’t enough to satisfy investors expecting even more. The...
Tesla makes $104M profit in 2Q despite factory shutdown
Tesla overcame a seven-week pandemic-related shutdown at its California assembly plant to post a surprising $104 million net profit for the second quarter. It was the electric car and solar panel maker’s fourth-straight profitable quarter, qualifying it to be included in the S&P 500 index of corporate titans. That decision...
Yelp: More than half of US business ‘temporary’ closures now permanent
More than half of the business closures that were temporary when the covid-19 outbreak began are now considered permanent, according to Yelp. Of the 132,580 closures listed on its website as of July 10, 55% are permanent, up 14 percentage points from the end of June, according to the Yelp’s...
Walmart to close its stores on Thanksgiving Day
NEW YORK — Walmart said that it will be closing its namesake stores and Sam’s Clubs on Thanksgiving Day this year, saying that it wants to have its employees spend time with their families during the coronavirus pandemic. The move, announced Tuesday, marks the first major indication of how covid...
Head of the line: Big companies got coronavirus loans first
NEW YORK — Ever since the U.S. government launched its emergency lending program for small businesses on April 3, there have been complaints that bigger companies had their loans approved and disbursed more quickly. There is now evidence to back up those complaints. An Associated Press analysis of Small Business...
LL Bean inks first wholesaler partnerships in US
FREEPORT, Maine — L.L. Bean is expanding from its original model of direct-to-customer catalog sales and in-stores sales with an agreement to sell products in Nordstrom, Staples and sporting goods chain SCHEELS. The company’s first wholesale agreements in the U.S. represent a push to get L.L. Bean products in front...
June jobless rate slid down in Pennsylvania, payrolls jumped
Pennsylvania’s unemployment slid a bit down in June after hitting a pandemic peak in April, but it was well above the national rate even as payrolls rebounded by more 230,000, the state reported Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 13% in June, down four-tenths of a percentage point from May’s adjusted...
EU court cancels U.S. data-sharing pact over snooping concerns
The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows thousands of companies — from tech giants to small financial firms — to transfer data to the United States is invalid because the American government can snoop on people’s data. The ruling to invalidate Privacy Shield will likely...
Mail could be delayed as new postal head pushes cost-cutting
WASHINGTON — Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general. The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and says employees must adopt a “different mindset” to ensure the Postal Service’s survival during the coronavirus...
JC Penney cuts 1,000 jobs as it closes stores
JC Penney says it will cut 1,000 jobs as it tries to fight its way out from under bankruptcy protection. The company last month said it had identified just over 150 stores for closure in the first phase of a restructuring in which it will become a smaller operator. The...
Burger King addresses climate change by changing cows’ dietsVideo
Burger King is staging an intervention with its cows. The chain has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change. By tweaking their diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it believes it can reduce a cow’s...
