Wire stories category, Page 90
Demand rises for robot cooks as kitchens combat covid-19
HAYWARD, Calif. — Robots that can cook — from flipping burgers to baking bread — are in growing demand as virus-wary kitchens try to put some distance between workers and customers. Starting this fall, the White Castle burger chain will test a robot arm that can cook french fries and...
Best Buy to require customers to wear masks amid coronavirus spike
NEW YORK — Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, will require customers to wear face coverings at all of its stores nationwide, even in states or localities that don’t require them to do so. The retailer, based in Richfield, Minn., joins a growing but still short list of...
U.S. budget deficit hits all-time high of $864 billion in June
WASHINGTON — The federal government incurred the biggest monthly budget deficit in history in June as spending on programs to combat the coronavirus recession exploded while millions of job losses cut into tax revenues. The Treasury Department reported Monday that the deficit hit $864 billion last month, an amount of...
Stocks slam into reverse as coronavirus keeps scarring economyVideo
NEW YORK — Wall Street got a painful reminder that the coronavirus pandemic isn’t going away, and a big early gain for stocks suddenly flipped to losses after California showed how it’s still scarring the economy. The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, with all the losses accumulating in the last hour...
Hedge fund announces plan to buy newspaper publisher McClatchy
NEW YORK — Hedge fund Chatham Asset Management plans to buy newspaper publisher McClatchy out of bankruptcy, ending 163 years of family control. The companies did not put a price on the deal in an announcement Sunday. The agreement still needs the approval of a bankruptcy judge; a hearing is...
Shipbuilder files complaint over union threats during strike
Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron Works on Friday filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing its largest union of threatening workers who cross the picket line during an ongoing strike in Maine. The company accused leaders of Machinists’ Local S6 of threatening so-called scabs with fines and loss...
Amazon’s homeless shelter faces Seattle crisis, criticism
SEATTLE — A homeless shelter built on Amazon’s perfectly manicured urban Seattle campus is a major civic contribution that pushes the company to face the crisis and criticism in the hometown it has rapidly transformed. Believed to be the first homeless shelter built inside a corporate office building, Amazon’s partnership...
Reports: Amazon bars video app TikTok on workers’ phones
Amazon has told employees to delete the popular video app TikTok from phones on which they use Amazon email, citing security risks from the China-owned app, according to reports and posts by Twitter users who said they were Amazon employees. The notice said employees must delete the app by Friday...
Wall Street rallies as optimism returns to cap erratic week
NEW YORK — Optimism returned to Wall Street on Friday, and stocks rallied to cap a shaky week dogged by worries that rising coronavirus counts may halt the economy’s recent upswing. The S&P 500 climbed 1%, and the biggest gains came from cruise ship operators, airlines, banks and other companies...
Wall Street’s rally gets back on track as tech leads the wayVideo
NEW YORK — Wall Street’s rally got back on track Wednesday after more gains for big technology stocks helped pull the S&P 500 to its sixth gain in seven days. The S&P 500 drifted up and down for most of the day, before a last-hour lift sent it to a...
United will warn 36,000 workers they could be laid off
United Airlines is warning 36,000 employees - nearly half its U.S. staff - they could be furloughed in October, the clearest signal yet of how deeply the virus pandemic is hurting the airline industry. The outlook for a recovery in air travel has dimmed in just the past two weeks,...
Markets surge around the world; Nasdaq sets another recordVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks rallied worldwide Monday as investors bet that the economy can continue its dramatic turnaround despite all the challenges ahead. The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, following up on similar gains in Europe and Asia, and clawed back to within 6.1% of its record set in February. The...
Stores focus on cleaning to get shoppers back to spending
NEW YORK — Forget about making shopping fun. As clothing retailers and others try to stay viable during the coronavirus pandemic, they’re hoping steps like cleaning during store hours, offering hand sanitizer and other safety measures will bring in customers to spend. At the same time, they are largely leaving...
Duke, Dominion cancel contested Atlantic Coast Pipeline
RICHMOND, Va. — The developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline announced Sunday that they are canceling the multi-state natural gas project, citing delays and increasing cost uncertainty. Despite a victory last month at the United States Supreme Court over a critical permit, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy said in a...
US jobs surge: Trump sees sunshine, Biden ‘no victory yet’
NEW YORK — The U.S. economy just posted its best single-month job gain in history. U.S. unemployment is at one of its worst points since the Great Depression. Both are true. As Republicans and Democrats fought to spin Thursday’s jobs numbers to their advantage, both sides face tremendous political risks...
US issues guidelines but no new rules for safe air travel
Federal officials said Thursday that airlines should consider limiting capacity on planes to promote social distancing, but they are not considering making the airlines do it. The officials also recommended — but did not move to require — that travelers wear face coverings in airports and on planes. All leading...
American, 4 other airlines reach loan agreements with U.S.
DALLAS — American Airlines and four smaller carriers have reached agreement with the government for billions more in federal loans, a sign of the industry’s desperate fight to survive a downturn in air travel caused by the virus pandemic. The Treasury Department said Thursday that it had finalized terms of...
Stocks rise as Wall Street heads for a 3rd straight gain
Communication companies helped lift U.S. stock indexes mostly higher Wednesday afternoon, placing the market on track for its third gain in a row. The S&P 500 was up 0.6%, coming off the heels of a whiplash start to the year where its worst quarterly performance since 2008 gave way to...
Wall Street tacks more onto its best quarter since 1998
Wall Street capped its best quarter since 1998 Tuesday with more gains, a fitting end to a stunning three months for investors as the market screamed back toward its record heights after a torrid plunge. The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%, bringing its gain for the quarter to nearly 20%. That...
Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed
NEW YORK — Billions of dollars offered by Congress as a lifeline to small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic are about to be left on the table when a key government program stops accepting applications for loans. Business owners and advocacy groups complain that the money in the Paycheck...
Starbucks latest to say it will pause social media ads
Starbucks is the latest company to say it will pause social media ads after a campaign led by civil rights organizations called for an ad boycott of Facebook, saying it doesn’t do enough to stop racist and violent content. Starbucks said Sunday that its actions were not part of the...
Fracking pioneer Chesapeake files for bankruptcy protection
NEW YORK — Chesapeake Energy, a shale drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Oklahoma City-based company said Sunday that it was a necessary decision given its debt. Its debt load is currently nearing $9 billion. It...
Businesses weigh reopening — or closing again — as cases rise
It’s not the reopening businesses were hoping for. After months of shutdown, restaurants, stores and even amusement parks announced their reopening with fanfare. But now that states like Texas and Arizona are seeing alarming surges in reported cases of covid-19, businesses large and small must decide whether to keep their...
Facebook to label all rule-breaking posts – even Trump’s
OAKLAND, Calif. — Facebook said Friday that it will flag all “newsworthy” posts from politicians that break its rules, including those from President Donald Trump. Separately, Facebook’s stock dropped more than 8%, erasing roughly $50 billion from its market valuation, after the European company behind brands such as Ben &...
U.S. consumer spending up 8.2%, partly erasing record plunge
WASHINGTON — American consumers increased their spending by a record 8.2% in May, partly erasing record plunges the previous two months, against the backdrop of an economy that’s likely shrinking by its steepest pace on record this quarter. Last month’s rebound in consumer spending followed spending drops of 6.6% in...
