Wire stories category, Page 92
Fed to keep buying bonds and sees no rate hike through 2022
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve says it will keep buying bonds to maintain low borrowing rates and support the U.S. economy in the midst of a recession. And it says nearly all the Fed’s policymakers foresee no rate hike through 2022. The Fed has cut its benchmark short-term rate to...
CrossFit founder, dropped by Reebok, apologizes about tweet
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The founder of CrossFit is apologizing for a Twitter post he made about racial inequality protests after Reebok cut ties with his company. On Saturday, the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation tweeted: “Racism is a Public Health Issue.” In a response, also on Twitter, CrossFit...
Wall Street’s rally zooms higher after surprise gain in jobs
For weeks, critics said Wall Street’s big rally made no sense when the economy seemed set for only more despair. On Friday, it got a bit of validation. The S&P 500 jumped another 2.6% after a report said the U.S. job market surprisingly strengthened last month, bolstering hopes that the...
Pilgrim’s Pride CEO among indicted for chicken price fixing
The CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride is one of four current and former chicken company executives indicted Wednesday on charges of price-fixing. The U.S. Department of Justice said a federal grand jury in Colorado found that executives from Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride and Georgia-based Claxton Poultry conspired to fix prices and rig...
U.S. job losses in May could raise 3-month total to 30 million
The epic damage to America’s job market from the viral outbreak will come into sharper focus Friday when the government releases the May employment report: Eight million more jobs are estimated to have been lost. Unemployment could near 20%. And potentially fewer than half of all adults may be working....
Stocks extend gains on Wall Street to a 3rd straight day
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street on Tuesday, extending the market’s winning streak to a third day. The latest gains, which followed a rally in global stocks, were driven by optimism that the global economy will begin to recover as governments gradually allow businesses that were closed due to...
CNN improves ratings while increasingly turning lens on itself
Since becoming the first 24-hour cable news channel 40 years ago this week, CNN has covered natural disasters, wars and political campaigns. But increasingly it’s become the story itself. Between having one of its reporters arrested while on camera, demonstrators descending on its Atlanta offices, and its anchors clashing with...
SpaceX captures the flag, beating Boeing in cosmic contest
The first astronauts launched by SpaceX declared victory Monday in NASA’s cosmic capture-the-flag game. They quickly claimed the prize left behind at the International Space Station nearly a decade ago by the last crew to launch from the U.S. “Congratulations, SpaceX, you got the flag,” NASA astronaut Doug Hurley said...
Protests force Target, CVS and Walmart to close some stores
U.S. retailers large and small have closed some of their stores across the country because of disruptions caused by the widespread street protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Target, CVS, Apple and Walmart all said Sunday that they had temporarily closed some locations for safety reasons....
‘We don’t have law and order’: Black and Latino business owners face destruction in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — Abdishakur Elmi looked on in horror as flames raged and smoke billowed from the roof of the brick building next to his restaurant. A single truck and a few firefighters battled the blaze that had already consumed several neighboring businesses overnight in a gentrified section of East Lake...
White House punts economic update as election draws nearVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House took the unusual step on Thursday of deciding not to release an updated economic forecast as planned this year, a fresh sign of the administration’s anxiety about how the coronavirus has ravaged the nation just months before the election. The decision, which was confirmed by...
Airlines increase job cuts as pandemic crushes air travelVideo
Major airlines on both sides of the Atlantic are cutting even more jobs as they struggle to cope with a plunge in air travel that will leave the airline industry much smaller than it was before the coronavirus pandemic and economic collapse. EasyJet said Thursday that it will cut up...
Great Clips sites in Missouri close after virus-related threats
O’FALLON, Mo. — Great Clips has temporarily closed its salons in Springfield, Missouri, after threatening messages that followed news that two hairstylists potentially exposed 140 clients to the coronavirus. Great Clips Inc., which has thousands of franchises in the U.S. and Canada, said in a news release Thursday that its...
In pandemic, drones used to drop medical supplies from skyVideo
With a loud whir and a whoosh, a fixed-wing drone slingshots out of a medical warehouse, zips through hazy skies at 80 mph, pops open a belly hatch and drops a box of medical supplies. Slowed by a little parachute, the box drifts downward and lands with a plop, less...
Big Oil loses appeal as climate suits go to California courts
LOS ANGELES — A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday against major oil companies in lawsuits brought by California cities and counties seeking damages for the impact of climate change. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said state courts are the proper forum for lawsuits alleging Big...
Debt and coronavirus push Hertz into bankruptcy protection
Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, unable to withstand the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled global travel and with it, the heavily indebted 102-year-old car rental company’s business. The Estero, Florida-based company’s lenders were unwilling to grant it another extension on its auto lease debt payments past a Friday deadline,...
Pandemic job losses hit tourism-dependent states hardest
HONOLULU — The coronavirus pandemic has been particularly brutal to the tourism-dependent economies of Nevada and Hawaii, lifting the unemployment rate in both states to about one-quarter of the workforce. Nevada topped the nation with an April unemployment rate of 28.2%, the worst any state has seen since the national...
NASA’s newest test pilots are veteran astronauts, friends
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The two astronauts who will test drive SpaceX’s brand new rocketship are classmates and friends, veteran spacefliers married to veteran spacefliers, and fathers of young sons. Together, they will end a nine-year drought for NASA when they blast into orbit next week from Florida’s Kennedy Space...
ABC renews 19 shows, adds David E. Kelley drama ‘Big Sky’
LOS ANGELES — ABC is bringing back the lion’s share of its series for next season, including “black-ish,” “A Million Little Things” and “The Rookie.” They are among the 19 shows that will return in the 2020-21 season, the network said Thursday, adding to a list of previously announced renewals....
Stocks end lower on Wall Street as US-China tensions continue
Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street on Thursday as investors weighed more data showing the economic damage being caused by the coronavirus pandemic and another flareup in tensions between the U.S. and China. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, shedding some of the gains it made in a solid rally...
Another 2.4 million apply for unemployment benefits, 39 million in all since coronavirus hit
WASHINGTON — More than 2.4 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the viral outbreak that triggered widespread business shutdowns two months ago and sent the economy into a deep recession. Roughly 38.6 million people have now filed for jobless aid...
3M billed government $7.63 for 85-cent earplugs. It now has $1 billion covid contract
WASHINGTON — The company that has been awarded the largest single covid-19 federal contract once boasted it charged the Defense Department $7.63 for earplugs that cost 85 cents a pair to produce. That company, 3M, was awarded a $1 billion contract on April 15 for “medical and surgical instruments, equipment...
Ford shuts down Dearborn Truck Plant when worker tests positive for coronavirus
DETROIT — Ford Motor Company shut down its Dearborn Truck Plant on Wednesday afternoon because of coronavirus, releasing its early shift of UAW hourly workers. “They sent everybody home,” said a UAW worker who asked not to be named for fear of disciplinary action. “We probably got 800 people there....
Stocks rally on hopes for vaccine and economic recoveryVideo
NEW YORK — The stock market bounced back from its worst week in nearly two months Monday as optimism about a potential vaccine for the coronavirus and hopes for a U.S. economic recovery in the second half of the year put investors in a buying mood. The S&P 500 climbed...
Tesla picks Austin, Tulsa as finalists for new US factory
DETROIT — Tesla has picked Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, as finalists for its new U.S. assembly plant, a person briefed on the matter said Friday. The person says company officials visited Tulsa in the past week and were shown two sites. It wasn’t clear if there were any other...
