Wire stories category, Page 94
Despite risks, auto workers step up to make medical gear
DETROIT — Cindy Parkhurst could have stayed home collecting most of her pay while the Ford plant where she normally works remains closed due to coronavirus fears. Instead, she along with hundreds of workers at Ford, General Motors, Toyota and other companies has gone back to work to make face...
Dismal report on covid-19 drug sends markets downward
NEW YORK — An early rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished Thursday, the latest example of how fragile the hopes underpinning the stock market’s monthlong recovery are. The S&P 500 shot higher in the morning, completely brushing aside another stunning report showing millions of workers are losing their jobs by...
Tyson Foods idles largest pork plant as virus slams industryVideo
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Tyson Foods suspended operations Wednesday at an Iowa plant that is critical to the nation’s pork supply but was blamed for fueling a massive coronavirus outbreak in the region. The Arkansas-based company said the closure of the plant in Waterloo would deny a vital market to...
In Great Lakes region, EPA enforcement of clean water laws slackens
CHICAGO — Two months after President Trump took office, U.S. Steel dumped a plume of cancer-causing metal into a Lake Michigan tributary 20 miles away from a Chicago drinking water intake. The company reported another spill of hexavalent chromium six months later, around the same time public interest lawyers dug...
Trump Organization, written out of U.S. bailout, taps European aid
The Trump Organization is seeking U.K. and Irish bailout money to help cover wages for bartenders, bagpipers and other employees furloughed from its European golf properties because of the coronavirus lockdown. Overseas businesses owned by President Trump can tap government funds meant to help retain workers. In the U.S., by...
Delta Air Lines posts $534 million in losses, with even bigger losses looming
Delta Air Lines, the biggest and most profitable U.S. airline, lost $534 million in the first quarter, a setback that will appear trivial when the full force of the pandemic is revealed in the current quarter. Delta warned Wednesday that revenue during the April-through-June quarter, typically a period of harried...
Stocks claw higher on Wall Street, oil prices regain ground
NEW YORK — Stocks around the world are clawing higher on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 climbed toward the first gain in what’s been a dismal week for markets. Even the oil market gained ground. Prices for crude have been turned upside down because of how much extra oil is...
Trump bars new immigration green cards, not temporary visas
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced what he described as a “temporary suspension of immigration into the United States.” But the executive order would bar only those seeking permanent residency, not temporary workers. Trump said Tuesday he would be placing a 60-day pause on the issuance of green cards in...
Pandemic and chill: Netflix adds a cool 16 million subscribersVideo
BERKELEY, Calif. — Netflix picked up nearly 16 million global subscribers during the first three months of the year, helping cement its status as one of the world’s most essential services in times of isolation or crisis. The quarter spanned the beginning of stay-at-home orders in the U.S. and around...
Chipotle agrees to record $25 million fine over tainted food
LOS ANGELES — Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. agreed Tuesday to pay a record $25 million fine to resolve criminal charges that it served tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people in the U.S. from 2015 to 2018. The fast food company was charged in Los Angeles federal court with...
Oil’s chaotic collapse deepens; stocks drop worldwideVideo
NEW YORK Oil prices crumpled even further Tuesday, and U.S. stocks sank to their worst loss in weeks as worries swept markets worldwide about the economic carnage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The market’s spotlight was again on oil, where prices have plummeted because very few people are flying or...
Gov’t relief loans to restaurant chains draw complaints
Some big restaurant chains have obtained loans from the government under a small-business relief program, leading business groups to cry foul even though the loans are within the guidelines of the lending program. The Paycheck Protection Program exhausted its $350 billion in funding last week and many small businesses were...
Oil price goes negative as demand collapses; stocks take a plungeVideo
NEW YORK — Oil futures plunged below zero on Monday, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, but the market’s most dramatic action by far was...
10 years after BP spill: Oil drilled deeper; rules relaxed
NEW ORLEANS — Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling in deeper and deeper waters, where payoffs can be huge but risks are greater than ever. Industry leaders and government officials say they’re determined...
EPA guts rule credited with cleaning up coal-plant toxic air
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday gutted an Obama-era rule that compelled the country’s coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, a move designed to limit future regulation of air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler...
Stocks climb as pandemic winners pull away on Wall Street
NEW YORK — Even in this new stay-at-home, increasingly jobless economy, some businesses are making out as clear winners, and gains for Amazon, health care companies and stocks in other pockets of the market helped prop up Wall Street on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% after flipping between small...
Apple rolls out cheaper iPhone as pandemic curbs spending
NEW YORK — Apple is releasing a new iPhone that will be vastly cheaper than the models it rolled out last fall at a time when the economy was booming and the pandemic had yet to force people to rethink their spending. The second-generation iPhone SE introduced Wednesday will sell...
With commerce frozen, retail sales plunge unprecedented 8.7%Video
WASHINGTON — U.S. retail sales plummeted 8.7% in March, an unprecedented decline, as the viral outbreak forces an almost complete lock down of commerce nationwide. The deterioration of sales far outpaces the previous record decline of 3.9% that took place during the depths of the Great Recession in November 2008....
Factory shutdowns near WWII demobilization levels in U.S.
WASHINGTON — American industry collapsed in March as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy. Manufacturing and overall industrial production posted the biggest declines since the United States demobilized after World War II. The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that manufacturing output dropped 6.3% last month, led by plunging production...
Stocks sink following grim data on economic hit from coronavirus
NEW YORK — Selling swept Wall Street Wednesday after a dismal lineup of reports made clear how historic the coronavirus crunch has been for the economy. Markets are already bracing for what’s forecast to be the worst downturn since the Great Depression, but Wednesday’s data was even more dispiriting than...
Banks brace for big loan defaults by U.S., global customers
NEW YORK — The major banks in the U.S. are anticipating a flood of loan defaults as households and business customers take a big financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs raised the funds set aside for bad loans by...
Major airlines line up to split $25 billion in payroll aid
The nation’s biggest airlines have tentatively agreed to terms for $25 billion in government aid to pay workers and avoid massive layoffs in an industry that has been slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. The assistance will include a mix of cash and loans, with the government getting warrants that can...
Stocks end higher as traders hope restrictions will ease
Stocks are ending with solid gains on Wall Street on Tuesday as the market turns its attention to how and when authorities might begin to lift business shutdowns and limits on people’s movements imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Big companies also started reporting their first-quarter earnings, giving...
Coronavirus closes some meat plants, raising fears of shortagesVideo
OMAHA, Neb. — Some massive meat processing plants have closed at least temporarily because their workers were sickened by the new coronavirus, raising concerns that there could soon be shortages of beef, pork and poultry in supermarkets. The meat supply chain is especially vulnerable since processing is increasingly done at...
Lockdowns cut driving and crashes, bring insurance discountsVideo
DETROIT — Interstates and city streets are empty and cars are quarantined in their owners’ garages, so consumer advocates argue that it only makes sense for auto insurance rates to reflect that. In the states of Washington and New York, the number of traffic crashes reported to state police fell...
