Oil prices rise after the U.S. says it would block Iranian ports starting Monday
NEW YORK — Oil prices rose in early market trading Sunday after the U.S. said it would blockade Iranian ports beginning Monday. The price of U.S. crude oil rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to $102.29. Brent crude has swung dramatically...
Lessons learned in ’70s have made U.S., world economies less vulnerable to oil shocks
WASHINGTON — The world economy is experiencing a disorienting flashback to the 1970s. Oil prices are once again surging in the wake of war in the Middle East, driving up the cost of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and threatening a return to stagflation — the toxic mix of higher...
Macy’s at Pittsburgh Mills announces closing date
Two weeks remain for shoppers of the Macy’s at Pittsburgh Mills. The company announced that April 26 will be closing day for the Frazer store, which opened in 2005. The location is among 150 that the New York City-based company plans to close this year. A video posted to Facebook...
Buyers fret as the average cost of a new car nears $50K
DETROIT — After a few years of sharing a 2019 Chevrolet Trax, Dana Eble and Tyler Marcus are finally looking for a second car. But as they jump into the market, the young married couple isn’t sure what they can afford. “I just keep seeing a lot of different aspects...
New Carnegie Mellon program pairs start-up entrepreneurs with investors
Founders of fledgling tech startups at Carnegie Mellon University are getting a glimpse inside the minds of venture capitalists and a shot at $240 million in potential investments. The university’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship recently launched its Deep Tech Venture-Ready Program, a six-month course in wooing venture capitalists followed by...
War in Iran sends inflation soaring and the mood of American consumers plunging
WASHINGTON — The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation last month, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening already substantial political hurdles for the White House. Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier,...
Costco is facing a new class-action lawsuit that takes aim at memberships
Costco is getting hit with a class action lawsuit and it’s all because of a California man who’s accusing the company of violating the state’s law on auto-renewals for memberships. So, there’s a law requiring companies to give customers a renewal notice at least 15 days — and no more...
USPS to suspend pension contributions, seeks 4-cent stamp price hike
The U.S. Postal Service said Thursday it has informed federal budget officials it will temporarily suspend its employer contributions to Federal Employees Retirement System annuities, allowing it to keep making payroll, paying suppliers and delivering the mail. The Postal Service also wants to increase postage rates, including raising the price...
Travelers face higher costs and fewer flight options as jet fuel prices swing
A new reality is setting in for travelers worldwide: rising fees, fewer flight options and difficult decisions about whether a trip is worth the cost. The culprit is volatile oil and jet fuel prices, which have spiked sharply since the war in the Middle East began and fighting near the...
Stocks rise and oil prices trim their gains on hopes for the ceasefire with Iran
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rose Thursday, even though oil prices did too, as financial markets moved more modestly a day after surging on optimism about a ceasefire in the war with Iran. The morning began with moderate losses for Wall Street following drops for Asian and European stocks. But...
A 1.9 billion-year-old bedrock will soon house the world’s 1st permanent nuclear waste site
OLKILUOTO, Finland — With the push of a button, the elevator descends hundreds of meters in seconds into the dark depths of Onkalo. “We are now at about minus 430 meters (1,411 feet),” muttered geologist Tuomas Pere as he steered a car through a labyrinth of man-made tunnels. “We are...
Morning Roundup: Sheetz expands westward; weekend turnpike travel impacted
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, April 9: Sheetz expands into Indiana Pittsburgh-area drivers heading west to the state of Indiana may soon see a familiar logo at the gas pump. Sheetz announced Tuesday that the company is expanding into Indiana, as the Pennsylvania-based...
Penn Hills business transitions to 100% employee-owned operations
Paula Teacher has always been employee-oriented. She took the sentiment to the next level in December when she sold her company, Paula Teacher and Associates Inc., to her employees, successfully creating an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. “Moving into an ESOP made 100% sense to me,” Teacher said. Teacher founded her...
Get in the spotlight: Studio 77 Media in Marshall offers variety of multimedia recording services
The red carpet was rolled out for the grand opening of Studio 77 Media. Guests were given tours of the state-of-the-art space, which encompasses a green screen room, a podcast room and a broadcasting room. The studio offers a range of multimedia recording services in Marshall. “Our mission is to...
South Korean firm restarts steel pipe plant in The Waterfront
A South Korean company restarted the former Ascent Industries steel pipe and tube manufacturing plant in The Waterfront development last week after nearly three years offline. Nexteel has brought the massive, bright blue warehouse in Munhall back to life, according to a LinkedIn post from its American division that offered...
RFK Jr is launching a podcast to expose ‘lies’ that have made Americans sick
NEW YORK — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching a new podcast that he says will begin “a new era of radical transparency in government,” according to a teaser video first obtained by The Associated Press. The show, titled “The Secretary Kennedy Podcast,” will launch next week and...
GM recalling more than 270,000 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles in U.S. over rearview camera screen issue
General Motors is recalling more than 270,000 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles in the U.S. because the rearview camera screen may display a distorted or blank image. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a letter that a rearview image that doesn’t display properly reduces the driver’s view behind the vehicle,...
My quest to solve bitcoin’s great mystery
One evening in the fall of 2024, my wife and I were sitting in traffic on the Long Island Expressway when, tired of listening to the jazz-funk station I often played on our drives, she switched to a podcast. It was “Hard Fork,” the New York Times tech show, and...
Oil plunges below $95 as the Dow surges 1,300 in a worldwide rally following a ceasefire with Iran
NEW YORK — Oil prices plunged below $95 per barrel, and stock markets surged worldwide Wednesday after President Donald Trump pulled back from his threat to destroy Iran. The S&P 500 leaped 2.5% after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than 90 minutes before a deadline Trump had...
Will the Iran war ceasefire mean a drop in gas prices?
President Donald Trump on Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran just hours before his 8 p.m. deadline to attack the country. That ceasefire agreement includes that Iran will reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to allow the safe transit of oil tankers. Whether the ceasefire agreement will result...
It will take months to get oil and gas flowing again
HOUSTON — Reopening the Strait of Hormuz — a central aim for the United States when it agreed to a ceasefire with Iran — would be the first step toward getting more energy flowing through the Persian Gulf. But only the first step. That is because dozens of refineries, storage...
Delta joins the growing list of U.S. airlines raising checked bag fees as jet fuel costs soar
Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday that it is raising checked baggage fees, part of a broader wave of U.S. carriers responding to higher jet fuel prices tied to the war in the Middle East. Beginning Wednesday, most domestic and short-haul international passengers will pay $45 to check one bag, $55...
John Dorfman: Humana, Thor hit Casualty List
Think of my Casualty List as a court of appeals for innocent stocks that have been unjustly punished. Well, maybe not completely innocent. But punished too much, in my view. In the first quarter this year, marked by armed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, the Standard & Poor’s 500...
Stocks swing from losses to a tiny gain as uncertainty builds ahead of Trump’s deadline for Iran
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks swung sharply Tuesday as uncertainty about the war with Iran increased ahead of a looming deadline set by President Donald Trump to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges. The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.2% after Trump threatened that a “whole civilization will die...
Duquesne Light asks feds to lower costs customers pay to power plants
Duquesne Light is making the case that power plants are paid too much for the promise of providing electricity, a cost set through auctions run by grid operator PJM Interconnection — and shouldered entirely by
consumers. PJM’s process allows power plants to bid on contracts to supply electricity if called...
