Business category, Page 279
Trump threatens to raise Chinese tariffs to 25% this week
WASHINGTON — President Trump turned up the pressure on China on Sunday, threatening to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump’s comments, delivered on Twitter, came as a Chinese delegation was scheduled to resume talks in Washington on Wednesday aimed at resolving a trade war that has...
No green thumb? Robot planter can walk to sunlight, throws tantrum for water
Be honest: How many plants have you killed? Maybe you forgot to water it. Maybe you failed to move it into the sun. But what if your planter could tell you when to water it? What if it didn’t need you to get it some sunlight? Enter the HEXA Plant...
U.S. adds robust 263K jobs; unemployment at 49-year low: 3.6%
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a robust 263,000 jobs in April, suggesting that businesses have shrugged off earlier concerns that the economy might slow this year and anticipate strong customer demand. The unemployment rate fell to a five-decade low of 3.6% from 3.8%, though that drop partly reflected an increase...
Facebook bans ‘dangerous individuals’ cited for hate speech
SAN FRANCISCO — After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on “dangerous individuals.” The company also removed right-wing personalities Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with...
Environmental groups file notice to sue U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel could be facing another federal lawsuit, air quality advocates announced Thursday. Environmental Integrity Project, the Breathe Project and the Clean Air Council filed a notice to U.S. Steel as well as federal, state and local agencies for air pollution stating that they intend to sue U.S. Steel over...
Maine becomes 1st state to ban single-use foam containers
AUGUSTA — Maine has banned single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, becoming the first state to do so. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill, which takes effect in 2021, into law Tuesday. Environmental groups have sought such bans amid rising public awareness...
London marathon runners quench thirst with sports drink in edible seaweed pods
No, the runners did not have to eat them, but they could. The golf ball-sized pouches made from seaweed and filled with a sports drink were handed out to thousands of runners for the London marathon on April 28. The marathon offered “race organizers and company officials a mass experiment...
Fed signals neither a rate hike nor a cut is likely soon
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and signaled that it’s unlikely to either raise or cut rates in coming months amid signs of renewed economic health but unusually low inflation. The Fed left its benchmark rate — which influences many consumer and business loans...
Apple’s fiscal 2Q revenue, profit sag amid iPhone slump
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s sales are still shrinking amid weakening iPhone demand, despite the company’s effort to emphasize services designed to bring in a steady flow of money from the 1.4 billion of its devices still in use. Revenue for the January-March quarter fell 5% from the same time in...
GM needed help beating profit estimates, so it called a Lyft
General Motors Co. needed a little help from ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. to beat analysts for first-quarter profit as cost cuts only partially made up for lower sales. The Detroit-based company posted adjusted earnings of $1.41 a share for the first three months of the year, topping analysts’ average projection...
U.S. workers’ compensation rose moderately in 1st quarter
WASHINGTON — Wages and benefits for U.S. workers rose 0.7% in the first three months of the year, a modest gain that matched the previous quarter’s increase. The data, released Tuesday by the Labor Department, suggests that growth in workers’ compensation has stalled in recent months. In the first quarter,...
JPMorgan Chase offered customers some financial advice. It didn’t go well.Video
JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, attempted to offer its financially-strapped customers some advice Monday. It quickly backfired. If their balances are low, the bank suggested customers “make coffee at home” or “eat the food that’s already in the fridge.” JPMorgan Chase’s brief attempt at levity turned into a social...
John Dorfman: 5 stock choices from my ‘Old Faithful’ screen
My “Old Faithful” stock screen is one of my favorites. I’ve written 16 columns about Old Faithful, beginning in 1999. The average one-year gain has been 19.99%, compared to 6.33% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over the same periods. Figures are total returns including dividends. Twelve of the...
Marriott looks to challenge Airbnb with push into home-sharing
Marriott is pushing more heavily into home-sharing, confident that its combination of luxury properties and loyalty points can lure travelers away from rivals like Airbnb. The world’s biggest hotel company will soon start taking reservations through its website for 2,000 homes in 100 markets in the U.S., Europe and Latin...
Burger King may sell plant-based burger across U.S.
TORONTO — Burger King could soon be selling plant-based burgers nationwide. Restaurant Brands International, Burger King’s parent, said Monday that a month-long test of the Impossible Whopper at 59 restaurants in St. Louis has gone so well that it will start testing it in additional markets. The company said it...
‘Land no one else wants’ gets solar as coal, nukes fade away
For two decades, coal has been pulled from a Bent Mountain mine in eastern Kentucky. But in a startling move in the heart of coal country, a rival — solar — is preparing to move on to the land. From Appalachia in the United States to Queensland in Australia and...
Westmoreland small-business owners explore co-working conceptsVideo
Deb Cavrak was sitting at home in Penn Township where she runs her business, Design Quack, when she decided there were too many distractions around to properly concentrate on work. Lisa Lauer of Greensburg, a travel agent and owner of Vida Adventures, was having a similar experience. “When you’re at...
Vacant land becoming asset as development returns to Detroit
DETROIT — When Fiat Chrysler began considering where to build its next assembly plant, the automaker didn’t have to look far to find land. A short walk from its Jefferson North plant on Detroit’s east side is 200 acres (80 hectares) of land the company is eyeing as part of...
Amazon to bring 1-day delivery to Prime members
Two-day delivery is going out of style. Amazon, which hooked shoppers on getting just about anything shipped in two days, said this week that it will soon promise one-day delivery for its U.S. Prime members on most items. The company hopes that cutting delivery times in half will make its...
Uber looks to raise up to $9B in initial public offering
NEW YORK — Uber is planning to sell 180 million shares for between $44 and $50 each, valuing the ride-hailing giant lower than previous estimates in a sign of that some of the excitement around ride-hailing has cooled. That would raise up to $9 billion for the San Francisco-based company,...
3M shares post biggest 1-day drop in decades
ST PAUL, Minn. — Shares in 3M posted the biggest one-day drop in decades after the company reported first quarter results that fell short of Wall Street projections. The company also announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring due to a slower-than-expected 2019. The maker...
Southwest Airlines grapples with financial fallout from Boeing 737 Max grounding
Airlines are struggling to deal with the financial fallout from the extended grounding of the Boeing 737 Max commercial jetliner, now in its seventh week. Southwest and American Airlines, the two U.S. airlines that owned 737 Max 8 aircraft when they were grounded on March 13, both report earnings this...
UPS shares tumble as earnings fall short
DALLAS — United Parcel Service Inc. reported Thursday that first-quarter profit fell 17% as revenue was flat from a year ago and the package-delivery company ran into higher spending to cope with a series of winter storms. The results fell short of Wall Street expectations, and the shares tumbled in...
Mexico is now the largest U.S. trading partner
MEXICO CITY — President Donald Trump has threatened to rip up NAFTA. To shut the border with Mexico. To impose tariffs on the thriving car industry in Mexico. “They’re killing us on jobs and trade,” he said as a candidate. And yet, two years into his presidency, a strange thing...
Canada accuses Facebook of breaking local privacy law, threatens lawsuit
Canadian regulators on Thursday found that Facebook committed “serious” breaches of local laws over its mishandling of users’ personal information, announcing they would take the company to court to force it to change its privacy practices. The new legal threat from Canada comes after federal authorities and regulators in British...
