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Wire stories category, Page 97

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
American Express ‘Green Card’ turns 50, gets needed revamp
NEW YORK — For 50 years, the American Express “Green Card” has been everywhere its card members wanted to be. Launched in 1969, the Green Card gave travelers a sense of importance they didn’t feel carrying travelers’ cheques. For many people, it was their first AmEx card. Over time, however,...
Nike CEO Mark Parker to step down in January 
NEW YORK — Nike said Tuesday that its longtime CEO Mark Parker is stepping down early next year. He will be replaced by board member John Donahoe, who formerly ran e-commerce company eBay. Parker will become executive chairman of the board. Nike’s sales have been on the rise as the...
Macy’s to stop selling real fur by end of fiscal year 2020
NEW YORK — Macy’s Inc. says it will stop selling real fur by the end of its fiscal year 2020 at its namesake stores, Bloomingdale’s, as well as at its discount outlets. As part of the announcement, the department store chain says it will close its fur vaults and salons....
Online ordering boom gives rise to virtual restaurants 
NEW YORK — Frato’s Pizza looks like a typical family restaurant, with its black-and-white checkered floor and red chairs. But in the kitchen, the cooks are whipping up dishes for four other restaurants at the same time. There is, of course, the gourmet pizza that patrons have come to expect...
Stocks end lower; S&P 500 notches 2nd straight weekly gain
The S&P 500 index closed out an uneven week of trading on Wall Street with its second straight weekly gain, even though stock indexes ended lower Friday. Technology companies led the slide, erasing some of the market’s gains from a day earlier. Communication services, industrials and health care stocks also...
Juul halts sales of fruit, dessert flavors for e-cigarettes 
WASHINGTON — Juul Labs stopped selling fruit and dessert flavors Thursday, acknowledging the public’s “lack of trust” in the vaping industry. The voluntary step is the company’s latest attempt to weather a growing political backlash blaming its flavored-nicotine products for hooking a generation of teenagers on electronic cigarettes. Juul, the...
U.S. home construction fell 9.4% last month
WASHINGTON — U.S. home building fell last month, driven by a sharp decline in the construction of new apartments. The Commerce Department said Thursday that housing starts dropped 9.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.26 million. The construction of new apartments plunged 28.3% to an annual pace of...
Netflix heads into showdown with slowing subscriber growth 
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix’s subscriber growth is bogging down even before the leading video streaming service confronts high-powered threats from Apple and Walt Disney Co. The latest sign of the challenges the company is facing emerged Wednesday with the release of its third-quarter results. The numbers provided further evidence that...
Technology companies lead modest slide for U.S. stock indexes
A day of mostly listless trading on Wall Street ended Wednesday with modest losses as the stock market gave back some of its gains from the day before. Technology stocks accounted for most of the selling, which lost some of its momentum toward the end of the day. Energy companies...
GM and union reach tentative deal that could end strike
DETROIT — Bargainers for General Motors and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative contract deal on Wednesday that could end a monthlong strike that brought the company’s U.S. factories to a standstill. The deal, which the union says offers “major gains” for workers, was hammered out after months of...
Solid company earnings power broad rally for U.S. stocks
Stocks notched solid gains on Wall Street Tuesday as investors welcomed surprisingly good quarterly results from some of the nation’s biggest companies. Strong earnings from UnitedHealth Group, JPMorgan Chase and other companies helped power the market’s broad gains, erasing modest losses from a day earlier. Investors are looking to the...
New Jersey breaks its monthly sports betting record
ATLANTIC CITY — Gamblers wagered a record-breaking $445 million on sports in New Jersey in September, the largest monthly total in the state since legal sports betting began in June 2018. The release of figures Tuesday came as the rapidly growing New Jersey sports betting market challenges Nevada for nationwide...
Pennsylvania expanding tax to more out-of-state corporations
Pennsylvania will start collecting corporate income taxes from companies that don’t have offices, employees or property in the state, making it one of the last states to target such companies. Pennsylvania announced the change starting in the 2020 tax year through a tax bulletin published Sept. 30. It cites a...
California governor signs fur sales, circus performance bans
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products and bar most animals from circus performances under a pair of bills signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Under the first-in-the-nation fur law, residents will no longer be able to sell or make clothing, shoes or...
Judge will halt lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, its owners
A judge will halt lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and its owners for six months in hopes of finalizing a settlement over the OxyContin maker’s role in the national opioid crisis, he said Friday. In a hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain strongly brushed aside the argument from a group of...
Stocks climb for 2nd straight day on U.S.-China trade optimism
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street for the second straight day Thursday as the U.S. and China kicked off a new round of negotiations in their long-running trade war. Technology companies and banks led the rally as investors turned hopeful that the 13th round of trade talks will bring...
Social Security checks to rise modestly amid push to expand benefits 
WASHINGTON — Millions of retirees will get a modest 1.6% cost-of-living increase from Social Security in 2020, an uptick with potential political consequences in an election year when Democrats are pushing more generous inflation protection. The increase amounts to $24 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates...
U.S. stocks notch broad gains amid renewed trade deal hopes
Stocks notched broad gains Wednesday on Wall Street as investors regained some of their optimism about the prospects for progress in the trade war between the U.S. and China. A day after escalating trade tensions led to a sharp sell-off, investors drew encouragement from reports that Beijing signaled it is...
Kroger, Walgreens to stop selling e-cigarettes in U.S.
NEW YORK — Two major retailers say they will no longer sell e-cigarettes in the U.S. amid mounting health questions surrounding vaping. Supermarket chain Kroger and drugstore chain Walgreens announced Monday they would discontinue sales of e-cigarettes at their stores nationwide, citing an uncertain regulatory environment. The vaping industry has...
UAW says negotiations with General Motors have ‘taken a turn for the worse’ 
DETROIT — The UAW’s lead negotiator said Sunday that talks with General Motors have “taken a turn for the worse.” The surprise negative development followed reports of progress in recent days and adds more uncertainty to when the UAW’s 3-week-old strike against GM might come to an end. In fact,...
U.S. stocks notch solid gains as job report allays worries
Wall Street ended a choppy week of trading with a broad rally that drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 370 points higher. The gains Friday also gave the S&P 500 index its best day in seven weeks, though the benchmark index still finished with its third straight weekly...
Stocks drop again to worst loss in weeks on economy worries
NEW YORK — Stocks tumbled again on Wednesday as worries about a weakening global economy boomeranged around the world. For a second straight day, the S&P 500 dropped to its worst loss in five weeks. The latest wave of selling came after a report showed hiring by U.S. companies slowed...
Stocks sink as U.S. manufacturing shrinks again amid trade war
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks sank to their worst loss in five weeks on Tuesday after a surprisingly limp report on the nation’s manufacturing stirred worries about the economy’s strength. The report showed that manufacturing weakened in September for the second straight month as President Donald Trump’s trade war with...
Manufacturing sinks to decade-low, stoking economic fear 
WASHINGTON — U.S. factory activity hit a decade low last month in the face of President Donald Trump’s trade conflicts, adding to a weakening picture of the global economy. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, said Tuesday that its manufacturing index shrank for a second straight...
US Steel buys $700M stake in Arkansas-based Big River Steel
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — United States Steel Corporation is buying a minority stake in an Arkansas-based steel company for $700 million. Big River Steel of Osceola announced Tuesday it had entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh-based steel company. Under the agreement, U.S. Steel will hold a 49.9% ownership interest...


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