Business category, Page 44
Are egg producers inflating prices during the bird flu outbreak to boost profits?
OMAHA, Neb. — Egg producers blame the bird flu outbreak for driving prices to record highs, but critics believe giant companies are taking advantage of their market dominance to profit handsomely at the expense of budget-conscious egg buyers. Advocacy groups, Democratic lawmakers and a Federal Trade Commission member are calling...
Trump plans tariffs on Mexico and Canada for Tuesday, while doubling existing 10% tariffs on China
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, in addition to doubling the 10% universal tariff charged on imports from China. In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said illicit drugs such as fentanyl are being smuggled into the United States at “unacceptable...
EU pushes back hard against Trump tariff threats and his caustic comments that bloc is out to get U.S.
BRUSSELS — The European Union on Thursday pushed back hard against allegations by President Donald Trump that the 27-nation bloc was out to get the United States, and warned that it would vigorously fight any wholesale tariff of 25% on all EU products. The tit-for-tat dispute following the comments of...
Number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rises to 242K, highest level in 3 months
Applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose to a three-month high last week but remained within the same healthy range of the past three years. The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose by 22,000 to 242,000 for the week ending Feb. 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts projected...
Banana Republic on Walnut Street in Shadyside to close
The Banana Republic store on Walnut Street in Shadyside is set to close after being open for more than 30 years. Two signs posted in the store’s windows say “We’re Closing: March 2025.” A specific date has not been announced. The two-story store is located at 5542 Walnut St., at...
The Trump administration sets the stage for large-scale federal worker layoffs in a new memo
WASHINGTON — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions, according to a memo distributed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government. The memo expands the Republican president’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described...
The U.S. is missing again as G20 finance chiefs meet in South Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 developed and developing nations gathered in South Africa on Wednesday for a two-day meeting marked by the absence of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several other high-profile figures. Bessent’s absence follows a boycott...
BP to slash spending on net zero ventures as it focuses on oil and gas again
LONDON — British energy company BP confirmed Wednesday that it would slash spending on green ventures and increase its oil and gas production, a change in direction that it hopes will bolster its flagging share price but has been met with incredulity from climate action campaigners. In a statement titled...
Alcoa CEO predicts Trump aluminum tariffs will cost 100,000 jobs
Bill Oplinger, CEO of Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer Alcoa, warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s 25% import tax on aluminum could kill off around 100,000 U.S jobs. “This is bad for the aluminum industry in the U.S. It’s bad for American workers,” Oplinger told a crowd at a metals and mining...
Nippon to meet with federal officials in bid to salvage U.S. Steel deal
Nippon Steel plans to meet with federal officials to work out a solution to the U.S. Steel takeover, and will use the existing merger agreement as a starting point in negotiations. The Japanese steelmaker’s chief operating officer, Tadashi Imai, unveiled the plan to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. Imai’s stance...
Starbucks is cutting ‘less popular’ drinks from its menu. Here’s what’s going away
NEW YORK — Starbucks is making cuts to its menu, with some of the coffee giant’s “less popular beverages” set to take their final bow next week. In an announcement Monday, Starbucks outlined plans to remove a selection of its drinks — including several blended Frappuccino beverages, the Royal English...
U.S. consumer confidence plummets in February, biggest monthly decline since 2021
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday, with inflation seemingly stuck and a trade war under President Donald Trump seen by a growing number of Americans as inevitable. The Conference Board reported that its...
Delta CEO promotes DEI initiatives as ‘merit-based’ following Trump executive orders
Amid the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back DEI initiatives across the federal government, many companies have dropped their diversity, equity and inclusion commitments, from Disney and Google to Amazon. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which is a federal contractor, is threading a needle: It’s promoting its DEI initiatives as merit-based...
John Dorfman: Want to predict the economy? Well, then enter my derby
Terry Johnson, the winner of my Derby of Economic Forecasting Talent (DEFT) for 2024, likes to count trucks. Specifically, he counts the number of big rigs — 18-wheelers and the like — on a 45-mile stretch between Lincoln and York, Neb. More trucks means the economy is doing well. Fewer...
Fabric and craft retailer Joann to go out of business and close all of its stores
NEW YORK — Fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc., which has been a destination for generations of quilters, knitters and lovers of crafts projects for 80 years, is going out of business and shuttering all its stores. The announcement comes after the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
Apple announces $500 billion investment in U.S. amid tariff threats that could affect iPhoneVideo
NEW YORK — Apple announced Monday that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. The move comes just days after President Donald Trump said Apple CEO...
FDA moves to rehire medical device staffers fired only days earlier
Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back. Beginning Friday night, FDA employees overseeing medical devices and other key areas received calls and emails notifying them that their recent terminations had been...
Starbucks lays off 1,100 corporate employees as coffee chain streamlines
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and...
From farmland to Miracle Mile: Monroeville poised for change as it marks 75 years
N. Michael Marie had a front-row seat as Monroeville grew from a farming community into the hub of activity that it is today. Marie, 72, is the owner of Nick Marie’s Esta Esta, the restaurant his parents, Nick and Helen Marie, opened in 1955. Marie grew up above the space...
Wilkinsburg rising: Scrappy suburb sports signs of long-sought revivalVideo
One late January morning, Dontae Comans pushed his two youngsters in a shopping cart down the tidy aisles of Wilkinsburg’s new Aldi supermarket, the latest success story in the tattered borough’s ongoing revival. Moments earlier, Comans, Wilkinsburg’s first-term mayor, had presided over a grand-opening ceremony before joining scores of his...
Cryptocurrency exchange says it was victim of $1.5 billion hack
A major cryptocurrency exchange says it was the victim of a sophisticated hack that stole about $1.5 billion worth of digital currency, marking one of the biggest online thefts of all time. Bybit said Friday a routine transfer of Ethereum, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, between digital wallets was...
Slide for Walmart pulls Wall Street from its record, and Dow drops 450Video
NEW YORK — A sharp slide for Walmart on Thursday helped pull Wall Street off of its record. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% for its first drop after setting all-time highs in each of the last two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 450 points, or 1%, and the...
New York sues vape distributors over Elf Bar and other fruit and candy e-cigarettes
New York on Thursday sued some of the country’s biggest distributors of electronic cigarettes, accusing the companies of violating state laws that prohibit the sale of vaping flavors and designs that appeal to children. Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit targeting middlemen that distribute fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes such...
Is spending all day on your feet at work an occupational hazard?
NEW YORK — While traveling in Europe, Margaux Lantelme noticed something different about the store cashiers: they did their work sitting down. It was a stark contrast to Chicago, where Lantelme works the register at REI and cashiers typically spend eight hours a day on their feet. For Lantelme, a...
John Dorfman: How to make a terrible stock market bet
There are no sure ways to win in the stock market. But here’s a fairly sure way to lose: Invest in a stock that sells for 100 times revenue or more. The price/sales ratio for General Motors is less than one, for McDonald’s Corp. about 9, and for Microsoft about...
