Business category, Page 76
Macy’s tops expectations for 1st quarter as luxury and beauty sales shine
NEW YORK — Macy’s sales and profits fell during the first quarter as higher costs and other financial challenges had customers pulling back on spending. Yet the quarterly results Tuesday beat Wall Street expectations. And Macy’s, which also operates upscale Bloomingdale’s and beauty chain Bluemercury, said it is seeing a...
CEO of Post-Gazette’s parent company ousted as brothers’ feud continues
The chief executive of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s parent company has been fired. The move was the latest in a family feud over what the ousted CEO, Allan Block, says are attempts to sell Block Communications Inc., the family-owned business that also owns The Blade in Toledo, Ohio, four television stations...
White House says FDIC chairman to step down following report on agency’s ‘toxic culture’
NEW YORK — The White House said Monday that the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will step down, a departure that follows the release earlier this month of a damning report about the agency’s toxic workplace culture. The White House said Martin Gruenberg will step down once a...
Senate report finds parts made with China’s forced labor in cars by BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and VW
WASHINGTON — BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen have bought parts made by a Chinese company sanctioned under a 2021 law for using forced labor, a Senate inquiry found, prompting lawmakers to call for stricter enforcement. The automakers responded to the Senate report, released Monday, by saying they have taken...
Microsoft’s AI chatbot will ‘recall’ everything you do on a PC
REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft wants laptop users to get so comfortable with its artificial intelligence chatbot that it will remember everything you’re doing on your computer and help figure out what you want to do next. The software giant on Monday revealed an upgraded version of Copilot, its AI assistant,...
Red Lobster seeks bankruptcy protection days after closing dozens of restaurants
Red Lobster, the casual dining chain that brought seafood to the masses with inventions like popcorn shrimp and “endless” seafood deals, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 56-year-old chain made the filing late Sunday, days after shuttering dozens of restaurants. “This restructuring is the best path forward for...
Sour Patch Kids Oreos? Peeps Pepsi? What’s behind the weird flavors popping up on store shelves
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream usually draws customers with gourmet takes on classics like vanilla and pistachio. But occasionally, the artisanal ice cream maker headquartered in New York slips in what it calls a “shock flavor,” like Hidden Valley Ranch or pizza. Surprising flavor combinations—think gravy-flavored Jones Soda or Sour Patch...
Former OpenAI leader: Safety has ‘taken a backseat’ at the AI company
A former OpenAI leader who resigned from the company this week said Friday that safety has “taken a backseat to shiny products” at the influential artificial intelligence company. Jan Leike, who ran OpenAI’s “Super Alignment” team alongside a company co-founder who also resigned this week, wrote in a series of...
Bike shops boomed early in the pandemic. It’s been a bumpy ride for most ever since
For the nation’s bicycle shops, the past few years have probably felt like the business version of the Tour de France, with numerous twists and turns testing their endurance. Early in the pandemic, a surge of interest in cycling pushed sales up 64% to $5.4 billion in 2020, according to...
Google wants judge, not jury, to decide upcoming antitrust case in Virginia
Google on Thursday asked that a judge, rather than a jury, decide whether it violated U.S. antitrust laws by building a monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising. To bolster its case, the tech giant wrote a multimillion-dollar check to the U.S. government that it says renders moot the...
McDonald’s plans $5 U.S. meal deal next month to counter customer frustration over high prices
McDonald’s plans to introduce a $5 meal deal in the U.S. next month to counter slowing sales and customers’ frustration with high prices. The deal would let customers get a four-piece McNugget, small fries, a small drink and either a McDouble burger or a McChicken sandwich for $5 in most...
Japanese automaker Honda revs up on EVs, aiming for lucrative U.S., China markets
TOKYO — Japanese automaker Honda reaffirmed its commitment to electric vehicles Thursday, saying it will invest 10 trillion yen ($65 billion) through fiscal 2031 to deliver EV models around the world, including the U.S. and China. “Honda has not changed its belief that EVs are the most effective solution in...
Dow tops 40,000 for 1st time as Wall Street drifts higher
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 40,000 level for the first time Thursday, as U.S. stocks drifted higher to add to their records set a day before. The Dow was up 115 points, or 0.3%, at 40,023, in midday trading. It made its last leap of...
Supreme Court sides with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spurning a conservative attack
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a conservative-led attack that could have undermined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The justices ruled 7-2 that the way the CFPB is funded does not violate the Constitution, reversing a lower court. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion, splitting with his...
Inflation eased last month in the first slowdown of 2024Video
WASHINGTON — Led by lower food and auto prices, inflation in the United States cooled slightly last month after three elevated readings, likely offering a tentative sigh of relief for officials at the Federal Reserve as well as President Joe Biden’s re-election team. Consumer prices rose 0.3% from March to...
Billionaire Frank McCourt says he’s putting together a consortium to buy TikTok
Billionaire businessman and real estate mogul Frank McCourt said he’s putting together a consortium to purchase TikTok’s U.S. business, adding to the number of investors hoping to benefit from a new federal law that requires TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the popular platform or face a ban. The announcement,...
Retail sales were unchanged in April from March as inflation and interest rates curb spending
NEW YORK — Retail sales in April were unchanged from March as inflation continued to sting and elevated interest rates made taking on debt more burdensome. The number following a revised 0.6% pace in March, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday. It rose 0.9% in February. That comes after...
Meme stocks are roaring again. This time may be different
NEW YORK — Meme stocks are shaking Wall Street once again. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Ever since bands of smaller-pocketed and novice investors began taking stock prices of downtrodden companies to breathtaking heights three years ago, the potential for more flareups has been obvious. Some things are...
CNX plans $1.5B hydrogen fuels plant at Pittsburgh airport, but wants federal tax credit to build it
HARRISBURG — Natural gas producer CNX Resources said it plans to build a $1.5 billion facility at Pittsburgh’s airport to make hydrogen-based fuels, but only if President Joe Biden’s administration allows coal mine methane to qualify for tax credits that are central to the Democrat’s plan to fight climate change....
Justice Department: Boeing violated deal that avoided prosecution after 737 Max crashes
WASHINGTON — Boeing has violated a settlement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft, the Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday. It is now up to the Justice Department to decide whether to file charges against the aircraft...
TikTok content creators sue the U.S. government over law that could ban the popular platform
Eight TikTok content creators sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, issuing another challenge to the new federal law that would ban the popular social media platform nationwide if its China-based parent company doesn’t sell its stakes within a year. Attorneys for the creators argued in the lawsuit that the law...
Red Lobster closes dozens of locations across the country just months after ‘endless shrimp’ losses
NEW YORK — Dozens of Red Lobster locations across the U.S. are on the chopping block. Restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands announced this week that it would be auctioning off the equipment of over 50 Red Lobster locations that were recently closed as part of the seafood chain’s “footprint rationalization.” The...
Google’s unleashes AI in search, raising hopes for better results and fears about less web traffic
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google on Tuesday rolled out a retooled search engine that will frequently favor responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic. The makeover announced at Google’s annual...
Appeals court upholds ruling requiring Georgia county to pay for a transgender deputy’s surgery
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that a Georgia county illegally discriminated against a sheriff’s deputy by failing to pay for her gender-affirming surgery. In its ruling Monday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was tasked with determining whether a health...
Lawmakers issue ultimatum to tech platforms over data privacy
WASHINGTON — For years Congress has held dozens of hearings aiming to enact laws on data privacy and kids’ online safety, and to curb the freewheeling collection and sale of Americans’ data without enacting any substantial legislation. The frustration is showing. Two House lawmakers, who direct blame squarely at tech...
