Wire stories category, Page 13
The Container Store, buffeted by rough housing market and competition, seeks bankruptcy protection
NEW YORK — The Container Store has filed for bankruptcy protection as the storage and organizational goods retailer with roots dating back to 1978 grapples with mounting losses and cash flow shortages. The Texas company has faced increasing competition from retailers like Target and Walmart at the same time that...
Party City to close its stores as company files for bankruptcy
LOS ANGELES — For nearly 40 years, customers flocked to Party City for Halloween costumes, favors for children’s birthday parties and decorations for New Year’s Eve celebrations. Now, the go-to shop for everything from cartoon-themed balloons to Super Bowl decor is closing stores. Party City announced Saturday that it would...
Starbucks workers plan strikes that could spread to hundreds of U.S. stores by Christmas Eve
Workers at Starbucks stores plan to go on a five-day strike starting Friday to protest lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company. The strikes by baristas and other workers were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across...
Philip Morris boss sees no easy way to keep minors from nicotine
Just a year after he became chief executive officer of Philip Morris International Inc., Jacek Olczak swooped on rival nicotine pouch maker Swedish Match in a $16 billion deal. Olczak wanted the company’s vast U.S. distribution network and popular Zyn nicotine pouches, which are about the size of a chiclet...
Federal Reserve cuts key rate by a quarter-point but envisions fewer reductions next yearVideo
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday by a quarter-point — its third cut this year — but also signaled that it expects to reduce rates more slowly next year than it previously envisioned, mostly because of still-elevated inflation. The Fed’s 19 policymakers projected that they...
Nissan, Honda confirm talks on closer collaboration but say there’s been no decision on a merger
BANGKOK — Japanese automakers Nissan Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. confirmed Wednesday that they are discussing closer collaboration but denied reports they have decided on a merger. Nissan’s share price soared more than 22% in Tokyo after reports citing unnamed sources said it might merge with Honda to form...
Late surge will lift 2024 auto sales to 5-year high, Cox projects
Analysts at Cox Automotive, an automotive services company, expect new vehicle sales in the United States for 2024 will come in at just over 15.8 million, beating a previous forecast and marking the best year since 2019. After a strong fourth quarter, automakers are expected to post sales of 15.85...
Small businesses say cautious shoppers are seeking ‘cozy’ and ‘festive’ this holiday season
After the busy Black Friday holiday weekend, Kristen Tarnol, owner of Emerald City Gifts in Studio City, California, is already asking her supplier to send more more fuzzy alpaca scarves and warm slippers that were best sellers over the weekend. “Even though it’s Los Angeles … I think people are...
Boeing is building new 737 Max planes for the first time since workers went on strike
Boeing is resuming production of its bestselling plane, the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November. The company said Tuesday that plane-building resumed at its plant in Renton, Washington, after going through a process of training workers and identifying...
Rupert Murdoch loses his fight to change family trust
Rupert Murdoch lost his bid to change his family trust and hand sole control of his media empire to his eldest son. Edmund Gorman Jr., the Reno, Nevada, probate commissioner hearing the case, rendered a verdict on Saturday, The New York Times reported, citing a sealed document saying the elder...
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reverses decision to put time limit on anesthesia
One of the country’s largest health insurers reversed a change in policy Thursday after widespread outcry, saying it would not tie payments in some states to the length of time a patient went under anesthesia. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said in a statement that its decision to backpedal resulted...
Nearly 30% of U.S. drugstores closed in 1 decade, study shows
Nearly three out of 10 U.S. drugstores that were open during the previous decade had closed by 2021, new research shows. Black and Latino neighborhoods were most vulnerable to the retail pharmacy closures, which can chip away at already-limited care options in those communities, researchers said in a study published...
Small business owners brace for Trump’s proposed tariffs
Small businesses are bracing for stiff tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump has proposed as one of his first actions when he takes office. Trump has proposed importers pay a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China,...
Delaware judge reaffirms ruling that invalidated massive Tesla pay package for Elon Musk
DOVER, Del. — A Delaware judge has reaffirmed her ruling that Tesla must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick on Monday denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the...
General Motors to sell its stake in Michigan battery factory to LG Energy Solution
DETROIT — General Motors has reached an agreement to sell its stake in a nearly completed electric vehicle battery plant in Lansing, Michigan. The company said Monday that it has a nonbinding agreement for the sale to joint venture partner LG Energy Solution of South Korea. The companies expect to...
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigns as carmaker continues to struggle with slumping sales
NEW YORK — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is stepping down after nearly four years in the top spot of the automaker, which owns car brands such as Jeep and Ram, amid an ongoing struggle with slumping sales. The world’s fourth-largest carmaker announced that its board accepted Tavares’ resignation on Sunday....
Trump threatens 100% tariff on the BRIC bloc of nations if they act to undermine US dollar
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRIC alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran...
Avocados, tequila, other iconic Mexican products jeopardized by Trump’s tariff threats
URUAPAN, Mexico — Mexicans are worried that threats by Donald Trump to impose 25% tariffs could affect a wide range of iconic Mexican products and threaten entire regional economies. In western Mexico, no crop supplies an income for so many small growers as avocados. But avocado growers, pickers and packers...
Canadian cannabis company buying up American brewers
A Canadian cannabis company is tapping into a flailing American industry: craft beer. The cannabis company has purchased multiple United States craft breweries, thus becoming the fifth-largest craft brewer in the U.S. as a result. According to The Wall Street Journal, Tilray Brands has purchased a total of 18 craft...
Walmart becomes latest — and biggest — company to roll back its DEI policies
NEW YORK — Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, joining a growing list of major corporations that have done the same after coming under attack by conservative activists. The changes, confirmed by Walmart on Monday, are sweeping and include everything from not...
Workers at Charlotte airport, an American Airlines hub, go on strike during Thanksgiving travel weekVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Workers who clean airplanes, remove trash and help with wheelchairs at Charlotte’s airport, one of the nation’s busiest, went on strike Monday during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to demand higher wages. The Service Employees International Union announced the strike in a statement early Monday, saying...
Eggs are available — but pricier — as the holiday baking season begins
Egg prices are rising once more as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with the high demand of the holiday baking season. But prices are still far from the recent peak they reached almost two years ago. And the American Egg Board, a trade group, says egg shortages at...
Macy’s says employee hid up to $154 million in expenses, delaying Q3 earnings
Macy’s reported stronger-than-expected sales for the third quarter and said it’s delaying the release of its full quarterly results after it discovered an employee intentionally hid up to $154 million of expenses over several years. The department store chain, which also operates Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury cosmetics chain in addition to...
Tariff hikes will backfire, and China can manage such ‘external shocks,’ a senior official says
HONG KONG — Higher tariffs on Chinese exports will backfire, just increasing prices paid by consumers, while China can manage to weather the impact of such “external shocks,” a senior Commerce Ministry official said Friday in Beijing. Responding to a reporter’s question about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose...
Delta to serve Shake Shack burgers in first class on some flights
Delta Air Lines will soon serve Shake Shack cheeseburgers to first-class customers on certain flights out of Boston. The first-class meal option will be offered starting Dec. 1 on routes of more than 900 miles out of Boston Logan International Airport. The airline said it “plans for expansion to other...
