Wire stories category, Page 24
Here are some ways you can reduce financial stress during the holidays
NEW YORK — The holidays are supposed to be a joyful time, but they can also be financially stressful. With gifts, social gatherings and plane tickets home, the costs can start piling up. Household expenses continue to rise and many Americans are expressing concern about their financial futures, according to...
Still haven’t bought holiday gifts? Retailers have a sale for you
NEW YORK — Retailers are stepping up sales and other enticements in the final days before Christmas to lure shoppers who’ve been waiting for the best deals, or who didn’t have the time or the urge to wrap up gift-buying early. Incentives to spend last minute are an extension of...
Were your holiday deliveries stolen? What to know about porch piracy and what you can do about it
NEW YORK — You found the perfect holiday gift online. You ordered it. A notification arrived on your phone, showing the package had arrived. But when you open your doors, the parcel is nowhere to be found. If this has happened to you, then count yourself among the unlucky group...
Apple loses latest bid to avert patent dispute that has halted online U.S. sales of 2 watch models
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple on Thursday stopped online sales of two popular models of its internet-connected watch in the U.S. after losing its latest attempt to untangle a patent dispute that’s blocking it from using some of the technology on the device. Both the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra...
Homebuilders step up construction of single-family homes as 30-year mortgage rate eases below 7%
LOS ANGELES — Homebuilders are stepping up construction of single-family homes following a steady decline in mortgage rates and broad expectations among economists that home loan borrowing costs will ease further next year. Builders broke ground on single-family homes in November at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 1.14...
Rite Aid banned from facial recognition tech use for 5 years after faulty theft targeting in stores
Rite Aid has been banned from using facial recognition technology for five years over allegations that its surveillance system was used incorrectly to identify potential shoplifters, especially Black, Latino, Asian or female shoppers. The settlement with the Federal Trade Commission addresses charges that the struggling drugstore chain didn’t do enough...
Toyota recalling 1 million vehicles for potential air bag problem
Toyota Motor Co. said Wednesday it is recalling 1 million vehicles over a defect that could cause airbags not to deploy, increasing the risk of injury. The recall covers a range of Toyota and Lexus vehicles with model years from 2020 to 2022. Included in the recall are Toyota Avalons,...
How to manage holiday spending when you’re dealing with student loan debt
NEW YORK — For Nicole Plauché and her family, Christmas is the time of the year where they can use their preferred love language: gift giving. This year, however, Plauché is worried about how much she can afford to spend on gifts. Her main struggle? Student loan payments. “It just...
Love it or hate it, self-checkout is here to stay. But it’s going through a reckoning
NEW YORK — The promise of self-checkout was alluring: Customers could avoid long lines by scanning and bagging their own items, workers could be freed of doing those monotonous tasks themselves and retailers could save on labor costs. All that has happened since the rollout of self-checkout but so has...
Federal Reserve on cusp of what some thought impossible: Defeating inflation without steep recession
WASHINGTON — It was the most painful inflation Americans had experienced since 1981, when “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “The Jeffersons” were topping the TV charts. Yet the Federal Reserve now seems on the verge of defeating it — and without the surge in unemployment and the deep recession that...
5 questions that can help guide your holiday tipping
Service workers help make our lives easier throughout the year — whether it’s by keeping our lawns immaculate or babysitting during date nights. The holidays are an ideal time to show gratitude for the work they do throughout the year. But how much do you tip service workers during the...
Dow hits a record high and Treasury yields drop after the Fed signals rate cutsVideo
NEW YORK — A powerful rally across Wall Street sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated that the cuts to interest rates investors crave so much may be coming next year. The Dow jumped 512 points, or 1.4%, to top 37,000...
Tesla recalls nearly all vehicles sold in U.S. to fix system that monitors drivers using Autopilot
DETROIT — Tesla is recalling nearly all of the vehicles it sold in the U.S., more than 2 million across its model lineup, to fix a defective system that’s supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot. Documents posted Wednesday by U.S. safety regulators say the company...
Hasbro cuts 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, prompted by the ongoing malaise in the toy business
NEW YORK — Toy maker Hasbro said Monday it is cutting about 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, as the malaise in the toy business extends through another holiday shopping season. The nearly century-old Rhode Island-based company behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony toys disclosed the layoffs in...
How rising prices for restaurants, car repair and other services kept inflation up last month
WASHINGTON — Held down by sinking gas prices, U.S. inflation was mostly unchanged last month. But underlying price pressures — from apartment rents, restaurant meals, auto insurance and many other services — remained stubbornly high. Last month’s inflation data arrived just a day before the Federal Reserve will end a...
Choice Hotels goes hostile in $8 billion takeover bid for Wyndham after being repeatedly rebuffed
Choice Hotels is launching a hostile takeover offer for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts after repeated attempts to reach a deal with the rival hotel chain were rebuffed. Choice Hotels said Tuesday that its exchange offer to shareholders of Wyndham, which runs Days Inn, La Quinta, Ramada and a host of...
McDonald’s testing new CosMc’s chain amid unprecedented global expansion
McDonald’s is testing a new restaurant format with customizable drinks and treats designed to appeal to afternoon snackers — and grab sales from competitors like Starbucks and Dunkin’. The company said Wednesday it will open 10 CosMc’s restaurants through the first half of next year. One will be near the...
CEOs of the nation’s biggest banks warn that new regulations could harm the economy
NEW YORK — The heads of Wall Street’s biggest banks used an appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to plead with senators to stop the Biden administration’s proposed changes to how banks are regulated, warning that the new proposals could negatively impact the economy at a time of geopolitical turmoil...
CVS Health lays out changes to clarify prescription drug pricing that may save some customers money
CVS Health is introducing changes to how its prescription drug pricing model works, and that could lead to some savings for customers starting next year. The health care giant said Tuesday that it will roll out a new reimbursement model designed to make costs more predictable at the drugstore counter....
Can JetBlue buy Spirit? Trial on deal that could further consolidate industry comes to a head
BOSTON — Lawyers for the Justice Department and JetBlue Airways are scheduled to make closing arguments Tuesday in a trial determining whether JetBlue can buy Spirit Airlines, the nation’s biggest low-fare carrier. The Justice Department argues that the proposed $3.8 billion merger would hurt consumers by eliminating Spirit and its...
Alaska Air to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal that may attract regulator scrutiny
SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines said Sunday it agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal, including debt, putting it on track for a potential clash with a Biden administration that has shown wariness about higher fares in the industry. The combined company would keep both airlines’ brands, rooted...
Coal-producing West Virginia is converting an entire school system to solar power
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An entire county school system in coal-producing West Virginia is going solar, representing what a developer and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s office touted on Wednesday as the biggest-ever single demonstration of sun-powered renewable electricity in Appalachian public schools. The agreement between Wayne County Schools and West Virginian...
U.S. sanctions financial network tied to Iranian oil sales
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Wednesday said it imposed a new round of sanctions on a group of 20 people and firms allegedly involved in a financial facilitation network for the benefit of the Iranian military. The Treasury Department sanctions impact firms and people spanning Hong Kong to the United...
Tensions simmer as newcomers and immigrants with deeper U.S. roots strive for work permits
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In New York, migrants at a city-run shelter grumble that relatives who settled before them refuse to offer a bed. In Chicago, a provider of mental health services to people in the country illegally pivoted to new arrivals sleeping at a police station across the street. In...
Cyber Monday marks the year’s biggest online shopping day, and 1 more chance to save on gifts
Consumers are scouring the internet for online deals as they begin to cap off the five-day post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza with Cyber Monday. Even though e-commerce is now part and parcel of our everyday lives and much of the holiday shopping season, Cyber Monday — a term coined back in 2005...
