Wire stories category, Page 101
Firms to pay $386 million to settle price-fixing allegations
Thirteen large financial firms are agreeing to pay $337 million to settle claims by Pennsylvania’s treasury department and about a dozen other government agencies and pension funds accusing them of inflating the price of bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to proposed agreements filed in federal court....
Amazon bans sellers from using FedEx for some deliveries
NEW YORK — Amazon is banning its third-party merchants from using FedEx’s ground service to deliver to Prime members, suggesting that it thinks the service is too slow to get packages to their destinations in time for Christmas. The temporary ban will block those companies from using FedEx Ground service,...
Boeing to halt production of 737 Max airliner in JanuaryVideo
Boeing Co. said Monday that it will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet starting in January as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air. The Chicago-based company said production would halt at its plant with 12,000 employees in Renton, Wash.,...
Hallmark to reinstate same-sex marriage commercial it pulledVideo
NEW YORK — The Hallmark Channel will reinstate same-sex marriage commercials that it pulled from the network, according to a company statement sent Sunday. An ad for wedding planning site Zola featuring two brides kissing at the altar was pulled following a complaint from the conservative group One Million Moms....
Are extended warranties worth it? Not so much, experts say
Consumers generally don’t need extended warranties. “They are cash cows for retailers,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Consumer Action. “Salespeople get commissions, which is why they push them so hard.” But that doesn’t mean you want to dismiss the idea of purchasing extra protection in all...
In surprise decision, U.S. approves muscular dystrophy drug
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators approved a second drug for a debilitating form of muscular dystrophy, a surprise decision after the medication was rejected for safety concerns just four months ago. The ruling marks the second time the Food and Drug Administration has granted preliminary approval for the disease based...
Happy holidays from Comcast. Your cable bill is going up again.
Comcast is giving the gift of higher cable bills this holiday season. Tens of millions of Xfinity customers will see their bills rise 3.6% nationwide, on average, the company said Thursday, as it boosts prices for broadband plans and hikes TV fees starting next week. Customers in the Philadelphia region...
General Motors to invest $1.5 billion in Missouri plant
WENTZVILLE, Mo. — General Motors plans to invest $1.5 billion in a suburban St. Louis plant that makes trucks and vans, officials announced Friday. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said in a statement that GM is pledging to keep 4,000 jobs at the Wentzville Assembly and Stamping Plant. Close to 4,300...
Trump says U.S., China have reached deal; Sunday tariffs offVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. has canceled plans to impose new tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese imports Sunday as part of a modest interim agreement that de-escalates a 17-month trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. The United States is also reducing...
Reports: FTC may try to block Facebook from integrating apps
Facebook’s stock dropped almost 3% in regular trading after news reports suggested that the FTC may take antitrust action to prevent Facebook from integrating its disparate messaging apps. The reports said the Federal Trade Commission may seek a court injunction that would block Facebook’s “interoperability” plans for Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp...
Trump says US, China have reached deal; Sunday tariffs offVideo
President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. and China have reached a Phase 1 trade deal, de-escalating a 17-month dispute between the economic powers. The U.S. is dropping plans to impose tariffs Sunday on $160 billion in Chinese imports and is reducing some existing tariffs on Chinese goods. In...
Pound and stocks jump on U.K. election, talk of U.S.-China deal
BANGKOK — Stock markets and the British pound rose Friday after Britain’s Conservative Party claimed a big win in the country’s general election, easing uncertainty over Brexit, and amid talk of a China-U.S. trade deal. The British pound jumped to $1.3470 from $1.3150 late Thursday but then eased back to...
Indoor lettuce growers find a wedge to market amid another E. coli outbreak
MINNEAPOLIS — The latest outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce has sickened more than 100 people nationwide and left others wondering if raw salad is safe. As food-safety investigators clear the vegetable aisle of contaminated lettuce, authorities provided more guidance on how to shop for safer product. Consumers should...
U.S., China near deal that would suspend planned tariffsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration and China are close to finalizing a modest trade agreement that would suspend tariffs that are set to kick in Sunday, de-escalating their 17-month trade war. “We’re close to a deal,” said Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, who has...
Cheerios changes shape for new marketing campaign
MINNEAPOLIS — Out with the “O” and in with the heart. General Mills is replacing the most recognizable shape in the cereal kingdom, the Cheerios’ “O”, with heart-shaped pieces. It’s all a part of the food maker’s ongoing marketing campaign that claims its whole-grain cereals can be good for heart...
Facebook, Google drop out of top 10 ‘best places to work’ list
SAN FRANCISCO — Big tech companies such as Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, long seen as some of the world’s most desirable workplaces offering countless perks and employee benefits, are losing some of their shine. The Silicon Valley companies dropped out of the Top 10 “best places to work”...
Ex-Fed Chair Volcker dies, tamed inflation with recession
Paul Volcker, who as Federal Reserve chairman in the early 1980s elevated interest rates to historic highs and triggered a recession as the price of quashing double-digit inflation, has died, according to his office. He was 92. Volcker took charge of the Fed in August 1979, when the U.S. economy...
Jury: Elon Musk did not defame British caver in tweet
LOS ANGELES — Elon Musk defeated defamation allegations Friday from a British cave explorer who claimed he was branded a pedophile when the Tesla CEO called him “pedo guy” in an angry tweet. Vernon Unsworth, who participated in the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for weeks...
OPEC countries, Russia to cut oil output, pushing up prices
The OPEC oil-producing countries and ally Russia said Friday they have agreed to cut crude production, prompting a surge in global crude prices that they hope to sustain into next year. The group decided to cut output by an extra 500,000 barrels a day as they try to support the...
Amazon says delivery times back to normal after delays
NEW YORK — Amazon said Friday that it’s back to delivering its packages on time after bad weather and a rush of orders caused some delays earlier in the week. “We quickly rebalanced capacity and it’s all systems go now,” tweeted Amazon executive Dave Clark, who oversees Amazon’s warehouse and...
Ford recalls big pickups; tailgates can open unexpectedly
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 262,000 heavy-duty pickup trucks in the U.S. and Canada because the tailgates can open unexpectedly. The recall covers F-250, F-350 and F-450 trucks from the 2017 through 2019 model years. All the trucks have electric tailgate latch release switches in the tailgate...
U.S. gains a robust 266,000 jobs; unemployment falls to 3.5%
WASHINGTON — Hiring in the United States jumped last month to its highest level since January as U.S. employers shrugged off trade conflicts and a global slowdown and added 266,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.5% from 3.6% in October, matching a half-century low, the Labor Department reported Friday....
Coffee so strong you can build car parts out of it
CHICAGO — McDonald’s coffee bean remnants are getting a second purpose in life in the form of car parts. Researchers from Ford, the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker, are using McDonald’s coffee chaff — the waste left over after the roasting process — to make headlamp housings and other auto components. Ford...
Uber reports more than 3,000 sexual assaults on 2018 rides
SAN FRANCISCO — More than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during U.S. Uber rides in 2018, the company said in a long-awaited safety report. That figure includes 229 rapes across the company’s 1.3 billion rides. Uber noted that drivers and riders were both attacked, and that some assaults occurred between...
Google co-founders step down as execs of parent AlphabetVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — The co-founders of Google are stepping down as executives of its parent company, Alphabet, ending a remarkable two decades during which Larry Page and Sergey Brin shaped a startup born in a Silicon Valley garage into one of the largest, most powerful — and, increasingly, most feared...
