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Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
French authorities issue preliminary charges against Telegram messaging app CEO
PARIS — French authorities handed preliminary charges to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday for allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app, and barred him from leaving France pending further investigation. Both free-speech advocates and authoritarian governments have spoken out in Durov’s defense since his weekend arrest. The case...
Lowe’s changes some DEI policies amid legal attacks on diversity programs and activist pressure
NEW YORK— Home improvement chain Lowe’s is scaling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, joining the ranks of several other companies that altered their programs since the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action in college admissions or after facing a conservative backlash online. In an internal memo shared by...
Stock market today: Dow closes at a record even as losses for Big Tech pull S&P 500 and Nasdaq lower
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high Monday on Wall Street, even as losses for Big Tech companies pulled the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite lower. The Dow edged up 0.2% Monday, enough to beat the all-time high it set last month. The S&P 500 lost...
U.S. home sales ended a 4-month slide in July amid easing mortgage rates, more homes on the market
LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes ended a four-month slide in July as easing mortgage rates and a pickup in properties on the market encouraged home shoppers. Existing home sales rose 1.3% last month from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million, the National...
Government: U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than first reported in year that ended in March
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March this year than were originally reported, the government said Wednesday. The revised total adds to evidence that the job market has been steadily slowing and likely reinforces the Federal Reserve’s plan to start cutting interest rates...
Target’s focus on lower prices in grocery aisle start to pay off as comparable store sales rise
NEW YORK — Target’s comparable sales rose for the first time in a year as grocery aisle deals for cash-strapped customers began to pay off. Sales at stores and digital channels operating over at least the past 12 months rose 2% in the second quarter reversing months of declines, including...
Perdue recalls 167,000 pounds of chicken nuggets after consumers find metal wire in some packages
NEW YORK — Check your freezer. Perdue Foods is recalling more than 167,000 pounds of frozen chicken nuggets and tenders after some customers reported finding metal wire embedded in the products. According to Perdue and the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the recall covers select lots of...
Wall Street leaps, and S&P 500 rallies 1.6% as shoppers drive the economy 
NEW YORK — Wall Street rallied to one of its best days of the year Thursday after data showed the U.S. economy is holding up better than expected, with particular credit going to the country’s shoppers. The S&P 500 jumped 1.6% for its fourth-best day of the year and its...
FTC ban on noncompete agreements comes under legal attack
NEW YORK — The federal government wants to make it easier for employees to quit a job and work for a competitor. But some companies say a new rule created by the Federal Trade Commission will make it hard to protect trade secrets and investments they make in their employees....
Wall Street rallies to one of its best days of the year as a result of inflation report
NEW YORK — Stocks rallied to one of their best days of the year Tuesday after the first of several highly anticipated reports on the economy this week came in better than expected. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% for its third-best day of 2024 after the U.S. government reported inflation...
Considering a mortgage refi? Lower rates are just 1 factor when refinancing a home loan
LOS ANGELES — Mortgage rates haven’t been this attractive in more than a year, good news for homeowners eager to refinance. Many homeowners have already jumped at the opportunity to lower their monthly payment, spurring a surge in mortgage refinancing applications. And that was before the average rate on a...
Delta facing class action lawsuit over tech outage; customers seeking refunds
Delta Air Lines is facing a class action lawsuit, which claims the airline refused to give refunds following a global technology outage last month. Among airlines, Delta was by far the hardest hit hard by the outage, having to cancel thousands of flights, because key systems were crippled by the...
What are carry trades and how did they contribute to this week’s global market mayhem?
BANGKOK — The mayhem that swept across world markets this week was partly caused by a market strategy known as the “carry trade.” Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 plunged 12.4% on Monday and markets in Europe and North America suffered outsized losses as traders sold stocks to help cover rising risks...
The Fed’s high rates spur fear of slowdown, yet recession signals have so far proved wrong 
WASHINGTON — The turmoil shaking global financial markets reflects a sudden fear that the Federal Reserve may have held its key interest rate too high for too long, heightening the risk of a U.S. recession. Economists and Wall Street traders now expect the Fed to cut its benchmark rate, which...
Nvidia facing antitrust probe, report says
NEW YORK — Antitrust tensions are heating up in the chipmaking industry. Rivals have accused Wall Street darling Nvidia of abusing its market dominance in selling chips that power artificial intelligence — and the U.S. Justice Department is investigating these complaints, technology news site The Information reported. According to the...
Fed Chair Powell says interest rate cut in September could be ‘on the table’ as inflation cools 
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday set the stage for the central bank’s first rate cut in four years, citing greater progress toward lower inflation as well as a cooler job market that no longer threatens to overheat the economy. Still, the Fed kept its key interest...
California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 22, ending legal saga over status of gig drivers
The California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 22, the voter initiative that allows Uber, Lyft and other gig economy companies to classify drivers for their ride-hailing and delivery services as independent contractors rather than as employees. In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning, the state’s top court rejected claims...
Economic growth increased last quarter to a healthy 2.8% annual rate 
WASHINGTON — The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services —...
Southwest Airlines plans to start assigning seats, breaking with a 50-year tradition
DALLAS — Goodbye, cattle call. Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it plans to drop the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years and will start assigning passengers to seats, just like all the other big airlines. The airline said it has been studying seating options, running tests...
Ford’s Q2 net income falls 4.7% as pretax profits drop at combustion engine unit
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.’s second-quarter net income fell 4.7% from a year ago as the company’s combustion engine unit posted a pretax loss due to higher warranty costs. The Dearborn, Mich., automaker said Wednesday it made $1.83 billion from April through June, compared with $1.92 billion a year ago....
Wall Street wipeout: S&P 500 falls 2% as Big Tech skids
NEW YORK — A wipeout on Wednesday sent U.S. stock indexes to their worst losses since 2022 after profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet helped suck momentum from Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. The S&P 500 tumbled 2.3% for its fifth drop in the past six days. The Dow...
With U.S. vehicle prices averaging near $50K, General Motors sees 2nd-quarter profits rise 15%
DETROIT — U.S. customers who bought a new General Motors vehicle last quarter paid an average of just under $49,900, a price that helped push the company’s net income 15% above a year ago. And GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said he doesn’t see his company cutting prices very...
Cleveland-Cliffs will make electrical transformers at shuttered West Virginia tin plant
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Cleveland-Cliffs announced Monday it will produce electrical transformers in a $150 million investment at a West Virginia facility that closed earlier this year. The company hopes to reopen the Weirton facility in early 2026 and “address the critical shortage of distribution transformers that is stifling economic growth...
CrowdStrike CEO called to testify to Congress over cybersecurity’s firm role in global tech outage
AUSTIN, Tex. — U.S. House leaders are calling on CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify to Congress about the cybersecurity company’s role in sparking the widespread tech outage that grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and affected services around the world. CrowdStrike said this week a “significant number”...
The last cards have been dealt as the iconic Mirage closes its doors on the Las Vegas Strip
LAS VEGAS — A final blast from The Mirage’s signature volcano marked the passage Wednesday of an aging Las Vegas resort that wowed crowds when it opened in 1989 and went on to revolutionize the casino resort industry and reshape Las Vegas as a tourist destination. “What would The Mirage...


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