Business News

Google’s corporate parent still prospering amid shift injecting more AI technology in search

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google’s corporate parent Alphabet Inc. delivered another quarter of steady growth amid an AI-driven shift in the ubiquitous search engine that is the foundation of its internet empire. The second-quarter report released Tuesday indicated Google is still reeling in advertisers. It comes on the heels of the May introduction of an artificial intelligence feature that produces conversational responses to people’s search queries while downplaying its traditional display of related links to other websites. Alphabet posted double-digit growth in both its revenue and profit during the April-June period, eclipsing analyst projections. The company’s stock seesawed from slightly declines to minor gains after the report came out.

Tesla’s 2Q profit falls 45% to $1.48 billion as sales drop despite price cuts and low-interest loans

DETROIT (AP) — Tesla’s second-quarter net income fell 45% compared with a year ago as the company’s global electric vehicle sales tumbled despite price cuts and low-interest financing. The Austin, Texas, company said Tuesday that it made $1.48 billion from April through June, less than the $2.7 billion it made in the same period of 2023. It was Tesla’s second-straight quarterly net income decline. Second quarter revenue rose 2% to $25.5 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $24.54 billion, according to FactSet. Excluding one time items, Tesla made 52 cents per share, below analyst expectations of 61 cents. Earlier this month Tesla said it sold 443,956 vehicles from April through June, down 4.8% from 466,140 sold the same period a year ago.

US is investigating Delta’s flight cancellations and faltering response to global tech outage

U.S. airline regulators have opened an investigation into Delta Air Lines, which is still struggling to restore operations on Tuesday, more than four full days after a faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide and disrupted global air travel. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the Delta investigation on the X social media platform Tuesday “to ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions.” Delta and its Delta Connection partners canceled about 500 flights on Tuesday, or about two-thirds of all cancellations in the United States.

Stock market today: Big Tech slumps after profits from Alphabet and Tesla fail to impress

NEW YORK (AP) — Drops for Big Tech are dragging U.S. stock indexes lower after Tesla and Alphabet delivered profit reports that hit Wall Street with a thud. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% Wednesday and was on track for its fifth loss in six days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 372 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.5%. Tesla tumbled after the electric vehicle maker said its profit for the spring sank 45%. Alphabet dropped despite delivering better-than-expected profit and revenue. Analysts pointed to pockets of weakness including weaker growth in advertising revenue for YouTube than expected.

FAA agrees with air traffic controllers’ union to give tower workers more rest between shifts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration says air traffic controllers will get more rest between shifts. The FAA said Wednesday that it reached agreement with the air traffic controllers’ union. The changes will start with work schedules next year. A panel of experts recently recommended more rest to reduce the risk that tired controllers might make mistakes. The president of the controllers’ union says his group has been raising concern about fatigue for years. He says the agreement on more rest will help the understaffed workforce.

Visa’s fiscal third-quarter profits rise 9% as payments become increasingly digital

NEW YORK (AP) — Payment processing giant Visa Inc. said its fiscal third-quarter profits rose 9% on an adjusted basis as it benefits from consumers and businesses moving their payments from cash to credit and debit cards. The San Francisco-based company said it earned $4.87 billion, or $2.40 a share, compared to a profit of $4.16 billion, or $2.00 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Visa earned $2.42 a share, which was slightly better than what analysts had expected, according to FactSet.

Strike at plant that makes truck seats forces production stoppage for Missouri General Motors

Production has halted at a Missouri General Motors plant that manufactures trucks and vans, the result of a strike at the company that supplies seats for the vehicles. About 480 workers at Lear Corp. in Wentzville walked out at midnight Sunday. The strike brought production to a standstill Monday at the GM plant in Wentzville, an eastern Missouri town where the automaker manufactures the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize trucks, along with full-size vans. The UAW says Lear Corp. is refusing to pay workers what they deserve. Lear Corp. says in a statement that it is “working hard to reach a fair and equitable settlement as soon as possible.”

A very strong quarter at General Motors is overshadowed by potential headwinds for industry

DETROIT (AP) — 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 despite analyst predictions of growing U.S. inventories for the industry and bigger discounts reducing prices, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said he doesn’t see his company cutting prices very much. The Detroit automaker on Tuesday said it made $2.92 billion from April through June, with revenue of $47.97 billion that beat analyst expectations. Excluding one-time items, the company made $3.06 per share, 35 cents above Wall Street projections.

Under President Milei, the worst economic crisis in decades puts Argentine ingenuity to the test

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The political establishment’s failure to fix decades of crisis in Argentina explains the tide of popular rage that vaulted the irascible Javier Milei, a self-declared “anarcho-capitalist,” to the presidency. But it also helps explain the emergence of a unique society that runs on grit, ingenuity and opportunism — perhaps now more than ever as Argentina undergoes its worst economic crisis since its catastrophic foreign-debt default of 2001. To reverse the decades of reckless spending, Milei scrapped hundreds of price controls. He slashed subsidies for electricity, fuel and transportation, causing prices to skyrocket in a country that already had one of the world’s highest inflation rates. Poverty now afflicts a staggering 57% of Argentina’s 47 million people.

Farmers in Africa say their soil is dying and chemical fertilizers are in part to blame

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Farmers in Africa are blaming chemical fertilizers for increasingly acidic soils that have led to production decline. Experts say a return to traditional agricultural practices can save dying soils. About 63% of arable land in Kenya is acidic and has been recording a decline in production of staples such as maize and leading exports of horticulture and tea. The country also recently experienced a fake fertilizer scandal, which has further weakened confidence. The problems with soil health are growing as the African continent struggles to feed itself despite having 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land.