Business News

Labor dispute stops Canadian freight railroads and could cause major economic disruption in US

TORONTO (AP) — Both of Canada’s major freight railroads have come to a full stop because of a contract dispute with their workers, an impasse that could bring significant economic harm to businesses and consumers in Canada and the U.S. if the trains don’t resume running soon. Canadian National and CPKC railroads both locked out their employees after the deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Thursday passed without new agreements with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference that represents some 10,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers. Business groups had urged the government to intervene, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declined to force both sides into arbitration yet. The railroads offered binding arbitration and said the shutdown would end if the union accepts it.

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks closer to record heights ahead of a highly anticipated speech

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ticking higher as Wall Street counts down to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% in early Thursday trading and was just 0.5% below its record set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 105 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Treasury yields were also ticking higher despite a report showing slightly more workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected. Wall Street has been quiet recently as investors hope Powell’s speech will offer clues about how quickly and deeply the Fed will cut interest rates.

Fed minutes: Most officials favored a rate cut in September if inflation continued to cool

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Federal Reserve officials agreed last month that they would likely cut their benchmark interest rate at their next meeting in September as long as inflation continued to cool. The minutes of the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting indicate that the “vast majority” of policymakers “observed that, if the data continued to come in about as expected, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting.” Wall Street traders had already considered it a certainty that the Fed will announce its first interest rate cut in four years when it meets in mid-September.

US home sales ended a 4-month slide in July amid easing mortgage rates, more homes on the market

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes ended a four-month slide in July as easing mortgage rates and an 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 Association of Realtors said Thursday. The latest sales came in slightly higher than the 3.92 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Sales fell 2.5% compared with July last year. The national median sales price rose 4.2% from a year earlier to $422,600.

California announces new deal with tech to fund journalism, AI research

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will be the first U.S. state to direct millions of dollars from taxpayer money and tech companies to help pay for journalism and AI research under a new deal announced Wednesday. Under the agreement, the state and tech companies would collectively pay roughly $250 million over five years to support California-based news organizations and create an AI research program. The initiatives are set to kick in in 2025 with $100 million the first year. The deal effectively marks the end of a legislation that would force tech companies to pay media companies for linking to their content.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits inch up, but remain at historically healthy levels

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week, but remains at healthy levels Jobless claims rose by 4,000 to 232,000 for the week of Aug. 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly gyrations, ticked down by 750 to 236,000. For the week ending Aug. 10, 1.86 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits, 4,000 more than the week before. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits, which are a proxy for layoffs, remain low by historic standards.

Disney names Gorman to chair its succession planning committee

The Walt Disney Co. has tapped James Gorman to lead its succession planning committee as the entertainment company continues to work toward finding someone to take over the helm from Bob Iger. Gorman, who joined Disney’s board earlier this year, has previous succession planning experience, as he oversaw the process at Morgan Stanley. Gorman currently serves as Morgan Stanley’s executive chairman after several years as its chairman and CEO.

Wall Street’s next big test is looming with Nvidia’s profit report

NEW YORK (AP) — Nvidia’s upcoming profit report on Wednesday carries big potential repercussions for the market. As one of the biggest companies in the stock market, its movements carry extra weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes. It was one of the main reasons the S&P 500 rallied to dozens of records earlier this year, and it was a major reason it tumbled so scarily over a couple weeks during the summer. After some other highly influential Big Tech stocks offered underwhelming profit reports earlier this reporting season, Nvidia will enter the spotlight to see if its stellar growth can satisfy investors’ big expectations.

The price of gold is at a record high. Here’s why

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of gold hit an all time high this week. The spot price for gold closed Tuesday above $2,514 per Troy ounce. That would make a gold bar or brick weighing 400 Troy ounces worth more than $1 million. Interest in buying gold often comes at times of uncertainty — with potential concerns around inflation and the strength of the U.S. dollar, for example, causing some to look for alternative places to park their money. Factors behind the current rally include looming interest rate cuts, ongoing geopolitical risks and rising demand from central banks. But future gains are never promised — and precious metals can be volatile.

Blackouts in extreme weather drive demand for cleaner backup power

In many communities people turn to diesel or gasoline generators for temporary power when extreme weather brings power outages. But the pollution these generate is bad for people and also contributes to climate change. That’s driving interest in cleaner alternatives. The days when backup power is needed are becoming more frequent as extreme weather driven by climate change strains the electric grid. Battery alternatives, sometimes with solar panels, are starting to appear but aren’t widespread and still have technological limitations.