Business News

UAW’s rift with Stellantis raises fear that some US auto jobs could vanish

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — U.S. autoworkers warn that a dispute between their union and Stellantis over delays in reopening a shuttered factory in Belvidere, Illinois, is much bigger than that one plant. Many fear that if the automaker breaks its commitment to restart the factory, it won’t keep other promises made in the new United Auto Workers contract signed last fall. They worry, in particular, that the automakers could move production to factories in lower-cost Mexico. The UAW has threatened to strike over the issue as early as October. Stellantis says it still intends to reopen Belvidere and also build a battery plant there but needs the delay because of unfavorable market conditions.

Wholesale inflation mostly cooled last month in latest sign that price pressures are slowing

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale price increases mostly slowed last month, the latest evidence that inflation pressures are cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates next week. The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 0.2% from July to August. That is up from an unchanged reading a month earlier. And measured from a year ago, prices were up 1.7% in August, the smallest such rise since February and down from a 2.1% annual increase in July.

Stock market today: Wall Street tries to extend gains, claw back more of last week’s losses

Wall Street inched higher before the bell as markets try to extend this week’s gains in hopes of clawing back more of last week’s losses. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each rose just less than 0.2% before markets opened Thursday. Investors are taking in a smattering of earnings reports and corporate news ahead of the government’s wholesale inflation and jobless claims reports later Thursday morning. Moderna slumped about 7% in early trading after the drugmaker lowered its fiscal 2025 revenue forecast well below Wall Street’s targets. Markets in Europe and Asia also rose.

Norfolk Southern sets salary and bonus for newly promoted CEO after firing Alan Shaw

Norfolk Southern said Thursday that its new CEO’s salary will jump to $1 million now that Mark George has been promoted from chief financial officer, and he will be eligible for a $2.25 million bonus and significant stock awards for performance. George was previously making $675,000 as CFO, but he got the top job at the railroad Wednesday after Norfolk Southern’s board fired Alan Shaw for having an inappropriate consensual relationship with the chief legal officer. The railroad disclosed the details of George’s compensation in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It didn’t immediately disclose how much severance Shaw will receive.

More than 67 million people watched Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debate. That’s way up from June

An estimated 67.1 million people watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. That’s a sharp increase from the June debate that eventually led to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race. The debate was run by ABC News but the Nielsen company said it was shown on 17 different networks. The Trump-Biden debate in June was seen by 51.3 million people. Tuesday’s count was short of the record viewership for a presidential debate, when 84 million people saw Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s first faceoff in 2016. The first debate between Biden and Trump in 2020 reached 73.1 million people.

Fed official broke ethics rules but didn’t violate insider trading laws, probe finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government investigation into Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic’s securities trades and investments has found he violated several of the central bank’s ethics policies. The violations created the appearance that Bostic acted on confidential Fed information and that he had a conflict of interest. But according to a report issued Wednesday, the Fed’s Office of Inspector General concluded there was no violation of federal insider trading or conflict of interest laws. In 2022, Bostic acknowledged that many of his financial trades and investments inadvertently violated the Fed’s ethics rules and said he took action to revise all his financial disclosures.

US filings for unemployment benefits inch up slightly but remain historically low

Slightly more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at historically low levels despite two years of elevated interest rates. Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 230,000 for the week of Sept. 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It matched the number of new filings that analysts were projecting. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out some of week-to-week volatility, ticked up by 500 to 230,750. The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose by a modest 5,000, remaining in the neighborhood of 1.85 million for the week of Aug. 31.

Dealers’ paradise? How social media became a storefront for deadly fake pills as families struggle

Fentanyl overdoses have become a leading cause of death for minors in the last 5 years or so — and social media, where tainted, fake prescription drugs can be obtained with just a few clicks, is part of the problem. Experts say companies like Snap, Telegram and Meta, which owns Instagram, are not doing enough to keep children safe. As recently as a decade ago, people looking to buy illicit drugs online would visit the dark web. But since then, using popular social media sites, encrypted chat platforms, legitimate payment platforms and shipping services, dealers moved into the light.

One Tech Tip: Ever wanted to quit Elon Musk’s X platform? Here’s how you can do it

LONDON (AP) — Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter and renamed it X, a steady stream of celebrities, public figures, organizations and ordinary people have quit. They’re defecting to rival sites or are quitting social media altogether. If you’ve also decided to exit X, here’s what you need to do. Begin by deactivating your account, which starts a 30-day countdown until your account is deleted permanently. Before you leave for good, you can download an archive of all your data from your time on Twitter and X. If you’re not ready to commit to full deletion, you could instead lock down your account.

US companies see record-low profits in China amid geopolitical tensions and slow growth, report says

HONG KONG (AP) — A report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai has found that U.S. companies in China are seeing record-low profits, with business confidence at an all-time low amid U.S.-China tensions and a slowing Chinese economy. Out of 306 companies polled, a record-low 66% were profitable in 2023. The report published Thursday also found that only 47% of respondents were optimistic about their business outlook in China over the next five years, the lowest in the survey’s history of over two decades. China and the U.S. have in recent years clashed over issues like trade and manufacturing, as well as China’s claims over the South China Sea. China is also grappling with a slowing domestic economy post-COVID.