Business News

Stock market today: Wall Street romps toward records as jubilation sweeps markets worldwide

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is leaping toward records as a delayed jubilation sweeps markets worldwide following the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 was 1.9% higher in Thursday afternoon trading and above its all-time closing high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 580 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.8% higher. The gains followed rallies for markets across Europe and Asia. Some reports on the U.S. economy helped bolster hopes that it can manage to avoid a recession as the Fed continues to cut rates. Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market.

At Google antitrust trial, documents say one thing. The tech giant’s witnesses say different

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The judge who will decide whether Google holds a monopoly over technology that matches buyers and sellers of online advertising must choose whether to believe what Google executives wrote or what they’ve said on the witness stand. The Justice Department is wrapping up its antitrust case against Google this week at a federal courtroom in Virginia. The government contends Google has built and maintained a monopoly on the technology used to buy and sell the ads that appear to consumers when they browse the web. Numerous current and former Google employees have testified. Government lawyers believe internal documents are damning to Google’s case. Google employees have spent much time trying to explain away those documents.

Federal Reserve signals end to inflation fight with a sizable half-point rate cut

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point, a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates that helped tame inflation but also made borrowing painfully expensive for consumers. The rate cut, the Fed’s first in more than four years, reflects its new focus on bolstering the job market. Coming just weeks before the presidential election, the Fed’s move also has the potential to scramble the economic landscape just as Americans prepare to vote. The policymakers signaled that they expect to cut their key rate by an additional half-point in their final two meetings this year, in November and December. And they envision four more rate cuts in 2025 and two in 2026.

Biden says Fed made ‘declaration of progress’ with interest rate cut

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is celebrating the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates by saying it shows that inflation has eased. He told the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., on Thursday that he wasn’t declaring victory, but the country had entered a new phase of its recovery from the pandemic. Biden also criticized Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor who is running for another term this year. He said Trump would increase costs on Americans with tariffs that he described as a “new sales tax.”

The Lebanon explosions raise a question: Deep into the smartphone era, who is still using pagers?

Electronic pagers that were popular status symbols in the 1990s are used for communication precisely because they are old school. The devices run on batteries and radio waves. That generally makes them impervious to dead zones without WiFi, basements without cell service, hackings and catastrophic network collapses such as those during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Some medical professionals and emergency workers prefer pagers to cell phones or use the devices in combination. They’re handy for workers in remote locations, such as oil rigs and mines. The bloody, simultaneous pager explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday returned the spotlight to the 70-year-old technology.

The Federal Reserve is finally lowering rates. Here’s what consumers should know

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve has cut its benchmark interest rate from its 23-year high, with consequences for debt, savings, auto loans, mortgages and other forms of borrowing by consumers and businesses. The Fed announced that it reduced its key rate by an unusually large half-percentage point, to between 4.75 and 5 percent, the first rate cut in more than four years. The central bank is acting because, after imposing 11 rate hikes dating back to March 2022, it feels confident that inflation is finally mild enough that it can begin to ease the cost of borrowing. At the same time, the Fed has grown more concerned about the health of the job market.

Bank of England keeps its main interest rate on hold at 5% in wake of big US Fed rate cut

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is keeping its main interest rate unchanged at 5% despite a big cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve, its first since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic more than four years ago. The decision Thursday was widely expected amid ongoing concerns about inflation within the bank’s monetary policy committee, particularly the elevated levels in the crucial services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy. New inflation figures this week show that inflation overall in the U.K. held steady at an annual rate of 2.2% in August, still above the bank’s goal.

European Union moves to compel Apple to open up operating system to rival tech

LONDON (AP) — The European Union says it will outline steps to compel Apple to open up its iPhone and iPad operating systems to competing technologies under the bloc’s tough new digital rulebook, which threatens hefty fines for breaches. The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, said Thursday it has opened two “specification proceedings” that will spell out what Apple needs to do under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act. The DMA is designed to prevent Big Tech “gatekeepers” from dominating digital markets, including by breaking up closed tech ecosystems. Apple said it has created ways for apps in the European Union to request additional interoperability with iOS and iPadOS while protecting users.

US home sales fell in August despite easing mortgage rates, more homes on the market

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in August to the slowest annual pace in nearly a year even as mortgage rates eased and the supply of properties on the market kept rising. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that home sales fell 2.5% last month, from July, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million. Sales fell 4.2% compared with August last year. The latest home sales were short of the 3.9 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 14th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 3.1% from a year earlier to $416,700.

Senate panel OKs action against Steward Health Care CEO for defying subpoena

BOSTON (AP) — Members of a Senate committee looking into the bankruptcy of Texas-based Steward Health Care have adopted two resolutions designed to hold CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt for not testifying before the panel. Both resolutions will be sent to the full Senate for consideration. Thursday’s votes come after de la Torre refused to attend a committee hearing last week despite being issued a subpoena. An attorney for de la Torre says in a letter sent to the committee Wednesday that the committee’s request to have him testify would violate de la Torre’s Fifth Amendment rights.