Business News

Boeing factory strike ends as workers vote to accept contract

SEATTLE (AP) — A strike by 33,000 Boeing factory workers is coming to an end after more than seven weeks. The aerospace giant’s unionized machinists voted on Monday to accept a company contract offer that includes a 38% wage increase over four years. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers says 59% of its members who cast ballots agreed to approve the third Boeing offer put to a vote. The strike started in mid-September and deprived the company of much-needed cash by shutting down production at its factories in the Pacific Northwest. The union says the machinists it represents can return to work as soon as Wednesday. President Joe Biden congratulated the two sides.

Strike at Boeing was part of a new era of labor activism long in decline at US work places

Aircraft assembly workers at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere ended a seven-week strike overnight. Over the last few years, organized labor drew a line in the sand, demanding more pay and better benefits during negotiations. Union leaders demanded that U.S. companies make good after what they viewed as sacrifices made by workers during turbulent, industry specific economic times, and also during the COVID-19 pandemic. From Detroit automakers to Las Vegas casinos, here’s a look at some recent company negotiations with their unions and how it played out.

Stock market today: Wall Street rallies on Election Day as economy remains solid

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rallying as voters head to the polls on the last day of the presidential election and as more data piles up to show the economy remains solid. The S&P 500 rose 1% Tuesday and is moving closer to its record set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 345 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.2%. Excitement about the artificial-intelligence boom helped lift Wall Street following a strong profit report from Palantir Technologies. So did a report showing growth accelerated last month for U.S. services businesses, beating economists’ expectations for a slowdown.

You may have blocked someone on X but now they can see your public posts anyway

Elon Musk’s X has been modified so that accounts you’ve blocked on the social media platform can still see your public posts. X updated its Help Center page over the weekend to explain how blocking now works on the site. While you can still block accounts, those accounts will now be able to see your posts unless you have made your account private. They won’t be able to reply to them or repost them. Blocked accounts also won’t be able to follow you and you won’t be able to follow them, as has been the case before the policy change.

Bernie Marcus, The Home Depot co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, dies at 95

NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the co-founder of The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement chain, a billionaire philanthropist, and a big Republican donor, has died. He was 95. Marcus died Monday in Boca Raton, Florida, surrounded by family, according to a Home Depot spokesperson. Marcus was Home Depot’s CEO as it grew rapidly during its first two decades, and was chairman of the board until his retirement in 2002. In recent years, he became an outspoken supporter of former president Donald Trump, donating nearly $5 million to the Republican Party between 2016 and 2020.

China files complaint at World Trade Organization over EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

GENEVA (AP) — China has moved forward with a complaint at the World Trade Organization that alleges the European Union has improperly set anti-subsidy tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles. The Chinese diplomatic mission to the WTO said Monday it “strongly opposes” the measures. It insisted its move was designed to protect the EV industry and support a global transition toward greener technologies. The European bloc announced last week it was imposing import duties of up to 35% on electric vehicles from China.

South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s privacy watchdog has fined Meta 21.6 billion won for illegally collecting Facebook users’ sensitive personal information, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers for targeted advertisements. It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company handles private information. South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information of around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, and shared the data with 4,000 advertisers.

Saudi oil giant Aramco posts third-quarter profits of $27.5 billion, down 15% from a year earlier

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco has reported third-quarter profits of $27.5 billion, down about 15% from last year as low oil prices ate into its revenues. Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., had revenues of $111.1 billion over the quarter. That’s according to a company filing Tuesday on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. It made $113 billion the same quarter last year. Profit for the first nine months of 2024 was $83.9 billion, down from $94.5 billion the year before. Oil prices have been depressed in recent days as tensions in the Middle East appear to have receded slightly and as China’s economy has slowed. Benchmark Brent crude traded Tuesday at around $75 a barrel.

A courtroom of relief: FBI recovers funds for victims of scammed banker

WICHITA, KANSAS (AP) — Cheers and sobs of relief broke out in a federal courtroom in Kansas as dozens of people whose life savings had been embezzled by a bank CEO learned federal law enforcement had recovered their money. Seventy-year-old Bart Camilli said he couldn’t describe the weight lifted from his shoulders when he learned he’d be getting back nearly $450,000 in lifelong savings. In August, former Kansas bank CEO Shan Hanes was sentenced to 24 years for embezzling $47 million from customer accounts — money prosecutors say was sent to scammers. The victims learned they would get their money back at a restitution hearing Monday.

Many retailers offer ‘returnless refunds.’ Just don’t expect them to talk much about it

It’s one of the most under-publicized policies of some of the biggest U.S. retailers: sometimes they give customers full refunds and let them keep unwanted items too. Returnless refunds are a tool that more retailers are using to keep online shoppers happy and to reduce shipping fees, processing time and other ballooning from mountains of returned products. Companies such as Amazon, Walmart and Target have decided some items are not worth the cost or hassle of getting back. Think a $20 T-shirt that might cost $30 in shipping and handling to recover. While the practice is not exactly a trade secret, the way it works is shrouded in mystery.