Business News

Stock market today: Most of Wall Street rolls higher as bitcoin bounces above $84,000

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising and adding to the gains made during their best week of the year. The S&P 500 added 0.1% in Monday afternoon trading, coming off last week’s spurt spurred by Donald Trump’s presidential victory and the Federal Reserve’s cut to interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 344 points, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%. Elon Musk’s Tesla was the strongest single force pushing the S&P 500 higher. Bank stocks and other popular Trump trades also led the market, helping to offset drops for Nvidia and AbbVie. Bitcoin’s price topped $84,000 for the first time.

Singles’ Day shopping festival loses its shine under China’s lagging economy

HONG KONG (AP) — The Singles’ Day shopping festival looks less attractive this year amid a sluggish economy, forcing e-commerce firms to look abroad for growth. Online service provider and e-commerce platform Alibaba started the now-famous event on Nov. 11, 2009, offering attractive discounts to entice shoppers to spend more. The extravaganza, also known as “Double 11,” has since expanded to other platforms and countries. But consumers in China are no longer going all out on spending sprees as a real estate crisis and deflationary pressures drag down China’s domestic economy. The festival has long been regarded as a barometer of consumer sentiment.

Vatican, Microsoft create AI-generated St. Peter’s Basilica to allow virtual visits, log damage

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica has been created using artificial intelligence to explore one of the world’s most important monument’s. The new digital platform — a collaboration between the Vatican and Microsoft — will help the Holy See to manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems, such as cracks and fissures invisible to the naked eye. Some 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs were taken with drones and other cameras over four weeks when no one was in the world-famous basilica. Microsoft president Brad Smith said creating an exact digital replica had been one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind.

Carvana CEO says price declines and interest rate cuts should make used vehicles more affordable

DETROIT (AP) — Since it started selling cars in 2013, Carvana has disrupted the U.S. used vehicle market with no-haggle pricing and an online buying process that cuts out the often-dreaded salesman. The Tempe, Arizona, company took advantage of many buyers’ fear of negotiating with a dealer, letting them purchase vehicles via computer and have them delivered to their homes. CEO and co-founder Ernie Garcia says the company has lower costs than conventional dealerships because it doesn’t have expensive real estate across the nation. It does have 17 centers nationwide where used vehicles are reconditioned before sale. So far the company has sold about 2 million vehicles, with sales now running at a rate of 400,000 per year.

US regulators investigating whether engines on 1.4 million Hondas might fail

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that engines can fail on as many as 1.4 million Honda and Acura vehicles. The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers the 2016 through 2020 Honda Pilot and Acura MDX, as well as the 2018 through 2020 Honda Odyssey and Acura TLX. Also included is the 2017 through 2019 Honda Ridgeline. The agency says connecting rod bearings on vehicles with 3.5-liter V6 engines can fail, leading to complete engine failure. Honda recalled about 250,000 vehicles in 2023 to fix the same problem. But the agency says it has 173 complaints from owners who reported bearing failures, yet their vehicles weren’t included in the recall. Honda said it will cooperate with NHTSA on the investigation.

Veterans face challenges starting small businesses but there are plenty of resources to help

NEW YORK (AP) — Many veterans who’ve started small businesses tell a similar story: Their military service prepared them mentally for the task, but they were at a disadvantage when it came to the financial part. “Vetrepreneurs” – veterans that start small businesses — own nearly 2 million small businesses that employ 5.5 million people in the U.S., according to the Small Business Administration. They take in about $1.3 trillion in revenue annually. Their numbers have shrunk, however, as the veteran population has aged. In a 2023 report, the SBA found veteran ownership declined from 11% of businesses in 2014 to 8.1% in 2020.

Mattel says it ‘deeply’ regrets misprint on ‘Wicked’ dolls packaging that links to porn site

NEW YORK (AP) — Toy giant Mattel says it “deeply” regrets an error on the packaging of its “Wicked” movie-themed dolls, which mistakenly links toy buyers to a pornographic website. The error gained attention on social media over the weekend, where numerous users shared photos of the URL printed on the back of the boxes for the special edition dolls, which feature characters from the movie adaptation of “Wicked” set to hit theaters later this month. Instead of linking to Universal Pictures’ official WickedMovie.com page, the website listed leads to an adult film site that requires consumers to be over 18 to enter. Mattel says it has been made aware of the misprint and is taking action to remedy the mistake.