Business News

LA neighbors have vastly different post-wildfire rebuilding options due to insurance crisis

Next-door neighbors lost their near-identical homes in a California wildfire, but how they are navigating rebuilding is a story of contrasting fortunes and unequal recovery, a stark reflection of the nation’s growing home insurance crisis. Louise Hamlin’s house in Altadena was privately insured, while Chris Wilson was forced onto the state’s bare-bones insurance program that critics dub “The Unfair Plan.” Hamlin’s insurance has already paid out nearly a million dollars and she is searching for contractors to rebuild. Wilson meanwhile faces the prospect of loans, lawsuits and may have to leave California. They’re among thousands of people who lost everything in the Eaton and Palisades fires, which were among the most destructive in California history.

Researchers link DeepSeek’s blockbuster chatbot to Chinese telecom banned from doing business in US

WASHINGTON (AP) — Security researchers say the website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that’s been barred from operating in the United States. DeepSeek’s chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States. The chatbot’s web login page contains heavily obfuscated computer script that when deciphered shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company. The code appears to be part of the account creation and user login process for DeepSeek. DeepSeek and China Mobile haven’t responded to emails seeking comment.

Aliens, sloths and silliness: Super Bowl ads offer laughs, celebs and surprises to win over viewers

NEW YORK (AP) — Eugene Levy’s trademark eyebrows fly off for Little Caesars. A tongue dances to Shania Twain to promote Nestle’s Coffee Mate Cold Foam. And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite at Katz’s in an ad for Hellmann’s. A frenzied mix of silliness and celebrities is hitting the airwaves and the Internet, and that means one thing: it is Super Bowl ad time again. Like every year, it’s an intense battle to capture the attention of the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune into the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Fox on Sunday. So veteran advertisers are using tried-and-true tactics like celebrity cameos, humor and cute animals to win over watchers, while first-time and newer advertisers are courting outrageousness and using stunts to try to stand out.

Nonprofit’s lawsuit over the federal funding freeze is part of an ‘avalanche’ of litigation

NEW YORK (AP) — A new coalition of nonprofits came together overnight to challenge a seemingly sweeping order from the Trump administration last week pausing trillions of dollars in federal funding. They succeeded in blocking that order, at least for now. A judge ruled Monday to allow the lawsuit to move forward and extended a temporary restraining order. It’s the start of what nonprofits expect will be a deluge of court actions. Skye Perryman is the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which brought the nonprofit coalition’s suit. She predicts “an avalanche of litigation to stop unlawful activity.”

Fast fashion, laptops and toys are likely to cost more due to US tariffs on Chinese imports

A sweeping new U.S. tariff on products made in China is expected to increase the prices American consumers pay for a wide array of products. An additional 10% tariff on all Chinese goods is likely drive up prices for ultra-cheap apparel sold on online shopping platforms, toys and electronic devices such as computers and cellphones. The tariffs also may affect how much consumers pay for shoes and kitchen items like pots and pans, as well as the big-ticket items, such as appliances, furniture and auto parts. The tariffs on Chinese imports took effect after President Donald Trump agreed to pause his threatened tariffs against Mexico and Canada for 30 days.

US Postal Service flip-flops on Hong Kong-China packages, lifting a ban imposed a day earlier

HONG KONG (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is reversing course a day after placing a ban on all inbound packages from China and Hong Kong. The post office had announced Tuesday that it would no longer accept parcels from the China and Hong Kong after the U.S. imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods and ended a customs exception that allowed small value parcels to enter the U.S. without paying tax. The Postal Service reversed course Wednesday but gave no reason. The post office pointed to the short prepared statement on the reversal when asked for more details about the reversal Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Google’s rising holiday’s season ad sales aren’t enough to ease worries about AI letdown

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google’s digital ad sales continued to grow at a healthy clip during the holiday season, but that wasn’t enough to offset investors’ worries about whether its big bet on artificial intelligence will be as lucrative as once envisioned. The October-December results released Tuesday by Google parent Alphabet Inc. showed the company is continuing to reap even more profits from its dominant search engine and other peripheral services. Alphabet’s profit climbed 28% from the previous year to $26.5 billion to eclipse analyst projections, but revenue fell slightly below forecasts. More importantly, revenue growth in the Google Cloud division tethered to the AI craze wasn’t as robust as had been anticipated.

Box-office smash ‘Moana 2’ drives Disney profit in the first quarter

NEW YORK (AP) — Disney easily topped first-quarter expectations thanks in part to the box office success of “Moana 2.” The Walt Disney Co. earned $2.55 billion, or $1.40 per share, for the period ended Dec. 28. The Burbank, California-based company earned $1.91 billion, or $1.04 per share, in the prior-year period. Stripping out certain items, earnings were $1.76 per share. This topped the $1.44 per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research anticipated. CEO Bob Iger said during Disney’s conference call that the company is actually very pleased with its subscriber growth for Disney+ and Hulu, particularly because it raised prices.

Stock market today: Most of Wall Street rises as earnings reporting season ramps up

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street drifted higher as gains for most stocks outweighed drops for Alphabet and some other big-name companies following their latest profit reports. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% Wednesday following mixed trading across European and Asian markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.2%. Mattel jumped after blowing past profit expectations for the latest quarter. It helped offset a drop for Alphabet after Google’s parent company reported slowing growth for its cloud business. Treasury yields fell in the bond market after a report said growth for U.S. services businesses fell short of expectations.

Amazon’s Whole Foods asks agency to set aside the results of a union win at a Philadelphia store

Amazon-owned Whole Foods is asking the National Labor Relations Board to set aside the results of a union election that led to a labor win. In a filing submitted to the agency this week, attorneys for Whole Foods Market argued the union involved with the election at a store in Philadelphia interfered with the process. Among other things, the company said the union provided free transportation to workers on the day of the vote. UFCW Local 1776, the local union that pulled off the win, called the company’s allegations baseless. It also said the objections filed by Whole Foods was a legal maneuvering done to delay the bargaining process.