Business News

Congressional Budget Office projects lower inflation and higher unemployment into 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office says it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years. The office’s Current View of the Economy from 2023 to 2025 report, released Friday, estimates that the unemployment rate will hit 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and remain close to that level through 2025. Compared with its February 2023 projections, CBO’s Friday report predicts weaker growth and lower unemployment.

How are Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea affecting global trade?

LONDON (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s major trade arteries. Attacks have increased since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October, and Israeli-linked vessels have been targeted. But recent missile strikes have hit vessels without any obvious Israeli ties, raising concerns about widening risks. On Friday Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, said that it’s instructed all of its vessels due to pass through a maritime chokepoint in the southern Red Sea to “pause their journey until further notice.” German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd that was operating a vessel attacked Friday also said it was pausing all its container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday.

2 attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strike container ships in vital Red Sea corridor

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has slammed into a cargo ship in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That followed another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel. The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean. The Houthis claimed the attacks and said their assaults on shipping would continue until food and medicine reach “our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip.”

Stock market today: Wall Street closes out its 7th straight weekly gain

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed out its longest weekly winning streak in six years after big gains earlier in the week on hopes for lower interest rates in the U.S. The S&P 500 ended an up-and-down day little changed Friday. It still posted a solid gain for the week and its seventh straight weekly gain. The Dow added 0.2%, reaching its third all-time high in a row. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Hopes for cuts to interest rates from the Federal Reserve in 2024 have sent Treasury yields tumbling this week, which releases pressure on the stock market.

US Treasury Department issues guidelines around a new tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel

The Treasury Department is spelling out the rules for tax credits designed to stimulate production of sustainable aviation fuel. That’s fuel that creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuel made from fossil fuels. Environmentalists said Friday they are concerned that the guidelines could boost fuel made from corn and sugar cane. They would rather see fuel produced from cooking oil and fats. Producers of sustainable aviation fuel will be eligible for tax credits ranging from $1.25 to $1.75 per gallon. Congress approved the credits last year as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

International court rules against Guatemala in a landmark Indigenous and environmental rights case

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Guatemala violated Indigenous rights by permitting a huge nickel mine on tribal land almost two decades ago, according to a ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Friday’s landmark verdict marks a monumental step in a four-decade struggle for Indigenous land rights and a bitter legal battle which has at times spilled into the streets. It also comes at the close of the U.N. climate summit COP28 which stressed the importance of renewables and energy transition minerals like nickel more than ever. The court ruled that the Guatemalan government had violated the rights of the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ people to property and consultation.

The $10 billion charity no one has heard of

A donor-advised fund devoted to supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has leapt from being a relatively minor charity to one with an asset size comparable to behemoths like the Andrew W. Mellon and David and Lucile Packard foundations. The SDG Impact Fund, based in Cartersville, Georgia, grew from $238 million in assets in 2020 to $10 billion in 2021. That eye-popping growth, which seems to have been fueled by the meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies and digital art assets, has prompted some questions from philanthropy and tax experts. The less stringent legal reporting requirements for DAFs compared with private foundations make it hard to understand SDG Impact Fund’s massive growth.

Turkish Airlines announces order for 220 additional aircraft from Airbus

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines, says it’s placing an order for 220 new planes from Airbus as it seeks to expand its fleet. In a statement Friday to Turkey’s public disclosures platform, Turkish Airlines announced that it will purchase 150 narrow-body A321 Neo aircraft in addition to 50 wide-body A350-900 jets, 15 of the A350-1000 planes and five A350F cargo aircraft. The company also says it would procure engine maintenance services and spare engines for the A350 aircraft from Rolls-Royce. Airbus said the latest order increases Turkish Airlines’ total order to 504 aircraft, adding that 212 have already been delivered. The airline is vying to turn its hub in Istanbul into a major center for international transport.

Airbnb agrees to pay $621 million to settle a tax dispute in Italy

ROME (AP) — Short-term rental platform Airbnb has agreed to pay 576 million euros ($621 million) to settle a years-long dispute over unpaid taxes in Italy but won’t try to recover the money from its hosts. Airbnb said in a statement on Wednesday that it was working on introducing new tools that would allow hosts to have their taxes withheld automatically by Airbnb and paid to the Italian authorities on their behalf. In November, Italian prosecutors said the company owed about 779 million euros ($840 million) in short-term rental taxes it had failed to pay on behalf of Italian landlords who used the platform between 2017 and 2021.

Why Argentina’s shock measures may be the best hope for its ailing economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The painful economic steps that Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, announced this week sound draconian: Slashing the currency’s value in half. Reducing aid to provincial governments. Suspending public works. Cutting subsidies for gas and electricity. Raising some taxes. Yet the South American country’s economy is such a basket case — and has been for so long — that many analysts believe that only such radical measures offer a realistic opportunity to rescue the economy. The critical question, economists say, is this: Will the Argentinian people – who gave Milei, a libertarian economist, nearly 56% of the vote in a runoff election last month – continue to back his plan once real economic pain inevitably sets in?