Business News

Airlines say they found loose parts in door panels during inspections of Boeing Max 9 jets

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal investigators are learning more about how a door panel flew off an Alaska Airlines jetliner last week. National Transportation Safety Board officials said Monday that the door panel slid up before flying off the plane. And they’re looking into whether four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place might have been missing when the plane took off. Those comments came after Alaska Airlines and United Airlines reported finding loose parts in the panels — or door plugs — of some other Boeing 737 Max 9 jets. The findings are putting more pressure on Boeing to address safety concerns. The aircraft maker has called an online meeting for all employees Tuesday to talk about safety.

Global economy will slow for a third straight year in 2024, World Bank predicts

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hobbled by high interest rates, persistent inflation, slumping trade and a diminished China, the global economy will slow for a third consecutive year in 2024. That is the picture sketched by the World Bank, which forecasts that the world economy will expand just 2.4% this year. That would be down from 2.6% growth in 2023, 3% in 2022 and a galloping 6.2% in 2021, which reflected the robust recovery from the pandemic recession. Heightened global tensions, arising particularly from Israel’s war with Hamas and the conflict in Ukraine, pose the risk of even weaker growth. And World Bank officials express worry that deeply indebted poor countries cannot afford to make necessary investments to fight climate change and poverty.

Microsoft’s OpenAI investment could trigger EU merger review

LONDON (AP) — The European Union says Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI could trigger a merger investigation. The EU’s executive branch said Tuesday that it’s “checking whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable” under regulations covering mergers and acquisitions that would harm competition in the 27-nation bloc. The review could lead to a formal investigation into whether the deal should be unconditionally cleared, allowed with concessions from the companies or blocked. Britain’s antitrust watchdog opened a similar review last month. Antitrust enforcers in the U.S. also have signaled concerns about competition in the AI industry. OpenAI has received several rounds of funding from Microsoft, including a multibillion-dollar investment last year.

Stock market today: Wall Street slips as some of the prior day’s big moves unwind

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is slipping in early trading and giving back some of its big gain from the day before. The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower Tuesday, a day after its best day in nearly two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 240 points, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.6%. Tech stocks were back to sinking, a day after leading the market. They weakened as Treasury yields held steadier. Oil prices also recovered some of their sharp losses from the day before. Financial markets broadly have had a slow start to the year after roaring into the end of 2023.

GE business to fill massive order for turbines to power Western Hemisphere’s largest wind project

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One of the world’s largest renewable energy developers will be getting hundreds of wind turbines from General Electric business GE Vernova as part of a record equipment order and long-term service deal. The manufacturer announced the agreement Tuesday and said it will deliver 674 of the towering turbines for Pattern Energy’s SunZia Wind Project in central New Mexico. The project is to come online in 2026 and is expected to become the biggest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere. Backers say it will eventually funnel electricity it produces across a multibillion-dollar transmission line to populated western U.S. markets.

New rule tightens worker classification standards; Uber, Lyft say their drivers won’t be affected

The Biden administration has enacted a new labor rule that aims to prevent the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. The labor department rule going into effect Tuesday replaces a scrapped Trump-era standard that lowered the bar for classifying employees as contractors. Such workers neither receive federal minimum wage protections nor qualify for employee benefits, such as health coverage and paid sick days. Major business groups have opposed the new rule, saying could threaten the flexibility of many workers who want to be contractors. However, major app-based platforms such as Uber and Lyft have expressed confidence that their drivers are properly classified as gig workers under the new rule.

CES 2024 updates: The most interesting news and gadgets from tech’s big show

LAS VEGAS (AP) — CES 2024 kicks off in Las Vegas this week. The multi-day trade event put on by the Consumer Technology Association is set to feature swaths of the latest advances and gadgets across personal tech, transportation, health care, sustainability and more. Burgeoning uses of artificial intelligence almost everywhere you look. The Associated Press will be keeping a running report of everything we find interesting from the floor of CES, from the most interesting developments in vehicle tech, to wearables designed to improve accessibility to the newest smart home gadgets.

CES 2024 is upon us. Here’s what to expect from this year’s annual show of all-things tech

LAS VEGAS (AP) — CES, the Consumer Technology Association’s annual show of all-things tech, is kicking off in Las Vegas this week. The multi-day event, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, is set to feature swaths of the industry’s latest advances and gadgets across personal tech, transportation, health care and more — with burgeoning uses of artificial intelligence almost everywhere you look. The Consumer Technology Association bills CES as the world’s largest audited tech event held in-person. Organizers hope to bring in some 130,000 attendees this year. More than 4,000 exhibitors, including over 1,200 startups, are also expected across 2.5 million net square feet of exhibit space.

Tiger Woods, Nike end partnership after more than 27 years

Tiger Woods is no longer a Nike athlete after 27 years, ending a partnership between the swoosh and golf’s biggest star and raising questions about the future of both in the sport. Woods in a social media post thanked Nike co-founder Phil Knight for his “passion and vision” that brought Nike and the Nike Golf partnership with Woods together. Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports, confirmed the end of the deal that began in 1996. Nike also posted to social media, saying in a photo, “It was a hell of a round, Tiger.”

Zelenskyy, Blinken, Israeli president and more will come to Davos to talk about global challenges

LONDON (AP) — More than 60 heads of state and government and hundreds of business leaders will discuss the biggest global challenges during the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Switzerland next week. Among those who will be descending on the Alpine town of Davos will be Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Attendees have their work cut out for them with two major wars and problems like climate change, a weak global economy and AI-powered misinformation in a major election year. Forum President Borge Brende said Tuesday that the event will “bring together the right people” to “look at opportunities to cooperate.”