Business News Archives

Stock market today: Wall Street slides after Treasury yields climb back above 4% and oil rises

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks slid after Treasury yields hit their highest levels since the summer and oil prices continued to climb. The S&P 500 fell 1% Monday, though it’s still close to its all-time high set a week ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9% from its record set on Friday. The Nasdaq composite lost 1.2%. Stocks felt pressure from jumping Treasury yields, as traders ratchet back forecasts for how deeply the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rates following Friday’s blowout jobs report. Crude oil prices added to their big gains from the prior week.… Continue Reading

Stock market today: Oil prices jump again on worries about the Middle East as Wall Street fades

NEW YORK (AP) — Crude prices jumped on worries about worsening tensions in the Middle East, while U.S. stocks pulled back further from their records. The S&P 500 edged down by 0.2% Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped by less than 0.1%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude leaped 5% and is potentially on track for its biggest weekly percentage gain in nearly two years. It rose after President Joe Biden suggested officials were discussing a possible strike by Israel against Iranian oil facilities, though no move looks imminent. Treasury yields rose following signals the U.S. economy remains solid.… Continue Reading

Stock market today: Wall Street edges higher as financial markets steady themselves

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting near their record levels. The S&P 500 was basically flat in midday trading Wednesday, a day after sliding from its record on worries about a possible widening of the fighting in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 21 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher. Oil prices rose again as the world waits to see how Israel will respond to Tuesday’s missile attack from Iran, but they pared their gains as the morning progressed. Treasury yields rose after an encouraging update on hiring by private U.S. employers.… Continue Reading

Wall Street retreats from records and oil prices jump after Iran’s missile attack on Israel

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are retreating from their records as worries worsen about the escalating violence in the Middle East. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% in afternoon trading Tuesday, a day after setting an all-time high for the 43rd time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 259 points, or 0.6%, after coming off its own record. The Nasdaq composite fell 2%. Oil prices jumped as Iran launched missiles at Israel, worsening tensions that investors worry could lead to disruptions in the flow of crude from the region. Treasury yields fell following an encouraging update on inflation in Europe.… Continue Reading

Stock market today: Wall Street sets more records to close a winning September and third quarter

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed its latest winning month and quarter with more records. The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% Monday to an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 17 points, or less than 0.1%, to its record set on Friday. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Wall Street has catapulted to records on hopes the slowing U.S. economy can keep growing while the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to offer it more juice. A big test will arrive Friday, when the U.S. government offers its latest monthly update on the job market. In Asia, Japanese stocks tumbled, and Chinese stocks soared.… Continue Reading

Fed Chair Powell says the US economy is in ‘solid shape’ with more rate cuts coming

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that more rate cuts are in the pipeline, though their size and speed will depend on the evolution of the economy. At their last meeting, Fed officials penciled in two more quarter-point rate cuts to be made at the central bank’s final meetings this year. In remarks Monday before the National Association for Business Economics in Nashville, Tennessee, Powell said the economy and hiring are largely healthy. He emphasized that the Fed is recalibrating its key interest rate, which is now at about 4.8%.… Continue Reading

Google expert at antitrust trial says government underestimates competition for online ad dollars

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An expert witness testifying for Google says an antitrust case brought against the tech giant drastically underestimates the company’s competition. Economist Mark Israel testified Thursday for Google during the third week of trial in Alexandria, Virginia. The Justice Department and several states contend Google holds an illegal monopoly over the technology that matches online advertisers to publishers, a multibillion-dollar industry. Israel says the government’s case doesn’t account for changes that have occurred in online advertising over the past 10 years. In particular, the government fails to recognize that social media companies and online retailers like Amazon are competing directly with Google.… Continue Reading

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks to another record as stocks worldwide rally

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to another record as financial markets around the world rallied again. The S&P 500 added 0.4% Thursday to set an all-time high for the third time this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6%. Micron Technology led the way after the maker of computer memory and storage delivered stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. That helped offset drops for oil-and-gas companies, which sank as the price of crude tumbled. Stock markets overseas climbed on hopes for additional stimulus from China for the world’s second-largest economy.… Continue Reading

Diners are skipping restaurants and making more meals at home as inflation trend inverts

NEW YORK (AP) — Eating in is in and eating out is out. That’s the message that inflation-squeezed consumers have been sending to fast-food companies and other restaurants. Meanwhile food producers are benefitting from more palatable prices in grocery store aisles. Inflation has been easing broadly for more than a year, and it’s been cooling faster for grocery items since the middle of the year. The current trend marks a reversal from previous years when grocery inflation outpaced restaurants as food producers raised prices, often while fattening their profit margins.… Continue Reading

US economy grew at a solid 3% rate last quarter, government says in final estimate

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual pace from April through June, boosted by strong consumer spending and business investment, the government said, leaving its previous estimate unchanged. The nation’s gross domestic product — the nation’s total output of goods and services — picked up sharply in the second quarter from the tepid 1.6% annual rate in the first three months of the year. Consumer spending, the primary driver of the economy, grew last quarter at a 2.8% pace, down slightly from the 2.9% rate the government had previously estimated. The final GDP estimate for the April-June quarter included figures showing that inflation continues to ease, to just above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.… Continue Reading