Business
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If the Fed is cutting interest rates, why are mortgages and business loans costing more?
While the Federal Reserve has cut its short-term interest rate target by three-quarters of a percentage point since mid-September, 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage rates rose by almost as much during that period and have lately averaged around 6.8%, higher than they were when the Fed began cutting, according to Freddie Mac, the home-loan ...Read more
Minnesota homeowners say they were hit with huge hidden fees when going solar
It was an interest rate so low that John Ahnemann felt he couldn’t turn it down.
So Ahnemann, a real estate agent living in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, signed the paperwork last year for a $46,500 loan at 3.49% interest to put 17 solar panels on his house and garage.
“I have no idea how they’re able to do this,” he said, ...Read more
J.D. Power: More than one quarter of bank customers experienced fraud
Having fraudulent transactions on your bank account can be a scary and frustrating experience, even traumatic. But if you have a bank and financial institution — be it a bank or credit union — that cares about the security of your money, resolving the issue well could give you a lasting peace of mind.
That’s likely why 92% of bank ...Read more
Google's Chrome to fetch up to $20 Billion If judge orders sale
Alphabet Inc.’s Chrome browser could go for as much as $20 billion if a judge agrees to a Justice Department proposal to sell the business, in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
The department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search market, to require...Read more
Comcast to spin off MSNBC, CNBC and cable channels
Comcast Corp. is cleaving off a huge chunk of its television portfolio to create a new company composed of its cable channels, including MSNBC and CNBC.
The Philadelphia-based cable giant plans to unveil the spinoff as well as a new corporate structure for NBCUniversal on Wednesday morning, according to three people familiar with the matter who...Read more
Colorado Democrats plan bill to remove state's unique barrier to union organizing
Flanked by dozens of union members, a group of Colorado Democrats unveiled legislation Tuesday to remove a unique barrier to union organizing in the state.
The proposal, which will not be introduced until the legislative session starts in early January, would repeal an 81-year-old requirement that unions in Colorado pass a second election to ...Read more
Trump team targets auto mileage rules he blasted as 'EV mandate'
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration is looking to slash fuel-efficiency requirements for new cars and light trucks as part of plans to unwind Biden policies he’s blasted as an “EV mandate,” according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump advisers plan to reexamine fuel economy requirements that were finalized in ...Read more
Walmart could raise prices when Trump takes office
Donald Trump’s second term as president could spell higher costs for Walmart shoppers.
The retail giant’s CFO told CNBC that if the tariffs Trump spoke about on the campaign trail are actually implemented, prices on some products may be impacted.
“We never want to raise prices,” executive John David Rainey confessed Tuesday. “But ...Read more
Google's Chrome to fetch up to $20 Billion If judge orders sale
Alphabet Inc.’s Chrome browser could go for as much as $20 billion if a judge agrees to a Justice Department proposal to sell the business, in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
The department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search market, to require...Read more
Disney's streaming business is profitable. Has direct-to-consumer hit a turning point?
It took billions of dollars in losses, a company-wide overhaul, cost-cutting and price hikes to get there, but Bob Iger and Walt Disney Co. appear to have reached a long-awaited turning point in the streaming business.
Disney direct-to-consumer operations — a combination of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — have been profitable two straight ...Read more
Job market is turning chilly for recent US college graduates
In a cooling U.S. labor market, recent college graduates are among those feeling the chill most.
The gap between the unemployment rate for recent graduates and the overall rate for Americans with a college degree widened to 2.8 percentage points in September, according to data published Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s...Read more
With Trump vowing deportations, workers in Los Angeles race the clock for a reprieve
LOS ANGELES — A line of immigrant workers formed outside an office building in Koreatown on a recent Friday afternoon.
They followed makeshift signs to a small courtyard, where scores of volunteer lawyers, translators and other staff helped them apply for a little-known federal program that offers an unusual — and probably fleeting — ...Read more
More food companies are getting snatched up, and they all have something in common
When Steve Young sat down to talk about the food industry in September, the managing partner at investment firm Manna Tree predicted that as major players struggle to sell more food, “they’re going to be looking for acquisitions.”
“It’s companies that can prove customer loyalty, where you’re doing something different for the ...Read more
New FCC chair is a fan of Elon Musk, not diversity initiatives
Brendan Carr, the incoming chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, plans to challenge big technology and broadcast companies over their content choices and kill diversity and inclusion initiatives at the agency that oversees the nation’s telecom, internet and media industries.
Late Sunday, shortly after President-elect Donald Trump...Read more
DOJ will push Google to sell Chrome to break search monopoly
Top Justice Department antitrust officials have decided to ask a judge to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the biggest tech companies in the world.
The department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search market, to require ...Read more
What could Trump's second term mean for Amazon?
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, Seattle’s largest employer has a lot on the line.
Even though Amazon, like other retailers, is likely to face higher costs if Trump follows through on campaign promises to raise tariffs, the tech and e-commerce giant is still set to benefit from an administration billing itself as pro-...Read more
Motormouth: When will gas go bad?
Q: So, in the 1960s my parents said I learned to read by reading the Tribune sports section. I have been a life-long subscriber and have enjoyed your straightforward advice. Now that I’ve entered my sixties, I finally have a question for you. I am considering a PHEV as I work close to home and usually drive no more than 15 miles a day and may ...Read more
Sixth Tesla Cybertruck recall hits more than 2,000 owners, who must bring vehicles in for fix
Owners of certain Tesla Cybertrucks will have to visit the repair shop after Tesla issued a recall affecting 2,400 of the electric vehicles over possible sudden loss of power to the wheels.
At issue is a transistor in some trucks built between Nov. 6, 2023 and July 30. Failure of the component could lead to a non-responsive accelerator pedal ...Read more
The world's 10 richest people: The wealthiest have $100 billion or more
The world’s wealthiest people have several things in common, but one of the most prominent is that the 10 richest have more than $100 billion to their name. The very top have more than $200 billion. These amounts don’t consist of cash sitting in a bank but are mainly investments, often of some of the largest publicly traded companies, which ...Read more
California agriculture faces significant losses as avian flu outbreak spreads. 'It's a mess'
As an outbreak of the avian flu continues to wreak havoc on California agriculture, the number of infected animals and workers is stacking up.
As of Friday, state agriculture officials confirmed 294 dairies — representing a little more than 25% of the state’s 1,100 dairies — are now under quarantine due to the H5N1 avian flu.
On the ...Read more
Popular Stories
- The world's 10 richest people: The wealthiest have $100 billion or more
- Sixth Tesla Cybertruck recall hits more than 2,000 owners, who must bring vehicles in for fix
- Trump team targets auto mileage rules he blasted as 'EV mandate'
- Google's Chrome to fetch up to $20 Billion If judge orders sale
- With Trump vowing deportations, workers in Los Angeles race the clock for a reprieve