Month: February 2022

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Energy stocks powered through the broader market’s January slump and are poised to keep rising as long as oil prices stay high and worries about looming interest rate hikes remain. Oil companies and firms that provide services to the industry have been a safe bet as the economy

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits for the third straight week. Jobless claims fell by 16,000 to 223,000 last week, from 239,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell slightly after rising for five

PRAGUE (AP) — Budvar, the Czech brewer that has been in a long legal dispute with U.S. company Anheuser-Busch over use of the “Budweiser” brand, has registered a record output for the second pandemic year. Budejovicky Budvar NP, a 126-year-old state-owned brewery, says its output rose 4.6% to 1.8 million hectoliters (47.8 million gallons) in

BELFORT, France (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron says France plans to build six new nuclear reactors and to extend the life of existing nuclear plants. The plans are part of the country’s strategy to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Macron said on Thursday that the construction work is to start around

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — Nearly 60,000 bees have been stolen from a grocery store company’s field in Pennsylvania. Pennlive.com reports that the bees were said to have been stolen in Carlisle at the end of January. The Giant Company’s community impact manager said that the bees were an essential part of the local food chain

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Tesla is recalling nearly 579,000 vehicles in the U.S. because a “Boombox” function can play sounds over an external speaker and obscure audible warnings for pedestrians. The recall is the fourth made public in the last two weeks as U.S. safety regulators increase scrutiny of the

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Coca-Cola posted better-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter as venues like coffee shops and movie theaters continued to reopen. Coke Chairman and CEO James Quincey said the company saw some impact from the omicron variant in December and January, but the disruption was not as great as previous waves

By ALICE FUNG and DAVID RISING Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong residents are growing increasingly frustrated with ever tighter coronavirus restrictions imposed by city leaders in line with Beijing’s zero-COVID policy. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam ordered new strict measures to take effect Thursday as the highly-contagious omicron variant of the virus

By SALLY FRENCH of NerdWallet For many, supply chain issues mean that you didn’t get your kid the exact toy they wanted or that your favorite spice isn’t in stock at the grocery store. On the surface, some might think the hotel industry is immune to supply chain concerns. But it’s not, and it’s making

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hasn’t been able to escape his domestic woes during a trip to Belgium and Poland  aimed at increasing pressure on Russia over its troop buildup near Ukraine. Johnson was trying show NATO’s resolve in response to Russia massing troops near its neighbor’s

By HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — States are getting the go-ahead to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations that would place new or upgraded stations every 50 miles along interstate highways. It’s part of the Biden administration’s plan to spur widespread adoption of the zero-emission cars. The administration on Thursday

GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse has reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.2 billion as the top-drawer Swiss bank wrapped up “a year of challenges” marked by bad bets on a hedge fund, set asides for legal costs, and accounting changes due to its acquisition of a U.S. investment bank over 20 years ago. Switzerland’s second-largest

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is seeing its economic emergence from the unprecedented COVID-19 slowdown hampered by coronavirus-induced staff shortages, supply bottlenecks, runaway energy prices and subsequent inflation surges. The European Commission said Thursday that even though the economy has rebounded from losses at the height of the pandemic

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the Ukraine crisis has grown into “the most dangerous moment” for Europe in decades, while his top diplomat held icy talks with her Moscow counterpart who said the Kremlin won’t accept lectures from the West. As they spoke, Russian forces held

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany Siemens AG saw net profit at the global maker of trains and industrial equipment rise 20% to 1.8 billion euros in the last three months of 2021. The rebounding global economy increased orders for its goods, including a 1-billion euro order for high speed

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca has recorded a big jump in revenue as it begins to take a profit from its coronavirus vaccine for the first time. The company recorded full-year revenues of $37.4 billion, an increase of 38% from the year before at constant exchange rates. Part of the boost came from $4 billion in

By MOSA’AB ELSHAMY Associated Press IGHRAN, Morocco (AP) — The death of a 5-year-old boy trapped for days in the dark depths of a well symbolizes for many villagers a curse that haunts their remote mountainous region in northern Morocco. Rif is dirt poor, neglected and dependent on its illegal cannabis crop to survive. Rayan’s

PARIS (AP) — Authorities in France and Belgium have banned road blockades threatened by groups organizing online against COVID-19 restrictions. The events are in part inspired by protesters in Canada. Citing “risks of trouble to public order,” the Paris police department banned protests aimed at “blocking the capital” from Friday through Monday. Online chat groups

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — A newspaper says a Chinese real estate developer that is struggling under $310 billion in debt is promising to deliver 600,000 apartments this year. That is a show of confidence that Evergrande Group can can avert a collapse and resume normal business. The company has left

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will begin offering Novavax Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine at hospitals, nursing homes and public health centers next week, adding another tool to fight a fast-developing omicron surge. The country reported a record 54,122 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, but officials are expressing cautious hope

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A peace agreement for eastern Ukraine has remained stalled for years. But it has come into the spotlight again amid a Russian military buildup near Ukraine that has fueled invasion fears. Top officials from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany are set to meet in Berlin on Thursday