Business Highlights
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US economy may be stalling out as viral outbreak worsens
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is stumbling as the viral outbreak is intensifying across the country, threatening to slow hiring even as the unemployment rate remains in double-digits. Coronavirus case counts are rising in 38 states and the U.S. set a record for the most new cases earlier this week. In six states representing one-third of the U.S. economy — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, and Texas — governors are reversing their reopening plans. Reopening efforts are on pause in another 15 states.
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Biden pledges New Deal-like economic agenda to counter Trump
DUNMORE, Pa. (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden is turning his campaign against President Donald Trump toward the economy. On Thursday, he introduced a New Deal-like economic agenda while drawing a sharp contrast with a billionaire incumbent he said has abandoned working-class Americans amid cascading crises. Biden presented details of a comprehensive agenda that he touted as the most aggressive government investment in the U.S. economy since World War II. He also accused Trump of ignoring the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis while encouraging division amid a national reckoning with systemic racism. The economy was expected to be a strength for Trump in his reelection bid before the pandemic.
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Most of Wall Street wilts amid worries on virus, economy
NEW YORK (AP) — Most of Wall Street wilted Thursday on worries that the economy’s recent improvements may be set to fade as coronavirus cases keep climbing. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%, with three in four stocks within the index falling. The sharpest drops hit oil companies, airlines and other stocks whose fortunes are most closely tied to a reopening and strengthening economy. Treasury yields also sank in another sign of increased caution. Smaller stocks sank more than the rest of the market, which often happens when investors are downgrading their expectations for the economy. Tech stocks were an outlier, helping the Nasdaq to rise.
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Brazil asks investment firms to adopt protected Amazon areas
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s government has proposed that global asset-managers adopt protected areas in the Amazon rainforest in order to curb illegal deforestation ahead of the season farmers traditionally use fire to clear land and brush. The proposal by Vice President Hamilton Mourão, who heads the government’s council on the Amazon region, comes after a group of mainly European investment firms sent a letter last month expressing concern over rising deforestation and demanded forceful action against illegal activities in the Amazon. The 34 firms that have now signed onto the initiative have a total $4.6 trillion in assets under management.
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Record low US mortgage rates for the third consecutive week
BALTIMORE (AP) — Rates on 30-year mortgages have fallen to record lows for the third consecutive week, a sign of the lack of inflation across a weak economy despite persistent demand from homebuyers. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the key 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.03%, down from 3.07% last week and 3.13% two weeks prior. These were the lowest levels since Freddie Mac began tracking averages in 1971.
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Sur La Table closing stores, seeking bankruptcy protection
SEATTLE (AP) — Cookware and kitchen chain Sur La Table is closing 56 of its 121 stores as it seeks bankruptcy protection, the latest retail casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. The privately held Seattle-based company says it has agreed to sell its remaining stores to affiliates of Fortress Investment Group following the bankruptcy procedure and store closures. The post-sale company will also include its in-person and online cooking classes, and its e-commerce business. Sur La Table had its start in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1972.
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Setbacks hamper pipeline industry backed by Trump
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. energy boom and strong backing from President Donald Trump propelled a major expansion of the nation’s sprawling oil and gas pipeline network in the past decade. But mounting political pressure and legal setbacks have put its future growth in doubt — even as the pandemic saps demand for fuel. Two major oil pipelines in the Midwest suffered courtroom blows this week and utilities in the Southeast cancelled plans for an $8 billion gas transmission line. Industry executives acknowledge their opponents have found some success in the courts, but say demand will rebound and pipelines are the safest way to move oil.
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UK reopens gyms, pools, as Treasury chief warns of recession
LONDON (AP) — The U.K.‘s Treasury chief says the country is heading for unprecedented economic times, including one of the most severe recessions it has ever seen, as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. A day after revealing his spending plans to boost the economy, Rishi Sunak sought to sell his ideas to the nation on Thursday. Among his key measures is an expensive program to help furloughed employees return to work after the government program now paying them expires. Though he acknowledged he couldn’t save every job, Sunak told the BBC he was ‘throwing everything,’’ he could at stemming losses.
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The S&P 500 index fell 17.89 points or 0.6%, to 3,152.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 361.19 points, or 1.4%, to 25,706.09. The Nasdaq rose 55.24 points, or 0.5%, to 10,547.75. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks lost 28.48, or 2%, to 1,398.92.