Breaking News

Business News

Google settles with Epic Games, offers to lower its app store commissions

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google will lower the lucrative fees imposed on its Android app store and offer a way for rival options to gain its stamp of approval, ending a bruising legal battle that led to one of several rulings condemning its tactics as an illegal monopoly. The proposed changes filed Wednesday with a federal court in San Francisco mark the latest twist in a case that began in August 2020 when video game maker Epic Games filed an antitrust case seeking to make it easier for alternative payment options to compete against Google’s Play Store system, which charges 15% to 30% ...

Gasoline, diesel prices spike as anxious drivers fill up tanks

NEW YORK (AP) — The average price for a gallon of gasoline jumped 11 cents overnight in the U.S., and drivers in Europe waited in line to fill their tanks with fuel, as war engulfed the Middle East and shipments of oil and gas were stranded in the Persian Gulf. Depending on the duration of the war, the pain of higher prices could increase in the coming weeks, and may be felt more heavily in areas reliant on imports. “Right now, the worst of it is centered on Europe, because Europe is a net importer,” said Susan Bell, senior vice president of commodity markets at Rystad Energy. ...

Dow drops 400 after trimming an early plunge of 1,200 as oil prices climb

NEW YORK (AP) — A sell-off for stocks wrapped around the world and hit Wall Street Tuesday, while oil prices climbed even higher on worries about the widening war with Iran. But the big moves that rocked markets in the morning eased substantially as the day progressed. By the end of trading, the S&P 500 had sunk 0.9%. That would be a solid loss on a typical day, but the index had been down as much as 2.5% in the morning because of worries that the war may do more sustained damage to the economy than feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 403 points, or 0.8%, after ...

Federal court rejects Trump administration attempt to slow tariff refund process

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to slow the process of refunding billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs the Supreme Court struck down as illegal last month. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit started the next phase in the refund process by sending it to a lower court to sort out. In a court filing Friday, Trump’s Justice Department had urged the Federal Circuit to proceed cautiously and hold off for 90 days. But the judges refused. The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 20 that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on most ...

Stocks erase sharp losses; oil prices leap on Iran war worries

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices leaped Monday on worries that war with Iran could clog the global flow of crude and make inflation even worse. U.S. stocks, meanwhile, swung from sharp losses to a tiny gain. Crude prices jumped more than 6%, which will likely mean higher prices soon at gasoline pumps. That would hurt not only U.S. households, whose spending makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy, but also businesses with big fuel bills. The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.2% at the start of trading, and cruise lines and airlines led the way lower. But U.S. stocks quickly erased those losses, in ...

Individual investors’ impact on Wall Street grows

LOS ANGELES — For years, individual investors were dismissed by some on Wall Street as “dumb money.” That typically referred to those prone to trading on hype, or chasing trends rather than company or industry fundamentals, or responding late to big market moves. That’s no longer ...