AP National Business

By KATHLEEN FOODY and JILL BLEED Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A winter storm is bringing a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the central U.S. Airlines canceled thousands of flights, officials are urging people to stay off roads and schools are closed. Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan are seeing freezing

The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street futures followed global stocks higher Wednesday as markets try to bounce back from a January slide. In New York, S&P 500 futures climbed 0.9% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%. In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.9%, Frankfurt’s DAX

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government has set out plans for a huge shift in power and wealth to left-behind regions of the country. That’s a long-standing promise to the voters who helped put Prime Minister Boris Johnson in office. Johnson’s Conservative government was elected in 2019 on a pledge

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press Many countries that have been especially hard-hit by the coronavirus are easing their tough and often unpopular restrictive measures to fight COVID-19. There is a resumption of late-night disco partying, elbow-to-elbow seating in movie theaters and people not wearing masks in public. The early moves to relax such restrictions evoke

By ANNIE MILLERBERND of NerdWallet When planning a remodeling project, one of the first questions you may ask is whether you can save money and just do it yourself. With enough optimism, any project can seem possible, but a whole-home remodel may be too ambitious. Aesthetic changes to floors, walls and ceilings are within reach

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the middle section of the United States as airlines canceled hundreds of flights, governors urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses.

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Many countries that have been especially hard-hit by the coronavirus are easing their tough and often unpopular restrictive measures to fight COVID-19. There is a resumption of late-night disco partying, elbow-to-elbow seating in movie theaters and people not wearing masks in public. The early moves to relax

By DAVID McHUGH Associated Press FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation fed by high oil and gas prices hit record levels in Europe for the third month in a row. That’s extending pain for consumers and sharpening questions about future moves by the European Central Bank. European Union statistics agency Eurostat reported Wednesday that the 19

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks are higher while China is closed for the Lunar New Year. London and Frankfurt opened higher. Tokyo, Sydney and India gained. Oil prices rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.7%, boosted by gains for energy and tech stocks in a late burst

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An American farmer is jailed in Ukraine on charges he attempted to assassinate a former business partner who is now a government minister. The family of Kurt Groszhans says the charges are bogus and designed to stifle his claims of corruption. His former partner, Roman Leshchenko, has

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Major oil-producing countries are deciding how much crude to pump to the world next month. The decision Wednesday will be closely watched because oil prices are at seven-year highs and have spiked fuel costs for heating, flying and driving. Fears of a possible Russian invasion

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Sony says its profit for the quarter through December rose 11% on healthy sales from its film division, including the new Spider-Man movie. The Japanese electronics and entertainment company said its fiscal third quarter profit totaled 346 billion yen, or $3 billion. Sony said strong offerings

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The prison sentence imposed a year ago on leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was a severe blow to Russia’s opposition. And then the situation got worse. Scores of activists, independent journalists and rights advocates were targeted over the past 12 months with raids, detained and designated as

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Stock prices in Tokyo and Sydney have followed Wall Street higher while China, South Korea and Southeast Asian markets were closed for the Lunar New Year. New Zealand and Jakarta also gained. Oil prices rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.7%, boosted by gains

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — An Iran-flagged supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of condensate has docked at a Venezuelan port, with both countries facing U.S. sanctions. Analysts and satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press indicate the tanker Starla is at the port of Barcelona in northeastern Venezuela.

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A major winter storm was expected to affect a huge swath of the United States, with heavy snow starting in the Rockies and freezing rain as far south as Texas before it drops snow and ice on the Midwest. The forecast comes nearly a year

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The water contained in California’s mountain snow is now at 92% of its historical average after a January without significant amounts of rain or snow. That’s a dramatic swing from December, when heavy precipitation put the snowpack’s water content at 160% of the average. The state

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Starbucks had a strong holiday season in the U.S., but those results were offset by higher labor and commodity costs and weaker sales in China. U.S. same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, were up 18% over the October-December period a year ago despite higher