AP National Business

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press The state of Vermont says investment management company Merrill has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle allegations over its handling of accounts used related to the fraud in various northern Vermont developments involving foreign investors’ money. A motion seeking approval of the settlement agreement was filed Thursday in federal

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press One of Pennsylvania’s biggest gas drillers is facing newer allegations of pollution in a rural community where it’s already charged with crimes for fouling residents’ drinking water wells with high levels of methane. Cabot Oil & Gas on Friday waived its right to a preliminary hearing on criminal charges that

By PATTY NIEBERG and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Colorado (AP) — In Colorado and other states hit by natural disasters this year, the pandemic has injected extra uncertainty and created more obstacles for families trying to rebuild. Shortages of workers and raw materials are making rebuilding slower and more expensive. In areas where real

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears skeptical of the Biden administration’s authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation’s large employers. Fully vaccinated themselves for arguments Friday, the court’s six conservative justices appeared to view the administration’s requirement for businesses with at least

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — Rex Dearmont Rust, co-president of the Missouri-based media company Rust Communications, has died. The company’s flagship newspaper, the Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau, reported that Rust died Thursday evening after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 52. Rust grew up in Cape Girardeau and graduated from Harvard University in

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A  judge has awarded nearly $1 million in damages to the families of four fishermen who died when their Maine-based boat mysteriously sank off the Massachusetts coast in 2020. The 82-foot Portland, Maine-based Emmy Rose went down early Nov. 23, 2020, as it was heading to port after a seven-day fishing

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks turned mixed Friday as Treasury yields rise, with much of Wall Street seeing the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates as soon as March despite a mixed report on the U.S. jobs market. The S&P 500 was 0.2% lower in

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slipping Friday as Treasury yields rise, with much of Wall Street seeing the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates as soon as March despite a mixed report on the U.S. jobs market. The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in midday trading,

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s unemployment rate fell in December to a healthy 3.9% — a pandemic low — even as employers added a modest 199,000 jobs, evidence that they are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans still reluctant to return to the workforce. The drop in the

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency hit its highest level on record, led by surging food and energy costs. The European Union’s statistics office said Friday that consumer prices in the eurozone rose 5% in December compared with the previous year. That’s

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are wavering between small gains and losses Friday as Wall Street weighs whether a mixed report on the U.S. jobs market will sway the Federal Reserve from its path to raise interest rates later this year. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in morning

The Associated Press Stocks are off to a mixed start on Wall Street Friday as weakness in technology stocks again weighs on the broader market. The S&P 500 shrugged off an early decline and was up 0.1%. The Nasdaq rose 0.5%. Bond yields rose after traders interpreted the latest monthly jobs report as indicating more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a modest 199,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell sharply, at a time when businesses are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans remaining reluctant to return to the workforce. At the same time, Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department

PRAGUE (AP) — The new Czech government says it aims to phase out coal in energy production by 2033 while increasing the country’s reliance on nuclear and renewable sources. Coal-fired power plants currently generate almost 50% of total Czech electricity output. The previous government, headed by populist billionaire Andrej Babis, hadn’t approved any target for

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a modest 199,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell sharply, at a time when businesses are struggling to fill jobs, with many Americans remaining reluctant to return to the workforce. The Labor Department said Friday that the nation’s unemployment rate fell

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency hit its highest level on record, led by surging food and energy costs. The European Union’s statistics office said Friday that consumer prices in the eurozone rose 5% in December compared with the previous year. That’s

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is recalling its new ambassador to Prague after he criticized the country’s approach to a dispute with the Czech Republic over a state-run coal mine. In an interview released Thursday by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Ambassador Miroslaw Jasinski said Poland had showed a “lack of empathy, a lack of understanding

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is distributing an additional $4.5 billion in funds to help low-income Americans cover heating costs during a second pandemic winter, with cold-weather states receiving the largest share. That’s according to a state-by-state breakdown of funds being distributed under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance

BERLIN (AP) — Budget airline Ryanair says it will stop serving Germany’s busiest airport at the end of March and close its base there. Ryanair said Friday that it’s reallocating five planes it has based at Frankfurt Airport to other European airports that “have responded with lower airport charges to stimulate traffic recovery.” The airline