AP National Business

Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Wednesday: BlackRock; Vistra rise; JPMorgan Chase, Delta fall.

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — With prices surging worldwide for heating oil, natural gas and other fuels, the U.S. government said Wednesday it expects households to see their heating bills jump as much as 54% compared to last winter. Nearly half the homes in the U.S. use natural gas for

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic. The benefits increase amounts

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire raging through Southern California coastal mountains is a threat to ranches and rural homes and is keeping a major highway shut down. The Alisal Fire is covering more than 24 square miles in the Santa Ynez Mountains west of Santa Barbara. The number of firefighters has nearly doubled

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says the Biden administration will hold lease sales for up to seven offshore wind farms on the East and West coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico in the next four years. The projects are part of the administration’s plan to deploy 30

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has long had a problem with illegally imported cars, and now President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is pledging to legalize them all. The mainly U.S. cars are known in Mexico as “chocolate,” a play on the word “chueco,” or crooked. Mexicans can legally import later-model cars that meet pollution and

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ energy minister says ExxonMobil’s drilling slated to start in 6-8 weeks to confirm how much natural gas is contained in a sizable deposit off the island nation’s southwestern coast will map out how the fuel will reach potential markets in Europe and Asia. Minister Natasa

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials agreed at their last meeting that if the economy continued to improve, they could start reducing their monthly bond purchases as soon as next month and bring them to an end by the middle of 2022. The discussion was revealed in the minutes

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A milestone energy bill that targets sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions from North Carolina power plants has become law. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed the legislation on Wednesday. The directive aims to reduce carbon dioxide output of North Carolina energy producers 70 percent from 2005

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stock indexes are mostly higher in afternoon trading on Wall Street as investors review earnings and inflation data. The broader market started the day with gains, then shifted to slight losses before leveling off. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — United Airlines employees who are suing the airline over its vaccine mandate will get more time to make their case. A federal judge in Texas ordered United not to place unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave if they are seeking a medical or religious exemption from mandatory vaccination against COVID-19. The

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials agreed at their last meeting that if the economy continued to improve, they could start reducing their monthly bond purchases as soon as next month and bring them to an end by the middle of 2022. The discussion was revealed in the minutes

ROME (AP) — Italy’s highest court has annulled an arrest warrant for a key suspect in the Vatican’s fraud and extortion trial. The court’s action puts into question whether and when Gianluigi Torzi might be extradited from Britain. In a decision Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation sent the case back to a Rome court which

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The great Brexit brawl is heading into its next standoff as European Union concessions to improve trade in Northern Ireland are likely to be deemed insufficient by the United Kingdom. The EU’s top Brexit official has proposed major changes in the customs system for Northern Ireland. It

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic. The benefits increase amounts

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks turned mixed in afternoon trading on Wall Street as investors review earnings and inflation data. The broader market started the day with gains, then shifted to slight losses before leveling off. The S&P 500 rose 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and TANYA TITOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The head of the Russian sovereign fund bankrolling the shot says Russia is ready to provide up to 300 million doses of its Sputnik V vaccine to the U.N.-backed COVAX initiative. That’s despite the lack of WHO approval and Sputnik V vaccine production issues

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — With prices surging worldwide for heating oil, natural gas and other fuels, the U.S. government said Wednesday it expects households to see their heating bills jump as much as 54% compared to last winter. Nearly half the homes in the U.S. use natural gas for

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers appear ready to go on strike if negotiators can’t deliver a new agreement by the end of the day. The United Auto Workers union has said its members would walk off the job if no deal has been reached by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. The