AP National Business

The Associated Press Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Thursday: Salesforce, Williams-Sonoma rise; Dollar Tree, Smucker fall

The Associated Press Wall Street indexes closed lower Thursday following suicide attacks at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan that killed at least 12 U.S. service members and scores of Afghans. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%, a day after setting its latest record high. Despite the pullback, market indicators that traditionally signal worry on Wall Street

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Vermont’s agriculture secretary says 89 organic dairy farms in the Northeast will lose their contracts with an organic dairy company when it stops buying milk in the region by the end of August of next year. Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts says Danone, the parent company of Horizon Organic, notified farms

The Associated Press Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities, and foreign exchange levels.

By MIKE FULLER Associated Press LONDON (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has held talks with top Irish officials in Dublin, focusing on a major overhaul of taxes on the world’s biggest multinational companies. During Thursday’s one-day state visit — his first to Ireland — Macron met with President Michael Higgins and Taoiseach Michael Martin.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A $100 million fix to stop a San Francisco luxury high-rise from sinking and tilting even more is on hold while engineers try to learn why the building has sunk another inch (2.5 centimeters) during the repair. Doug Elmets, spokesman for the Millennium Tower, said in a statement that pile installation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage rates edged marginally higher last week, continuing a pattern of little movement in recent weeks amid uncertainty over the effect of the delta coronavirus variant on the economic recovery. Average rates for home loans remain historically low at under 3%. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reports that the average for the 30-year

By STEPHEN McGRATH AND NICOLAE DUMITRACHE Associated Press BRAILA, Romania (AP) — Romania and Japan have celebrated a century of diplomatic relations with officials from both countries visiting the site of what will be one of Europe’s longest suspension bridges. The bridge in the eastern city of Braila will cross the Danube River and is

By RISHABH R. JAIN Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police accompanied by activists from a children’s rights group have raided automobile repair shops on the edge of New Delhi and removed 17 children who were employed illegally. Activists from the Save the Children Movement, whose founder was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer The Education Department has announced it will forgive student debt for more than 100,000 borrowers who attended colleges in the now-defunct ITT Technical Institute chain but left before graduating. The agency says it will erase federal loans for borrowers who left the for-profit colleges during an eight-year window before

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Not long ago, anticipation was high that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell might begin to sketch out a plan this week for the Fed to start pulling back on its support for an economy that has been strengthening. That was before COVID-19 cases began accelerating across

ISABELLA, Minn. (AP) — A Superior National Forest official says the ongoing drought has created “tinderbox conditions” as firefighters continue to battle wildfires in the area. The fires have already burned more than 25,000 acres and 12 seasonal homes or cabins have been lost. Superior National Forest Supervisor Connie Cummins said firefighters have been dealing

BERLIN (AP) — Germany publishing company Axel Springer says it has signed a deal to buy the U.S.-based political news site Politico and the tech news site Protocol from founder Robert L. Allbritton for an undisclosed sum. Axel Springer said the purchase will increase the publisher’s reach in the United States, where it already owns

Lordstown Motors has named Daniel Ninivaggi as its new CEO as it looks to begin limited production of its electric pickup truck next month. Ninivaggi, who will also serve as a board member, was previously CEO of Icahn Enterprises. He’s also worked at Lear Corp. and Federal Mogul Holdings Corp.

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer A COVID-19 resurgence this summer has caused consumers to turn cautious, while investors trim their investments in a travel sector still struggling to recover. Retail sales dipped a surprising 1.1% in July as consumers spent less on clothing, furniture and sporting goods. At the same time investors have

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in five weeks even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims edged up to 353,000 from 349,000 a

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 6.6% annual rate last quarter, slightly faster than previously estimated, the government said Thursday in a report that pointed to a sustained consumer-led rebound from the pandemic recession. But worries are growing that the delta variant of the coronavirus is

By ALEXANDRA OLSON and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces at a time when such mandates are gaining traction now that the government has given full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. That finding comes from a new poll from The

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Workers at public hospitals in Greece have conducted a five-hour work stoppage to protest a government decision making vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory for all health care workers in the public and private sector. About 300 hospital workers rallied Thursday outside the health ministry in Athens to

By ANNABELLE LIANG Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed as investors await more guidance on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s easing plans. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.6% on Friday. Benchmarks in South Korea and Shanghai advanced but Sydney fell. Fed Chair Jerome Powell