By Mimosa Spencer PARIS (Reuters) – The world’s leading luxury brands said on Friday that they planned to temporarily close stores and pause business operations in Russia. Birkin bag maker Hermes and Cartier owner Richemont were the first firms to announce such moves, followed by LVMH, Kering and Chanel. Doing business in Russia has become…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — American whiskey exports, battered by tariffs and the COVID-19 pandemic, started rebounding in 2021, but distillers have more ground to make up to fully recover, an industry group said. Exports of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey reached $975 million in 2021, up 15% from the prior year, according to a…
NEW YORK (AP) — Visa says it will lower its credit card “swipe” fees for online and in-store transactions by 10% for small businesses starting in April. The move comes as the pandemic continues to accelerate a shift to digital payments. Visa, one of the world’s largest payment companies, benefitted as more places began accepting…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Smartphone maker Apple has written to lawmakers to dispute assertions that its concerns about the dangers of sideloading apps into phones were overblown. Sideloading, the practice of downloading apps without using an app store, is among the reforms that lawmakers hope will open up the market for apps. Congress is currently considering…
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s year-on-year inflation likely accelerated in February after cooling slightly over the previous two months, a Reuters poll showed Friday, reinforcing expectations that the central bank will continue to raise its key interest rate. The consensus forecast of 11 analysts surveyed was for inflation to grow to 7.23% from 7.07% in…
By Jonnelle Marte (Reuters) – In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the U.S. economy, the labor market has rebounded far faster than most had predicted after roughly 22 million jobs were wiped out in the space of two months in the spring of 2020. As remarkable as the rebound has proven to…
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple’s shareholders have approved a proposal urging the iPhone maker to undergo an independent audit assessing its treatment of female and minority employees, delivering a rare rebuke to a management team that runs the world’s most valuable company. The measure passed Friday during Apple’s annual meeting is nonbinding, so the…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday the Biden administration’s economic agenda will not only expand the productive capacity of the U.S. economy, but can propel faster growth by reducing economic and racial disparities. In remarks to a Stanford University economics conference, Yellen provided more details on the approach she has…
WARSAW (Reuters) – There is no risk that the Polish zloty will remain weak in the long-term, Poland’s prime minister said on Friday, adding the government was working on measures that would support the country’s economy, which was hit after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Polish currency has been under pressure since Russia began…
By Elizabeth Culliford (Reuters) – Russia is blocking Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, the country’s communications regulator said on Friday, in response to what it said were restrictions on access to Russian media on the platform. The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said there had been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by Facebook since October 2020, with…
