DETROIT (AP) — New-vehicle sales in the U.S. fell about 12% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, as the global computer chip shortage continued to slow factories amid high consumer demand. General Motors reported Friday that its sales were down 20% for the quarter, while Toyota sales were off 15%. Stellantis sales…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Solid hiring, strong wage gains and sharp price increases are drawing more Americans into the workforce. The trend, if sustained, would mean some long-awaited relief for businesses that have been desperate to fill jobs. The number of people either working or looking for work still hasn’t fully recovered from the mass layoffs…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Homebuilder stocks have lagged far behind the broader market during Wall Street’s swoon this year, weighed down by fears that rising mortgage rates could severely dampen sales. Yet some Wall Street analysts say the selling may be overdone. One prominent exchange traded fund, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF, is down about…
NEW YORK (AP) — One of the more reliable warning signals for an economic recession is shining brighter. The “yield curve” is watched for clues to how the bond market is feeling about the U.S. economy’s long-term prospects. On Friday, a closely followed part of the yield curve lit up again after giving a brief…
SZEKESFEHERVAR, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s nationalist prime minister on Friday portrayed his country’s upcoming election as an existential turning point and a choice between war and peace as he made a final appeal to voters at a campaign rally in a rural stronghold. Viktor Orban, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term as the head…
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A convoy of trucks carrying food aid entered territory controlled by fighters loyal to the fugitive leaders of Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Friday, the first humanitarian convoy to do so since Dec. 14, the U.N. World Food Program said. The arrival of the trucks came eight days after Ethiopia’s federal…
LONDON (AP) — The British government said Friday that a criminal investigation has begun into P&O Ferries after the company fired almost 800 U.K.-based crew without warning so they could be replaced by cheaper contract staff. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the Insolvency Service had opened ”formal criminal and civil investigations.” The Dubai-owned company has…
CITLUK, Serbia (AP) — An accident Friday in a coal mine in central Serbia killed eight miners and wounded 18 others, authorities said, adding that the workers apparently suffocated from too much methane gas. The accident in the Soko coal mine, located 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Belgrade, the capital, occurred shortly after 4…
BERLIN (AP) — Russian officials said their demand for “unfriendly” countries to pay for natural gas in rubles does not mean supplies will be immediately interrupted. Gas used for heating and electricity was still flowing from Russia to Europe on Friday. “Payments on shipments in progress right now must be made not this very day,…
Shares of GameStop surged Friday after the video game retailer announced that it would attempt its first stock split in 15 years. The Grapevine, Texas, company said in a regulatory filing late Thursday that it wants to increase its share count to 1 billion, from 300 million, so it can implement a stock split in…
