Business
Latest stories
US economy expanded at surprising 3.8% pace in significant upgrade of second quarter growth

The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3.8% from April through June, the government reported in a dramatic upgrade of its previous estimate of second-quarter growth.

U.S. gross domestic product — the nation's output of goods and services — rebounded in the spring from a 0.6% first-quarter drop caused by fallout from President Donald Trump's trade wars, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The department had previously estimated second-quarter growth at 3.3%.

W140 Full Story
Apple asks EU to scrap landmark digital competition law

Apple wants the European Union to repeal its digital competition rule book, saying the regulations are cumbersome and are delaying new features for Europeans such as live translation for AirPods.

The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive branch, said Thursday that's not going to happen.

W140 Full Story
US lawmaker backs renegotiating global economic rules to reflect China's rise

The head of a U.S. congressional delegation visiting China said he backed renegotiating the rules governing the global economy to take into account China's rise and that of others such as India and Brazil.

Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state, told the mayor of Shanghai on Thursday that the U.S.-led post-World War II order has worked well for many countries, including China, but that "we understand that things have changed."

W140 Full Story
Trump to host Turkey’s Erdogan at the White House

President Donald Trump will hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday as the Republican leader has indicated that the U.S. government's hold on sales of advanced fighter jets to Ankara may soon be lifted.

During Trump's first term, the United States kicked out Turkey, a NATO ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program after it purchased an air defense system from Russia. U.S. officials worried that Turkey's use of Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile system could be used to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35 and that the information could end up in Russian hands.

W140 Full Story
Iran's currency hits all-time low before president's UN speech

Iran’s rial currency fell to a new all-time low on Wednesday, reaching 1,074,000 to the U.S. dollar just before Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was due to address the United Nations.

The currency’s fall follows Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejecting direct talks with the United States over its nuclear program.

W140 Full Story
China gives up developing-country treatment in bid to boost WTO in face of Trump tariffs

China has said it would no longer seek the special treatment given to developing countries in World Trade Organization agreements — a change long demanded by the United States.

Commerce Ministry officials said Wednesday the move was an attempt to boost the global trading system at a time when it is under threat from tariff wars and protectionist moves by individual countries to restrict imports.

W140 Full Story
Economy was strength for Trump in first term. Not anymore, according to recent polling

President Donald Trump's second-term strengths look different from his first, according to new polling.

W140 Full Story
High-tech tax authority helps Greece return to Europe's financial mainstream

With a pristine white exterior, the Greece tax authority's new headquarters looks out of place on a clogged industrial artery outside Athens. A former shopping mall and ice rink, the building has been overhauled into an ultramodern digital center that has led the rescue of the nation's ailing finance and tax sector.

It is teeming with inspectors who chase down tax cheats with the help of drones, big data and live surveillance feeds from as far as Greece's island ports and remote farming villages.

W140 Full Story
Google faces antitrust déjà vu as US seeks to break up its digital advertising business

After deflecting the U.S. Justice Department's attack on its illegal monopoly in online search, Google is facing another attempt to dismantle its internet empire in a trial focused on its abusive tactics in digital advertising.

The trial scheduled to begin Monday in an Alexandria, Virginia, federal court will revolve around the harmful conduct that resulted in U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema declaring parts of Google's digital advertising technology to be an illegal monopoly. The judge found that Google has been engaging in behavior that stifles competition to the detriment of online publishers that depend on the system for revenue.

W140 Full Story
Wall Street drifts around its records as its relentless rally takes a breath

U.S. stocks are drifting on Monday as Wall Street lets off the accelerator for its seemingly relentless rally.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 103 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:57 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged. All three set their latest all-time highs on Friday.

W140 Full Story