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Fed chair emphasizes independence

WASHINGTON — New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said Wednesday that the central bank would remain independent and seek to bring down inflation, likely foreclosing the rate cuts President Donald Trump has sought. In remarks at a central bank conference in Sintra, Portugal, Warsh said that if businesses or households thought the Fed would accept inflation above 2%, “I guess they’d be disappointed. We’re going to deliver price stability.” The Fed typically combats inflation by raising borrowing costs. When asked about Trump’s oft-repeated desire for lower rates, Warsh ...

Ticker: Alibaba to pay $600M to settle allegations

Alibaba has agreed to pay $600 million to settle a dispute with the U.S. government. The company faced allegations of selling and importing illegal pharmaceuticals and equipment through its platforms, Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com. The U.S. claims that Alibaba’s payment processor, AUS Merchant Services Inc., violated federal law by failing to prevent these sales. Alibaba admits it failed to stop about 80,000 unlawful imports between January 2016 and December 2024. The IRS conducted over 40 undercover purchases of illegal items. A non-prosecution agreement was reached. Separately, ...

Briefcase: Sheetz kicks off fundraiser

Today, Sheetz kicks off its annual month of in-store fundraising for Sheetz For the Kids, an employee-driven charity supporting children in need. For the entire month of July, customers at all 830-plus Sheetz stores throughout Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia can support local families in need by making a donation at check-out through donation boxes or adding donations to their purchase at the point of sale. Customers placing online orders also have the option to donate by rounding up their total or adding a donation to their ...

Ticker: Trump took in $1.2B from crypto last year

President Donald Trump took in nearly $1.2 billion dollars from his crypto businesses last year, a federal filing released Monday shows. Trump got more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business selling new crypto products, including “governance tokens,” according to the required annual disclosure report. It also showed another crypto business, CIC Digital LLC, took in more than $600 million from sales of souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with his face. Both have plunged in value since the sales. US stocks rise and trim their losses for June U.S. stocks rose ...

Consumer confidence rises

Americans’ attitudes toward the economy improved slightly this month as gas prices declined, but their outlook is still mostly negative by historical standards. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 0.6 point to 91.2 in June, a figure that is still below its year-ago reading of 95.2. Consumer attitudes worsened after the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike, accelerating inflation and causing Americans’ inflation-adjusted incomes to decline. Before the pandemic, the index regularly topped 120. The report suggests that consumer confidence ...

May job openings stay strong

WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings stayed at a surprisingly strong 7.6 million in May as the American labor market remains resilient in the face of the economic shock from the Iran war. Forecasters had expected employers to post just 7 million openings in May. The job market is sturdy but not exactly booming. Layoffs rose in May, and the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects — ticked up only slightly. That’s according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday. Employers are advertising openings, but they aren’t actually ...