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Trade with Cuba collapses as Trump steps up pressure

MIAMI — The Cuban Communist Party has shown an astonishing resilience over six decades in power. Whether it’s the United States trade embargo to counter Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, or the widespread starvation of the “special period” that followed the breakup of its Cold War patron, the Soviet Union, both U.S. hostilities and calamities of its own making have proven no match for the country’s leadership. But perhaps none of those crises pose as grave a threat as the one triggered by an all-but-declared naval siege by the Trump administration as it seeks to force ...

Briefcase: Business news of local interest

PITTSBURGH Peoples looks to drop rates Peoples Natural Gas Company LLC is filing a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to decrease natural gas rates as of Oct. 1. Peoples Natural Gas has requested an overall gas cost decrease of $131 million per year. If the company’s entire request is approved, the total bill for a residential customer using 86 Mcf per year would decrease from $122.20 to $106.94 per month or by 12.5%. The PUC will examine the requested rate change and can prevent existing rates from changing until it investigates and/or holds hearings on ...

High oil prices erase Street’s hopes for cut to interest rates

NEW YORK — Another climb for oil prices shook stock markets on Friday, as hopes collapsed for a possible cut to interest rates this year by the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% to close its fourth straight losing week, its longest such streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2%. The market’s losses deepened after oil prices erased an early dip and accelerated in the afternoon. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.3% to settle at $112.19 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 2.3% to $98.32 ...

Oil continues climb, shakes market

NEW YORK — A roller-coaster day for oil prices showed how they’re dictating where financial markets and maybe even the global economy are heading. Stocks tumbled in Europe and Asia when oil prices shot higher early on Thursday, but U.S. stocks pared their sharp losses as the day progressed and oil prices fell back. The morning began with the shock of Brent crude, the international standard, briefly rising above $119 per barrel, up from roughly $70 before the war with Iran began. The jump followed intensified attacks by Iran on oil and gas facilities around the Persian Gulf in ...

Nvidia’s DLSS 5 the subject of memes, gamer backlash

Upgraded graphics in video games sound like they would be popular amongst players and enthusiasts, but Nvidia is finding that the opposite appears to be true with its latest tech. The company announced at a conference Monday that the new version of its artificial intelligence technology designed to boost performance will enable game developers to deliver “photoreal computer graphics previously only achieved in Hollywood visual effects.” DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is Nvidia’s image enhancement technology. First released in 2018, the technology was initially used to ...

Ticker: The day’s business news at a glance

Asia scrambles to conserve energy Asian countries are racing to save energy and shield consumers as the war on Iran disrupts oil and gas flows. Since Feb. 28, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed sharply and energy prices climbed. Experts at the U.N. and other groups warn the shock hit Asia hardest because it depends on imported fuel. Japan tapped stockpiles as gasoline prices rise. South Korea leaned on reserves and expanded coal and nuclear power. China has used big reserves and more renewables, but travel costs are rising. Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines ...