Rutter’s donates to six Pennsylvania charities

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Blair County is one of six charities that have received a combined $60,000 in donations from Rutter’s.

All six of the selected charities have a focus on children, youth and education in various communities that Rutter’s serves, the company said in a release. Other recipients include: YMCA of Chambersburg, Cedar Foundation of Lebanon County, Northeast PA Manufacturers and Employees Council, Cumberland Valley School of Music and the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.

Scott Hartman, Rutter’s president and CEO, said, “We take pride in supporting charities and programs that benefit children in the communities we serve.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Blair County received $10,000.

Macy’s reports drop in earnings in latest quarter

Macy’s swung to a quarterly loss and sales tumbled 22% as the department store chain struggled to bring shoppers back to stores during a pandemic.

While the storied retailer did better than most had expected during the third quarter, cases of COVID-19 have begun to surge across the country just as what is typically the holiday shopping season kicks off. Macy’s has already closed its store in El Paso, Texas, where overwhelmed morgues have begun paying jail inmates $2 an hour to help transport the bodies of virus victims.

“COVID is surging again across the country and that continues to impede our recovery in international tourism and urban areas,” said Chief Financial Officer Adrian Mitchell. “And the supply chains have opened up, yet bottlenecks remain.”

Macy’s was forced to close stores this spring as the virus spread and states and cities ordered nonessential businesses to shut down. The New York company furloughed a majority of its employees. It began reopening stores in May, but the recovery has been slow.

It has had to acclimate itself to one of the worst business climates in its 162-year history, and the U.S. appears to be heading to an even worse place as infections spread.

Mortgage rates hit new low in weak economy

U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week, reaching record lows for the 13th time this year amid fresh signs of weakness in the pandemic-ravaged economy.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year benchmark loan declined to 2.72% from 2.84% last week. By contrast, the rate averaged 3.66% a year ago.

Home loan rates have trended downward through most of this year, bolstering demand from would-be homebuyers.

Fresh signs emerged this week that the resurgent coronavirus outbreak is likely slowing the economy and forcing more companies to cut jobs.

The government reported Tuesday that retail sales in the U.S. — representing about a third of overall consumer spending — grew a sluggish 0.3% in October, even as retailers offered early holiday discounts online.

BuzzFeed buys HuffPost in deal with Verizon

BuzzFeed is buying HuffPost from Verizon as part of a bigger deal that has the wireless giant investing in the digital-media company.

BuzzFeed and Verizon did not disclose terms of the deal. Verizon will be a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed and the two companies will partner on content and ads.