Browsing: Business

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has revised U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper, lowering duties on many derivative products while keeping a 50% tariff in place for core metal imports. The White House said the changes were set out in a proclamation signed on April 2 and will apply to goods entered for consumption from 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on April 6. The revised schedule covers aluminum articles, steel articles, copper articles and a broad range of downstream manufactured goods. Under the new structure, articles made entirely or almost entirely of steel, aluminum or copper remain subject to a 50% duty…

NEW YORK: Gold prices steadied on March 31 after a sharp monthly selloff that marked bullion’s worst month since October 2008, underscoring how quickly one of the market’s strongest trades turned lower after its record run earlier this year. Spot gold was around $4,561.68 an ounce on Tuesday, while U.S. gold futures for April traded near $4,590. The metal had climbed above $5,100 in late January and reached an all-time high of $5,181.84 on January 27 before retreating through March. The pullback came as the U.S. dollar strengthened and expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year faded, reducing support for a non-yielding asset…

LOS GATOS: Netflix has raised prices across all of its U.S. streaming plans, increasing the monthly cost of its ad-supported tier to $8.99 from $7.99, its standard ad-free plan to $19.99 from $17.99 and its premium plan to $26.99 from $24.99. The company has also raised the fee for adding members outside a household to $7.99 on ad-supported plans and $9.99 on ad-free plans. Existing members will receive notice before the higher charges reach their billing cycles. The move adds to a series of changes that have steadily pushed more of Netflix’s service behind higher monthly costs. In 2023, the company eliminated…

MENLO PARK: Meta Platforms cut several hundred jobs across multiple teams on March 25, describing the move as part of regular restructuring and saying it was seeking other opportunities inside the company for some affected workers. The latest reductions add to a series of workforce changes at the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which has continued to reorganize operations while expanding investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure and related technical capacity during 2026. Meta did not publish a full tally or team by team breakdown of the March 25 reductions. The company had 78,865 employees as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to its…

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Postal Service filed notice on March 25 with the Postal Regulatory Commission for a temporary 8% price increase on key package shipping products, citing rising transportation costs. The proposed change, if cleared by the regulator, would take effect at midnight Central Time on April 26 and remain in place until midnight Central Time on Jan. 17, 2027. The filing marks a notable pricing shift for the Postal Service, which has long emphasized that it had avoided fuel surcharges even as transportation costs climbed across the delivery sector. The planned increase would apply to retail and commercial domestic competitive products,…

WASHINGTON: U.S. business activity slowed to an 11 month low in March as higher energy costs and broader supply strains linked to the Middle East conflict weighed on demand, while price pressures intensified across the private sector. Flash survey data from S&P Global showed its U.S. Composite PMI Output Index fell to 51.4 in March from 51.9 in February, marking the weakest reading since April 2025. A reading above 50 still signals expansion, but the latest figure pointed to a second straight month of softer growth in both output and new orders. The slowdown was centered in the much larger services sector,…

NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs has raised its probability of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months to 30% from 25%, marking a sharper turn in its outlook as higher energy costs, tighter financial conditions and a waning lift from recent tax legislation weigh on growth. The revision, made this week, follows a rapid deterioration in the macro backdrop as oil and gas prices surged after the conflict in the Middle East disrupted energy markets and lifted inflation concerns across the global economy. The move reverses part of the optimism Goldman expressed at the start of the year, when it cut its 12 month…

NEW YORK: Gold prices fell sharply on Monday, extending a historic selloff as the conflict in the Middle East kept energy markets volatile and reinforced inflation concerns that have unsettled precious metals. Spot gold was down 2.2% at $4,388.22 an ounce by 1230 GMT after tumbling as much as 8% earlier in the session to a four month low. U.S. gold futures for April delivery were down 4.2% at $4,382.30, leaving bullion in a ninth straight session of losses. The latest drop left gold about 17% below its level at the start of the conflict on Feb. 28 and roughly 22% under…

WASHINGTON: U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 was far weaker than first reported, while January inflation remained elevated in the latest personal consumption data. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 0.7% in the October through December period, down from the 1.4% advance estimate and sharply below the 4.4% pace recorded in the third quarter. In a separate release, the bureau said the January PCE price index excluding food and energy rose 3.1% from a year earlier, while the overall index increased 2.8%. The GDP revision reflected broad downgrades across the…

WASHINGTON: Many U.S. households continue to face pressure from grocery, housing and utility bills even after inflation cooled, leaving a gap between improving national price data and day-to-day affordability. In his Feb. 25 State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said inflation was plummeting, incomes were rising fast and the economy was roaring. But the latest federal reports show overall inflation has eased more than prices for many basics, while consumer sentiment remains subdued and borrowing strain has increased. The Labor Department said the consumer price index rose 2.4% in the 12 months through February, matching January, while core inflation held at 2.5%. Food…