TOKYO — Global shares gained Thursday, although optimism about the Federal Reserve holding back on aggressive interest rate raises was countered by some uncertainty about coronavirus restrictions in China. France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.1% in early trading to 6,685.49, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.3% to 14,474.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1% to 7,475.55. The future for the Dow industrials edged 0.2% higher. The future for the S&P 500 added 0.3%. Trading has been unsteady during the holiday-shortened week. U.S. markets are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and... Read More

TOKYO — Asian shares gained Thursday, although optimism about the Federal Reserve holding back on aggressive interest rate raises was countered by some uncertainty about coronavirus restrictions in China. Trading was relatively muted in Asia ahead of U.S. markets being closed for Thanksgiving. Benchmarks rose in early trading in Japan, Australia and South Korea, but fell in Shanghai. Oil prices fell. “A headwind for Asian markets is the COVID situation in China, where investors seem to be avoiding local assets and commodities as the country is seeing near-record numbers of COVID... Read More

CAPE SOUNION, Greece — When Stelios Zompanakis quit his job at Greece’s central bank to try his luck at boat racing, friends and family pleaded with him to reconsider. Nine years later, he spends summers on the “Ikigai,” a 53-foot yacht he named after the Japanese concept of finding happiness through a life of meaning. Weeklong holiday trips on his yacht around some of the lesser-known Greek islands — Milos, Sifnos, Serifos, Kythnos and many others — were booked up through October. “The demand is insane,” said Zompanakis, who recently paced barefoot around the teak-paneled... Read More

McDonald’s revenue fell short of expectations in the second quarter as coronavirus restrictions shuttered stores in China and higher prices took a toll on U.S. demand. The Chicago burger giant said its revenue fell 3% to $5.72 billion in the April-June period. That was short of Wall Street’s forecast of $5.8 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, were up nearly 10% worldwide. That was higher than the 6.8% that analysts had expected. But there were double-digit declines for comparable stores in China, where restaurants were... Read More

BERLIN — German biotech company CureVac said Tuesday it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival BioNTech for work that it says contributed to the development of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. BioNTech said its work is original and it would “vigorously” contest the claim. CureVac, which last year reported disappointing results from late-stage testing of its own first-generation COVID-19 shot, earlier this year started a clinical trial of a second-generation vaccine candidate developed with British pharmaceutical company GSK.The company said it was seeking “fair... Read More

TOKYO — The rickshaw men in Tokyo are adding English-speaking staff, a sure sign Japan is bracing for a return of tourists from abroad. Japan’s border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections began gradually loosening earlier this month. That’s great news for Yusuke Otomo, owner of Daikichi, a kimono rental shop in Asakusa, an old district of Tokyo famous for its temples, quaint restaurants and rickshaw rides. He can barely contain his excitement. “Those were a hard three years. But we managed to endure until today. And after such an experience, to think people from... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday the American people are “really, really down” after a tumultuous two years with the coronavirus pandemic, volatility in the economy and now surging gasoline prices that are slamming family budgets. But he stressed that a recession was “not inevitable” and held out hope of giving the country a greater sense of confidence.Speaking to The Associated Press in a 30-minute Oval Office interview, the president emphasized the battered economy that he inherited and the lingering psychological scars caused by a pandemic that disrupted people’s... Read More

A congressional panel Tuesday will examine payouts under a federal coronavirus pandemic aid program intended to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 outbreak amid revelations that as much as 20% of the money may have been awarded to fraudsters.The problems in the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, overseen by the U.S. Small Business Administration, included a finding by congressional investigators that some 1.6 million applications for the loans may have been approved without being evaluated.Separately, the SBA’s Office of the Inspector General estimated that at least $80... Read More

The Federal Reserve no longer views the coronavirus pandemic as the biggest threat to the global financial systemBy KEN SWEET AP Business WriterMay 9, 2022, 8:58 PM• 3 min readNEW YORK — The Federal Reserve said Monday that Russia’s war in Ukraine and surging inflation are now the greatest threats facing the global financial system, supplanting the coronavirus pandemic.The observations came in the Fed’s semiannual Financial Stability Report that looks at trends in trading and investing as well as broad economic issues. The report is not an economic forecast, and does not try to... Read More

The U.S. is experiencing a labor shortage that’s partly fueled by a drop-off in immigration, which ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemicBy NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated PressMay 7, 2022, 5:02 PM• 6 min readJust 10 miles from the Rio Grande, Mike Helle’s farm is so short of immigrant workers that he’s replaced 450 acres of labor-intensive leafy greens with crops that can be harvested by machinery.In Houston, Al Flores increased the price of his BBQ restaurant’s brisket plate because the cost of the cut doubled due to meatpacking plants’ inability to fully staff immigrant-heavy... Read More