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Business

Can You Retire on Only $1,374 Per Month?

Deedra Mcgillivray 1 month ago

According to its most recently published snapshot, the average Social Security recipient gets about $1,519 per month in benefits from the program. From that amount, recipients aged 65 or older generally see at least $144.60 deducted for Medicare Part B premiums. That leaves around $1,374 per month for most retirees who depend on Social Security for their retirement.

That raises a huge question: Is that enough to cover your costs of living? Can you really retire on only $1,374 per month? If you’re relying only on Social Security for your retirement, that’s what you may very well find yourself with.

Business

Taycan electrifies Porsche’s European, American deliveries

Deedra Mcgillivray 1 month ago

Stuttgart-based marque Porsche announced that its premier all-electric offering, the Taycan, has become their best-selling model in Europe in August and one of their key sales drivers in the US in the third quadrant of 2020.

Based on the UK-based auto industry intelligence supplier JATO Dynamics, as cited by Car Industry Analysis, Porsche rolled out 1,183 units of the Taycan. This comprises 23.4 percent of the carmaker’s 5,046-unit total sales in Europe in August.

Aside from that, the same data showed that Taycan was also among the region’s best-selling models in its segment during the same month.

Meanwhile, the

Business

GM China Quarterly Sales Rise for First Time in 2 Years

Deedra Mcgillivray 1 month ago

General Motors (NYSE:GM) announced today that its Chinese sales rose 12% for the quarter ended in September versus the year-ago period. The gain follows a 5% drop in the second quarter, and marks the first year-over-year gain for sales in China in two years.

The company said it delivered 771,400 vehicles in China, including its joint-venture partnerships. GM said it sees strong momentum in the vehicle sales market as China’s economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

GM's cadillac SUV lineup

Cadillac XT4, XT5, and XT6 SUVs. Image source: General Motors.

The company said the strength in sales has been led by its

Business

Twilio to Acquire Customer-Data Firm for $3.2 Billion

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

agreed to acquire a software provider that focuses on helping businesses track and manage customer data, a $3.2 billion deal that comes as companies rethink how they reach consumers who are spending more time at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Twilio struck an all-stock deal for Segment, which offers products that allow companies to glean data about shoppers from websites, mobile apps and email, as well as when they communicate with customer support, and from various software programs.

“What Segment allows companies to do is take all the data that’s in these disparate systems and assemble

Business

Polish E-Commerce Company Allegro Lights up Europe’s IPO Market | Technology News

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

By Anna Banacka and Anna Koper

WARSAW/GDANSK, Poland (Reuters) – Shares in Polish e-commerce group Allegro leapt more than 60% on their debut on Monday, giving the company a market value of almost $19 billion in Europe’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) so far this year.

Founded more than 20 years ago as a home-grown rival to eBay, Allegro is central Europe’s most recognised e-commerce brand and its website is attracting 20 million visitors a month as consumers go online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allegro’s strong start mirrored the performance of some recent IPOs in the United States where shares

Business

Mallinckrodt, ensnared in opioid crisis, seeks Chapter 11

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

A New Jersey drugmaker ensnared in the fallout from America’s opioid crisis is seeking bankruptcy protection.

Mallinckrodt said Monday that it had begun Chapter 11 proceedings to restructure debt and resolve “several billion dollars of otherwise unmanageable potential legal liabilities.”

The drugmaker, one of the highest-volume opioid producers in the U.S. at the height of the nation’s prescription drug crisis, announced in February a tentative $1.6 billion settlement to avert hundreds of lawsuits. It said Monday that it plans to amend the settlement as it restructures.

Under the proposed settlement, opioid claims would be channeled to trusts that receive $1.6

Business

India, South Africa ask WTO to ease IP rules for COVID-19

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

title= — FILE – In this July 30, 2020 file photo, Kai Hu, a research associate transfers medium to cells, in the laboratory at Imperial College in London. Imperial College is working on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. South Africa and India on Friday Oct. 2, 2020, asked the World Trade Organization to waive some provisions in the international agreements that regulate intellectual property rights, to speed up efforts to prevent, treat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic and make sure developing countries are not left behind.

Kirsty Wigglesworth

AP

NEW DELHI

South Africa and India have asked the World Trade Organization

Business

Top Wall Street Derivatives Cop to Step Down

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

With James McDonald as enforcement director, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed 113 enforcement actions... — With James McDonald as enforcement director, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed 113 enforcement actions in the 2020 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

Photo:

andrew kelly/Reuters

WASHINGTON—The chief enforcement watchdog of U.S. derivatives markets is stepping down as his agency wraps up some of its largest investigations.

James McDonald, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s enforcement director, will resign from his role next week, he said Friday in an interview. Mr. McDonald, a former federal prosecutor, led the CFTC’s market cops through dozens of market-manipulation cases, including one against

Chase & Co. that this week produced the highest fine

Business

Ford CEO Jim Farley replaces CFO Tim Stone with John Lawler in shake-up

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

CLOSE

Jim Farley, of Ford Motor Co., talks about the future of the automobile and how Ford will innovate and change demand like they did with the Model T.

Detroit Free Press

At 8 a.m. Thursday on the first day of Jim Farley stepping into his new CEO role at Ford Motor, the company announced “operational and leadership changes” designed to do what Farley has promised publicly: drive growth and speed transformation of the 117-year-old automaker.

The plan, Ford said, is to “turn around automotive operations; allocate capital to Ford’s strongest franchises and high-growth opportunities, and produce compelling, uniquely Ford

Business

As the jobs recovery slows, moms, African-Americans and government workers are falling behind

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

Among the report’s scariest signs? The share of Americans working or looking for work, known as the labor-force participation rate, declined among prime working ages (25-54) in September.

The drop was driven by plunging participation rates among women, just as the school year went into full swing in much of the country.

Of the nearly 1.1 million people who stopped working, or looking for work, in September, almost 80 percent were women. Many economists say it’s a clear sign of the child-care burden falling mainly on working mothers.

Mothers like April Smith are facing impossible decisions, as they must choose

Business

US Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.9% In September: Govt

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

The United States added a less-than-expected 661,000 jobs in September but the unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, underscoring the economy’s tortured recovery from Covid-19.

The positions gained last month were less than half of the upwardly revised nearly 1.5 million positions added in August, indicating a slowdown in the pace of the employment recovery after business shutdowns beginning in March to stop Covid-19 caused mass layoffs.

“In September, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in retail trade, in health care and social assistance, and in professional and business services,” the Labor Department

Business

Stocks Finish Lower as Trump Tests Positive for Covid-19

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

Stocks ended lower Friday after President Donald Trump said he tested positive for the coronavirus and the U.S. added fewer jobs in September than forecast.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had tumbled on the news, ended down 134 points, or 0.48%, at 27,682, the S&P 500 declined 0.96% and the Nasdaq slumped 2.22%.

But the stock market finished the week higher: The Dow rose by 1.9%, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each gained 1.5%.

Airline stocks climbed after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi she was willing to pass a stand-alone Covid-19 airline-relief bill and asked the airlines to

Business

Coppell’s Caliber Home Loans files to go public, capitalizing on mortgage and refinancing boom

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

Coppell-based home mortgage company Caliber Home Loans is seeking to raise up to $200 million in an initial stock offering.

The fast-growing home loan firm filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its first public securities sale. Record-low interest rates are fueling a home buying and refinancing boom, leading privately owned mortgage companies to capitalize on Wall Street.

Home mortgage originations are forecast to hit $3.9 trillion this year – up from about $2.2 trillion in 2019. More than $2.4 trillion of this year’s home lending volume is homeowners refinancing their property at lower mortgage rates.

Caliber

Business

Conveyor system company expands in Pasco County

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

SAN ANTONIO — A conveyor system company which first opened in Pasco in 2014 will invest $2 million to expand its business at the One Pasco Center business park, the Pasco Economic Development Council announced last week.

The company, Conveyor Consulting and Rubber Company, plans to build two new facilities, one will be 20,000 square feet and the other 12,000 square feet in the business park, which is located near Interstate 75 and State Road 52.

The expansion includes new manufacturing capabilities for conveyor parts and systems.

“Our company continues to grow, and we are expanding to meet the demand

Business

Goldman, Citi, HSBC Halt U.K. Office Return on Johnson Plea

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

(Bloomberg) — Banks from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Citigroup Inc., and HSBC Holdings Plc have hit pause on plans to return workers in London after Prime Minister Boris Johnson appealed to Britons to work from home to help tame a resurgent coronavirus.

© Bloomberg
A pedestrian crosses a bridge in view of the new European headquarters of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London, U.K., on Friday, April 20, 2018. Foreign investors are less worried about the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union than they were a year ago, Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate Chairman Edward

Business

Is Credit Card Relief Little Help? Check Out Debt Management | Lifestyle News

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

By MELISSA LAMBARENA of NerdWallet

As cardholders experience financial difficulties due to COVID-19, some credit card issuers are promoting their hardship programs.

Once a well-kept secret, these programs are now more prominently advertised, offering things like deferred payments and lower interest rates. But not all cardholders will qualify or receive favorable terms.

If you’ve been denied COVID-19 relief, if it’s insufficient, or if your relief terms are expiring, consider turning to a nonprofit credit counseling agency. Credit counselors may be able to help you with get-out-of-debt options — among them, possibly, a debt management plan, which rolls several balances into

Business

Home at last: Formerly homeless vets are moving into Brighton Marine’s new 25-unit building

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

“This supports the ability to really address all of the issues a person is a facing,” said Bruce Buckley, CEO of Soldier On, which runs similar facilities in Agawam, Chicopee, Northampton, and Pittsfield. “If you address most but not all of them, we’ve found, it doesn’t really provide a working solution.”

The building at Brighton Marine is a former military hospital that since the 1980s has housed an array of health and social service programs for veterans. It has been renovated into furnished apartments — they even come with sheets and towels. The nonprofit financed the renovation itself, said Brighton

Business

Blizzard cofounder Mike Morhaime launches new gaming endeavor Dreamhaven

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

Mike Morhaime, the cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, has launched a new game company called Dreamhaven, and it has established two new game studios: Moonshot and Secret Door.

The Irvine, California-based company is a pretty good clue that Morhaime and his wife Amy Morhaime weren’t quite done with games when they left Activision Blizzard in 2018.

Mike will be the CEO of Dreamhaven, while Amy will head operations. They have hired a number of (mostly former Blizzard) industry veterans to help run their studios, which will work on separate games. That’s an ambitious startup, as working on two

Business

Walmart says it needs to hire 20,000 holiday workers just for e-commerce

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

Walmart says shoppers aren’t going to start acting radically different when the holiday shopping season begins.

The world’s largest retailer expects the habits shoppers have developed during the pandemic to define the 2020 holiday shopping season, and it’s planning accordingly.

Walmart is hiring 20,000 seasonal workers for its e-commerce fulfillment centers to meet online shopping demand.

Known for its 24-hour, 7 days a week schedule, Walmart stopped keeping stores open overnight after the pandemic started to give employees time to clean and sanitize stores and stock shelves. That’s going to continue throughout the holidays, including Black Friday.

The number of

Business

COVID-19 takes a grim toll on America’s small businesses

Deedra Mcgillivray 2 months ago

Brunetti’s Pizza and Deli opened in Scranton, Pa., in 1958 and was so beloved by the community that customers would volunteer to shovel its sidewalk on snowy days. Mike Brunetti, the son of the founder, and his wife Therese took over the operation. They got engaged in the shop and their kids all worked there.

Then came COVID. Shuttered in March, Brunetti’s had no revenues until May, when it reopened. The owners kept up their payments to suppliers, but sales were vastly reduced because of the shop’s small size and social-distancing requirements. Even a $14,000 loan under the federal