Category Business

LOS ANGELES — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate slipped after climbing for five consecutive weeks to a more than 20-year high, a modest relief for would-be homebuyers challenged by rising home prices and a thin inventory of homes on…

NEW YORK — JCPenney said Thursday it plans to spend more than $1 billion by the end of 2025 in a bid to revive the storied but troubled 121-year-old department store chain. The money is going toward remodeling JCPenney stores,…

Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have committed $10 million to make direct payments to people on Maui who are unable to return to their homes because of the wildfires, through a new fund they announced Thursday. The People’s Fund of…

NEW DELHI — India’s economy registered impressive growth of 7.8% in the first quarter of the current financial year (April-June), attributed to good performance by the agriculture and financial sectors, according to official data released on Thursday. The World Bank…

WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that Congress should pass a short-term funding measure to ensure the government keeps operating after the current budget year ends Sept. 30. An official with the Office of Management and Budget said lawmakers…

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government said it signed seven mining contracts Thursday amounting to $6.5 billion in investment, in the biggest such round of deals since seizing power two years ago. The seven contracts are with locally based…

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to movie theaters. Swift announced Thursday that the concert film “Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour” will open in North American theaters Oct. 13. The theater chain…

DETROIT — Kia is recalling about 320,000 cars in the U.S. to fix a problem that could prevent the trunk from being opened from the inside. The recall covers the Optima midsize car from 2016 through 2018, Optima hybrids and…

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week as companies held on to employees in an economy that has largely withstood rapidly rising interest rates, intended to cool hiring and spending, for more than a year. The number of…

WASHINGTON — An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve remained low last month, adding to signs of cooling price increases and raising the likelihood that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged when it next meets in late…