Business Highlights: Biden makes historic picket-line visit; Trump fraud lasted years, judge rules
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Biden urges striking auto workers to ‘stick with it’ in historic picket line visit
VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden has joined picketing United Auto Workers in Michigan on the 12th day of their strike against major carmakers. It’s a demonstration of support for organized labor unparalleled in presidential history. He told workers Tuesday to “stick with it.” He exchanged fist bumps with grinning workers a day before former President Donald Trump makes his own visit to meet with UAW members. Biden has repeatedly sided with the UAW during the strike. Strikers chanted “no deals, no wheels” and “no pay, no parts” as Biden arrived at the General Motors distribution center west of Detroit.
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Striking Hollywood actors vote to authorize new walkout against video game makers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Striking actors have voted to expand their walkout to include the lucrative video game market, a step that could put new pressure on Hollywood studios to make a deal with the performers who provide voices and stunts for games. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced the move late Monday, saying that 98% of its members voted to go on strike against video game companies if ongoing negotiations are not successful. The announcement came ahead of more talks planned for Tuesday. Acting work in video games can include voice, motion capture and stunts.
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Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks, insurers as he built real estate empire
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has ruled that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House. Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling in a civil lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, found that the former president and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing. Engoron’s ruling resolves the key claim in Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, but six others remain. James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York, his home state.
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Musk’s X is the biggest purveyor of disinformation, EU official says
LONDON (AP) — A top European Union official says the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is the biggest source of fake news and urged owner Elon Musk to comply with the bloc’s laws aimed at combating disinformation. European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova also said Tuesday that Google, TikTok, Microsoft and Meta have more to do to tackle disinformation. She says much of it is coming from Russia, which is using social media to wage a “war of ideas” against democracy. She was providing an update on the 27-nation EU’s 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation.
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Stock market today: Wall Street falls sharply as its September slump gets even worse
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s ugly September got even worse, as a sharp drop for stocks brought them back to where they were in June. The S&P 500 tumbled 1.5% Tuesday. The Dow dropped 388 points, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.6%. September is on track to be the worst month of the year for stocks, by far, as the realization sets in that the Federal Reserve will indeed keep interest rates high for a long time. Treasury yields inched higher following a mixed set of economic reports and are near their highest levels in more than a decade.
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Amazon sued by FTC and 17 states over allegations it inflates online prices and overcharges sellers
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. They allege the e-commerce behemoth uses its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on and off Amazon, overcharge sellers and stifle competition. The complaint is the result of a yearslong investigation into Amazon’s businesses and one of the most significant legal challenges brought against the company in its nearly 30-year history. The agency and states that joined the lawsuit are asking the court to issue a permanent injunction that they say would prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and restore competition. Amazon says the FTC is “wrong on the facts and the law.”
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Boost in solar energy and electric vehicle sales gives hope for climate goals, report says
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) is becoming harder but a narrow window remains because clean energy infrastructure has grown around the world, a new report said Tuesday. According to the International Energy Agency, high growth of solar power and increased electric vehicles sales in the last two years are in line with achieving emissions reduction targets by 2050. But renewable power needs to triple by 2030, sale of EVs need to rise sharply and methane emissions from the energy sector needs to fall by 75% if global warming is to be limited to the limit set in the Paris Agreement. Investments in climate action also need to rise, from $1.8 trillion in 2023 to $4.5 trillion annually by the early 2030s.
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Apple exec defends tech giant’s decision to make Google default search engine on Apple iPhones, Macs
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Apple executive defended the tech giant’s decision to make Google the default search engine on Apple iPhones and Macs, saying there was no “valid alternative.’’ Testifying in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said Tuesday that there wasn’t “anybody as good’’ as Google at helping phone and computer users search the internet. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Google of smothering competition by paying Apple, Verizon and other tech companies to make its search engine the first that users see when they open their devices. Google counters that it dominates the market because its search engine is better than the competition.
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Las Vegas hospitality workers could go on strike as union holds authorization vote
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tens of thousands of hospitality workers in Las Vegas are set to vote on whether to authorize a strike that could disrupt dozens of resorts. The Culinary Workers Union says it expects to release results of the vote late Tuesday night. About 53,000 members will participate. It could lead to the union’s first strike in more than two decades. Contract negotiations have been underway this year over issues such as pay, benefits and working conditions. Tuesday’s vote was set to take place on the same day as President Joe Biden joined United Auto Workers strikers on a picket line in Michigan.
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The S&P 500 fell 63.91 points, or 1.5%, to 4,273.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 388 points, or 1.1%, to 33,618.88. The Nasdaq composite fell 207.71 points, or 1.6%, to 13,063.61 The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 22.63 points, or 1.3% to 1,761.61.