AP National Business

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has reshuffled his top officials, naming a new head of the state space corporation and giving broad new powers to one of his top ministers. Putin on Friday removed Dmitry Rogozin as head of the state-controlled Roscosmos space agency that oversees rocket factories,

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks are broadly higher in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday following an encouraging report on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations. A July survey from the University of Michigan showed that inflation expectations have held steady or improved, along with general consumer sentiment. It was

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers picked up their spending from May to June, underscoring their resilience despite painfully higher prices at the gas pump and in grocery aisles and allaying fears that the economy might be on the verge of a recession. U.S. retail sales rose

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, saw its second-quarter revenue and profit decline as rising interest rates pushed people out of the housing market. The San Francisco bank earned $3.1 billion in the period, or 74 cents per share, coming up short of the 80 cents per share

By KRUTIKA PATHI, KRISHAN FRANCIS and BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s prime minister was sworn in Friday as interim president until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad and resigned after mass protests over the country’s economic collapse. Lawmakers were to convene Saturday to begin choosing

By JANIE HAR Associated Press DALY CITY, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco Bay Area high school teacher Lisa Raskin moved out of a cramped apartment she was sharing with a roommate and into her own place this month, paying a deeply discounted $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom with expansive views within walking distance to

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening broadly higher on Wall Street Friday, but not enough to erase their losses for the week. Stocks rose across the board following a strong reading on retail sales, which rose 1% in June even as people grappled with economic uncertainty and higher prices. The S&P 500 was up

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Officials in a West Virginia county plan to appeal a federal judge’s ruling in favor of three major U.S. drug distributors in a landmark lawsuit that accused them of causing a health crisis by distributing 81 million pills over eight years. The Herald-Dispatch reports the Cabell County Commission voted unanimously Thursday

BERLIN (AP) — Dock workers at Germany’s North Sea ports are on strike in the latest of several walkouts that have added to pressures on shipping as their union demands a hefty pay rise to counter high inflation. The 48-hour strike, ends on Saturday morning, has largely paralyzed cargo handling at major German ports including

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers picked up their spending in June from May despite surging prices in gas and food. U.S. retail sales rose 1% last month, from a revised decline of 0.1 % in May, the Commerce Department said Friday. Sales at furniture stores rose 1.4%, while consumer

By DANIEL POLITI and DEBORA REY Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Business leaders across Argentina are scrambling to deal with a fresh rash of import restrictions that many say are the most stringent in recent history as the government tries to shore up diminishing Central Bank reserves. Some warn that the situation could

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Rescuers with sniffer dogs were combing through debris in a central Ukrainian city looking for people missing after a devastating Russian missile strike that killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 200. Russian forces pounded other sites in Ukraine in a relentless push to

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer UnitedHealth Group hiked its 2022 forecast Friday after riding both growing health insurance enrollment and its newer care-providing businesses to a better-than-expected second quarter. The health care giant said a nearly 9% surge in Medicare Advantage customers pushed its total enrollment past 51 million people. UnitedHealth Group runs UnitedHealthcare,

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s president has launched talks with all political parties represented in parliament to see if there’s still a chance to form a government and avoid another early election. President Rumen Radev is trying to prevent Bulgaria from sliding into new political turmoil after the two main

By RAF CASERT and JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive has intensified its legal standoff with Hungary by taking Budapest to the EU’s highest court over a restrictive law on LGBT issues and media freedom. The EU had already tried for a year to make Hungary change a law that

By KRUTIKA PATHI, KRISHAN FRANCIS and BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s prime minister was sworn in as its interim president Friday until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after mass protests over the country’s economic collapse forced him from office. Lawmakers were to convene Saturday to

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer Wells Fargo’s second-quarter sales and profit fell short of Wall Street expectations, even as the nation’s largest mortgage lender saw its net interest income jump due to higher interest rates. The San Francisco bank earned $3.1 billion in the period, or 74 cents per share, coming up short of

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italy is entering five days of political and financial uncertainty after the 5-Star Movement sparked a government crisis by withholding support on a government-sponsored bill. On the immediate horizon are behind-the-scenes consultations to see if Italian Premier Mario Draghi could be persuaded to try to find a

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed through debris in a central Ukrainian city on Friday looking for people still missing after a Russian missile strike a day earlier that killed at least 23 people. Russian forces, meanwhile, pounded other sites in a painstaking push to wrest

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — European shares opened higher Friday after a mixed session in Asia following a report that China’s economy contracted by 2.6% in the last quarter due to virus shutdowns that kept businesses closed and people at home. Stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell while most other