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Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher after profit reports, heads for another winning week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ticking higher Friday following profit reports from several big U.S. companies that topped expectations, keeping Wall Street on pace for another winning week.The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in morning trading, coming off its highest close since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 137 points, or 0.4%, at 34,532, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.Insurance giant UnitedHealth Group rallied 7.2% after it said profit growth during the spring was better than feared. It also raised the bottom end of its forecast for earnings for the full year.JPMorgan Chase gained 0.6% after it said its profit during the spring grew by more than expected thanks in part to its acquisition of the troubled First Republic Bank. Wells Fargo rose 0.1% after it also reported stronger profit for the second quarter than expected. On the losing end was State Street, which fell 9.9% after reporting slightly weaker revenue than expected f...

As inflation inches closer to 3%, economists warn progress will stall this year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

OTTAWA — As inflation inches closer to three per cent, economists are warning the steady monthly declines in annual price growth will stall and even potentially reverse in the second half of the year. Statistics Canada is set to release its consumer price index report for June next week, and forecasters are anticipating the annual inflation rate fell from 3.4 per cent in May.“We’re expecting a deceleration to three per cent year-over-year. And that’s really mainly because the gasoline prices we’re paying today are being compared with the very peaks of what we saw last year,” said Andrew Grantham, an executive director of economics at CIBC.But inflation isn’t expected to fall much further this year, making the journey back to the two per cent target a long and tumultuous one. Desjardins chief economist Jimmy Jean says the upcoming CPI report marks a turning point in the fight against inflation.“June is going to be really the peak disinflation...

Lawsuit against fast fashion retailer Shein claims RICO violations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

China’s fast fashion retailer Shein is facing a lawsuit that claims the clothing maker’s copyright infringement is so aggressive, it amounts to racketeering.The filing this week claims that Shein is in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, a law originally crafted to prosecute organized crime. “Shein has grown rich by committing individual infringements over and over again, as part of a long and continuous pattern of racketeering, which shows no sign of abating,” the filing says.In an organized effort to create as many as 6,000 new items per day, Shein uses a “byzantine shell game of a corporate structure” to rip off designers, a coordinated illegal operation that can best be combated through the use of RICO statutes, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit is just the latest in a series of difficulties Shein has faced. In May a bipartisan group of two dozen lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to put t...

DeSantis to become 1st GOP candidate to file for South Carolina primary during visit next week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to file his 2024 candidacy for South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary when he’s in the first-in-the-South voting state next week, becoming the first GOP hopeful to do so.DeSantis will file his paperwork at the state GOP headquarters in Columbia on Tuesday, his campaign told The Associated Press on Friday. DeSantis will make his candidacy official during his third campaign swing through South Carolina, where Republican hopefuls have been stumping for more than a year already. On Monday, he makes a stop in Tega Cay, an affluent community on Lake Wylie along the state line with North Carolina.After he signs his candidacy paperwork, DeSantis plans to make a policy rollout in Columbia, the details of which the campaign did not immediately release. It will be DeSantis’ second policy announcement, following his immigration proposals — which call for ending birthright citizenship and finishing construction of ...

Acropolis’ midday closure leaves many tourists in the lurch as a heat wave lashes southern Europe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Disgruntled tourists bemoaned the temporary closing of the Acropolis in Athens on Friday as Greek authorities proactively shut the world monument’s gates between midday and early evening amid a heat wave that continues to grip southern Europe.Red Cross staff handed out bottled water to tourists wilting in long lines hoping to beat the closure and scale the steps up to the gleaming Parthenon temple as temperatures were expected to peak above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the Greek capital.Some visitors were frustrated at being left in the lurch because they were unaware of Greek authorities’ last-minute announcement of the Acropolis’ closure at noon. One visitor said he was disappointed as his cruise ship would depart later in the day.“I even bought a €50 ticket to skip the line to enter and I couldn’t enter the place,” Hector from Mexico told The Associated Press.Others who beat the closing timewere elated despite the heat, like Sylvia from Colo...

Search on for wayward sea otter harassing surfers, kayakers off California coast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wildlife officials were trying to capture a wayward sea otter Thursday that has been wresting surfboards away from surfers and aggressively approaching kayakers off the coast of Santa Cruz, California.The 5-year-old female otter has shown aggression toward people for several weeks and poses a public safety risk, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement.Video and photographs shared on social media show the marine mammal getting on top of different surfboards — on at least one occasion biting and tearing chunks off a board — and aggressively approaching surfers.A team of wildlife experts with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium were working to capture and put the animal in a new home, the service said.This image from video provided by TMX shows an encounter between a female otter and a surfer off the coast of Santa Cruz, Calif., on Sunday, July 9, 2023. California wildlife officials are trying to captur...

Video: Cat stolen by pizza delivery driver, Colorado family claims

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) - A Colorado family said a Domino's Pizza delivery driver took their cat, and they have security camera video to prove it.While their neighbors got a pizza, the Adams County family said they were left with grief after going over the video of the driver with their cat “Pinto” last Saturday."He got in the middle of the street when he saw someone pull up," Jennifer Chumil, the mother of the family, said of their cat.In the video, Pinto, one of several family cats, is seen running toward a Domino's delivery car."She petted him, and then a few minutes go by and he's in the car with her and they're driving off," Chumil said. "They were delivering pizza to my neighbor across the street."You can see Pinto approach the car and the delivery driver interact with the cat. Another angle, Chumil said, shows Pinto in the car with the driver. 9 suspects wanted after gun store burglaries Shortly afterward, the video appears to show the Domino's employee driving away.The ...

Dean's Reviews: Sound of Freedom

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

Check out WGN Entertainment Reporter Dean Richards’ review for "Sound of Freedom."Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Dean's Reviews: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

Check out WGN Entertainment Reporter Dean Richards’ review for the latest installment of the much anticipated Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Man records extremely close encounter with cougar in California

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:55 GMT

TRABUCO CANYON, Calif. (KTLA) -- A wildlife photographer may have gotten the shot of a lifetime Wednesday night when he encountered a mountain lion mere feet from him on a path.Mark Girardeau said he was checking his motion-activated cameras in Trabuco Canyon when he saw the adult puma, which he calls "Uno," "just chilling" on the trail. This mountain lion had no problem around wildlife photographer Mark Girardeau on July 13, 2023. (Mark Girardeau)When he zooms in on Uno, the camera shows that the cougar is calm and composed, seemingly more curious about Girardeau's presence than anything else.The big cat then saunters down the trail until she reaches the other side of the path from Girardeau's position, then trots away."Oh s—. I had bear spray ready," he narrates.In another video, Uno, who is wearing a collar, walks within an arm's length of Girardeau's vehicle, seemingly unconcerned with his presence. If you encounter a mountain lion in the wild, the...