FINANCIAL MARKETS

Healthy profits push stocks higher yet; Nasdaq crosses 6,000

NEW YORK (AP) — Profits are climbing for companies, and so are their stock prices.

More big businesses joined the earnings parade Tuesday, saying their profits were even larger in the first three months of the year than analysts were expecting, including Caterpillar and McDonald’s. The gains put U.S. indexes on track to add to their big gains from Monday.

At 1 p.m. Eastern Time, the Dow was up 233 points, at 20,997. The S&P 500 was up 13 points, at 2,387. And the Nasdaq was up 38 points, shooting up to 6,022. It’s the Nasdaq’s first move above 6,000 points.

WELLS FARGO-ANGRY SHAREHOLDERS

Wells Fargo executives apologize to shareholders

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Shareholders at Wells Fargo’s annual meeting in Florida took their speaking opportunity to criticize the company’s board of directors today.

A shareholder representing the AFL-CIO called for the board to be voted out. Another speaker said there seems to be a “culture of dishonesty” at the company and elsewhere. Chairman Stephen Sanger said Wells Fargo has been held accountable and has made changes.

Regulators imposed $185 million fines on the bank in September, saying employees opened up to 2 million customer accounts without customer permission as workers tried to meet aggressive sales goals.

Today is the bank’s first shareholder meeting since the scandal erupted.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

US consumer confidence dips in April but remains strong

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence slipped in April but remains at high levels.

The Conference Board, a business research group, says its consumer confidence index registered 120.3 this month, down from 124.9 in March, which was the highest reading in 16 years.

Americans’ assessment of current conditions and their expectations for the future both dipped this month. Their outlook for the jobs market also dimmed.

Still, consumers’ spirits have risen sharply since the Nov. 8 election of President Donald Trump.

“Despite April’s decline, consumers remain confident that the economy will continue to expand in the months ahead,” said Lynn Franco, the Conference Board’s director of economic indicators.

Economists closely monitor the mood of consumers because their spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

HOME PRICES

US home prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly 3 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. homes prices rose steadily upward in February as more homebuyers chased fewer available properties.

The Standard & Poor’s CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index increased 5.8 percent in February, the most in 32 months.

Home sales got off to a strong start this year, and in March reached their highest level in a decade. At the same time, the number of houses for sale has dropped steadily, forcing many would-be buyers into bidding wars. Many homeowners have very low mortgage rates and may be reluctant to sell if doing so would force them to take on higher borrowing costs.

The cities with the biggest annual price gains were Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and Dallas.

TRUMP-TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Senate panel approves Trump’s choice to lead trade office

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel has unanimously approved President Donald Trump’s pick to represent the U.S. in trade negotiations.

The 26-0 vote by the Finance Committee moves the nomination of Robert Lighthizer to the full Senate.

Lighthizer served as deputy U.S. trade representative under President Ronald Reagan. He has also worked on trade issues as a lawyer representing various manufacturers and high-tech companies.

The committee also approved granting Lighthizer a waiver from a law that prohibits anyone who has represented a foreign entity in trade negotiations with the U.S. from being the nation’s top trade representative.

Democrats agreed to the waiver after earning commitments from Chairman Orrin Hatch to work with them to protect coal miners’ health care benefits as part of a spending bill to keep the government running.

J CREW-JOB CUTS

J.Crew to cut 150 jobs with sales in retreat

NEW YORK (AP) — J.Crew, the preppy clothing retailer, will cut about 150 jobs to trim costs.

Like other retailers, J.Crew has suffered as more people shop online. The company has lost money for the past three years.

Most of the job cuts will be at its corporate headquarters in New York. It will also not fill about 100 corporate positions that were open. The changes will save it about $30 million a year, and the company says it will post a charge of about $10 million in the first quarter due to severance payments and other termination costs.

The company has more than 570 J.Crew, Madewell and outlet stores.

FIAT CHRYSLER-GOOGLE

FCA, Google begin offering rides in self-driving cars

DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler and Google for the first time will offer rides to the public in the self-driving vehicles they are building under an expanding partnership.

The companies announced in the spring of last year that they would build 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans. Those vehicles have been tested in Arizona, California and Michigan.

Waymo, Google’s self-driving car project, says it will allow hundreds of people in Phoenix to take rides in the vehicles so that it can get feedback. People can apply on Waymo’s website.

The company also says it’s expanding its fleet to 500 Pacifica hybrids.

IVANKA TRUMP

The Latest: Ivanka Trump ‘rather unfamiliar’ with new role

BERLIN (AP) — Ivanka Trump says she’s still “rather unfamiliar” with the role of first daughter and is stressing that, as a White House adviser, she doesn’t represent her business.

Trump stepped away from running her fashion brand to take the unpaid White House role. At a panel discussion in Berlin Tuesday, the moderator asked Trump whether she represents her father, President Donald Trump, the American people or her business.

Ivanka Trump replied, “Certainly not the latter, and I am rather unfamiliar with this role as well, as it is quite new to me.” She said, “it has been a little under 100 days but it has just been a remarkable, incredible journey.”

TRUMP-TOWER-CHICAGO

Many condominiums for sale, rent at Chicago’s Trump Tower

CHICAGO (AP) — An unusually large number of luxury condominiums are for sale or available for rent at Trump Tower in Chicago.

Real estate professionals tell the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2oFJmqy) that almost 11 percent of the 98-story building’s 486 residential units are for sale.

Chicago demonstrators have focused on the building since Donald Trump was elected president.

Carla Walker of KoenigRubloff Berkshire Hathaway says owners who paid upward of $1.5 million for their condos don’t want to be disturbed by protesters.

Appraisal Research Counselors says the number of Trump Tower condos for sale is almost three times higher than at similar buildings downtown. The 100-story John Hancock building has 26 out of 703 condos for sale.

GOOGLE-FIGHTING FALSE INFORMATION

Google targets ‘fake news,’ offensive search suggestions

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has sprinkled some new ingredients into its search engine in an effort to prevent bogus information and offensive suggestions from souring its results.

The changes have been in the works for four months, but Google hadn’t publicly discussed most of them until now. The announcement in a blog post Tuesday reflects Google’s confidence in a new screening system designed to reduce the chances that its influential search engine will highlight untrue stories about people and events, a phenomenon commonly referred to as “fake news.”

UKRAINE

Russia to supply power to rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says Russia will supply electricity to separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine after the Ukrainian government cut off the power because of unpaid bills.

Ukraine says it will stop supplying power to the rebel-controlled part of the Luhansk region because of mounting debts, and local media report the supply was cut off close to midnight Monday.

Boris Gryzlov, the Russian envoy mediating talks between Russia-backed separatists and the Ukrainian government, says the Russian government has decided to help supply Luhansk with electricity.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defends the decision as a humanitarian mission but will not disclose how the power supply will be organized in this Ukrainian region that borders Russia.

EUROPE-SWEDISH TELECOMS

EU investigators probe Swedish mobile telecoms firms

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s competition watchdog says investigators have launched surprise inspections at a number of Swedish mobile telecoms companies amid concerns over a possible cartel.

The European Commission says inspections are a first step in the investigation of anti-competitive practices. It has not named any of the companies targeted.

The inspections are helping to establish whether “Swedish mobile network operators may have engaged in anti-competitive conduct preventing entry into the consumer segment of the Swedish mobile telecommunications market, in breach of EU antitrust rules.”

The Commission notes that the surprise inspections do not mean the companies are guilty of any misconduct. No deadline has been set to end the probe.

ITALY-ALITALIA

Alitalia expected to start bankruptcy procedures

ROME (AP) — Alitalia is expected to start bankruptcy procedures after employees rejected proposed salary cuts and layoffs cuts aimed at saving Italy’s financially troubled flagship airline.

The company’s board says that “given the impossibility of recapitalization” it has decided to “begin procedures foreseen by law,” a reference to extraordinary administration. An Alitalia statement says the board will meet Thursday to discuss the move.

Such a scenario could result in shedding unprofitable routes, likely domestic ones, and selling off airliners.

In results announced Monday, some two-thirds of employees in a referendum nixed the industrial plan the government had linked to Alitalia’s survival.

TYSON FOODS-ACQUISITION

Tyson foods to buy AdvancePierre for $3.2 billion

NEW YORK (AP) — Tyson Foods will pay $3.2 billion to add packaged sandwich maker AdvancePierre to its stable of processed food brands.

Tyson will pay $40.25 per share, a 9.8 percent premium to AdvancePierre’s closing share price Monday.

Tyson Foods Inc. will also assume about $1.1 billion in debt from the Blue Ash, Ohio, company.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Tyson is shifting its portfolio to incorporate a heavier emphasis on proteins. On Monday, Tyson said that it might sell its Sara Lee frozen bakery business, its Kettle brand and Van’s.

Tyson, based in Springdale, Arkansas, owns the Jimmy Dean and Ball Park brands,

SHIP REPAIR-LAYOFFS EXPECTED

Hampton Roads’ ship industry could lay off more than 1,000

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The ship-repair industry in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region is preparing to lay off more than 1,000 employees as Congress works to approve a new national budget.

The Virginian Pilot reports (http://bit.ly/2pdH7vN ) at least 1,000 layoffs are expected for the industry and some have already begun. Virginia Ship Repair Association president Bill Crow says it’s mainly due to the federal government’s stopgap spending measure that ends Friday, and the failure to approve a new national budget with adequate funding for maintenance of Navy ships.

Crow says without supplemental funding, Hampton Roads’ ship repair industry could stand to lose roughly $180 million. He also says shipyard executives knew that even without Congress’ funding issues, the work the Navy planned to offer Hampton Roads’ facilities would drop below their total capacity.

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