Business

Americans filed 900,000 applications for unemployment benefits last week, a signal that layoffs are still going strong as the coronavirus hammers businesses and workers alike. The feds have now reported about 75.6 million initial jobless claims over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic — a number equivalent to roughly 47 percent of the nation’s workforce. The filings reported Thursday marked a slight drop from the prior week’s revised total of 926,000 and came in below economists’ expectations for 930,000, according to Wrightson ICAP. But the number of initial claims has surged from 782,000 in the last full week of December, a month in which the US economy lost 140,000 jobs as spikes in coronavirus infections and deaths led many states to impose new lockdown measures. Experts say the recent spike in jobless filings may have something to do with the coronavirus relief bill Congress passed last month. One key measure boosted unemployment payments by $300 a week, which “may have encouraged some to apply,” Bloomberg economist Eliza Winger said. Nevertheless, jobless claims have now remained above the pre-pandemic record of 695,000 for 44 consecutive weeks as COVID-19 kills thousands of Americans each day. Workers claimed a staggering 16 million weeks

Even in today’s historically-worst commercial property market, things are not everywhere and always at their worst. Companies are still moving and growing. Here are some just-completed transactions that reveal a pulse beneath the surface.  In a sign of life for the luxury retail scene, glam jeweler Graff has exercised its option to buy one of its Manhattan flagship townhouse buildings, 712 Madison Ave. at East 63d Street, from SL Green for $43 million. Graff bought the ground lease with a purchase option in 2019. It also bought No. 710 from a different owner in 2019. Graff’s commitment is an expression of faith in Madison Avenue, the city’s most glamorous shopping corridor, at a time when many brands are going bankrupt and storefronts stand vacant. The sale appears to reflect SL Green’s strategy to sell off mostly smaller, non-core assets as it concentrates on large projects such as One Vanderbilt and 185 Broadway. The Orthodox Union, an influential Jewish advocacy organization, bought a 69,000-square-foot commercial condominium at 40 Rector St. for $24.85 million. Cushman & Wakefield dealmaker Mark Weiss, who represented the OU with Cushman’s Alan Wildes, said the purchase price of $600 per foot is down from the pre-pandemic ask

US stocks closed at record highs Wednesday as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president — with the new commander-in-chief setting a record for stock gains between his election and his inauguration. The benchmark S&P 500 index rallied 1.4 percent to a record close of 3,851.85, finishing 14 percent higher on Inauguration Day than it was on Election Day. That streak broke a record set by President Hoover in 1928 when the S&P rallied 13.3 percent during the same interval, according to MarketWatch. Biden will waste little time turning the page on the Trump era, aides said, signing 15 executive actions in the afternoon on issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the economy to climate. He’s also set to push a $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief package through a Democrat-controlled Congress. “I’m not sure that the politics of Inauguration Day did much but certainly the expectation for a trillion-plus in stimulus,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Wednesday, the Dow soared 257.86 points, or 0.8 percent, to a new record high of 31,188.38. The tech-heavy Nasdaq set its own record, climbing roughly 2 percent to 13,457.25 as shares of Netflix surged 17 percent after

Jim Chanos still thinks Tesla’s stock is a house of cards, but he’s adjusting his plan to profit from its collapse. The famed short seller told CNBC on Wednesday that he has turned his disastrous, longstanding short bet against Elon Musk’s electric car company into a put position — a safer way to make a bearish bet on the hottest stock in modern history. Chanos, known for profitable short bets against Enron and Wirecard, put on his short against Tesla in 2016 and has been one of Musk’s most public and vocal critics, one referring to Tesla as “a walking insolvency.” But since he started betting against Musk and his cars, Tesla stock has gone up more than 2,000 percent, making it nearly impossible for Chanos and his fellow short-sellers to stay in their positions. Musk has not been overly gracious about Chanos’ defeat, tweeting in November 2019, “So many reporters gave Chanos airtime when he called Tesla a worthless fraud. Now that he has been proven wrong, silence…” In December, Chanos said he had cut his short against Tesla, admitting that the investment had been “painful”  and tipping his hat to Musk, saying “Job well done so far.’” By

Procter & Gamble raised its full-year sales forecast for a second time Wednesday as it benefited from sustained coronavirus-driven demand for cleaning products, while also warning that the pace of sales might slow as vaccines roll out. The Cincinnati-based conglomerate reported an 8 percent rise in net sales for its second quarter, slower than 9 percent growth in the first quarter but showing the boom in household cleaning purchases was continuing. P&G said Americans were cleaning and sanitizing 30 percent more than before the pandemic. Dishwasher cycles were run 15 percent more and air fresheners sprayed 20 percent more often while in-home paper towel usage was up 15 percent. The company saw a 30 percent rise in organic sales of its home care products in the second quarter, while consumer willingness to pay for more premium brands over store-branded goods helped sales of items like Downy laundry beads and Tide pods. P&G’s shares, which rose as much as 2.5 percent initially, lost all those gains after executives warned that the rollout of vaccines was liable to cool those trends. “Could there be some reduction in top line growth rates if, God-willing, the situation gets better, and therefore, I need less in my

Jay-Z has started an investment fund to help minority marijuana entrepreneurs break into the booming cannabis business. The Brooklyn-born rapper aims to diversify the legal pot industry by investing in cannabis firms owned by black people and other minorities who have borne the brunt of laws that kept the drug illegal for decades. “We were the ones most negatively affected by the war on drugs, and America has turned around and created a business from it that’s worth billions,” Jay-Z told The Wall Street Journal. “I wanted to do something in a real, concrete way, where I do my part,” he reportedly added. The US marijuana market is worth about $20 billion and could grow larger than the $70 billion market for wine by 2030, the WSJ reported, citing an estimate from investment bank Cowen & Co. But black people have reportedly struggled to access that lucrative market even though they’ve been far more likely than white people to get arrested for pot possession. A 2017 Marijuana Business Daily survey found that 81 percent of cannabis business owners and founders were white while just 4.3 percent were African-American. The fund stems from the acquisition of two California-based pot firms — Left

Tyson Foods said Wednesday it will pay $221.5 million to settle litigation by three groups of plaintiffs that accused it of illegally conspiring to inflate chicken prices. The settlements with so-called “end-user” consumers, commercial purchasers, and purchasers that bought chickens directly from Tyson require approval by a federal judge in Chicago. Tyson did not admit liability in agreeing to settle, and said the payments will be reflected in its first-quarter financial statements. The Springdale, Arkansas-based company still faces price-fixing claims by some large restaurant chains, supermarket operators and food distributors such as Chick-fil-A, Kroger, Walmart and Sysco. Tyson’s settlements resolve all class claims against the company in litigation that began in 2016 over alleged collusion in the $65 billion chicken industry. Restaurants, supermarkets, distributors and consumers accused chicken producers of having conspired since 2008 to inflate chicken prices, through tactics such as restricting production and sharing nonpublic data about supply and demand. Pilgrim’s Pride, owned mainly by Brazil’s JBS SA, agreed on Jan. 11 to pay $75 million to settle claims by direct purchasers of chickens. Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms are among the other defendants in the litigation. A few smaller producers have settled related claims. The US Department of Justice last year

Walmart is once again playing fast and loose with the rules when it comes to labeling goods “Made in the USA,” according to an industry watchdog. The world’s biggest retailer — which five years ago managed to dodge a federal inquiry over its labeling practices by promising to change them — is now claiming on its website that goods that it sells like vacuum cleaners, towels and plastic storage bins are made in America when they aren’t, according to Truth In Advertising. In a Tuesday complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission, the nonprofit consumer advocacy group noted that Walmart claimed in a Facebook ad last fall that nearly two-thirds of the millions of products it sells are made in America. Meanwhile, however, only 2,000 items are listed under its site’s “Made in USA” filter, according to the group, also known as TINA.org. “The truth is consumers can’t be certain any of these products meet the FTC’s definition of ‘made’ in the USA … because of how Walmart is attempting to redefine the legal standard,” TINA.org said. Specifically, Walmart has been using confusing language in disclaimers that obscure their origins. A set of Better Homes & Gardens bath towels is

Mercedes-Benz is looking to muscle in on Tesla’s turf. The German luxury car maker on Wednesday unveiled a new compact electric SUV that it said will go on sale next month at “very attractive price points”. The EQA — described as an “urban entry model” that Mercedes’ board member Britta Seeger said will highlight the company’s focus on “sustainability, versatility and fresh look” — is the first of several electric models the automaker plans to launch in 2021. The mini SUV will have a 265-mile range, the company said in a video presentation, and will go on sale in Europe on Feb. 4, Electric vehicle sales took off in Europe last year as carmakers scrambled to meet European Union CO2 emissions targets. Sales received a boost from subsidies included in economic stimulus measures rolled out in France and Germany, in particular. Sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid models rose 122 percent across the EU through the first three quarters of 2020. Tesla got a head start on traditional carmakers with their vast investments in fossil-fuel vehicles and has dominated global sales. The mass-market Tesla Model 3 is the world’s best-selling EV, followed in distant second place by Renault’s Zoe.

Dave Portnoy is widely known for getting into online spats. But on a recent Saturday in Manhattan, the brash internet celebrity and founder of Barstool Sports couldn’t stop the flow of people coming up to thank him and sing his praises.  That’s because the web provocateur has spent the last month leveraging his star power to raise tens of millions for mom-and-pop shops struggling to survive the pandemic. And despite launching the charitable effort in reaction to a Twitter taunt, it’s going viral.  Since opening the Barstool Fund on Dec. 17 with $500,000 from his own pocket, Portnoy, 43, has raised $27 million, including donations from Tom Brady, Ernie Boch Jr., Aaron Rodgers, Dana White, Kid Rock, “The Bachelor” star Matt James, Kodak Black, The Winklevoss twins, Elon Musk and the New England Patriots.  Portnoy has directed the money to 150 different businesses, including the Peter McManus Cafe in Chelsea, where he was over the weekend when the mob of locals approached him — despite his vocal support for the Patriots — to applaud his charitable giving.  “It hasn’t changed me,” Portnoy said in an exclusive interview.  “I’m the same. I’m glad we are able to do good. The only