If you believe Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, American 401(k) accounts are about to get much better.

Thanks to President Trump's "bold new vision of a new golden age for America," Chavez-DeRemer wrote in the Wall Street Journal on March 30, her agency is taking steps to open these crucial retirement accounts to a raft of new investment ...Read more

As Wall Street frets about the tech industry's eye-popping artificial intelligence spending spree, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy isn't blinking.

In a letter to shareholders Thursday, the Seattle-based tech giant's chief defended the $200 billion Amazon plans to spend on AI infrastructure this year, saying the company is not going to be conservative in ...Read more

U.S. inflation surged in March by the most in nearly four years as the war with Iran sent gasoline prices skyrocketing.

The consumer price index rose 0.9% from February, according to data out Friday. From a year ago, it picked up to 3.3%, the strongest pace since 2024.

A record increase in gas prices was responsible for nearly three-quarters ...Read more

After a couple of somnolent performance decades while it nerded out on hybrid hegemony, Toyota has awakened from its slumber. Formula One partnership with Haas, GR86 sportscar, GR Corolla hot hatch. Huzzah.

The latest espresso shot is the 2026 Corolla Hatchback FX Editon burning a hole in my driveway.

You can see it from space. Orange paint, ...Read more

For years, Audi has been popular among consumers looking for sporty vehicles that don’t break the bank, with models from the basic A-Type to the S-Type and RS-Type. Today we consider the 2026 Sporty S5 sedan.

As a sedan lover, I found testing this vehicle both fun and thrilling as I pushed the S5 to the brink in Florida for seven days.

Its ...Read more

There is a certain kind of person who buys a convertible sports car. They’re not interested in practicality. They don’t care about cargo space. And they certainly aren’t worried about fuel economy, because if you’re the sort of person who tracks miles per gallon, you are not the sort of person who buys an Aston Martin.

What you really ...Read more

The “Montana loophole” is pretty simple.

Luxury car buyers in California and other states wanting their fancy ride but not wanting to pay sales taxes turn to Montana, which has no sales or personal property tax. They register the car there, which they can do from anywhere with paperwork, and bring it back to their home state.

The Montana ...Read more

Abbott Laboratories must pay $53 million in compensatory damages in four cases in which Chicago area babies developed a dangerous intestinal disease after consuming the company’s formula for premature infants, a Cook County jury decided Thursday evening.

After a monthlong trial and a little more than a day of deliberation, the jury found ...Read more

Starbucks, the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, wants you to come back to your refreshed neighborhood store, grab a couch and stay awhile.

On Thursday, Starbucks unveiled one of the first Chicago stores to be “uplifted” under its “Back to Starbucks” restructuring plan, a campaign to improve performance and the in-store experience ...Read more

Qualcomm, San Diego’s Fortune 500 tech giant, is laying off 66 local employees. The global semiconductor firm, which is San Diego’s largest public company and a major employer in the region, reported the layoffs April 2, according to a WARN notice filed with the state. The job cuts will take effect May 26.

The majority of the layoffs are ...Read more

WARREN, Michigan — There are fewer manufacturing jobs in the United States and in Michigan today than when President Donald Trump took office more than a year ago and promised a resurgence for the sector with his aggressive tariffs and other trade policies.

But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said during a tour of a Warren factory on...Read more

In-N-Out is known for hewing to convention.

So don't expect the popular burger chain to embrace mobile ordering anytime soon.

That was a message Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, owner of the family-run chain, delivered in a speech posted this week on YouTube.

Snyder-Ellingson expressed concern that such automation would taint the company's efforts to ...Read more

A few weeks after the first anniversary of the Eaton fire, the number of homeowners who neither put up their home for sale nor moved toward rebuilding has dropped to fewer than half, as more have taken some action toward recovery, according to data released Thursday by UCLA's Latino Policy & Politics Institute.

That total is a significant drop ...Read more

Walt Disney Co. is planning an extensive round of layoffs in the coming weeks, according to a source familiar with the matter but unauthorized to comment.

The move comes nearly three months after Disney unveiled a more streamlined management structure that sought to centralize its sprawling marketing operations.

Disney declined to comment.

...Read more

A Minnesota woman’s unborn baby died after she ate sprouts contaminated with listeria grown at Wisconsin’s Jack & the Green Sprouts farm, a lawsuit filed in federal court says.

A lawyer for the farm denies the woman’s allegation. The farm no longer appears to be operating. The woman, Kate Bozic, and her husband are seeking an unspecified ...Read more

The Department of Justice is investigating the NFL's media deals with streaming companies as more of its games go behind subscription pay walls.

The investigation first reported by the Wall Street Journal centers on the financial impact of live sports streaming on consumers and whether the league's traditional broadcast partners are getting ...Read more

Record diesel prices are crushing California's truckers, forcing them to adjust to avoid losses as they grapple with the most expensive pump prices in the country.

Greg Dubuque's 40 drivers are in a constant diesel-devouring loop. Their big rigs pick up loads of electronics, office furniture and other goods around Los Angeles. They drive close ...Read more

Chicago-based Fooda, which introduced its pop-up lunch service at downtown office buildings 15 years ago, launched its first outdoor marketing campaign this week in an effort to boost its brand in the post-pandemic hybrid work landscape.

The campaign is centered at Ogilvie Transportation Center, with a presence at CTA stations and Divvy bike ...Read more

As insurers hike rates and cancel policies for thousands of homeowners across California, a new state report has proposed a series of reforms to prevent the property insurance market from cratering amid increasingly catastrophic wildfires — but some consumer advocates say it doesn’t go far enough.

The report, released this week, is the ...Read more

Tech behemoths, including Oracle and Meta Platforms, are laying off hundreds of California workers as they invest heavily in artificial intelligence.

Some of the top companies in tech that already had announced big plans to lay off thousands have revealed more details about where they are cutting in recent government filings.

Software giant ...Read more