Business Briefs – June 10, 2018

Trade Tremors: How Tariffs, Tough Talk Has Unsettled Markets

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks have traded erratically since late February as investors size up the impact of trade tensions between the U.S. and major trading partners including China, Europe, Canada and Mexico. News of progress, or setbacks, on trade has led to big swings from day to day. Big tech companies and smaller, U.S.-focused companies have fared better than the rest of the market during the tumult.

Report: Facebook Shared User Data With Select Companies

SANB FRANCISCO (AP) – Facebook shared personal information culled from its users’ profiles with other companies after the date when executives have said the social network prevented third-party developers from gaining access to the data. That’s according to a report published Friday by The Wall Street Journal, which cited court documents, company officials and unidentified people familiar with the matter.

As Trade Fears Grow, U.S. States Reach Out to Companies

HACHIOJI, Japan (AP) – Donald Trump’s trade relations with Tokyo are testy, but Idaho gave Takashi Suzuki a warm welcome. Suzuki’s Sakae Casting Co., which makes aluminum parts used for cooling batteries and semiconductors, is talking with the University of Idaho about possibly working together to develop technology to cool nuclear power fuel. While Trump’s squabbles with Japan, Canada and Europe over steel tariffs grab headlines, companies such as Suzuki’s are forging their own deals with American states.

Italy’s Economy Minister Insists Abandoning Euro Not Planned

ROME (AP) — Italy’s new populist government isn’t considering leaving the eurozone, the economy minister insisted, dismissing financial markets’ rocky reaction to the eurosceptic coalition as “normal questions that accompany political transition.”

Economy Minister Giovanni Tria told Italy’s national Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Sunday that the “position of the government is clear-cut and unanimous. No plan to exit from the euro is being discussed.”

Tria, an economics policy professor who was a last-minute choice for the Cabinet post, went further with his avowal that Italy’s footing in the 19-member shared currency union is firm.

“Not only do we not want to exit” the union of nations that use the euro as their official currency, but Italy is determined to counter actions that would “put our presence in the euro up for discussion,” he said.

Kia Recalls Over 500K Vehicles; Air Bags May Not Inflate

DETROIT (AP) – Kia is recalling over a half-million cars and minivans in the U.S. because the air bags may not work in a crash. The recall apparently is related to federal investigation into air bag failures in Kia and partner Hyundai vehicles that were linked to four deaths. Vehicles covered by the recall include 2010 through 2013 Forte compact cars and 2011 through 2013 Optima midsize cars. Also covered are Optima Hybrid and Sedona minivans from 2011 and 2012.

New $2.5B Contract Awarded to Manage Nuclear Weapons Lab

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Overseeing a top nuclear weapons laboratory that has had security and safety problems will be the responsibility of a new management team that includes two universities and a research firm. The National Nuclear Security Administration chose Triad National Security LLC as the winning bidder to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. The contract — worth an estimated $2.5 billion a year — marks a big step to get the lab back on track.

Immigration Raid Worries Landscapers Relying on Foreign Help

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – Already facing a severe labor shortage, landscaping businesses that can’t keep up with booming demand for backyard patios and fire pits worry that an immigration raid that rounded up over 100 people last week will make it even tougher to persuade Congress to allow more foreign workers into America for seasonal jobs.

Owners of landscaping companies near Tuesday’s sting in the Lake Erie resort city of Sandusky and nearby Castalia, which targeted workers with forged documents in one of the largest actions at a workplace in recent years, said it sent a shiver of apprehension through their industry.

“I believe most of us are doing things the right way, but every company is going to be worried that they’re going to be raided,” said Joe Drake, who runs JFD Landscapes in Chardon, also in northern Ohio.