Investments and Business

Ford Motor has recalled about 238,000 Explorers because of a defect that poses a risk of the sport utility vehicles rolling away if the parking brake is not engaged.The affected models, from 2020 through 2022, have been discontinued.“The rear axle horizontal mounting bolt may fracture and cause the drive shaft to disconnect,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a letter to Ford on Thursday.If the shaft, a rod that transfers power to the wheels and makes the vehicle move, disconnects, it could result in a loss of drive power or a vehicle rollaway if the parking brake is…

President Biden’s top antitrust officials have used novel arguments over the past few years to stop tech giants and other large companies from making deals, a strategy that has had mixed success.But on Friday, when Microsoft closed its blockbuster $69 billion acquisition of the video game publisher Activision Blizzard after beating back a federal government challenge, the message sent by the merger’s completion was incontrovertible: Big Tech can still get bigger.“Big Tech companies will certainly be reading the tea leaves,” said Daniel Crane, a law professor at the University of Michigan. “Smart money says merge now while the merging is…

Some reading suggestions: “On Intersectionality: Essential Writings” by Kimberlé Crenshaw; “Feminism Is for Everybody” by bell hooks; “Women, Race & Class” by Angela Y. Davis; and “Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot” by Mikki Kendall.Working With a Debbie DownerMy colleague at work is a real downer. It’s impossible to have a conversation with her without hearing about how the world is going to burn to a crisp in 20 years, how humans are essentially rotten to the core and how anyone who thinks otherwise is incredibly stupid. I can’t avoid this woman because twice a week,…

In the latest sign of growing frustration among professionals, doctors employed by a large nonprofit health care system in Minnesota and Wisconsin have voted to unionize.The doctors, roughly 400 primary and urgent-care providers across more than 50 clinics operated by the Allina Health System, appear to be the largest group of unionized private-sector physicians in the United States. More than 150 nurse practitioners and physician assistants at the clinics were also eligible to vote and will be members of the union, which will be represented by a local of the Service Employees International Union.The result was 325 to 200, with…

Four weeks after starting limited strikes against three large automakers, the United Automobile Workers is shifting to a more aggressive strategy, suggesting work stoppages could spread to more plants and possibly go on for some time.In an online video, the union’s president, Shawn Fain, said he would no longer wait to announce expansions of the strikes on Friday, as he has been doing until now. Further actions could come at any time.“We’re not messing around,” Mr. Fain said. “The companies are now on notice. If they’re not willing to move, we are going to give them a push.”The union began…

As the most important selling season for retailers approaches, job applicants may feel a chill.Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods plan to hire fewer seasonal workers after a surge in the past two years, when shoppers thronged to stores after pandemic lockdowns and employers struggled to keep up. Many retailers have dropped the incentives they used over the past few years to bring workers in the doors, such as signing or referral bonuses and steeper employee discounts.The career site Indeed said that searches for seasonal jobs were up 19 percent from last year, but that listed positions were down 6 percent.…

Consumer prices grew at the same pace in September as they had in August, a report released on Thursday showed. The data contained evidence that the path toward fully wrangling inflation remains a long and bumpy one.The Consumer Price Index climbed 3.7 percent from a year earlier. That matched the August reading, and it was slightly higher than the 3.6 percent that economists had predicted.The report did contain some optimistic details. After cutting out food and fuel prices, both of which jump around a lot, a “core” measure that tries to gauge underlying price trends climbed 4.1 percent, which matched…

Consumer prices grew at the same pace in September as they had in August, a report released on Thursday showed. The data contained evidence that the path toward fully wrangling inflation remains a long and bumpy one.The Consumer Price Index climbed 3.7 percent from a year earlier. That matched the August reading, and it was slightly higher than the 3.6 percent that economists had predicted.The report did have some optimistic details. After cutting out food and fuel prices, both of which jump around a lot, a “core” measure that tries to gauge underlying price trends climbed 4.1 percent, which matched…

When Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange collapsed in November, one of his oldest friends sent him a message of support.“I love you, Sam,” said Adam Yedidia, a college classmate of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s who went on to work for him at the exchange, FTX. “I am not going anywhere. Don’t worry.”Within days, Mr. Yedidia had resigned from FTX. And last week, at Mr. Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial in federal court in Manhattan, Mr. Yedidia showed up to testify for the prosecution, and recounted the conversation to the jury.Mr. Bankman-Fried’s trial has offered a vivid window into one of the most dramatic corporate collapses…