Business

The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday announced it had opened an investigation into whether Boeing failed to ensure that its 737 Max 9 plane was safe and conformed to the design approved by the agency.The F.A.A. said the investigation stemmed from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane’s loss of a fuselage panel on Friday shortly after it took off from Portland, Ore., leaving a hole in the side of the passenger cabin. The plane returned to Portland to make an emergency landing.“This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again,” the agency said.This is a developing story. Check back for updates. More information

The global economy is at risk of a “wasted” decade and the weakest stretch of growth in 30 years, the World Bank warned on Tuesday, saying a sluggish recovery from the pandemic and crippling wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are expected to weigh heavily on output.In its semiannual Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank projected that the growth in world output will slow further in 2024, declining to 2.4 percent from 2.6 percent. Although the global economy has been surprisingly resilient, the report warned that its forecasts were subject to heightened uncertainty because of the two wars, a diminished Chinese economy and the increasing risks of natural disasters caused by global warming.The converging crises in recent years have put the world economy on track for the weakest ha...

A brand-new rocket lifted off early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla., sending a robotic spacecraft toward the surface of the moon. No American spacecraft has made a soft landing on the moon since 1972.For United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the successful launch of the Vulcan Centaur rocket was crucial. Vulcan is designed to replace two older rockets, and the United States Space Force is also counting on it to launch spy satellites and other spacecraft that are important for U.S. national security.The Vulcan is also the first of several new rockets that could chip away at the current domination of the space launch market by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. SpaceX sent nearly 100 rockets into orbit last year. Other debut orbital launches in the co...

The U.S. labor market ended 2023 with a bang, gaining more jobs than experts had expected and buoying hopes that the economy can settle into a solid, sustainable level of growth rather than fall into a recession.Employers added 216,000 jobs in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent.Although hiring has slowed in recent months, layoffs remain near record lows. The durability of both hiring and wage gains is all the more remarkable in light of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive series of interest rate increases in the past couple of years. But a range of analysts warns that the coast is not yet clear and says the effects of those higher rates will take time to filter through business activity.“The real...

Some Verizon customers may be entitled to claim part of a $100 million proposed settlement that the wireless carrier agreed to pay to resolve a class-action lawsuit, according to a claims website set up by a settlement administrator.The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of New Jersey, argued that Verizon’s administrative fees were unfair and not adequately disclosed to customers. The court in New Brunswick, N.J., approved the settlement on Dec. 15.Court-appointed lawyers for the plaintiffs sent advisories by email and postcards, which were mailed to customers on Wednesday to customers eligible to file a claim.Stephen DeNittis, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in an interview that the $100 million settlement was among the largest against a company for charging administrative fees.W...

Every day since the trees were planted has been a roll of the dice.Unlike commodities like corn and soybeans, which Mr. Wyckoff grows on another 90 acres he owns, there is no good way to insure Christmas trees against the harm caused by extreme weather, or the effects of an overseas war or a pandemic that freezes supply chains, he added.“Farmers are the biggest gamblers there are,” Mr. Wyckoff, 57, said. His family has been growing Christmas trees in Belvidere, N.J., about a 90-minute drive from Midtown Manhattan, since his grandfather started the business in the 1950s.Christmas trees grow slowly, about 12 to 14 inches a year, and can take 10 years to go from seed to harvest. Most trees he plants are 3 to 5 years old by the time he buys them from nurseries.To keep up with costs, Mr. Wyckof...

For deal makers, 2024 is a year to look forward to, if only because 2023 wasn’t necessarily one to celebrate.Despite some notable transactions, the year presented challenges to the bankers and lawyers who advise corporate clients on big takeovers and initial public offerings.Global M.&A. fell to a 10-year low. About 53,529 deals worth a combined $2.9 trillion were announced, down 17 percent annually by volume, according to data from L.S.E.G.The busiest sectors included energy — led by Exxon Mobil’s takeover of Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron’s acquisition of Hess — and health care, which was topped by Pfizer’s purchase of the cancer drug maker Seagen.The story was worse for I.P.O.s, which tumbled 25 percent year-on-year to a combined $109.8 billion in proceeds, a 14-year low. Tha...

The attacks on crucial shipping traffic in the Red Sea straits by a determined band of militants in Yemen — a spillover from the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza — are injecting a new dose of instability into a world economy already struggling with mounting geopolitical tensions.The risk of escalating conflict in the Middle East is the latest in a string of unpredictable crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, that have landed like swipes of a bear claw on the global economy, smacking it off course and leaving scars.As if that weren’t enough, more volatility lies ahead in the form of a wave of national elections whose repercussions could be deep and long. More than two billion people in roughly 50 countries, including India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, the United Stat...

Boeing has urged airlines to inspect all 737 Max airplanes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system after an international airline discovered a bolt with a missing nut while performing routine maintenance, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday.After the international airline, which the agency did not name, found the missing nut, Boeing discovered that an undelivered 737 Max also had a nut that was not properly tightened, the F.A.A. said.Boeing said it has delivered more than 1,370 of the aircraft worldwide since 2017 and has urged that all of them be inspected for the possible loose hardware. The company said it was also inspecting its undelivered 737 Max airplanes.“The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” Boeing said in a statement. ...

Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, early data shows. That comes as a big relief for retailers that had spent much of the year fearing the economy would soon weaken and consumer spending would fall.Retail sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 increased 3.1 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment. The numbers, released Tuesday, are not adjusted for inflation.Spending increased across many categories, with restaurants experiencing one of the largest jumps, 7.8 percent. Apparel increased 2.4 percent, and groceries also had gains.The holiday sales figures, driven by a healthy labor market and wage gains, suggest that the economy remains stron...