Costco and Teamsters reach tentative contract agreement, avoid strike
Costco and the Teamsters union have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, avoiding a strike, the union said Saturday. Teamsters spokesman Matthew McQuaid confirmed the agreement, which will have to be approved by members. Details of the agreement weren’t immediately available. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment with Costco. The Teamsters union represents 18,000 Costco workers in six states: California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Overall, Costco has 219,000 U.S. employees and 617 U.S. stores. The company said its labor agreement with the Teamsters applies to less than 10% of those stores.
Here's what could get more expensive under Trump's tariffs
President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China went into effect Saturday evening, slapping a 25% wholesale tariff on both Mexico and Canada at once. China, at the moment, is only being levied with a 10% tariff. Trump is taking a more aggressive strategy against the nation’s neighbors than he did in his first administration. At that time, he took a more targeted approach to specific industries, like steel and aluminum. This time around, the tariffs seem to apply to most categories, although there was a carve out for Canadian energy, which will be tariffed at 10% instead of 25%.
Trump slaps tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China, risking higher prices for U.S. consumers
President Donald Trump signed an executive order issuing tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. from Canada, Mexico and China, raising the risk of a trade war with America’s closest trading partners and threatening to drive up prices on everything from cars to avocados. The only products exempt from the tariffs are Canadian energy products, which would have a lower tariff rate of 10% to "minimize any disruptive effects we might have on gasoline and home heating oil prices," said the senior administration official. The U.S. will begin collecting the tariffs on Canadian goods on Tuesday. It is unclear when the tariffs on Mexico and China would go into effect.
Canada, Mexico and China slam Trump's tariffs
WASHINGTON — Hours after President Donald Trump signed executive orders implementing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, the three countries slammed the move and promised retaliatory measures. U.S. allies Canada and Mexico said they would implement their own tariffs in response to Trump's, a move that signals further economic upheaval among the close trading partners. China, a U.S. competitor, did not mention retaliatory tariffs or other specific measures but said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization and enact "necessary countermeasures."
Travelers are hunting harder for bargains — or taking the bus
Consumers are looking for ways to travel on tighter budgets. Many are ditching first-choice options like flights for cheaper ones, like long-haul bus rides. Others are just staying home. Travel demand fell in the second half of last year, when even high-income households spent less on hotel rooms, Morning Consult recently found. It’s the latest sign that consumers are making tough choices when they run out of affordable substitutes for everything from airline tickets to eggs.
Omnilert CEO talks AI and school safety in wake of Antioch High School shooting
Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, was the latest to experience a deadly shooting. In the wake of the tragedy, many have questioned the efficacy of Omnilert, the artificial intelligence-powered weapons detection system that was used in the school. Now the company’s CEO, Dave Fraser, is speaking out about the advantages – and limitations – of AI security systems. "The way our system works is it’s monitoring video cameras, and if you think about it, it’s essentially playing the role of a human being," Fraser told Fox Business. "But for it to work, it has to be able to actually see a weapon in the same way that a human would need to see the weapon."
Denver awarded NWSL's 16th franchise at record $110 million expansion fee
Professional women’s soccer is coming to Denver, Colorado, beginning in 2026. On Thursday, the National Women’s Soccer League awarded Denver the league’s 16th franchise at a record $110 million expansion fee, according to a person familiar with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details. The latest sale demonstrates the health of professional women’s soccer. Just 16 months ago, Boston team owners paid less than half of that fee ($53 million) for their franchise.
UPS shares tank 15% after weak guidance, plan to slash Amazon deliveries by more than half
Shares of United Parcel Service plunged more than 15% Thursday after the company issued weak revenue guidance for the year and said it planned to cut deliveries for Amazon, its largest customer, by more than half. The shipping giant said in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it “reached an agreement in principle with its largest customer to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.” At the same time, UPS said it is reconfiguring its U.S. network and launching multiyear efficiency initiatives that it expects will result in savings of approximately $1 billion.
Big investors strike a cautious tone on markets for 2025 with Trump policies, inflation posing risks
The backdrop should be reassuring for many investors: A lively bull market, pro-business policies promised by the Trump administration and a Federal Reserve close to pulling off a soft landing. However, Wall Street’s biggest names aren’t sounding so bullish for the year ahead. Convening at an alternative investments conference in Miami this week, hedge-fund titans and industry pros collectively struck a cautious tone about elevated market valuations and potentially negative impacts from President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies. Point72′s Steve Cohen said he believes tariffs and an immigration crackdown will stoke inflationary pressures and hinder consumer spending. The family office head and Mets owner therefore expects the broader market to get bumpy, particularly in the second half of the year.
Key Fed measure shows core inflation at 2.8%, in line with expectations
Inflation closed out 2024 on a strong note, as a price gauge the Federal Reserve focuses on came in well above the central bank’s target, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The personal consumption expenditures price index increased 2.6% on a year-over-year basis in December, 0.2 percentage point higher than the November reading and in line with the Dow Jones estimate. Excluding food and energy, core PCE registered a 2.8% reading, also meeting expectations and the same as the prior month. Though the Fed considers both readings, historically officials have seen core as the better gauge of long-run inflation.