Business News Digest

SAM MEDNICK

February 18, 2025

AP Business Digest

Here are the AP's top business stories that have moved or are planned to move today. All times U.S. Eastern. For up-to-the minute information on AP's coverage, visit AP Newsroom's Coverage Plan.

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UPCOMING

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SMALL BUSINESS MONITOR-EGG PRICES

DESCRIPTION: Small business owners that rely on eggs for their products are facing sticker shock as the avian flu sparks shortages and high prices for the usually reliable staple.

UPCOMING: By 02/18/2025 11:00 a.m. EST, Photo, Text

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US--PHILANTHROPY-JAZZ-LEGACIES

DESCRIPTION: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Jazz Foundation of America will announce a new fellowship to help jazz preservation on Tuesday. Embargoed until noon.

UPCOMING: By 02/18/2025 12:00 p.m. EST, Photo, Text

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NEW AND DEVELOPING

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FINANCIAL MARKETS

Stock market today: Wall Street flirts with a record as indexes drift

SUMMARY: Wall Street is flirting with a record again as U.S. stock indexes drift on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading and just below its all-time closing high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 145 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was basically flat. Entergy jumped 6.2% and helped lead the market. That helped offset an 8.2% drop for Conagra, which lowered its forecasts for upcoming profit and other financial measures.

WORDS: 485 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 9:52 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:dc48f4eb66b6ec2bf32f93a9d82aabac&mediaType=text

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CN--TORONTO-DELTA CRASH

Delta jet flips upside down on a snowy Toronto runway and all 80 aboard survive

SUMMARY: A Delta Air Lines plane has flipped upon arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport and ended up on its roof, injuring 18 people. The airport's chief executive says all 80 people on board survived and those hurt had relatively minor injuries. The flight from Minneapolis attempted to land on a dry runway at around 2:15 p.m. Monday in Toronto. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph were blowing snow at the time. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Video from the scene shows the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR upside down on the snowy tarmac as emergency workers hosed it down. The plane was somewhat obscured by snow from a winter storm that hit Toronto over the weekend.

WORDS: 1134 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 6:48 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:4ab235ef49b2d3757c9bd5fd8c6606ce&mediaType=text

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ML--MIDEAST WARS-US TECH GIANTS-KEY FINDINGS

How US tech giants supplied Israel with AI models, raising questions about tech's role in warfare

SUMMARY: U.S. tech giants have quietly empowered Israel to track and kill many more alleged militants more quickly in Gaza and Lebanon through a sharp spike in artificial intelligence and computing services. But as the number of civilians killed has also soared, so have fears that these tools are contributing to the deaths of innocent people. The Israeli military uses AI to sift through vast troves of intelligence, intercepted communications and surveillance to find suspicious speech or behavior and learn its enemies' movements. An Associated Press investigation found after the surprise attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, its use of Microsoft and OpenAI technology skyrocketed.

WORDS: 1422 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 7:12 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:430f6f15aab420806163558732726ad9&mediaType=text

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ML--MIDEAST WARS-US TECH GIANTS

As Israel uses US-made AI models in war, concerns arise about tech's role in who lives and who dies

WORDS: 3823 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 7:06 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:737bc17af7b03e98c29cec4e15d0f108&mediaType=text

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US--PENNSYLVANIA FIRE

Massive fire breaks out at Pennsylvania aerospace manufacturer, prompting shelter-in-place order

SUMMARY: Officials say schools are closed and residents have been ordered to shelter-in-place after a large fire broke out at an aerospace manufacturer's facility in a town north of Philadelphia. Abington Township Police say the fire broke out at SPS Technologies in Jenkintown on Monday night and witnesses said there was an explosion and flames could be seen inside. Police say the building was evacuated, all employees were accounted for and no injuries were reported. SPS Technologies describes itself as a developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a line of aerospace fasteners and precision components. Schools in the area are closed and officials say the shelter-in-place order is in effect because smoke and particulates are filtering across the area.

WORDS: 212 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 9:42 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:0fa271a68f9c778a88f93427a76884c8&mediaType=text

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EU--BRITAIN-THAMES WATER

Judge approves emergency plan to keep Britain's largest water company afloat

SUMMARY: A judge has approved an emergency plan to keep Britain's largest water company afloat and averted a possible temporary government takeover. Thames Water was seeking approval for about $3.8 billion in rescue loans to prevent the cash-strapped company from falling into government administration. The High Court in London on Tuesday ruled that the company's restructuring plan was a better alternative to government control or a competing plan by a small group of investors. Critics who complained the deal was too expensive and favored bigger investors said they would appeal. Creditors holding most of the company's debt backed the plan. Thames Water has been the subject of nationwide disgust over rampant sewage spills.

WORDS: 703 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 9:13 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:b62179a87de710f2fffbad23d2809b27&mediaType=text

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LT--ARGENTINA-MILEI-CRYPTO

Argentina's Milei faces fraud probe after boosting a crypto coin that crashed hours after its launch

SUMMARY: A judge in Argentina has been selected to investigate allegations of fraud against President Javier Milei for his brief promotion of a cryptocurrency that collapsed in value hours after it was launched last week. Milei and his office deny involvement with creators of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency, saying he initially drew attention to it Friday as an entrepreneurial project that might benefit Argentina but that he learned more about it later and then withdrew his support. Lawyers in Argentina filed fraud complaints against the libertarian President on Sunday. The case was assigned Monday to Chief Justice María Servini of the federal criminal court in Buenos Aires. She doesn't have a deadline to finish investigating the allegations

WORDS: 525 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 5:43 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:3f572a5f294d7c25437a08151798b917&mediaType=text

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AS--VIETNAM-MEDIA RESTRICTIONS

Vietnam's strict new social media regulations strangle free speech, report says

WORDS: 649 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 5:09 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:f1c421efb3e10e6cfb433c01e88a8eda&mediaType=text

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AS--MALAYSIA-CHINA-HUAWEI

Huawei's tri-foldable phone hits global markets in a show of defiance amid US curbs

SUMMARY: Chinese tech giant Huawei has held a global launch for the industry's first tri-foldable phone. Analysts say it marked a symbolic victory for Huawei amid U.S. technology curbs but that challenges over pricing, durability, supply and app constraints may limit its success. Huawei said at a launch event in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that the Huawei Mate XT, first unveiled five months ago in China, will be priced at 3,499 euros ($3,662). Although dubbed a trifold, the phone has three mini-panels and folds only twice. Huawei, China's first global tech brand, is at the center of a U.S.-China battle over trade and technology. Washington in 2019 cut Huawei's access to U.S. components and technology, citing security risks.

WORDS: 531 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 4:56 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:f8a18e6031a881d1febb691dbaeeb156&mediaType=text

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AS--THAILAND-CHINA-SCAM CENTERS

A top Chinese official tours Thai-Myanmar border to highlight crackdown on scam centers

SUMMARY: Efforts to shut down online scam centers in Myanmar appear to gain momentum with a visit by a top Chinese official to the border zone ahead of expected large-scale repatriations of workers in the illicit industry. The visit Monday by Liu Zhongyi, China's vice minister of public security, is part of a stepped-up effort by the three countries to address the online scam problem. Areas of Myanmar bordering Thailand have been havens for criminal syndicates employing an estimated hundreds of thousands of people who help carry out online scams including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes. Victims worldwide have lost money to such scams, and the workers were often lured there under false pretenses and found themselves trapped.

WORDS: 756 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 1:31 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:c91fce0ca0aeeb0f577e2e229d2fc6c6&mediaType=text

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AS--AUSTRALIA-ECONOMY

Australian central bank cuts benchmark interest rate for the first time since October 2020

SUMMARY: Australia's central bank has reduced its benchmark interest rate for the first time since October 2020 as the nation's inflation cools. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday reduced the cash rate a quarter percentage point from 4.35% to 4.1%. at its first board meeting for the year. The cut was widely anticipated after inflation rose only 0.2% in the December quarter and 2.4% for calendar 2024. Annual inflation peaked at 7.8% two years earlier. The bank manipulates interest rates to keep inflation within a target of between 2% and 3%. Unemployment remained at near-record low levels of 4% in December, up slightly.

WORDS: 498 - MOVED: 02/18/2025 1:25 a.m. EST

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:f36f232c169f2df467a2c697ec849810&mediaType=text

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