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As Congress fights, analysts warn economy needs help now

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress and the White House resume their efforts to agree on a new economic aid package, evidence is growing that the U.S. economy is faltering. And so is concern that the government may not take the steps needed to support hiring and growth. With unemployment still at a high 11.1% and hiring potentially slowing in July, the economy is likely to weaken further without more government aid, economists say. What’s needed, most economists say, is continued extra aid for tens of millions of unemployed Americans, along with more funding for state and local governments and more grants for struggling small companies, many of which could go out of business.

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Gold’s luster grows as investors hedge in uncertain times

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is in the throes of a gold rush, as investors drive the price of the precious metal to new heights. The price of gold has climbed nearly 27% this year, more than double the return of the largest U.S. bond funds and towering over the roughly 1% return of big U.S. stocks. The biggest reason for the surge is fear surrounding the pandemic. No one knows how many people the new virus will ultimately kill — or how much of the world’s economy it will destroy. That sways investors toward the metal that has long been considered a safe haven for wealth in turbulent times.

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Trade, technology and security at risk in US-China feud

BEIJING (AP) — They have the largest economies in the world. They spend more than anyone else on their militaries. From high-tech chips to control of the high seas, their interests are closely intertwined. The ongoing sharp deterioration in U.S.-China ties poses risks to both countries and the rest of the world. In the latest escalation, a U.S. consulate in Chengdu in southwestern China shuttered Monday, ordered by China to close in retaliation for the U.S. shutting down its consulate in Houston last week. With the U.S. presidential campaign heating up, all bets are that relations with China will only get worse. At stake are global trade, technology and security. ___

Garmin acknowledges cyberattack, doesn’t mention ransomware

BOSTON (AP) — Garmin has acknowledged being victimized by a cyberattack that encrypted some of its systems, knocking its fitness tracking and pilot navigation services offline last week. It said systems would be fully restored in the next few days. The company did not specify that ransomware was to blame. But a person familiar with the incident response told The Associated Press that attackers had turned over decryption keys that would allow Garmin to unlock the data scrambled in the attack. Garmin had no comment on ransom the company may have paid.

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Wall Street returns to rallying; gold jumps to record high

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks resumed their upward march on Wall Street Monday, while the price of gold rushed to a record high at the start of a week packed with potentially market-moving events. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% following mixed, modest moves in overseas markets. This week’s headline event may be a two-day meeting for the Federal Reserve on interest rates that begins Tuesday. It’s also a heavy week for earnings reports, and Congress is debating more aid for the economy. Nervousness is still hanging over markets, which helped gold briefly shoot above $1,940 per ounce for the first time.

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Google to keep most of its employees at home until July 2021

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google has decided that most of its 200,000 employees and contractors should work from home through next June. It’s a sobering assessment of the pandemic’s potential staying power from the company that provides the answers for the world’s most trusted internet search engine. The remote-work order issued Monday by Google CEO Sundar Pichai also affects other companies owned by Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet Inc. It marks a six-month extension of Google’s previous plan to keep most of its offices closed through the rest of this year. The prolonged lockdown of Google’s offices could influence other major employers to take similar precautions.

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Target joins Walmart in ending Thanksgiving store shopping

NEW YORK (AP) — Target is joining Walmart in closing its stores on Thanksgiving Day, ending a decadelong tradition of jump-starting Black Friday sales. The move, announced Monday, comes as stores are rethinking the Black Friday in-store door busters as they try to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has seen a resurgence in a slew of states. Target opened for the first time on Thanksgiving in 2011, joining other stores in launching Black Friday sales a day early and creating a new tradition of shoppers heading out to the stores after their turkey feast. The bigger question still looms on how to handle Black Friday itself this year, which also draws huge crowds — and sales.

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The S&P 500 climbed 23.78 points, or 0.7%to 3,239.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 114.88, or 0.4%, to 26,584.77, and the Nasdaq composite gained 173.09, or 1.7%, to 10,536.27. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 17.10 points, or 1.2%, to 1,484.65.