Business Highlights

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As cruise industry prepares to sail, choppy waters are ahead

NEW YORK (AP) — The cruise industry hopes to set sail later this summer. But with images of coronavirus-ravaged ships still fresh in many minds, there could be years of choppy water ahead. The global cruise industry had expected to carry 32 million passengers and take in $71 billion in revenue this year. That will fall by at least 50% , says Euromonitor International, a consulting firm. Euromonitor expects it to take more than three years for the industry to recover.

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Wall Street hits the brakes after strong, weekslong rally

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street hit the brakes Tuesday, a day after its remarkable, weekslong rally brought the S&P 500 back to positive for the year and the Nasdaq to a record high. The benchmark index fell 0.8%, its largest loss in almost three weeks, as traders cashed in on some of the market’s recent gains. Financial, industrial and health care stocks led the slide. Technology companies were among the gainers, helping to push the Nasdaq to another all-time high. Skeptics have been saying for weeks that Wall Street’s huge rally, which reached 44.5% between late March and Monday, may have been overdone.

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Insurance telemarketers fined $225M for a billion robocalls

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. communications regulator on Tuesday proposed a $225 million fine, its largest ever, against two health insurance telemarketers for spamming people with 1 billion robocalls using fake phone numbers. The Federal Communications Commission said two men in Texas, through their companies, made the calls that purported to sell products from major insurers but actually worked on behalf of other companies.

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IBM quits facial recognition, joins call for police reforms

NEW YORK (AP) — IBM says it is getting out of the facial recognition business over concern about how it can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling. A letter to U.S. lawmakers Monday from new IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the tech giant “has sunset its general purpose facial recognition and analysis software products.” Krishna was addressing Democrats who recently introduced police reform legislation in Congress in response to the death of George Floyd and others in law enforcement interactions that have sparked a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice. IBM had previously tested its facial recognition software in New York City.

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Powell likely to stress Fed’s ability to further aid economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairman Jerome Powell faces a challenging task Wednesday: He’ll need to make a convincing case that the Federal Reserve is committed to using all its tools to bolster an economy gripped by recession — without making any policy changes to show it. At a virtual news conference after the Fed’s latest policy meeting, Powell will likely drive home the message that the economy remains in need of extraordinary help despite recent despite glimmers of a possible recovery, including a government report Friday that employers surprisingly added jobs in May.

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US employers laid off 7.7 million workers in April

BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. employers laid off 7.7 million workers in April — a sign of just how deep the economic hole is after the closure of thousands of offices, restaurants, stores and schools during the pandemic. The Labor Department also said in a Tuesday report that job openings plummeted and hiring all but disappeared in April. The number of available jobs fell 16% from March to 5 million. Hires declined 31% to 3.5 million. The grim April — which followed an even bleaker March with 11.5 million layoffs — suggests that the economy could take time to recover nearly a decade’s worth of gains that vanished in about 60 days.

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China’s companies emerge as global donors in virus pandemic

BEIJING (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has marked the debut of Chinese companies as global humanitarian donors alongside their American, European and Japanese counterparts. Companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba, video service TikTok and tech brand Tencent are providing hundreds of millions of dollars of medical supplies, food and cash in dozens of countries. The assistance gives donors a chance to repair China’s image and gain credit with President Xi Jinping’s government, which faces criticism that their secrecy and delays in responding to the virus that emerged in central China in December made the outbreak worse.

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France announces $16.9 billion in aid for aviation industry

PARIS (AP) — France’s government has announced 15 billion euros ($16.9 billion) in aid for the pandemic-battered aerospace industry, including plane maker Airbus and national airline Air France. The finance minister unveiled the rescue plan Tuesday for an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people in France, whose livelihoods have been thrown into uncertainty by travel restrictions prompted by the virus. The money includes direct government investment, subsidies, loans and loan guarantees.

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The S&P 500 lost 25.21 points, or 0.8%, to 3,207.18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 300.14 points, or 1.1%, to 27,272.30. The Nasdaq composite rose 29.01 points, or 0.3%, to 9,953.75. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks fell 29.84 points, or 1.9%, to 1,507.05.