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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CAR--F1-IN THE PITS
DESCRIPTION: MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The new Cadillac F1 team officially announced its arrival at a glitzy South Beach extravaganza packed with industry executives, car enthusiasts, influencers, a musical showcase by Janelle Monáe and actor Terry Crews Jr., who ran the microphone and told an anecdote about how he'd never been born had his father not relocated at age 20 to Flint, Michigan, in search of a job with General Motors. There was a splashy video that ultimately unveiled the Cadillac F1 team logo in what was clearly a multi-million dollar party jammed elbow-to-elbow in every section of the Queen Miami Beach venue. What wasn't revealed, though, was Cadillac's car -- a bit of a disappointment for those who expected to see all the bells and whistles at this brand launch introduction to F1's newest team. No worries, promised the leaders of the new team: Cadillac F1 is on pace to be on the grid in 2026. By AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer. 850 words. By 6 pm.
UPCOMING: By 05/05/2025 6:00 p.m. EDT, Text
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NEW AND DEVELOPING
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FINANCIAL MARKETS
Wall Street loses ground and oil prices tumble after OPEC+ says it will step up production
SUMMARY: Stocks slipped on Wall Street and crude prices are falling to a four-year low after the OPEC+ group of oil-producing nations said it plans to increase output. The S&P 500 slid 0.7% early Monday. The benchmark index is coming off its ninth straight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 175 points, or 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite gave back 0.7%. U.S. benchmark crude fell to $57 a barrel. Berkshire Hathaway slumped 5% after legendary investor Warren Buffett announced over the weekend that he would step down as CEO by the end of the year after six decades at the helm.
WORDS: 488 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 10:17 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:98ebdfdb18d490c9e01b6c53c49caad5&mediaType=text
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US--TRUMP-FILM TARIFF
Trump threatens a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, saying the movie industry in the US is dying
SUMMARY: President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the United States. The Republican president said Sunday he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff "on any and all Movies" coming into the U.S. that are produced overseas. It's unclear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It's common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming "Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning" are shot around the world.
WORDS: 921 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 10:16 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:415367dff6ae5bb7dc0871db5ac97d48&mediaType=text
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US--SUNOCO-PARKLAND
Sunoco buys Canadian gas and convenience store chain Parkland for about $9.1 billion
SUMMARY: Sunoco is buying Canada's gas station and convenience store chain Parkland in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $9.1 billion, expanding its footprint north of the border. Parkland has approximately 4,000 locations across Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. Sunoco has gas and convenience store locations in more than 40 states, Puerto Rico, Europe, and Mexico. The deal also includes the assumption of debt. Parkland announced in March that its board was looking at strategic options for the company. It was at that point that talks with Sunoco significantly intensified, Parkland said.
WORDS: 277 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 10:12 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:5e8f946e3c0a5e1ed5bd263aa93d7733&mediaType=text
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US--WARREN BUFFETT-SUCCESSOR
Buffett will remain chairman at Berkshire Hathaway when Abel takes over as CEO in 2026
SUMMARY: Billionaire Warren Buffett will remain chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after Greg Abel takes over as CEO at the start of the new year. The decision by the board of directors at the conglomerate Sunday is likely to relieve investors worried about the future of Berkshire's remarkable winning streak amid tariff shocks, financial turmoil and a possible recession. The changes come as the former textile manufacturer faces big questions about how to deploy its massive pile of cash after a stock-market defying six-decade run. ABel has already been managing all of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses for years. He will now take on oversight of the insurance companies and decide where to invest the company's cash.
WORDS: 1058 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 10:07 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:188684d40a7d7188de4ab4239d598595&mediaType=text
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SKECHERS-ACQUISITION-3G CAPITAL
Shoemaker Skechers to be acquired for $9 billion and taken private by 3G Capital
SUMMARY: Skechers is being acquired for $9 billion and taken private by the investment firm by 3G Capital. The companies said Monday that the Skechers board unanimously approved the deal. The offer of $63 per share represents a premium of 30% to Skechers' 15-day volume-weighted average stock price. Skechers shares jumped 25% in morning trading, to $61.72. Following completion of the transaction, the company will continue to be led by Skechers Chairman and CEO Robert Greenberg and his management team. The company headquarters will also remain in Manhattan Beach, California where it was founded more than three decades ago.
WORDS: 235 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 10:03 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:00a1a3479cfc9015ec631fbe249bae4c&mediaType=text
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US--HUD-FAIR HOUSING-LGBTQ
In battle against transgender rights, Trump targets HUD's housing policies
SUMMARY: In the months since President Donald Trump took back the White House and installed a loyalist to lead the federal housing department, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and his team have moved swiftly to undo, uproot and remake the agency's decades of work and priorities. There is an intense focus on transgender people as the Department of Housing and Urban Development retreats from long-established fair-housing protections by closing their discrimination complaints and moving to undo the Obama-era Equal Access Rule that cemented transgender people's rights to discrimination protection in housing. The Trump administration has both halted enforcement of the Equal Access Rule and proposed unspecified revisions to the policy. Homeless shelters also are struggling to comply with the Trump directives.
WORDS: 2120 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 9:27 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:915634741f56f3d5ea265e316cd396bb&mediaType=text
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US-HUD-FAIR HOUSING-LGBTQ-TAKEAWAYS
Trump is swiftly undoing transgender protections in HUD's housing policies
SUMMARY: The Trump administration is swiftly remaking housing policy as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development retreats from long-established fair-housing protections for transgender people. In recent months, HUD has been targeting the Obama-era Equal Access Rule that expanded protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Also in the bull's-eye are fair-housing complaint investigations and federally funded homeless shelters, according to documents provided to The Associated Press. HUD says in a statement that it is both upholding the Fair Housing Act and implementing Trump's executive order, which it says is "restoring biological truth to the federal government."
WORDS: 887 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 9:18 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:003a354b933592303a4eea350ebbc804&mediaType=text
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US--FEDERAL RESERVE
Federal Reserve likely to defy Trump, keep rates unchanged this week
SUMMARY: The Federal Reserve will likely keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, despite harsh criticism from President Donald Trump and his demand that the Fed reduce borrowing costs. After causing a sharp drop in financial markets two weeks ago by saying he could fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the Republican leader backed off and said he had no intention of doing so. Still, he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said the Fed should cut rates. The heightened scrutiny shows that even as the Trump administration backs off its threats to fire Powell, the Fed is still subject to unusually sharp political pressures, despite being an independent agency.
WORDS: 997 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 8:50 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:dda543c3c00fda34e37e09119d9a9709&mediaType=text
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US--PRATT-WHITNEY STRIKE
Thousands of machinists union members go on strike at jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney
SUMMARY: About 3,000 labor union members have gone on strike at jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut, as negotiations over wages, retirement benefits and job security broke down. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers were picketing Monday at manufacturing locations in East Hartford and Middletown. Union officials say about 77% of nearly 2,100 union members voted Sunday to approve their first strike since 2001. Their contract expired late Sunday. The company says it offered a contract with competitive terms on wages, pensions and retirement benefits, and has plans in place to maintain production.
WORDS: 296 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 8:38 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:95ee9e2f9854f4b4dde24f2db1bb7bd1&mediaType=text
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EU--SPAIN-TRAIN-CABLE THEFT
Copper cable theft in Spain delays thousands of high-speed rail passengers
SUMMARY: Spanish authorities say that thousands of rail passengers in Spain have been hit with delays after copper cables used in the signaling system of a high-speed line traveling south from Madrid to Seville were stolen at five locations. The theft happened late Sunday. It affected dozens of trains traveling between Madrid and the southern Andalusian cities of Seville, Malaga and Granada. Many people were returning home to the capital after a holiday weekend. Transport Minister Oscar Puente said in an X post that he expected the rail line would fully return to its normal schedule between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time or 1200 GMT and 1400 GMT.
WORDS: 305 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 8:37 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:5a28e93f23e24c77c60749d5db397105&mediaType=text
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EU--EUROPE-US-SCIENCE
Europe launches a drive to attract scientists and researchers after Trump freezes US funding
SUMMARY: The European Union is launching a drive to attract scientists and researchers with offers of grants and new policy plans. It comes after the Trump administration froze U.S. government funding linked to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that science and research must not "be based on the diktats of the few." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says a new "super grant" scheme will offer "a longer-term perspective to the very best" in the field. She says that $566 million will be put forward in 2025-2027 "to make Europe a magnet for researchers."
WORDS: 606 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 7:17 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:6a769e6d40c5127d59797e44a2470cfe&mediaType=text
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EU--FRANCE-CRYPTOCURRENCY KIDNAPPINGS
'Jackpot!' How French police freed a cryptocurrency hostage whose finger was severed for ransom
WORDS: 510 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 6:25 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:3bee45ffa10fa07dfe8ff4f339ec97e2&mediaType=text
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TRUMP-TRADE-BEYOND TARIFFS
Trump's trade demands go beyond tariffs to target perceived unfair practices
SUMMARY: President Donald Trump's trade war isn't just about tariffs. His new import taxes are based not on specific goods like cars or steel, but on how he thinks other countries have treated the US. And that's across a broad range of issues including taxes, safety rules, and currency exchange rates. He's given other countries 90 days to make a deal and ward off the highest tariffs. Some areas could be up for negotiations. Others, such as country's own tax systems that Trump doesn't like, would be a much tougher sell.
WORDS: 1304 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 4:48 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:f172b97761c1b4923df63e0beceb584b&mediaType=text
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US--SPEED LIMITERS-RECKLESS DRIVERS
US states push for speed-limiting devices on the cars of dangerous drivers
SUMMARY: Judges in several states may soon get a new tool to stop dangerous drivers from speeding again. A device called intelligent speed assistance prevents a car from accelerating far past the speed limit. Virginia this year became the first state to approve such a tool for reckless drivers. Similar measures are awaiting governors' signatures in Washington and Georgia. The Washington legislation was inspired by a Seattle crash in which a teenager traveling 112 mph killed a woman and three children when he slammed into their minivan. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. When he gets out on probation, he will have to install the device.
WORDS: 1024 - MOVED: 05/05/2025 12:11 a.m. EDT
https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:72165c45b7481b6b313248841006578b&mediaType=text
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