Wall Street rallies
near record highs
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rallied closer to their records after the head of the Federal Reserve finally said out loud what Wall Street has been expecting for a while: Cuts to interest rates are coming soon to help the economy. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% Friday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the time has come to lower its main interest rate from a two-decade high. The index is back within 0.6% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.5%. Treasury yields fell in the bond market.
DOJ accuses RealPage
of rental price scheme
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against real estate software company RealPage, accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit accuses the company of violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. Justice Department officials say the algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would keep rents down. In a statement, RealPage said the Justice Department’s claims were “devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable.”
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Delta doesn’t explain
top exec’s departure
Delta Air Lines said Friday that its chief operating officer will leave the company next week after a little more than a year in the airline business to take another job.
The departure of Michael Spanos comes a few weeks after Delta canceled thousands of flights during a botched recovery from a global technology outage,
Spanos spent most of his career at PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group and was CEO of amusement-park operator Six Flags Entertainment before joining Delta in June 2023. He is one of three executive vice presidents of the Atlanta-based airline.
In a regulatory filing, Delta gave no reason for Spanos’ departure — only that he would receive severance benefits that he is due under the company’s plan for officers and directors. Spanos received compensation valued at $8.6 million last year, mostly in stock awards.
CEO Ed Bastian said in a note to employees that Spanos told him “earlier this summer” he was considering leaving Delta. A spokesperson said this happened before the technology outage.
Shein discloses finding
2 cases of child labor
Fast-fashion giant Shein said it discovered two cases of child labor in its supply chain last year.
In its annual sustainability report, Shein disclosed this week that it found minors under age 15 employed by manufacturers that make products for the company. Shein, which mainly sources its products from China, did not say where it found the child labor cases.
The company said it suspended product orders from the suppliers when it discovered the violations. Both cases were resolved “swiftly” and involved remediation steps, such as ending contracts with underage employees and paying them any outstanding wages, Shein said. The online retailer resumed working with the manufacturers after they beefed up screening for new hires.
The company, which was founded in China but is now based in Singapore, had also reportedly attempted to file a confidential IPO application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year.
From Gazette news services
