Business and Economic News

By slimmest of margins, Senate takes up $1.9T COVID relief bill
Democrats have made eleventh-hour changes in the measure aimed at ensuring they can pull President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority through the precariously divided chamber. They hope for Senate approval of the package before next week.
Powell: Higher inflation temporary, no rate hikes in sight
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested Thursday that inflation will pick up in the coming months but that it would likely prove temporary and not enough for the Fed to alter its record-low interest rate policies.
Scotch whisky, English cheese prices could ease as U.S. halts tariffs
Scotch whisky and other goods have been subject to a 25 percent tariff. The levies cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost exports, according to the Scotch industry.
Latino small businesses stay resilient through a ‘pandemic year’
Small businesses have never had it easy and over the past year, things got a lot harder — especially for the Latino business community. Now, one year into pandemic-related restrictions, some resilient small businesses are starting to look to the future.
How the White House got 2 pharma rivals to work together on a COVID-19 vaccine
A 15-minute call with Johnson & Johnson executives on a Sunday afternoon stretched into a 75-minute turning point. "We have to take bold action and overwhelm this," a senior official said.
Deal brewing on quick tax relief bill in Minnesota
A portion of Minnesota’s budget surplus could be used to shield businesses and those who were unemployed during the pandemic avoid a tax punch. Funding for summer school is also in the mix.
An Iowa company is leading a $2 billion effort to capture carbon dioxide from Midwestern ethanol plants and pipe it to North Dakota where it would be buried deep underground.
Target powers through pandemic; sales growth explodes in 2020
Target extended its strong streak through the holiday quarter and sales grew by more than $15 billion in a pandemic year, exceeding the company's annual sales growth over the past 11 years combined.