Business Highlights

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A lesson from Trump taxes: An underfunded IRS is outmatched

WASHINGTON (AP) — Revelations of President Donald Trump’s near-zero federal income tax payments have underscored the ability of wealthy individuals with access to high-priced lawyers to outmatch an IRS that has long been understaffed and underfunded. A result is that the IRS has tended to pursue taxpayers of modest means more aggressively than they have high-powered businesspeople, even though the wealthy are believed to be disproportionately to blame for depriving the government of tax revenue. The top 10% of earners account for most of the revenue gap, experts say, by underreporting their liabilities, whether intentionally or not, as tax avoidance or deliberate evasion.

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US says it will block palm oil from large Malaysian producer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will block shipments of palm oil from a major Malaysian producer that feeds into the supply chains of iconic U.S. food and cosmetic brands. It found indicators of forced labour, including concerns about children, along with other abuses such as physical and sexual violence. Brenda Smith, of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade, said the order against FGV Holdings Berhad, went into effect Wednesday. Her announcement came a week after The Associated Press exposed major labour abuses in Malaysia’s palm oil industry and was triggered by a petition filed last year by non-profit organizations.

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Wall Street rallies to close out strong, but wild quarter

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied on Wall Street Wednesday, but only after zooming up, down and back up again in a fitting end to a wild month and quarter. Prospects for additional support from Congress for the economy helped drive the day’s trading, as they have for weeks. The S&P 500 ended with a gain of 0.8%, but only after veering between a rise of 0.1% and of 1.7%. For the quarter, it rallied 8.5% to follow up on its 20% surge in the spring. Momentum slowed sharply at the end of the period, and the index fell in September to its first monthly loss since March.

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31.4% spring slide for a US economy likely to shrink in 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy plunged at a record rate in the spring but is poised to break a record for an increase in the just-ending July-September quarter. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, fell at a rate of 31.4% in the April-June quarter, only slightly changed from the 31.7% drop estimated one month ago. The new report, the government’s last look at the second quarter, showed a decline that was almost four times larger than the previous record-holder, a fall of 10% in the first quarter of 1958 when Dwight Eisenhower was president.

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Secretive, never profitable Palantir makes market debut

BOSTON (AP) — Seventeen years after it was born with the help of CIA seed money, Palantir Technologies has finally gone public. The data-mining outfit long reliant on spies and soldiers has never been profitable and is dogged by ethical objections for assisting in the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown. The company is highly reliant on government contracts and analysts say it may sink or float on its ability to capture a significant chunk of corporate business.

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Google unveils latest Pixel phone, rolls out new TV service

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google will try to make a bigger splash in the smartphone market with a cheaper high-end model while it also aims to expand its presence on bigger screens with a new TV service. The products unveiled Wednesday focus on two areas where Google has struggled to make significant inroads. Google’s latest smartphone represents the fifth generation of a device that has posted disappointing sales since its 2016 debut. The Pixel 5 will sell for $700, a $100 markdown from last year’s model. A new “Google TV” service that bundles together several products will only be available in the company’s latest Chromecast streaming device selling for $50.

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Cold weather means new challenges for struggling restaurants

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. restaurants are moving warily into fall, hoping their slow recovery persists despite the new challenge of chilly weather and a pandemic that’s expected to claim even more lives. New York opens indoor dining on Wednesday, restricting capacity to 25%. San Francisco may do the same as early as this week. Chicago is raising its indoor capacity from 25% to 40% on Thursday. The National Restaurant Association says nearly 100,000 U.S. restaurants have shut their doors since the pandemic began. Employment rose in the last four months, but there are still 2.5 million fewer restaurant workers than there were in February.

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More Americans sign contracts to buy homes in August

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in August, suggesting the hot U.S. housing market will continue well into fall. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its index of pending sales rose 8.8% to a record high of 132.8. An index of 100 represents the level of contract activity in 2001. It had sunk to a low of 69 in April.

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The S&P 500 rose 27.53 points, or 0.8%, to 3,363.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 329.04, or 1.2%, to 27,781.70, and the Nasdaq composite added 82.26, or 0.7%, to 11,167.51. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks ended the day up 2.96 points, or 0.2%, at 1,507.69.

The Associated Press