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America’s gas-fueled vehicles imperil Biden’s climate goals
DETROIT (AP) — For President Joe Biden to reach his ambitious goal of slashing America’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, huge reductions would have to come from somewhere other than one of the worst culprits: auto tailpipes. That’s because there are just too many gas-powered passenger vehicles in the United States — roughly 279 million — to replace them in less than a decade, experts say. In a typical year, automakers sell about 17 million vehicles nationwide. Even if every one of the new ones were electric, it would take more than 16 years to replace the whole fleet.
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New home sales surged 20.7% in March to 1.02 million
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes surged 20.7% in March to the highest level since 2006, rebounding from a sharp decline the previous month when severe winter storms wreaked havoc in many parts of the country. Sales climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.02 million last month after a 16.2% tumble in February, the Commerce Department reported Friday. It was the fastest pace for new home sales since the housing boom of the mid-2000s when sales reached 1.04 million units in August 2006. The median sales price of a new home sold in March was $330,800, up only 0.8% from the median sales price a year ago.
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Stocks rise, erasing most of S&P 500's weekly losses
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed out a choppy week of trading with a broad rally, though the gains were not enough to keep the S&P 500 from its first weekly loss in the last five. The benchmark index rose 1.1% Friday, clawing back all of its losses from a day earlier. It posted a 0.1% loss for the week. The gains were shared broadly by nearly every sector in the index. Technology companies accounted for a big slice of the rally, along with banks, communication stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending. The utilities and consumer staples sectors closed slightly lower. Treasury yields inched higher.
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AmEx sees drop in revenue as pandemic slows travel, dining
NEW YORK (AP) — American Express Co. saw its first-quarter profits rise sharply, but the company saw a significant drop in revenue as fewer customers used their credit cards and those with balances paid down debt. The New York-based company said it earned a profit of $2.24 billion, or $2.74 a share, compared with a profit of $367 million, or 41 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. This quarter’s results included a one-time $675 million benefit from AmEx’s loan-loss reserves. Like other financial companies, AmEx set aside funds to cover potentially bad loans in the pandemic, but as the economy has improved, those funds are coming out of those rainy day funds and returned to shareholders.
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China, global recovery boost profit at automaker Daimler
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German car and truck maker Daimler AG says net profit rebounded strongly to 4.4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in the first three months of the year, as the global economic recovery and demand for the company’s lineup of luxury vehicles in China fattened the bottom line. The company on Friday raised its outlook for an important measure of profitability this year, saying that it now expected profit of 10%-12% on sales of its Mercedes-Benz cars, up from an outlook for 8%-10% in its last estimate. Strong profits on conventional vehicles are key to funding the huge investments in new technologies such as electric cars and digital services that are shaking up the auto industry.
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Nonprofits gain funding from unusual source: Marijuana sales
NEW YORK (AP) — Nonprofits have an unexpected new source of funding: State marijuana sales. Over the past two years, California has used some of the fees it collects from the sale of recreational marijuana to give grants to community organizations that serve people and communities harmed by the war on drugs. So far, the state has awarded nearly $100 million, a figure expected to jump to $175 million in May. Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, a small non-profit that serves young people and people who have been through the criminal-justice system, received a $1 million grant in 2019. The group trains formerly incarcerated people as substance-abuse counsellors.
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Honda to phase out gas-powered cars by 2040 in N. America
NEW YORK (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda said Friday that it plans to phase out all of its gasoline-powered vehicles in North America by 2040, making it the latest major automaker with a goal of becoming carbon neutral. The announcement came as leaders of the major global economies met for President Joe Biden’s climate summit. Biden has an ambitious goal of slashing America’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said the company expects that 40% of all of its North American vehicle sales will be battery or fuel-cell powered by 2030, and 80% of all vehicles sold will be battery-electric or fuel-cell powered by 2035.
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The S&P 500 gained 45.19 points, or 1.1%, to 4,180.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 227.59 points, or 0.7%, to 34,043.49. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 198.40 points, or 1.4%, to 14,016.81. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 39.24 points, or 1.8%, to 2,271.86.