MoneyWatch

Stocks rose on Wall Street Friday and closed higher for the week, breaking a seven-week losing streak, the longest such stretch since 2001.  The S&P 500 rose 100 points, or 2.5%, to close at 4,158, increasing its gain for the week to 6.6%. That’s the biggest weekly gain for the …

A Texas restaurant owner and father of three has come to the rescue of hundreds of parents struggling to find infant formula amid a national shortage of the product.  Determined to make a difference, Benji Arslanovski, owner of “Our Place” in Mansfield, Texas, recently reached out to US Foods, his …

The average interest rate on a fixed 30-year mortgage in the U.S. reached 5.53% this week, more than double its level from a year ago. Although that could lift the cost of purchasing a home beyond the means of many aspiring buyers, some house-hunters are likely to benefit, according to …

Hawaii lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that would boost the state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour by 2028, potentially creating the highest minimum wage for workers in the U.S. Hawaii’s minimum wage is currently $10.10 an hour. The bill would raise that rate in increments over the next several years, …

Fidelity Investments customers with a 401(k) account will be able to invest a portion of their account funds in bitcoin starting later this year, the first time a major retirement plan provider is adding cryptocurrency to their menu. Dave Gray, head of workplace retirement offerings at Fidelity, said Tuesday that the company …

Retail giant Amazon has hired a legal firm that will conduct a workforce audit focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, joining three other major U.S. companies that recently launched racial equity audits.  Amazon’s audit “will evaluate any disparate racial impacts on our nearly one million U.S. hourly employees resulting from …

The familiar sights and sounds are still there: The scuffed and faded floor tiles, the relentless beige-on-beige color scheme, the toddlers’ clothes and refrigerators and pretty much everything in between. There’s even a canned recording that begins, “Attention, Kmart shoppers” — except it’s to remind folks about COVID-19 precautions, not …

Whether professional business education is useful has been a hotly debated topic ever since the first Master of Business Administration degree was created at Harvard in 1908. Yet new research suggests that MBAs equip corporate leaders with one overriding skill: cutting workers’ pay. A working paper circulated by the National …

Wells Fargo says its new credit card is the first to let the nation’s 109 million renters pay their landlords each month while earning points and miles. Wells is partnering with Bilt Rewards on a Mastercard that can be used to make payments on any rental property in the U.S. …

Drivers of bigger vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs are more likely to hit pedestrians while making turns than drivers of cars, according to a new study. The research released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety points to the increasing popularity of larger vehicles as a possible …