WASHINGTON (AP) ― There’s a good reason the U.S. economy is impressing the world right now despite a slowdown in the final three months of 2014: In a word, steadiness.Companies have been hiring at healthy rates for the past year. Layoffs hover near historic lows. Auto sales are strong. Gas prices have sunk. Congressional budget fights have faded. Americans are increasingly confident.All that fed a surge of consumer spending last quarter, offsetting weaker business spending caused in part by a pu

MOSCOW (AP) ― In a surprise decision, Russia’s central bank on Friday cut its key interest rate, which it had raised sharply last month to support the collapsing ruble, in order to help the fading economy.The move triggered a drop in the ruble, which was down more than 3 percent at 71 rubles against the dollar in early afternoon trading in Moscow.The central bank explained its decision to cut the rate from 17 percent to 15 percent by saying that the risks of an economic slowdown are now higher t

WASHINGTON (AP) ― After a year of relative peace in Washington’s budget battles, President Barack Obama will lay out a $4 trillion budget on Monday that needles Republicans with proposals for higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses to pay for education, public works projects and child care.The plan, expected to be dismissed by GOP lawmakers now running Capitol Hill, rolls out as the deficit is dropping and Obama’s poll numbers inch higher. Though Republicans will march ahead on their own, the

A Skymark Airlines aircraft takes off at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. (Bloomberg)TOKYO (AFP) ― Shares in Japan’s Skymark Airlines lost a quarter of their value on Thursday after the struggling carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, citing potentially crippling penalties over a canceled $2.2 billion jet order with Airbus.The embattled airline’s shares dropped 25 percent to 237 yen ($2) ― their daily loss limit ― as investors reacted to news late Wednesday that Japan’s third-largest carrier would fi

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Fast-food giant McDonald’s replaced president and chief executive Donald Thompson on Wednesday, after the company turned in another poor quarter of sales and earnings last week.The firm behind the world-famous Big Mac had been under pressure from investors to take swift action after seeing the business weaken in the past year under Thompson, one of the United States’ top African-American executives and with 25 years at McDonald’s.The board of directors said it had chosen senior

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia promised government spending cuts but more money for retirees and billions of dollars worth of support for banks as it detailed Wednesday a plan to support its economy battered by low oil prices and sanctions.The plan, published on the government’s website on Wednesday morning, foresees a 10 percent reduction in “most categories of budget spending” but, increases on welfare, which was the cornerstone of President Vladimir Putin’s election campaign in 2012.The measures will

Fed keeps interest rates flat but notes steadily improving economy

The Apple Watch is displayed after a product announcement at Flint Center in Cupertino, California, Sept. 9. (Bloomberg)Apple Watch is coming in April. Apple Inc. chief executive officer Tim Cook said on a conference call that the much-anticipated wearable gadget will be shipped starting that month. The company hadn’t previously announced what specific month the watch would be available. The time frame is one of the first details Apple has provided about the device since the smartwatch was unvei

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi met with the ambassadors of Russia and Norway to discuss oil market “stability” as prices traded near a six-year low. They “reviewed the importance of the international oil market stability, and the increase of joint investments in the sectors of oil and mining,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Oil fell almost 50 percent last year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, lead by Saudi Arabia, resisted calls to cut output amid a surge

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is spinning off the company’s $39 billion stake in China’s Alibaba Group Holding in a move that wards off a potential shareholder rebellion.The highly anticipated decision announced Tuesday will enable Yahoo to avoid paying billions of dollars in future taxes while intensifying the pressure on Mayer to prove she can rejuvenate one of the Internet’s oldest and best-known companies.A newly formed entity called SpinCo will inherit ownership of Yahoo’s 38