Business Highlights

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China’s growth cools further as tariff war pressures mount

BEIJING (AP) — Pressure is mounting on Chinese leaders as they fight a tariff war with Washington as China’s economic growth in the latest quarter fell to its lowest level in at least 26 years. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.2% over a year earlier, down from the previous quarter’s 6.4% amid weak exports and consumer spending. Chinese leaders face increasing pressure to shore up growth and avert job losses as they feud with President Donald Trump over Beijing’s technology ambitions.

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After years of plenty, auto workers want a bigger slice

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Contract talks between the United Auto Workers union and Detroit’s three automakers are kicking off with the union taking a far less conciliatory stance than past years. Union President Gary Jones said Monday that the companies have made record profits in recent years and members want a bigger share. Jones said this year’s negotiations will stop the race to lower wages and benefits.

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Treasury chief: Facebook currency plan ripe for illicit use

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the Trump administration has “very serious concerns” that the new digital currency planned by Facebook could be used for illicit activity such as money laundering, human trafficking and financing terrorism. Mnuchin told reporters Monday that “this is indeed a national security issue.” His comments came a few days after President Donald Trump tweeted that the currency proposed by the social network giant “will have little standing or dependability.”

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Joe Biden draws line against progressives on health care

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is making clear to voters that he is defending the national health care law known as “Obamacare,” saying he opposes anyone who wants to scrap it. Biden says Obamacare should be the foundation for changes, including a government insurance plan known as the public option to existing exchanges that sell private insurance. Bernie Sanders is pushing back and defending his call for “ending the corporate greed” by establishing a single-payer system.

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Codebreaker Alan Turing to be face of new British banknote

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has chosen codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing as the face of the country’s new 50 pound note. Governor Mark Carney said Monday that Turing was “a giant on whose shoulders so many now stand.” Turing’s work cracking Nazi Germany’s secret communications helped win World War II, but after the war he was prosecuted for homosexuality, and died in 1954 after eating an apple laced with cyanide.

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SKorea leader says Tokyo’s trade curbs will hurt Japan more

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president has urged Japan to lift recently tightened controls on high-tech exports to South Korea. President Moon Jae-in says the issue threatens to shatter the countries’ economic co-operation and could damage Japan more than South Korea. The dispute between the two U.S. allies has soured relations already troubled over Japan’s colonial rule of Korea before the end of World War II.

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Citigroup profits rise 7%, helped by higher interest rates

NEW YORK (AP) — Banking conglomerate Citigroup said its second quarter profits rose by 7% from a year ago, helped by higher interest rates, a lower tax rate and a strong economy. The results beat analysts’ estimates.

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Trade wars cool market for small businesses

NEW YORK (AP) — The market for small businesses cooled for the third straight quarter in the spring as tariffs from the trade war with China made some sellers and buyers uneasy about making a deal. That report comes from BizBuySell.com, an online marketplace for companies that counted 2,444 transactions reported by business brokers from April through June, down 9.6% from 2,705 in the second quarter of last year. Sales fell 6.5% in this year’s first quarter from a year earlier, and 6% during the fourth quarter.

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Trump signs order to make American-made goods more American

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that requires federal agencies to purchase products using more American components. The order strengthens the standards that federal agencies must follow under the Buy American Act, which creates a preference for American-made goods.

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S&P 500 notches another record after a muted, mixed day

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes bobbed around their record levels Monday, as the curtain rose on what’s expected to be the weakest earnings reporting season in years. Financial stocks fell even though Citigroup said it turned a bigger profit in the latest quarter than analysts expected. Energy stocks were also weak, but gains for technology and health care stocks helped to nudge the S&P 500 and other indexes past the highs set on Friday.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.53 points, or less than 0.1%, to 3,014.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 27.13, or 0.1%, to 27,359.16, and the Nasdaq composite added 14.04, or 0.2%, to 8,258.19. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stock slipped 8.18 points, or 0.5%, to 1,561.82.

The Associated Press