NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are inching higher in early trading on Wall Street. Investors are keeping an eye on the two-day meeting of Federal Reserve policy makers that starts today. They’re watching for indications that the central bank is moving closer to raising its key interest rate as the economy continues to strengthen. The Fed has held the rate close to zero for more than five years, which has helped the stock market surge.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of prices that producers receive for their goods and services was unchanged in August, the latest sign that inflation is in check. The Labor Department says wholesale gas prices fell 1.4 percent last month and food costs dropped 0.5 percent. Those declines offset higher prices for transportation and shipping services. The producer price index rose just 1.8 percent from a year earlier. The index measures price changes before they reach the consumer.
ATLANTA (AP) — UPS plans to hire up to 95,000 seasonal workers to help with package deliveries during the busy holiday season. The Atlanta company says the positions will include package sorters, loaders, delivery helpers and drivers. Since last year’s holiday season, UPS has implemented several measures to help prepare for this year’s onslaught of deliveries. Last year, a last-minute surge in holiday shipments drove up the shipper’s costs and hurt its profits.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee says the government’s auto safety agency should have discovered General Motors’ faulty ignition switches seven years before the company recalled 2.6 million cars to fix a problem linked to at least 19 deaths. A report today by Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee questions the agency’s ability to keep the public safe as cars become more complex. It says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration misunderstood how vehicles worked, lacked accountability and failed to share information.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Department of Citrus is introducing its made-over mascot today. Captain Citrus was born in 2011 as a big, fat talking orange wearing a green cape. Now he’s a buff superhero. The citrus agency paid $1 million to Marvel Comics to create the new character in hopes of bolstering orange juice’s reputation as a healthy and wholesome drink. It comes as Americans are drinking less juice and the industry is being threatened by an incurable bacterial disease called citrus greening.
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