AP Business Digest

Here are the AP’s top business stories that have moved or are planned to move today. All times U.S. Eastern. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit AP Newsroom’s Coverage Plan.

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UPCOMING

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BRAZIL-CLIMATE-ELECTRIC VEHICLES

DESCRIPTION: Chinese giant automaking company BYD bought Ford’s former facilities in Brazil and has promised to run the company’s largest plant outside China in the hardscrabble city of Camacari in northeastern Bahia state. BYD is leading a boom in electric vehicle sales in Brazil, the world’s sixth-largest auto market. Meanwhile, Camacari has been reeling since 2021, when Ford, the American carmaker that had been the city’s largest employer, shuttered its operations in Brazil after more than a century in the country. However, in December, Brazilian authorities rescued 163 Chinese nationals said to be working in “slavery-like” conditions at the BYD site. That has raised questions about the future of the factory.

UPCOMING: By 04/14/2025 9:30 p.m. EDT, Video, Text, Photo

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US OHIO BUDGET-NFL STADIUMS

DESCRIPTION: COLUMBUS -- A political battle fit for the gridiron is under way in Ohio, where state Republican leaders are clashing over whether to single out the Cleveland Browns for help building a new suburban domed stadium or impose tax hikes that could also fund stadium upgrades for the Cincinnati Bengals and other teams longer term. By Julie Carr Smyth.

UPCOMING: By 04/14/2025 11:00 a.m. EDT, Text, Photo

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NEW AND DEVELOPING

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US-SCI--BLUE ORIGIN-CELEBRITY LAUNCH

Blue Origin launches an all-female celebrity crew with Katy Perry, Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez

SUMMARY: Blue Origin has launched Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez into space with an all-female celebrity crew that includes Katy Perry and Gayle King. The New Shepard rocket blasted off Monday from West Texas. Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and former TV journalist, invited the others along for the 10-minute, fully automated ride. Besides Sanchez, Perry and King, the crew included a film producer, a former NASA engineer who started her own companies to promote science education, and a scientist who now advocates for sexual violence survivors. The only other all-female crew in 64 years of human spaceflight was back in 1963.

WORDS: 800 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 10:15 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:55d1fe6d39213ffb8278a01f605c00db&mediaType=text

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EU--EUROPE-META-AI

Meta says it will resume AI training with public content from European users

SUMMARY: Social media company Meta says that it will start using publicly available content from European users to train its artificial intelligence models, resuming work put on hold last year after privacy activists raised concerns about data privacy. The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said that it would train its AI systems using public posts and comments shared by adult users in the 27-nation European Union. Meta is making the move after launching its Meta AI assistant last month for European users, long after it rolled out to the U.S. and other major markets. The company’s AI training efforts had been hampered by stringent European Union data privacy laws, which give people control over how their personal information is used.

WORDS: 292 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 10:09 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:c785dc3591ae3c49543c435fc15379fb&mediaType=text

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PFIZER-OBESITY TREATMENT

Pfizer ends development of potential pill obesity treatment

SUMMARY: Pfizer is ending the development of its potential once-daily pill treatment for obesity before venturing into the biggest and most expensive level of clinical testing. The drugmaker said Tuesday that it would stop studying danuglipron after a participant in one of its trials experienced a drug-induced liver injury that was resolved once the person stopped taking the drug. The once-daily version of the pill was in early-stage testing, with researchers trying to figure out the best dose for patients. The company still plans to develop other potential obesity treatments in earlier stages of testing.

WORDS: 384 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 10:09 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:ab583f34c251be43f589d762dadff821&mediaType=text

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AS--VIETNAM-CHINA

China’s Xi says there are no winners in a tariff war as he visits Southeast Asia

SUMMARY: China’s leader Xi Jinping says no one wins in a trade war as he kicked off a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia with a trip to Vietnam. Xi reiterating China’s commitment to global trade in contrast with U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs moves. Although Trump has paused some tariffs, he has kept in place 145% duties on China, the world’s second-largest economy. In an editorial published in state-run media, Xi said China and Vietnam should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains.

WORDS: 735 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 10:08 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:d7046613bff2c9ef31162ae8dd436263&mediaType=text

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INTEL-ALTERA-SILVER LAKE

Intel sells majority stake in Altera to Silver Lake investors in a deal valued at $8.75 billion

SUMMARY: Intel announced Monday that it was selling the majority of its Altera chip business to technology investor Silver Lake in a deal valued at $8.75 billion. Silver Lake will own 51% of Altera, which Intel acquired in 2015 for $16.7 billion in an effort to expand its business into chip markets focused on wireless, automobiles and other products. At the time, it was the biggest deal in Intel Corp.’s history. Intel spun Altera off into an independent company earlier this year. Silver Lake’s acquisition of Altera is expected to close in the second half of this year.

WORDS: 261 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 10:01 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:faaf6de77ed064ebff49fd2dbe70dee1&mediaType=text

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FINANCIAL MARKETS

Stocks rally worldwide after Trump eases some of his tariffs on electronics, for now

SUMMARY: Stocks are rallying worldwide after President Donald Trump relaxed some of his tariffs, for now at least. The S&P 500 jumped 1.5% Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 441 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 2%. Apple, Nvidia and other big technology companies led the way after Trump temporarily exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronics from some of his stiff tariffs. Perhaps more importantly for Wall Street, the bond market also showed signals of increasing calm. Treasury yields eased following last week’s sudden and scary rise, which seemed to rattle not only investors but also Trump himself.

WORDS: 608 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 9:48 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:0a5c13b5a515a7af0d108c7375995511&mediaType=text

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EU--BRITAIN-STEEL

China warns UK government to treat Chinese owners of British Steel fairly

SUMMARY: China has warned the U.K. government to treat the Chinese owners of British Steel fairly or risk undermining investor confidence in the country after British authorities took control of the company. China’s Foreign Ministry made the comment on Monday as government-appointed managers raced to prevent British Steel from shutting down the last two blast furnaces in Britain that make so-called virgin steel from raw materials. Parliament on Saturday passed legislation authorizing the government to take control of the company and its Scunthorpe steelworks from Jingye Group, which has owned British Steel since 2020. Jingye still owns the company but British authorities have taken control of day-to-day operations.

WORDS: 524 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 9:40 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:b3f9937ab3eeeaa3d20113cb3de316b1&mediaType=text

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US--PHILANTHROPY-PEANUT-PASTE-USAID

A British billionaire funded therapeutic food production amid USAID ‘craziness.’ It won’t be enough

SUMMARY: America’s nutritional peanut paste manufacturers are having a “yo-yo” of a year. Their lifesaving food packets have been disrupted by the U.S. State Department’s sudden pause in foreign assistance. Georgia-based MANA Nutrition and Rhode Island-based Edesia Nutrition produce nutritional mixtures of ground peanuts, powdered milk, sugar and oil that get sent to malnourished children worldwide. Yet upcoming orders are getting scrapped and the U.S. government only recently began paying back debts dating back to December. Keeping MANA afloat is British billionaire hedge fund manager Chris Hohn. But it’s hardly enough to assure producers they will keep reaching youth in impoverished countries.

WORDS: 1298 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 9:18 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:959070c3d3282ba3a33dccf7458bb5d8&mediaType=text

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EU--EUROPE-PLAYSTATION PRICES

Sony hikes PlayStation 5 console prices for Europe, UK and Australia citing economic turmoil

SUMMARY: Sony says it will raise prices starting Monday for some PlayStation 5 video game consoles in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, citing global economic turmoil. The company unveiled the price hikes of at least 10% amid what it described as “a backdrop of a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.” The recommended retail price for a PS5 Digital Edition will go up to 499 euros ($570) in Europe, according to a post Sunday on the official PlayStation blog. That’s up from 449 euros in a previously announced pricing update in 2022. In the United Kingdom, the new price will be 430 pounds, up from 389 pounds previously. The PS5 Digital Edition is a slimmed-down version of the console that comes without a disc drive.

WORDS: 269 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 6:39 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:40d07abd76e75d58da97bcfd6036c419&mediaType=text

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US--FINANCIAL WELLNESS-TAX TIPS-NATURAL DISASTERS

Have you experienced a disaster? You have more time to file your taxes

SUMMARY: If your life has been upended by a wildfire, hurricane, flood, tornado, or another disaster this past year, the IRS recognizes you may need more time to file your taxes and grants you an automatic extension. What’s more, most disaster relief is not counted as income, and so is not taxed. You’re also permitted to write off a certain amount of loss due to disaster, reducing your tax burden. That could be damaged property, lost income, or small business losses. In the wake of a disaster, people are more vulnerable to scams, so be extra vigilant as you prepare your taxes, even with the extra time of an IRS extension.

WORDS: 968 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 6:21 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:6efdae31d31ef6f6881ee40015004cc5&mediaType=text

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US--META-ANTITRUST

Meta faces historic antitrust trial that could force it to break off Instagram, WhatsApp

SUMMARY: Meta Platforms Inc. faces a historic antitrust trial Monday that could force the tech giant to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups it bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses. The case is also a test for the Federal Trade Commission under President Donald Trump, which filed its suit against Meta — then called Facebook — in 2020, during Trump’s first term. The FTC claims Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market. Meta, meanwhile, says the FTC’s lawsuit defies reality.

WORDS: 1014 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 6:00 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:f602a09e86c9eb4538949572f72e8380&mediaType=text

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CHINA-ECONOMY

China’s exports jump 12.4% in March as bigger US tariff hikes loom

SUMMARY: China’s exports jumped 12.4% in March from a year earlier in a last minute flurry of activity as companies rushed to beat President Donald Trump’s hefty increases in U.S. tariffs. Imports to the world’s No. 2 economy fell 4.3% in March from a year earlier. Exports in January-March rose 5.8% and imports sank 7%. In March, exports to the United States rose 4.5%. A customs administration spokesperson said China faces a complex and severe external situation, but “the sky would not fall.” He pointed to China’s diversified export markets and huge domestic potential. Exports to the U.S. and Europe have slowed, but those to Southeast Asia, India and Africa jumped.

WORDS: 824 - MOVED: 04/14/2025 5:30 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:86ecd3f1594b69e537085ae94e8f0e8f&mediaType=text

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