Business Highlights

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IPO mania: Zoom zooms, Pinterest pins down Wall Street

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — There's some tech jubilance in the air on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley as a pair of newly public companies — Zoom and Pinterest — are seeing their stocks soar in their market debuts. Zoom Video Communications soared 72% while Pinterest jumped 28% when they started trading. The strong initial performances might reassure investors with jittery nerves following Lyft's disappointing start less than a month ago.

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National Enquirer being sold to former newsstand mogul

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Enquirer is being sold to the former head of the airport newsstand company Hudson News. Tabloid owner American Media say it is selling the supermarket weekly to James Cohen, the former head of newsstand retailer Hudson News. The deal comes after a rocky year for the tabloid in which it was caught up in a federal probe of illegal campaign contributions to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.

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Commission: New NAFTA would deliver modest economic gains

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's new North America trade agreement would give the U.S. economy only a modest boost, an independent federal agency reports. The International Trade Commission says that Trump's U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement would lift the U.S. economy by 0.35%, or $68.2 billion, and add 176,000 jobs six years after it takes effect.

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Musk, SEC get another week to reach deal in contempt case

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Tesla CEO Elon Musk and U.S. securities regulators are getting another week to negotiate a deal to keep Musk from being found in contempt of court. Both sides say in a letter filed Thursday with a federal court in New York that they talked for over an hour this week and are continuing to discuss an agreement. District Judge Alison Nathan granted the request to talk until April 25.

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US retail sales soared 1.6% in March

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales surged in March at the fastest pace since late 2017, as spending on autos, gasoline, furniture and clothing jumped. The Commerce Department says that sales increased a seasonally adjusted 1.6% from February, the strongest increase since September 2017. The gains mark a sharp rebound from a lackluster period of sales dating back to December. It's a sign that the healthy job market has likely made consumers more eager to spend in ways that boost overall economic growth.

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Americans' energy use surges despite climate change concern

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are burning a record amount of energy, led by a boom in natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says U.S. use of fuels jumped last year by the biggest amount in eight years. That's despite increasingly urgent warnings from scientists on fossil fuel emissions and climate change.

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New Mexico panel surprises Facebook with $39M utility bill

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A powerful regulatory authority in New Mexico is requiring the state's largest utility to bill Facebook $39 million for a new transmission line construction. The Albuquerque Journal reports the Public Regulation Commission's Tuesday orders Public Service Company of New Mexico to charge Facebook for nearly half the cost of the $85 million transmission project for its New Mexico data center that opened this year. Facebook says the ruling could affect its long-term operations in the state.

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Dubai arena is latest project unveiled despite weaker growth

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai gave an early look this week into its latest megaproject, an arena in the heart of a super luxe shopping and dining destination. Projects like it represent Dubai's ambitions for the future, but the sheer scale of the developments are fueling concerns of an oversupply in the market amid an economic slowdown.

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Rabbis: 'Not kosher' to buy at grocery store during strike

BOSTON (AP) — New England rabbis are advising their congregations not to cross picket lines to get their Passover food at Stop & Shop supermarkets, which have deep roots in the local Jewish community. One Boston rabbi said it's "not kosher" to purchase "products of oppressed labor." More than 30,000 Stop & Shop workers walked off the job over what they say is an unfair contract offer, a claim the company disputes. A grocery analyst said the chain has the highest sales of kosher products among local stores.

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US stocks cap holiday shortened week with modest gains

NEW YORK (AP) — The major U.S. stock indexes capped a holiday shortened week with slight gains Thursday, reversing some of the modest losses from a day earlier. The marginal upward move was not enough to keep the benchmark S&P 500 index from snapping a string of three straight weekly gains. Industrial stocks paved the way higher as traders welcomed solid earnings, offsetting losses by financial and energy stocks. Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications soared on their first day of trading.

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The S&P 500 gained 4.58 points, or 0.2%, to 2,905.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 110 points, or 0.4%, to 26,559.54. The Nasdaq composite inched 1.98 points higher, or less than 0.1%, to 7,998.06. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap dropped 1.85 points, or 0.1%, to 1,565.75.