Techlife News #551

Investors on Wall Street need a place to hide. The stock market’s skid this year has pulled the S&P 500 close to what’s known as a bear market. Rising interest rates, high inflation, the war in Ukraine and a slowdown in China’s economy have caused investors to reconsider the prices they’re willing to pay for a wide range of stocks, from high-flying tech companies to traditional automakers. The last bear market happened just two years ago, but this would still be a first for those investors that got their start trading on their phones during the pandemic. For years, thanks in large part to extraordinary actions by the Federal Reserve, stocks often seemed to go in only one direction: up. Now, the familiar rallying cry to “buy the dip” after every market…

Harley-Davidson announced a two-week suspension of vehicle assembly and most shipments, citing a regulatory compliance issue with one of its suppliers. Shares tumbled almost 8% after the announcement. The decision was made Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution” after the company received information from a supplier of one of its component parts, Harley-Davidson said. The company did not name the supplier or provide details on the part in question and said the assembly and shipping suspension would not affect its LiveWire electric motorcycle. The company, like most global manufacturers, was already struggling with supply issues. It reported in April that its profit was trimmed by rising costs and chip shortages, which hurt sales in North America. Harley-Davidson shares have lost nearly one-third of their value in the past year and Thursday, stock in…

Ford is asking the owners of 350,000 vehicles in to take them to dealers for repairs in three recalls, including about 39,000 that should be parked outdoors because the engines can catch fire. Ford says in U.S. government documents posted Thursday that it doesn’t know what’s causing fires in some 2021 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. But the company says fires can happen even while the engines are off. Ford has reports of 16 fires under the hood, 14 in rental company vehicles. One person was burned. It’s recommending that the SUVs be parked outdoors and away from buildings. So far it hasn’t developed a repair for the fires, which appear to start at the back of the engine compartment on the passenger side. Of the 16 fires, 12 happened while the SUV…

Single father Billy Price was already struggling to make ends meet before someone broke into his Michigan storage unit, stole his identity and ruined his credit. Price filed a police report, and then tweeted about it to Bill Pulte, a multimillionaire who he’d heard uses Twitter to give money to those in need. “They took nearly everything, including everything that my grandpa gave me before he passed,”Price tweeted last month, only to be met with silence.“On top of that we’re about to be homeless, it’s like the weight of the world. Please help us.” Price, 35, recently moved from Illinois to Michigan to maintain joint custody of his 5-year-old son Maddox. Price is living at an extended stay Kalamazoo hotel while he searches for a place to live, but he’s worried that between…

McDonald’s is selling all of its restaurants in Russia 30 years after the burger chain became a powerful symbol of easing Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union. The company shuttered hundreds of locations in March after Russia invaded Ukraine, which has cost McDonald’s about $55 million per month. On Monday, McDonald’s announced it would sell those stores and leave Russia. An existing McDonald’s licensee, Alexander Govor, who operates 25 restaurants in Siberia, has agreed to buy McDonald’s 850 Russian restaurants and operate them under a new name, the Chicago burger giant said Thursday. McDonald’s did not disclose the terms of the sale. Last year, McDonald’s Russian operations contributed 9% of the company’s total annual sales, or around $2 billion. McDonald’s was among the first Western consumer brands to enter Russia…

Google says its Russian subsidiary is planning to file for bankruptcy because it can’t pay staff and suppliers. Russian state media reported Wednesday that the U.S. tech company’s Russian subsidiary, Google LLC, submitted notice of its intention to declare bankruptcy to a national registry, Fedresurs. The company said in a press statement that it filed for bankruptcy because the “Russian authorities’ seizure of Google Russia’s bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations.” Google, which had previously suspended its business operations in Russia, said it would continue to provide its free services there, including Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, its Android operating system and its Play app store.…