Things To Do In SW Florida

By Brooks Johnson, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Typically, when some product becomes too expensive, people buy less of it.

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Not so with beef. Despite record high prices for the red meat — thanks to a record low number of cattle raised for slaughter — demand for the fresh protein keeps rising.

Folks are more interested in a Jucy Lucy than following the law of supply and demand, it seems.

A recent report from CoBank said the “remarkably steady allure of beef, even at current prices” stems from “heightened interest in dietary protein, changing health perceptions surrounding beef and the availability of restaurant-quality beef at retail grocery stores.” read more

By JAMIE STENGLE and RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Families of some of the 346 people killed in crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners held photos of their dead loved ones Wednesday outside a federal court in Texas, where a judge was hearing arguments on the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss a felony conspiracy charge against the aerospace company in connection with the twin disasters.

U.S. District Chief Judge Reed O’Connor set aside time for relatives of the crash victims to speak during the hearing. Some traveled from countries in Europe and Africa to pursue what could be their final opportunity to demand that the company face criminal prosecution for the crashes off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia.

“My daughter died on a new airplane that was defective and that was in operation because they weren’t complying with regulations and because of fraud,” said Nadia Milleron, a Massachusetts resident whose 24-year-old daughter, Samya Stumo, was among the 157 passengers and crew members killed in the Ethiopia crash. “I don’t want any other any other family member to lose their loved ones because of this kind of fraud.” read more

By DAVID McHUGH, AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Parliament’s trade committee said Wednesday he has “doubts” about aspects of the EU’s trade deal with the Trump administration and predicted the deal could be amended during the legislative approval process.

“A lot of questions are there, and I guess there will be some amendments,” said committee chairman Bernd Lange, adding that “myself and also some colleagues of mine have doubts about the deal.”

Lange stopped short of outright opposing the agreement struck July 27 between the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and U.S. President Donald Trump. The deal imposes a 15% tariff on European goods while lowering EU tariffs on U.S. cars and industrial goods to zero; some EU goods including aircraft, cork and generic pharmaceuticals, were exempted from the 15% rates.

The deal has had a mixed reception in Europe, with business associations saying it imposes high costs that will impede exports to the U.S. Von der Leyen says that it will lower a painful 27.5% tariff on autos and bring stability and predictability for businesses. read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is steadying on Wednesday as Alphabet and other technology stocks rise.

The S&P 500 added 0.1% and was on track to break its two-day losing streak since setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 293 points, or 0.7%, as of 1:47 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.

Google’s parent company was one of the strongest forces lifting the market and climbed 8.8% after avoiding some of the worst-case scenarios in its antitrust case. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a shake-up of Google’s search engine but did not force a sale of its Chrome browser.

Because Alphabet is one of Wall Street’s most valuable companies, its stock movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than the typical company’s.

Also helping to steady Wall Street was a calming bond market. A day earlier, rising yields for government bonds around the world raised the pressure on the stock market. Yields climbed on worries about governments’ abilities to repay their growing mountains of debt, as well as concerns that President Donald Trump’s pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates could lead to higher inflation in the long term. read more

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted 7.2 million job vacancies in July as the American labor market continues to cool.

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The Labor Department reported Wednesday that job openings fell from 7.4 million in June and came in modestly below what economists had forecast. Healthcare and social assistance companies cut openings by 181,000 and retailers by 110,000.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that layoffs rose slightly. The number of Americans quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their ability to find better pay, opportunities or working conditions elsewhere — was unchanged from June at 3.2 million. read more