AUTO INDUSTRY
Kia recalls 9,700 vehicles
Kia is recalling more than 9,700 SUVs in the United States and Canada because the front axle can fail and the vehicles can lose power.
The recall affects 2014 Sorento SUVs with 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines and front-wheel-drive. They were built from Jan. 7 through March 12 of this year.
Kia says the right axle drive shaft can crack and fail. If that happens, the SUVs can lose power or roll away when parked. The company says there haven’t been any crashes or injuries reported.
Owners will be notified by letter. Dealers will replace the axle shaft free of charge.
The Hyundai Santa Fe, which is similar to the Sorento, was recalled for the same reason last week.
EARNINGS
Lowe’s profits surge 26%
Lowe’s second-quarter net income rose 26 percent.
For the period ended Aug. 2, Lowe’s earned $941 million, or 88 cents per share. That’s up from $747 million, or 64 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue increased 10 percent to $15.71 billion from $14.25 billion.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of 79 cents per share on revenue of $15.07 billion. Revenue at stores open at least a year climbed 9.6 percent, the biggest increase since 2004.
TECHNOLOGY
Facebook welcomes partners
Facebook wants to get more of the world’s 7 billion people online through a partnership with Samsung, Nokia and other large mobile technology companies.
Facebook Inc. announced a partnership called Internet.org. The company says its goal is to “make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected.”
FAST FOOD
Subway to expand in Europe
Subway, the closely held restaurant chain with more outlets than McDonald’s Corp., plans to pick up the pace of openings in Europe by adding as many as 1,000 new locations in 2014.
The sandwich shop operator has 4,018 stores in Europe, where it has continued to grow during the continent’s recession and wobbly recovery, Assistant Regional Director Mike Charest said in an interview. The Milford, Conn., company has opened about 500 stores a year in Europe for the past two years, and may add 800 to 1,000 next year.
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney to unplug Toontown
Walt Disney Co. will close its Toontown Online video game for kids after 10 years, as the company’s interactive unit shifts resources toward the larger Club Penguin and to mobile games.
Toontown, in which monthly members form teams to fight evil robots, will stop operating on Sept. 19, according to its website. The game made its debut in June 2003 and Disney has said it was the first massively multiplayer online game designed for kids and families.
benefits
UPS changes health coverage
United Parcel Service Inc., one of the biggest U.S. employers, plans to drop health insurance coverage for about 15,000 working spouses of white-collar employees to curtail rising costs. Many spouses in the U.S. workforce will have access to employer-provided insurance under President Barack Obama’s health-care law, and UPS will remove them from its coverage, according to a copy of a memo to employees that was published online by Kaiser Health News.
UPS had no comment. Of 33,000 spouses on UPS’s plan, about 15,000 are eligible for health coverage through their own employers and won’t be covered by UPS starting in 2014. Spouses who don’t work or lack employer-provided benefits will still be eligible at Atlanta-based UPS.
WALL STREET
Dow Jones dips below 15,000
Finishing below 15,000 for the first time since July 3, the Dow Jones industrial average ended at 14,897.55, down 105.44 points, or 0.7 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 9.55 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,642.80. The Nasdaq composite index retreated 13.80 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,599.79.
Crude oil futures for October delivery slipped $1.26, or 1.2 percent, to $103.85 a barrel; gold futures for December delivery lost $2.50, or 0.2 percent, to $1,370.10 an ounce. The expectation voiced by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in June that the central bank would curb its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases by year-end has upended global markets.
Compiled from staff and wire reports