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Oil major TotalEnergies doubles profit to billion

PARIS (AP) — France’s TotalEnergies SE doubled its profits in 2022, joining other international oil and gas companies in fattening their bottom lines as high energy prices surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Adjusted net income rose to $36.2 billion, up from $18.1 billion in 2021, the company said Wednesday. Earnings benefited from robust refinery use that let the company capture high profits for turning crude into other fuel products. The figures looked different under international accounting rules that included write-offs on Total’s assets in Russia, where doing ...

Stocks fall on Wall Street, giving back recent gains

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling on Wall Street Wednesday, giving back some of their recent gains as uncertainty about interest rates and inflation continues to reign. The S&P 500 was 1.2% lower in afternoon trading following another mixed set of earnings reports from big companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 246 points, or 0.7%, at 33,920, as of 3:20 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% lower. The pullback follows Tuesday’s gain of 1.3% for the S&P 500, which came after the first public comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell since the ...

Kish Bank celebrates grand opening of Mifflintown branch

MIFFLINTOWN — The Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for Kish Bank’s new Route 35 branch, located at 55 Parkside Court in Mifflintown, on Monday, Feb. 6. The ceremony was attended by Kish team members, Chamber representatives, and local dignitaries, ...

Estate develops storage facility

LEWISTOWN — The Investment Real Estate Group of Companies (IREGC) announced it is retiring its brokerage services and will begin focusing solely on the expansion of its Moove In Self Storage portfolio. A Moove In Self Storage facility is located at 895 US Highway 22, Lewistown. In 1997, CEO John H. Gilliland brokered his first self storage facility in Hanover. One year later, he started IREGC. The company would grow into a national leader, with more than 100 employees providing brokerage, feasibility, construction, development, insurance and property management services. “We ...

Microsoft bakes ChatGPT-like tech into search engine Bing

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is fusing ChatGPT-like technology into its search engine Bing, transforming an internet service that now trails far behind Google into a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence. The revamping of Microsoft’s second-place search engine could give the software giant a head start against other tech companies in capitalizing on the worldwide excitement surrounding ChatGPT, a tool that’s awakened millions of people to the possibilities of the latest AI technology. Along with adding it to Bing, Microsoft is also integrating the chatbot ...

Fed’s Powell: Strong hiring could force further rate hikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that if the U.S. job market further strengthens in the coming months or inflation readings accelerate, the Fed might have to raise its benchmark interest rate higher than it now projects. Powell’s remarks followed the government’s blockbuster report last week that employers added 517,000 jobs in January, nearly double December’s gain. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 53 years, 3.4%. “The reality is if we continue to get strong labor market reports or higher inflation reports, it might be the ...