Business Highlights

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CEOs get $800,000 pay raise, leaving workers further behind

NEW YORK (AP) — Pay for CEOs at the biggest U.S. companies climbed 7% last year, widening the chasm between the top executives and their workers, whose pay didn't rise as quickly. Chief executives at S&P 500 companies earned a median of $12 million last year, roughly $800,000 more than the same group of CEOs made the year before. The median raise for the typical worker at these companies, meanwhile, was 3% last year, less than half the bump for their bosses.

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Female CEOs are competitively paid, but greatly outnumbered

NEW YORK (AP) — The few women who are CEOs of the largest U.S. companies typically make more money than their male counterparts but aren't close to the top of the leaderboard for pay packages. The median pay package for female CEOs in the 2018 fiscal year was $12.7 million, versus $11.2 million for men, according to an analysis of executive compensation data. However, there is not a single woman on the overall list of the top 20 most highly paid CEOs.

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China ramps up war of rhetoric in trade standoff with US

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese officials and state media have stepped up their propaganda offensive in the tariffs standoff with Washington. The China Daily newspaper accused the U.S. of seeking to "colonize global business" by targeting telecom equipment giant Huawei and other Chinese companies. There has been no word from either side of progress toward resuming talks on ending a tariff war between the world's two largest economies.

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Report: FTC's political wrangling delays Facebook settlement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook may have to wait longer before it can resolve a U.S. government investigation into its mishandling of personal information. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission is being delayed by political wrangling. The newspaper says the FTC's chairman is trying to persuade at least one Democratic commissioner to support the deal, which could fine Facebook up to $5 billion. The Journal says the two Democrats believe the deal is too lenient.

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FDA approves $2M medicine, most expensive ever

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators have approved the most expensive medicine ever, a gene therapy meant to cure a disorder that rapidly destroys a baby's muscle control and kills most within a couple years. The one-time gene therapy developed by Novartis will cost $2.125 million. It treats a rare condition called spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, which strikes about 400 babies born in the U.S. each year.

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Pennsylvania accuses financial firms of bond price-fixing

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's treasury department is accusing about a dozen large financial firms of inflating the price of bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over seven years. Thursday night's federal court filing by Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella cites what his office says is evidence from a "cooperating co-conspirator" in a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into price-fixing in the secondary market for bonds issued by government-controlled companies.

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United Airlines extends cancellation of Boeing Max flights

CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines is extending the cancellation of flights using the Boeing 737 Max by another month, into early August. Airlines don't know how long it will take regulators to approve fixes that Boeing is making to critical software on the plane. The Max has been grounded worldwide since two crashes that together killed 346 people.

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US orders for long-lasting goods fall 2.1% in April

WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for large manufactured goods fell sharply last month, pulled down by lower demand for commercial aircraft and cars. The Commerce Department says orders for durable goods — or items meant to last at least three years — fell 2.1%, after rising 1.7% in March.

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SpaceX launches 60 little satellites, with many more to come

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has launched 60 little satellites, the first of thousands that founder Elon Musk plans to put in orbit for global internet coverage. The recycled Falcon rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, late Thursday night. The first-stage booster landed on an ocean platform as the tightly packed cluster of satellites continued upward. Musk said Friday that all 60 were deployed and online a few hundred miles above Earth.

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US stocks rebound, but S&P 500 ends with 3rd weekly loss

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks on Wall Street notched modest gains Friday, erasing some of the market's steep losses from a day earlier. The upbeat finish still left the market with its third straight weekly loss. The market swung between gains and losses all week as investors weighed the prospect of a prolonged trade war between the U.S. and China. Banks led the gainers as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note reversed part of a steep slide a day earlier.

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The S&P 500 rose 3.82 points, or 0.1%, to 2,826.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 95.22 points, or 0.4%, to 25,585.69. The Nasdaq composite added 8.72 points, or 0.1%, to 7,637.01. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks climbed 12.73 points, or 0.9%, to 1,514.11.