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After a difficult February, CSX Corp.’s business is recovering well in March, CEO James Foote said last week. However, the situation isn’t perfect, Foote said at an investor conference sponsored by J.P. Morgan. “The railroad, under the circumstances, is actually running pretty good,” he said. But, “it’s clearly not nirvana.”Read Full StoryCsxMortgage LoansMortgage BrokersRecyclingStrong EarningsStock PricesQuarterly EarningsTotal RevenueFuel PricesCSX Corp. 'sPan Am Railways Inc.Pan Am 'sCSXTSTBBlack Knight Inc.James FooteJ.p. MorganWayne Weaver

Most of us have $1,400 on the way, and you're probably thinking about how to spend it. Before you blow your entire stimulus check, make sure you take care of any pressing debts: utilities, rent, car payments ... you know, the adult stuff. If you're lucky enough to have a bit leftover, here are some easy ways to make a difference in your local economy.Read Full StoryEconomyCandy BarsSmall BusinessStimulusLocal FoodGrocery StoresPet FoodDirect CareChain [email protected] DepositOnline SellersArtisanal CandlesWine ShopRamen Noodles

(Reuters) - European stocks inched lower in early trading on Thursday as investors grew wary about the economic outlook following a new round of coronavirus restrictions in the euro zone and regulatory concerns hit Chinese stocks.The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.4% by 0812 GMT, with oil & gas, bank and retail stocks leading the decline.Global sentiment took a hit after a selloff in Chinese technology shares on worries that they will be de-listed from U.S. bourses, while the number of coronavirus cases in Germany saw the biggest increase since Jan. 9.H&M dropped 1.9% after at least one Chinese online retailer appeared to drop its products following social media attacks on the Swedish company for saying it was “deeply concerned” about reports of forced labour in the farwestern region of Xinjiang in China.Shares of German sportswear firm Adidas, which also came under fire, was down 3.2%.Cineworld fell 6.8% after it reported a $3 billion loss for 2020 and said it will ask shareholders to approve a raise in its debt ceiling.European StocksTechnology StocksLockdownsChinaMarketsChinese StocksU.S. InvestorsRetail InvestorsReutersPan-EuropeanSTOXXOil & GasH&MSwedishAdidas

A map of Ever Given, the large yellow vessel, stuck in the middle of the Suez Canal and surrounded by smaller cargo ships. Vessel Finder Ever Given, one of the largest cargo ships in the Suez Canal, was stil stuck as of Thursday. The ship has caused a massive logjam in one of the world's most important trade routes. Pictures and maps below show the state of the bottleneck. See more stories on Insider's business page . A massive container ship, the Ever Given, has been stuck blocking the Suez Canal for more than 48 hours despite ongoing efforts to free it. The vessel, which got stuck early on Tuesday, was likened to a beached whale by the CEO of a Dutch engineering company drafted in to help tackle the problem Thursday morning. "It is like an enormous beached whale. It's an enormous weight on the sand," Reuters reported , citing Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch company Boskalis. The Suez Canal is of the most important shipping routes in the world, an essential trade route connecting Europe with Asia. The Ever Given, a nearly 200-foot-wide, 1,300-foot-long cargo ship sailing under a Panamanian flag, is pictured here viewed from land as of Thursday morning local time: Stranded container ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is seen after it ran aground, in Suez Canal, Egypt March 25, 2021 Ahmed Fahmy/Reuters A crew member in the vessel behind the Ever Given posted this Instagram image on Tuesday: A ship navigates before the stranded Ever Given, on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Suez Canal Authority via AP The ship ran aground at about 7:40 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to a statement from Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the ship's technical manager. BSM said in a statement late Wednesday that dredgers were being used to clear sand and mud from around the vessel, while tugboats. Ever Given was also using its own winches to try to help, the statement said. These have so far failed to free the ship. Berdowski, of the Dutch company, said: "We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand." Part of the vessel embedded itself in the bank of the canal, according to images shared on Twitter by the shipping analyst John Scott-Railton, an analyst based at the University of Toronto: -John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 24, 2021 A statement posted Wednesday from the Ever Given's shipping company, GAC Egypt, said that wind conditions had complicated efforts to free the vessel. The ship is headed for Rotterdam, Netherlands, from the Yantian District of China, according to the ship-tracking site Vessel Finder . Lt. Gen. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, second right, speaking to other staff onboard a boat near the stuck cargo ship MV Ever Green Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Suez Canal Authority via AP The ship had traveled through Taipei and Malaysia and hoped to arrive in the Netherlands on March 31. Instead, it ended up wedged diagonally in the canal, blocking hundreds of cargo ships from both sides. A smaller second channel of the canal has allowed some smaller ships to move, but it is not large enough for the biggest container ships. The Ever Given is seen with its bow stuck in the canal wall, on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Suez Canal Authority via AP Container ships in Suez Canal. Gehad Hamdy/picture alliance via Getty Images The Suez Canal was constructed in 1869 to connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas. It allows for the shortest possible trade route by water between Europe and Asia. In 2015, the Egyptian government finished an $8 billion renovation of the canal to attract more business and allow for smoother sailing. Imagery on Vessel Finder showed the Ever Given's slow progress in getting unstuck: A zoomed-in shot in the tweet below shows a tiny excavator used earlier to try to unwedge the ship. -John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 23, 2021 At least 150 vessels are being delayed by the blockage, according to the Associated Press (AP) . Experts told Reuters that if the delay persists another 24 to 48 hours, some ships would be forced to detour the whole way around Africa, which is some 15,000 miles further than taking the canal. In recognition of the disruption to global trade, the ship's Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, issued an apology on Thursday, the AP reported. Read the original article on Business Insider Cargo ShipsWorld TradeChinaGlobal TradeInsiderReutersPanamanianInstagramBSMTwitterThe University Of TorontoThe Ever Given 'sThe Suez Canal AuthorityRed SeasEgyptian

It has been more than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the globe, and a new digital normal has seemed to emerged in the past year. Singaporeans are working remotely, attending classes, and ordering groceries online. The pandemic has also revealed the opportunities and limitations of Singapore’s e-commerce sector....Read Full StoryRetail StoresE-commerceE-Commerce ShoppersOnline RetailSingaporeansSingstatLove , BonitoFrenchDecathlon OrchardPomeloFaythShop Sassy DreamThe Decathlon CentrepointVRKaki Bukit

When offices closed a year ago, local real estate agents expected relocations to slow down during the pandemic. That didn’t happen. Why it matters: A steady number of relocations to Charlotte in 2020 had less to do with new jobs and careers than simply quality of life. The real estate experts I talked to said many new residents continued to stream in from New York, New Jersey, Chicago, California and Texas, many of them seeking a balance between city life and suburbia. The State of play: Dickens Mitchener helped more than 600 families relocate to Charlotte in 2020. Most were from out of state. And another 190 are potentially relocating soon, the brokerage’s relocation specialist, Catharine Pappas, said. The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance looked at the number of people who changed their location to Charlotte on LinkedIn. From March 2020 until now, 21,000 people changed their location to Charlotte and 14,500 people change their profile from Charlotte to somewhere else. We’ve had 6,500 new workers (who are also on LinkedIn) in the metro area, with most coming from New York, senior VP of economic research Chuck McShane said. These numbers are based on LinkedIn data, curated by the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. Cottingham Chalk also helped dozens of people buy homes in Charlotte from out of state last year. Suzanne Lail, Cottingham Chalk’s relocation director, said the number of relocations they helped execute in 2020 was similar to pre-pandemic years, but the reasons for moving to Charlotte shifted. Pre-pandemic, most newcomers listed work as a main reason to move. In 2020, Lail said they saw an uptick of about 20% in the number of people who moved here for personal reasons. Matt Ewers, president of Grandfather Homes, sees it, too. In previous years, about 1/4 to 1/3 of his clients came from out of state. Now they make up about half. Ewers says people are attracted to the momentum of Charlotte, evident by its growing number of HQs, bank and tech industries, parks, new infrastructure, and small businesses. Other things that make Charlotte attractive: Airport Relative lower cost of living More land/outdoor space Strong economy Welcoming entrepreneurial environment The big picture: If you exclude other cities in the Carolinas, the most popular places for in-migration to Charlotte over the past decade have been New York, Atlanta, Washington and Miami. Overall, in 2019, more people moved to North Carolina from Florida than any other state. One example: Matthew Coles, the former senior partnerships manager of Uber Technologies, moved from San Francisco to Charlotte in fall 2020. With California in “full lock down mode,” Coles moved here to get into commercial real estate and for a higher quality of life. “My standard of living has improved exponentially,” Coles said. “The people are nicer, there are less people overall, and the city is neat and tidy.” In San Francisco he was used to $10 for a beer and $2,000 for a small studio apartment. “I guess you can say I was looking for the opposite of that.” Pappas said Dickens Mitchener helped one client move from the New York suburbs to Charlotte because it was easier and cheaper to fly to NYC for work every week than commute in from suburbs. Overall, they get a higher quality of life and spend less to achieve it. The post The pandemic didn’t stop people from moving to Charlotte appeared first on Axios Charlotte . AtlantaCommercial Real EstateSuburbsNew JerseyCarolinasLinkedInVPCottingham Chalk 'sGrandfather HomesUber TechnologiesAxios CharlotteRelocationsPeopleTexas

Medieval and early modern lawyers chose to write on sheepskin parchment because it helped prevent fraud, new analysis suggests. Experts have identified the species of animals used for British legal documents dating from the 13th to 20th century, and have discovered they were almost always written on sheepskin, rather than goatskin or calfskin vellum.Read Full StoryLawyersAntiMade ObjectsMedievalThe University Of ExeterThe University Of YorkHeritage Science 2021Sheepskin ParchmentFraudParchment ManufactureAnimal SkinSheep Deposit FatLamp ShadesPhysical ObjectsAnimal ProductsRichard FitznealEdward Coke

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is betting on Tesla and GameStop. George Frey/Getty Images The Mormon Church's $100 billion fund slashed its "big tech" bets last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors also quadrupled its Tesla bet and bought GameStop shares. The fund's US stock portfolio rose in value to $44 billion. See more stories on Insider's business page . The Mormon Church's secretive $100 billion fund trimmed its technology bets, quadrupled its Tesla stake, and added GameStop to its portfolio last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors slashed its four biggest holdings - Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet - by more than 7%, SEC filings show . However, the combined value of the stakes still climbed to over $6.7 billion as the companies' stock prices rose. The investing arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also quadrupled the size of its Tesla bet to 467,000 shares. Coupled with a sharp increase in the automaker's stock price, the position surged in value by about 550% to $330 million as of December 31. As a result, Tesla was Ensign's 23rd most-valuable holding at the last count, up from 141st three months earlier. The fund snapped up 46,000 GameStop shares for less than $19 each last quarter as well. That stake was worth $22 million at the height of the short squeeze in January, when GameStop's stock price briefly hit $483. It's still valued at about $7 million at the current share price, compared to less than $900,000 at the end of December. Ensign, which is more than 50 years old, grew its total holdings from 1,740 to more than 1,850 during the period. The overall value of its US stock portfolio rose by 11% to $44 billion. The fund generally avoids investing in businesses that Mormons find objectionable, such as tobacco, gambling, and coffee companies. Philip Morris, Caesars Entertainment, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola are nowhere to be found in its portfolio. Ensign declined a request for comment from Insider. Read more: Goldman Sachs says to buy these 49 stocks that are set to increase their dividend payouts to shareholders the most in 2021 Read the original article on Business Insider TeslaGamestopMormonsEnsign Peak AdvisorsReligionMarketsTech StocksAlphabet StocksTechnology StocksTech CompaniesThe Mormon Church 'sMormon ChurchAppleMicrosoftAmazonJesus Christ

Asian markets rose Thursday but optimism over the pace of economic recovery continued to be offset by worries about rising infections across Europe and the continent's vaccine struggles, with inflation concerns casting an ever-present shadow. After a year-long surge, global equities have run out of steam with expectations of a...Read Full StoryEconomyNikkei 225ChinaVirusPoliticsPublic HealthInflation RatesUS InflationInflation ForecastAsian MarketsGrowth RatesNasdaqThe Federal ReserveChinesePfizer/BioNTechJoe Biden

(Adds futures, news items) March 25 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 17 points lower at 6,695 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures .FFIc1 down 0.20% ahead of the cash market open. * CINEWORLD: Cineworld CINE.L said it will ask shareholders to approve a...Read Full StoryGold PricesEuropean StocksMarketsUkU.S. NewsIndex FuturesFinancial NewsU.S. StocksNews ItemsReutersCineworld CINE.LCOMPASS GROUPCompass Group CPG.LS4 Capital SFOR.LASTRAZENECABoris Johnson