AP Business Digest

Here are the AP’s top business stories that have moved or are planned to move today. All times U.S. Eastern. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit AP Newsroom’s Coverage Plan.

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UPCOMING

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ITALY TARIFFS

DESCRIPTION: Italy Tariffs The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani will present to the associations of the Italian manufacturing world an Action Plan for the acceleration of exports in high-potential markets. The Action Plan includes new promotional tools from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Public Export Support Agencies for the benefit of the entrepreneurial system. The model guide on “growth diplomacy,” which the Italian Embassies in main partner countries are preparing, will also be presented in order to provide concrete and specialised information to companies interested in developing business activities in these markets. Photo: early afternoon Video: on merits Text: on merits

ON MERITS: By 03/21/2025 12:00 p.m. EDT, Video, Photo, Text

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NEW AND DEVELOPING

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EU--AVIATION DISRUPTION-GLANCE

A look at some of history’s worst air travel disruptions after a fire shut Heathrow

SUMMARY: A fire that closed London’s Heathrow Airport has sparked one of the most serious disruptions to air travel in years. More than 1,300 flights were canceled and hundreds of thousands of journeys disrupted following the electrical substation blaze. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Air travel has been disrupted in the past by computer problems, bad weather, volcanoes and extremist attacks. The Heathrow disruption is among the worst since an Iceland volcano erupted in 2010. Airspace over northern Europe was shut for several days and more than 100,000 flights canceled because of concerns the ash could damage jet engines. The 9/11 attacks in 2001 caused the shutdown of U.S. airspace and altered air travel forever.

WORDS: 585 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 10:22 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:bca53115cd66a2f714ddb3e57719a0d6&mediaType=text

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FINANCIAL MARKETS

Stock market today: Wall Street slips and heads for a fifth straight weekly loss

SUMMARY: Stocks are falling in morning trading and Wall Street is on track for its fifth straight weekly loss. The S&P 500 was down 0.9% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 453 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%. Stocks have been broadly losing ground for weeks over uncertainty about the direction of the U.S. economy. A trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners threatens to worsen inflation and hurt both consumers and businesses. Nike fell sharply as tariff and other concerns weighed on its financial forecast for the year. Treasury yields fell in the bond market.

WORDS: 404 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 10:21 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:4c7b6fd3ccd80ba81d76e813c278f803&mediaType=text

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EU--BRITAIN-LONDON FIRE-LATEST

The Latest: Hundreds of thousands of passengers face flight cancellations as Heathrow closes

SUMMARY: Britain’s Heathrow Airport has closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe’s biggest travel hubs. Flights were diverted to Gatwick Airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Ireland’s Shannon Airport. Several flights from the U.S. were canceled. The airport said it expected significant disruptions for days and passengers should not travel to the airport until it reopens. Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. Thousands of homes also lost power after a transformer within an electrical substation caught fire in west London. About 70 firefighters were on the scene of the fire.

WORDS: 3083 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 10:15 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:dececc201954b51901647423a2c5a4da&mediaType=text

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EU--BRITAIN-LONDON FIRE

Fire shuts down London’s Heathrow Airport, disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands

SUMMARY: A large fire near London’s Heathrow Airport knocked out power to Europe’s busiest flight hub and forced it to shut all day. That is disrupting global travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers Friday. Heathrow said it didn’t know when power would be restored — raising the possibility that the shutdown would last longer than just the day, as previously expected. Flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said that at least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, and the impact was likely to last several days as passengers try to reschedule their travel and airlines work to get planes and crew to the right places. Authorities do not know what caused the fire but so far have found no evidence it was suspicious.

WORDS: 1161 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 9:52 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:6d63b2f6615e8ff39f2647641bfbc160&mediaType=text

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AS--CAMBODIA-NEW AIRPORT

A major new airport to serve Cambodia’s capital and boost tourism is due to open in July

SUMMARY: Cambodia expects its new airport to serve the capital Phnom Penh will open in July. It’s a major step forward in boosting the country’s lucrative tourism sector whose growth was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Work on the Techo International Airport began in 2019. It covers an area of 2,600 hectares or 6,425 acres about 30 kilometers or 19 miles south of the capital. A spokesperson for the airport project said during a media tour on Friday that he believes passengers are eager for its July soft opening. It will be Cambodia’s second major airport to open in the space of two years. The Chinese-financed Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport serving the famous Angkor Wat temple complex began operations in 2023.

WORDS: 369 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 9:51 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:285a9466a1a1712731f64707b5f6b1b2&mediaType=text

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US--JOHNSON & JOHNSON-INVESTMENT

Johnson & Johnson plans $55 billion in US investments over the next four years

SUMMARY: Johnson & Johnson says it will invest more than $55 billion within the United States over the next four years, including four new manufacturing plants. A number of companies have highlighted investments in the U.S. in recent months, a focus of Trump administration. Johnson & Johnson said Friday that it is a 25% increase in investment compared with the prior four years and estimates the U.S. economic impact will be more than $100 billion a year.

WORDS: 357 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 9:26 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:3afc1b68dd0ba09242b5d56a0e2eb86d&mediaType=text

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OCEAN-FISHERIES-CAPTURING CARBON-TAKEAWAYS

Takeaways from Associated Press report on efforts to capture carbon in the ocean

SUMMARY: A growing industry is racing to engineer a solution to global warming using the absorbent power of the oceans. Dozens of companies and academic groups are pitching the same theory: that sinking rocks, nutrients, crop waste or seaweed in the ocean could lock away climate-warming carbon dioxide for centuries or more. Nearly 50 field trials have taken place in the past four years, with startups raising hundreds of millions in early funds. But the field remains rife with debate over the consequences for the oceans if the strategies are deployed at large scale, and over the exact benefits for the climate. Critics say the efforts are moving too quickly and with too few guardrails.

WORDS: 1041 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 7:11 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:8d51307387346e383c760174e12a97a6&mediaType=text

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OCEAN-FISHERIES-CAPTURING CARBON

Ocean dumping – or a climate solution? A growing industry bets on the ocean to capture carbon

SUMMARY: Dozens of companies and academic groups are pitching the same theory: that sinking rocks, nutrients, crop waste or seaweed in the ocean could lock away climate-warming carbon dioxide for centuries or more. Nearly 50 field trials have taken place in the past four years, with startups raising hundreds of millions in early funds. But the field remains rife with debate over the consequences for the oceans if the strategies are deployed at large scale, and over the exact benefits for the climate. Critics say the efforts are moving too quickly and with too few guardrails.

WORDS: 3203 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 7:05 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:184653b35ad8c63db2c6e7b533037c19&mediaType=text

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AS--INDONESIA-VOLCANO

Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano erupts, prompting alert level to be raised

SUMMARY: The Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano in south-central Indonesia has erupted, sending an ash column 26,000 feet high and prompting authorities to expand the danger zone around the volcano. The volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has had hundreds of earthquakes and visible volcanic activity has increased. An eruption followed by an explosion was heard Thursday evening as much as 50 miles from the volcano. There were two other eruptions, and smaller activity during the day Friday. The danger zone was expanded to 8 kilometers from the crater. No new evacuations were ordered.

WORDS: 433 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 6:51 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:c978b30ad4ce131e41fed493af636935&mediaType=text

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EU--GERMANY-POLITICS

German parliament’s upper house gives final approval to huge defense and borrowing package

WORDS: 373 - MOVED: 03/21/2025 6:23 a.m. EDT

https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search?query=itemid:02a9fdcb8c597b3f0db22b78df8e7dd2&mediaType=text

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