Business

Ford Motor’s profit engine for decades has been large trucks and SUVs in the U.S. So it might surprise investors that the automaker believes its new path to profitability for electric vehicles will first be led by smaller, more affordable vehicles. The new plan is an “insurance policy” for the automaker to be able to expand its growingly popular hybrid models and create more affordable EVs that it believes will deliver a more capital-efficient, profitable electric vehicle business for the company and investors, according to Marin Gjaja, Ford’s chief operating officer for its Model e EV unit.

Peloton said Thursday it is digging itself out of the red and eked out a slight sales increase for the first time in nine quarters as it slashed its overall losses. The company’s shares spiked 35% on Thursday. The beleaguered connected fitness company, which two board members have run since former CEO Barry McCarthy resigned earlier this year, saw sales grow by 0.2% during its fiscal fourth quarter.

Nearly five years after Fuddruckers served its last burger and fries in downtown Silver Spring, the hamburger chain is planning to reopen in its former location on Ellsworth Drive. On Monday, Houston-based Fuddruckers posted on social media that it would open new locations this fall in Silver Spring and Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown.

There’s a lot of debate about how much signal to take from the 818,000 downward revisions to U.S. payrolls — the largest since 2009. Is it signaling recession? A few facts worth considering: By the time the 2009 revisions came out (824,000 jobs were overstated), the National Bureau of Economic Research had already declared a recession six months earlier.

Patrick Grace is busy converting two downtown Baltimore office buildings he bought into apartments, but Grace said these office-to-apartment conversion projects will likely be his last for a while. The owner of Trademark Investment said he’s had enough of high interest rates on loans and building owners who can’t accept the prices he offers for their aging buildings.

A new policy is coming to select Giant Food locations: stores will not allow any unaccompanied minors in the evenings. The new policy states that shoppers under the age of 18 may not enter without an adult after 6 p.m. A spokesperson with Giant released the following statement: “Giant Food has initiated a new policy at select stores that are experiencing high shrink to mitigate the unprecedented levels of product theft that have become unsustainable for our business. Starting August 22nd at select stores, shoppers under the age of 18 may not enter without an adult after 6 p.m.”

Alaska Air is one step closer to acquiring Hawaiian Airlines after the U.S. Department of Justice chose not to challenge the $1 billion deal that the carriers say will create a company better able to serve travelers. Alaska Air announced in December that it would pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian. The deal includes $900 million in debt held by Hawaiian Airlines.

General Motors’ premium GMC brand wants to become the leader in all-electric truck sales for U.S. consumers as it launches its new electric Sierra pickup. The Sierra EV joins electric versions of the Hummer, including an SUV and pickup, in GMC’s electric “truck” lineup. The automaker is expecting the Sierra will become GMC’s top seller for its EV lineup as lower-priced variants become available next year.