NEW YORK (AP) — This year looks to be a much better one for the U.S. economy than business economists were forecasting just a few months ago, according to a survey released Monday.

AT&T says it will give affected customers $5 each to compensate for last week's cellphone network outage that left many without service for hours.

Inflation has changed the way many Americans shop. Now, those changes in consumer habits are helping bring down inflation. Fed up with prices that remain about 19%, on average, above where they were …

NEW YORK (AP) — When her cellphone's service went down this week because of an AT&T network outage, Bernice Hudson didn't panic. She just called the people she wanted to talk to the old-fashioned way — on her landline telephone, the kind she grew up with and refuses to get rid of even though she has a mobile phone.

AT&T said the hourslong outage to its U.S. cellphone network Thursday appeared to be the result of a technical error, not a malicious attack. The outage knocked out cellphone service for thousands of its users across the U.S. starting early Thursday before it was restored. AT&T blamed the incident on an error in coding, without elaborating.

A number of Americans are dealing with cellular outages on AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and other service providers, according to data from Downdetector. AT&T had more than 64,000 outages this morning, in locations including Houston, Atlanta and Chicago.

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing said Wednesday that the head of its 737 jetliner program is leaving the company in an executive shake-up weeks after a door panel blew out on a flight over Oregon, renewing questions about safety at the company. Boeing announced that Ed Clark, who had been with the company for nearly 18 years and led the 737 program since early 2021, was leaving immediately.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to keep up with customer demand, Batesville Tool & Die began seeking 70 people to hire last year. It wasn't easy. Attracting factory workers to a community of 7,300 in the Indiana countryside was a tough sell, especially having to compete with big-name manufacturers nearby like Honda and Cummins Engine.

Home Depot's sales continued to fade during the fourth quarter as the country's largest home improvement retailer feels the impact of high mortgage rates and inflation on its customers. While quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations, the company's sales expectations for this year weighed on shares early. Shares slipped more than 2% before the opening bell Tuesday. Rival Lowe’s, which reports fourth-quarter earnings next week, fell more than 2%.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy is now the world’s fourth-largest after it contracted in the last quarter of 2023 and fell behind Germany. The government reported the economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.4% in October to December, according to Cabinet Office data on real GDP released Thursday, though it grew 1.9% for all of 2023. It contracted 2.9% in July-September. Two straight quarters of contraction are considered an indicator an economy is in a technical recession.

In a classic “Saturday Night Live” sketch, a young man hands his girlfriend a Valentine’s Day gift: a bear dressed in a bee costume that he picked up at the drugstore. “When did you get this?” she asks with a strained smile. “One minute ago,” he replies.

Three separate unions representing flight attendants at major U.S. airlines are picketing and holding rallies at 30 airports on Tuesday as they push for new contracts and higher wages. The flight attendants are increasingly frustrated that pilots won huge pay raises last year while they continue to work for wages that, in some cases, have not increased in several years.

A nasty storm with 60 mph winds raked parts of the Northeast on Tuesday creating dangerous conditions on the road and snarling airports. More than 1,200 flights were canceled before noon, mostly along the East Coast, but that is likely to spread west as the day goes on.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Annual inflation in the United States remained elevated in the latest sign that the pandemic-fueled price surge is only gradually and fitfully coming under control. Tuesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the consumer price index rose 0.3% from December to January, up from a 0.2% increase the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices are up 3.1%.

The longest Super Bowl game will also go down as the most-watched program in U.S. television history. According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, Kansas City's 25-22 overtime victory over San Francisco on Sunday night averaged 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That shattered last year's mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City's last-play victory over Philadelphia and is a 7% increase.

Coca-Cola reported higher-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter as growth in Mexico, Germany and other markets offset lower demand in the U.S. Revenue rose 7% to $10.8 billion for the October-December period, the Atlanta beverage giant said Tuesday. That topped Wall Street’s forecast of $10.7 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Remington began here two centuries ago and generations of workers have turned out rifles and shotguns at the massive firearms factory in the middle of this blue-collar village in the heart of New York’s Mohawk Valley.

PepsiCo got a bump to fourth quarter profits thanks in part to lower charges and continued price hikes, but higher prices have weakened consumer demand for the company's snacks and drinks. The New York company said Friday that it expects organic revenue growth of at least 4% this year, less than half the 9.5% growth that PepsiCo booked in 2023.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported to the United States. The shift reflects the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as U.S. efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home.

DENVER (AP) — Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — from $750 to $3,374 last year. Every month, like millions of Americans, Colbert juggled her costs. Pay rent or swim team fees for one of her three kids. Rent or school supplies. Rent or groceries.

NEW YORK (AP) — The annual “Puppy Bowl” turns 20 this year, well over middle age in dog years. But does the sheer cuteness of it really ever get old? “Who doesn’t want to watch dogs play all day long?” asks Laurie Johnson, the director of Florida Little Dog Rescue in St. Cloud, Florida, who has been part of “Puppy Bowl” for a decade.

BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese and U.S. officials have met in Beijing for talks on tough issues dividing the two largest economies, as trade and tariffs increasingly draw attention in the runup to the U.S. presidential election. China’s Ministry of Finance said Beijing raised objections to higher tariffs on Chinese exports, two-way investment restrictions and other limits on trade and technology during the talks by the countries' Economic Working Group. In a statement, it characterized the Monday-Tuesday talks as “constructive."

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced plans on Tuesday to launch a sports streaming platform in the fall that will include offerings from at least 15 networks and all four major professional sports leagues. A one-stop app to view most sports should be a welcome sight for fans, who continue to navigate rising costs by subscribing to multiple services.

Bolts that helped secure a panel to the frame of a Boeing 737 Max 9 were missing before the panel blew off the Alaska Airlines plane last month, according to accident investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday a preliminary report on the Jan. 5 incident that the lack of certain damage on the plane indicates that all four bolts were missing before the plane took off from Portland, Oregon.

Oil and natural gas giant BP has beat expectations with earnings of $3 billion in the last three months of 2023. London-based BP reported Tuesday that its underlying replacement cost profit is down …