As the pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are benefiting enormously from a potentially permanent shift in consumer habits, leveraging their political clout by arguing that they are essential services, and gutting their competition.

Analysts expected as much, and that's one reason Microsoft's stock is closing in on the all-time high it hit in early February.

Softomotive specializes in robot process automation technology, or software that helps companies save time and money by automating repetitive, manual tasks such as entering data into spreadsheets.

Microsoft, gearing up for its biggest-ever year of launches for Xbox products and services in the middle of a global pandemic and economic recession, will replace its plan for a splashy public game-conference event with a monthly series of online showcases.

As usual, May Day demonstrators took to the streets on Friday. Only this time, they drove in cars and practiced safe distancing while pushing for immigrant and workers' rights as well as a proposed tax on large corporations.

Business and government insiders say other companies and organizations are contemplating similarly extended time frames as they consider the new realities of the workplace in the COVID-19 era.

When the crafts market at Pike Place Market was forced to temporarily shut down, vendors are turning to online sales and getting help in doing that from their fellow workers.

Many disputed the distinction between essential and nonessential businesses.

Businesses owned by people of color, women and those in rural areas have always been at the back of the line when it comes to bank loans. The PPP bailout — administered by banks — perpetuates that inequity, writes columnist Naomi Ishisaka.

Twenty of the farmers who sell at Pike Place Market are participating in Saturday's event, with pickup sites in Seattle and Renton.

This series of charts provides weekly data on how the Seattle-area economy is doing during the coronavirus crisis.

In the unofficial forecast numbers, Washington would lose $3.8 billion in revenue this current budget cycle. An additional $3.27 billion would be sheared off the 2021-23 budget cycle.

The Pittsburgh company plans to close its Ferndale aluminum smelter by July, throwing 700 people out of work.

Since health officials began recommending (but not requiring) that everyone cover their faces in public to reduce the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, a new divide has emerged over who wears a mask and who doesn't.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest challenge for Seattle’s independent record stores like Easy Street, but these titans of vinyl continue to rise to the occasion.

For the week ending May 2, the state received 109,167 initial claims for unemployment insurance, down almost 22% from the prior week, according to U.S. Labor Department figures released Thursday morning.

Brown said that on May 15 she will loosen restrictions statewide on day cares and on retail shops that were previously closed, including furniture stores, boutiques, jewelry stores and art galleries.

The most popular online grocery category was packaged foods such as breakfast cereal and pasta; followed by toiletries, personal care products and diapers; household cleaners and paper products; and frozen food.

Both Washington and Alaska will benefit from money carved out of the massive federal economic stimulus package known as the CARES ACT that is intended to assist in both direct and indirect fishery-related losses.

Kroger-owned QFC and Fred Meyer will discontinue their $2-an-hour "Hero Bonus'' premiums paid to workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio-based Kroger has set May 16 as the program's final date while other large grocery retailers ponder the future of similar bonuses.

Five TSA employees nationwide have died of COVID-19, and 516 employees have tested positive, including seven at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

As Washington grapples with a tsunami of legitimate unemployment claims — more than 100,000 last week — the state also is seeing a rise in attempts by fraudsters to siphon off a portion of the benefits.

“My parents have been through worse,” one farmer said. “We'll get through this.”

In many cases, the response from insurers has been: We don't cover viruses.

The initial days of the Boeing experiment as 27,000 workers are asked to return won't be easy to assess, because a significant number of employees chose to stay home this week.

Plummeting passenger traffic and flight cancellations will cost Seattle-Tacoma International Airport an estimated $251 million by the end of 2020.

Confirmed positive coronavirus tests were reported for two Boeing Everett employees on Tuesday — the day employees returned to work at the factory. This raised fears and rumors among the workforce. However, the two had become ill in mid-March.

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines says it is the first U.S. carrier to get federal clearance to carry cargo in its overhead bins, as it repurposes passenger planes amid a steep decline in travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Atlanta-based Delta said it has received Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the overhead bin space […]

The new measures, though, won't affect Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's growing emissions from air traffic or ground transportation — the bulk of the Port's carbon footprint.

Boeing terminated its proposed $4.2 billion deal to acquire the commercial jet business of Brazil's Embraer. The smaller company responded with a scathing declaration that Boeing "has manufactured false claims as a pretext to seek to avoid its commitments."

CEO Dave Calhoun tells shareholders that when the market for jets does revive, "our customers' needs will be different." Boeing also told U.S. employees Monday what it is offering in the first wave of voluntary job cuts.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines posted its first quarterly loss in nearly a decade and said Tuesday that the downturn in air travel that began in late February shows no signs of letting up. The airline said trip cancellations have pulled back from a peak in March but remain at levels that Southwest has never […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday the federal government will not be extending its coronavirus social distancing guidelines once they expire Thursday, and his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, predicted that by July the country will be “really rocking again.” To underscore his confidence, Trump said he plans to resume out-of-state travel after […]

Boeing will trim its total workforce by 10% to cope with the sharp aviation downturn that pushed it to a $641 million first-quarter loss.

Airbus is battling to adapt to collapsing demand as the pandemic wipes out new aircraft sales and threatens existing orders as airlines run short of money.

Boeing, typically among NASA's key contractors but whose space program has experienced setbacks and delays, submitted a bid but was not selected.

The planemaker won't seek additional funding through the capital markets or U.S. government aid at this time, according to a company statement late Thursday after the debt sale.

Boeing has raised $25 billion in a massive debt sale, allowing it to avoid tapping a $17 billion coronavirus bailout fund meant to shore up businesses critical to national security.

Alaska Airlines joins several other major airlines launching mask requirements for passengers.

Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard captioned sections of his report “the good," "the bad" and "the ugly.”

The company sent an email inquiry to the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday about shutting the terminal down, given the minimal passenger traffic amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For GE, the stress on a key business threatens a broader turnaround effort as CEO Larry Culp attempts to pull the company from one of the deepest slumps in its history.

The Seattle Times has been awarded a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its yearlong coverage of the two deadly crashes of Boeing’s 737 MAX jet. This is the newspaper's 11th Pulitzer Prize.

The company's cash burn rate peaked at $400 million for the month of March. Management hopes to reduce the cash burn rate to zero by year end and will make whatever cuts are necessary to do so.

Stocks closed with broad gains Friday, brushing off a record-breaking report of job losses, as investors reckoned that the very worst of the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic may be passing. Employers cut 20.5 million jobs last month, a record high but less than what the market expected. Technology and financial stocks were […]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Brutal. Horrific. Tragic. Choose your description. The April jobs report showed, in harrowing detail, just how terribly the coronavirus outbreak has pummeled the U.S. economy. Most obviously, there’s the 14.7% unemployment rate, the highest since the Great Depression. And the shedding of more than 20 million jobs, by far the worst one-month […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’s in “no rush” to negotiate another financial rescue bill, even as the government reported that more than 20 million Americans lost their jobs last month due to economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus. The president’s low-key approach came Friday as the Labor Department reported the highest unemployment […]

Phase two is expected to begin for most areas on June 1, provided public-health data still looks favorable.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic-led subcommittee overseeing federal coronavirus aid is demanding that five companies return loans the panel says should have gone to smaller businesses. The subcommittee led by Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., sent letters Friday to the companies as its first official action. The House voted last month to create the panel over […]

In addition to selling some of their excess, airlines have put donation programs in place.