Business News at a Glance

A ‘Particularly Bright’ Moment Brings Another Fed Rate Increase

The Federal Reserve’s chairman, Jerome H. Powell, said Wednesday that the U.S. economy was experiencing “a particularly bright moment” as the Fed announced a widely expected increase in its benchmark interest rate to a range between 2 and 2.25 percent, and signaled that it planned to continue raising rates. The Fed’s decision was criticized by President Donald Trump, who opened a news conference by declaring himself “not happy” with higher rates. He added, however, that the Fed was raising rates “because we’re doing so well.” The Fed’s decision represents the eighth time that the Fed has raised interest rates since the 2008 financial crisis and the third time this year.

Battery May Hold Promise to Create Carbon-Free Grid

Lithium-ion batteries have become essential for powering electric cars and storing energy generated by solar panels and wind turbines. But they use scarce minerals, are vulnerable to fires and explosions, and are pricey. On Wednesday, NantEnergy, a company headed by California billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, announced that it had developed a rechargeable battery operating on zinc and air that can store power at far less than the cost of lithium-ion batteries. Tests of the zinc energy-storage systems have helped power villages in Africa and Asia as well as U.S. cellphone towers for the last six years, without any backup from the electric grid.

Uber to Pay $148 Million Over Data Breach

Uber will pay $148 million to settle a nationwide investigation into a 2016 data breach, in which a hacker managed to gain access to information belonging to 57 million riders and drivers. The breach included names and driver’s license numbers for 600,000 drivers. The investigation, led by state attorneys general across the United States, focused on whether Uber had violated data breach notification laws by not informing consumers that their information had been compromised. Rather than disclosing the breach when it occurred, Uber paid the hacker $100,000 through its bug bounty program, which financially rewards hackers for discovering and disclosing software flaws.

FCC Puts 5G Rollout Rules in Federal Hands

The next wave of cellular technology, known as 5G, will roll out on a timeline and budget determined by the federal government, not local officials, the Federal Communications Commission decided on Wednesday. The new rules are meant to speed up the installation of 5G equipment, which delivers wireless internet at speeds far faster than the current standard. The signal range for the new transmissions is much shorter, meaning that cell providers must install hundreds of thousands of small stations, if not millions, across neighborhoods. The new FCC rules set a clock of 60 to 90 days for local officials to approve or reject installation requests from wireless carriers.

Fox, Acting on Behalf of Disney, Sells Its Stake in Sky to Comcast

Twenty-First Century Fox agreed to sell its 39 percent stake in the British broadcaster Sky to Comcast on Wednesday in a deal worth $15 billion, ending Rupert Murdoch’s yearslong ambition to take full ownership of the satellite service he helped found three decades ago. Murdoch, the executive co-chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox, sold most of his empire to the Walt Disney Co. this summer. The proceeds of the Sky sale will go to Disney, which plans to invest the money in its newest effort to sell its content directly to viewers via streaming services. Comcast beat out Murdoch in an auction for Sky last weekend.

Google Tweaks Chrome in Response to Privacy Criticism

Under fire from security experts, Google is making tweaks to the way it manages how people sign in to its popular web browser, Chrome. Because of a recent update to the browser, if a user signs in to a Google account — such as to use Gmail or Google Docs — Chrome also logs in the user automatically. Now, Google says that in the next version of the browser software, being released next month, users will be able to opt out of the automatic sign-in.

Republican Lawmakers, Claiming Bias, Give Google the Third Degree

Google executives are being grilled in Washington this week by lawmakers questioning if the Silicon Valley giant is living up to its promise to be a neutral arbiter of online information. On Friday, Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, will meet with Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California — the Republican House majority leader and a Google critic — and more than two dozen Republicans to discuss complaints the company is trying to silence conservative voices. “Google has a lot of questions to answer about reports of bias in its search results, violations of user privacy, anticompetitive behavior, and business dealings with repressive regimes like China,” McCarthy said in a statement.

Website Revs Up, With Magazine’s Help, to Cover More New York News

With the once robust metropolitan news coverage in New York dwindling, a new nonprofit website called The City is teaming up with New York magazine in hopes of replacing some of that lost local accountability and investigative journalism. The City will be led by Jere Hester, a former city editor at The Daily News. Hester expects to hire 15 journalists to focus on beats like transportation, politics, affordable housing, health care, education and climate change. He plans to start publishing articles in January. The partnership will allow The City to immediately reach New York magazine’s large audience.