Business briefing

Published 6:27 pm Monday, January 29, 2024

Microsoft Teams experienced an outage on Friday that blocked access for some and led to what Microsoft calls “multiple issues” for many users.

The issue began around 8 a.m. Friday and grew rapidly in scope, according to outage tracker DownDetector. Users complained of an inability to access the service, delays in sending and receiving messages, and issues displaying graphics.

Teams is a messaging and videoconferencing app with over 320 million monthly average users as of September 2023.

Microsoft offered a somewhat bleaker outlook to its customers in that document, which was obtained by The Associated Press. The document detailed roughly a dozen different issues caused by the outage, including inability to log into the service, missing or delayed messages, and inability to access or view images, video, audio recordings and other media.

The company has also said was working to address specific failures of Teams functions in parallel with its broader network efforts.

Toyota Motor Corp. will temporarily suspend shipments of 10 vehicle models after supplier Toyota Industries Corp. disclosed certification problems concerning some diesel engines.

An investigative committee found irregularities during horsepower-output testing that took measurements based on computer modules running software that ultimately differed from the software that was used for mass production, the Japanese carmaker said in a statement Monday. That resulted in values with less variation, it said.

The certification issue is the latest blow to beset Toyota, following an announcement by subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co. last month that most of its vehicles weren’t properly tested for collision safety and that the automaker manipulated the results of tests dating as far back as 1989. As a result, Daihatsu is halting shipments and suspending operations through at least February.

Chair Jerome Powell will enter this week’s Federal Reserve meeting in a much more desirable position than he likely ever expected: Inflation is getting close to the Fed’s target rate, the economy is still growing at a healthy pace, consumers keep spending and the unemployment rate is near a half-century low.

When they last met in December, the Fed’s policymakers said they expected to cut their benchmark rate three times this year. Yet the timing of those rate cuts, which would lead to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, remains uncertain.

Most economists say they expect the first rate cut to occur in May or June.

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