Friday’s business headlines

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Here’s a look at Friday’s business headlines with Jane King.

GM considering Indiana for new battery plant

General motors and LG Energy Solution are considering building a battery cell manufacturing plant in the St. Joseph County town of New Carlisle.

The companies submitted a tax abatement application that it hopes will be approved sometime in the next few weeks.

GM’s first U.S. battery cell plant, in Warren, Ohio, is set to begin operations later this month.

Survey: Layoffs in works for many companies

Layoffs are in the works at half of U.S. companies, according to a new survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

Half of the executives surveyed said they’re reducing headcount or plan to, and 52% have implemented hiring freezes.

At the same time, about two-thirds of firms say they are boosting pay or expanding mental-health benefits.

Millions of Americans still waiting for tax refunds

Millions of Americans are still awaiting their tax refunds from the IRS, but there is a silver lining: the money may be accruing interest — and interest rates are poised to jump in October.

The Internal Revenue Service generally pays interest on refunds that are delayed by more than 45 days after the filing deadline.

The current interest rate is 5%, but it is slated to increase to 6% on Oct. 1.

U.S. home sales dropped in July

Sales of previously-owned homes fell nearly 6% in July compared with June, according to a monthly report from the National Association of Realtors.

Sales dropped about 20% from the same month a year ago.

The July sales figures are based on closings, so the contracts were likely signed in May and June. Mortgage rates spiked higher in June, with the average rate on the 30-year fixed loan crossing 6%.

Gen Z using TikTok instead of Google

Gen Z — made up of people born between 1997 and 2012 — is bypassing Google’s search engine in favor of TikTok.

Nearly 40% of Gen z members prefer TikTok for online searches, according to internal data from Google.