Metals manufacturer expands in Tennessee

Summertown Metals LLC will invest $11 million to expand its manufacturing and distribution operations in Tennessee.

With existing operations in Summertown, Tennessee, Summertown Metals will construct a new facility in the Lewis County Industrial Park in Honenwald, which will house its headquarters and additional manufacturing and distribution operations. As a result of the project, the company will create 197 more jobs.

By adding the Hohenwald location, Summertown Metals will be able to grow its manufacturing and product offerings to include the building and distribution of wood and steel trusses as well as garage door production and installation.

“Our ability to manufacture more of our own products allows us to service our customers faster while providing high-quality, affordable building products and services to our customers in Tennessee and surrounding states,” Matt Stoll and Derek Stoll, co-owners, Summertown Metals, said in a joint statement issued Tuesday.

Founded in Summertown in 2006, Summertown Metals, LLC has expanded from a single building materials supplier into a custom building materials distributor that will have nearly 400 employes by the end of the year.

GM recalls Bolt EVs over seat belt problem

General Motors is recalling nearly 140,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric cars in the U.S. and Canada to fix a seat belt problem that can cause fires.

The recall covers certain Bolt hatchbacks from the 2017 to 2023 model years, but does not include Bolt utility vehicles or Bolts made for Cruise, GM’s autonomous vehicle unit.

GM said in a statement Tuesday that in rare cases, exhaust gases from the front seat belt pretensioners can come in contact with carpet fibers after a crash, potentially causing a fire. The company found three reports of fires that could have been caused by the problem. The severity of those was unknown.

Dealers will install metal foil along the carpet near the pretensioner exhaust. Some vehicles will get a pretensioner cover.

Seat belt pretensioners have sensors that determine a crash is imminent, and they pull a passenger into the proper seating position before a crash, slowing the passenger’s speed.

Congress may ban TikTok from government devices

TikTok would be banned from most U.S. government devices under a spending bill Congress unveiled early Tuesday. It’s the latest push by American lawmakers against the Chinese-owned social media app.

The $1.7 trillion package includes requirements for the Biden administration to prohibit most uses of TikTok or any other app created by its owner, ByteDance Ltd. The requirements would apply to the executive branch and don’t appear to cover Congress, where a handful of lawmakers maintain TikTok accounts.

A spokesperson for TikTok calls the ban a “political gesture” that is not needed to protect national security since TikTok is developing security and data privacy plans to secure the platform in the U.S.

Japan’s central bank tightens credit again

Stocks closed modestly higher on Wall Street, while bond markets around the world felt pain after a surprise move from Japan’s central bank cranked the pressure even higher on the already slowing global economy.

The S&P 500 closed 0.1% higher Tuesday after flipping between small losses and gains in the morning.

The biggest action was in the bond market, where yields pushed higher after one of the world’s last bastions of super-low and economy-aiding interest rates made moves that could allow rates to climb more than otherwise. Higher rates slow the economy and drag down on prices for stocks and other investments.

— Compiled by Dave Flessner