Howell date : 210624 21h33m04s Business • • China listing frenzy in U.S. set to be boosted by Didi IPO Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing's planned $4 billion New York debut will supercharge Chinese listings in the United States on the back of an all-time high in the first half the year, despite political sparring between the two countries. That was significantly higher than the $1.9 billion worth of listings in the same time period last year when Chinese firms were more cautious about uncertainties over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The rush of listings happened despite continued political tension between the two countries under President Joe Biden, and the looming threat of U.S. kicking out Chinese companies if they fail to meet auditing standards. Business • • Crypto Firms Fight for Top Talent With Hundreds of Openings (Bloomberg) -- Booming cryptocurrency firms say they’re struggling to find the right candidates to fill hundreds of positions as a frenzy of interest in digital currencies and other assets pits them against some of the world’s biggest financial institutions.Despite a rout in May, cryptocurrencies’ total market value is up 400% over the past year to about $1.4 trillion, and traditional financial firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. are Business • • Asian shares up as U.S. infrastructure bill lifts S&P to a record Asian shares rose on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight that lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 indexes to record highs after U.S. President Joe Biden embraced a bipartisan Senate infrastructure deal. Investors have been looking to an infrastructure agreement to extend the recovery in the world's largest economy after massive fiscal stimulus helped the U.S. economy grow at a 6.4% annualized rate in the first quarter. In morning trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.58%. World • • Sydney Residents in Lockdown: Biden Says Get Shots: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- More than 500,000 residents of Sydney will go into lockdown for at least a week as Australia races to control an outbreak of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus. President Joe Biden warned of the risks posed by the delta variant as he prodded Americans to get vaccinated amid a decline in the pace of inoculations.India this week hit a single-day record by administering more than 8 million Covid-19 vaccinations -- but even this unprecedented pace may not be fas Business • • GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares up as U.S. infrastructure bill lifts S&P to a record Asian shares rose on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight that lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 indexes to record highs after U.S. President Joe Biden embraced a bipartisan Senate infrastructure deal. Investors have been looking to an infrastructure agreement to extend the recovery in the world's largest economy after massive fiscal stimulus helped the U.S. economy grow at a 6.4% annualized rate in the first quarter. In morning trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.58%. Business • • China Banks Stockpile Record $1 Trillion of Foreign Exchange (Bloomberg) -- Chinese banks’ stockpile of foreign-currency deposits has surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, creating an opportunity for Beijing to allow greater freedom for capital to flow out of the country.The pool has been growing as surging demand for Chinese goods during the pandemic has beefed up foreign earnings of exporters, while the resilient economy and strengthening currency have lured overseas investors to sell dollars for yuan to buy Chinese stocks and bonds. Bank deposits i Business Business Howell date : 210624 19h32m27s World • • France, Germany drop plans for Russia summit after EU outcry European Union leaders failed to agree on a proposal by France and Germany to hold a summit soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Poland and Baltic countries said it would send the wrong message as East-West ties deteriorate. After U.S. President Joe Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16, French President Emmanuel Macron said the first EU summit with Putin since January 2014 would be "a dialogue to defend our interests". Business • • Pivotal Toshiba shareholder vote on future of board chairman begins Toshiba Corp kicked off its annual general meeting on Friday, with shareholders set to decide on whether to keep Osamu Nagayama as board chairman. The vote - expected to be very close - is seen by many as a referendum on corporate governance in Japan. Nagayama has been under immense pressure to resign after an independent investigation this month accused the industrial conglomerate of colluding with Japan's trade ministry to block foreign shareholders from gaining influence on the board at last year's AGM. Business • • Ride-Hailing Giant Didi Seeks Up to $4 Billion in U.S. IPO (Bloomberg) -- Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing Inc. is looking to raise as much as $4 billion in one of the biggest U.S. initial public offerings of the past decade.Didi, which is one of the largest investments in SoftBank Group Corp.’s portfolio, is marketing 288 million American depositary shares for $13 to $14 apiece, according to a filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.At the high end, the company would have a market value of about $67 billion based on the Business • • Canada's Hudbay Minerals resumes production at Lalor mine Hudbay Minerals Inc, a Canada-based diversified mining company, said late Thursday that it has resumed operations at its Lalor mine, where production was halted due to a fatality last week. Hoisting activities resumed on June 23 and production has returned to normal levels at the mine, located in the town of Snow Lake in Manitoba, the company said in a statement. The fatality at Lalor mine occurred when a worker employed by a service provider was fatally injured from a fall while working at a height. Business Business Business World Howell date : 210624 18h31m51s Business • • Oil Set for Weekly Gain as Focus Turns to Upcoming OPEC+ Meeting (Bloomberg) -- Oil is heading for a fifth weekly advance, the longest winning streak since December, as stockpiles shrink and the market tightens ahead of an OPEC+ meeting that will consider pumping more crude.Front-month futures in New York are up more than 2% this week and global benchmark Brent is at the highest level since October 2018. The alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, are set to meet July 1 and the group is widely expected to revive more output in August, according to a Bloombe Health • • UPDATE 1-Roche's Actemra gets U.S. FDA approval for hospitalized COVID-19 patients The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the drug Actemra for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 adults and pediatric patients, the health agency said on Thursday. The EUA was issued to Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche Holding AG. Business Business U.S. World Politics Business • • Stock Rally Extends to Asia on U.S. Economic Hopes: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks opened in the green Friday after U.S. shares hit a record on a bipartisan $579 billion U.S. infrastructure deal that stoked economic optimism. The dollar held a retreat.Shares climbed in Japan, South Korea and Australia, and Hong Kong futures pointed higher. U.S. contracts were little changed after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 reached new peaks. Sectors seen as beneficiaries of the recovery from the pandemic, such as energy, led gains. U.S. banks rose in postmarket trad Howell date : 210624 17h31m14s Business • • Japan insurers struggle to pinpoint climate change cost estimates As the world tries to price the cost of climate change, Japan's second largest non-life insurer MS&AD foresees the potential rise in claim payments in 2050 to be anywhere between 5% to 50% from current levels. Others, including industry leader Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, are wary of even producing estimates, citing a lack of data. The wide range produced by MS&AD illustrates the difficulty of pricing climate costs, and underscores the challenge financial institutions face in meeting pressure by investors for more disclosure. Business • • Stock Rally to Extend on U.S. Economic Optimism: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set to climb Friday after U.S. shares hit a record on a bipartisan $579 billion U.S. infrastructure deal that stoked economic optimism. The dollar held a retreat.Futures advanced in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. U.S. contracts were little changed after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 reached new peaks, with sectors seen as beneficiaries of the recovery from the pandemic, such as energy, leading gainers. U.S. banks rose in postmarket trading after clearing stress tes Business • • Bright Health IPO Tests Market’s Desire for New Insurers (Bloomberg) -- Bright Health Group Inc. shares fell in their trading debut Thursday, the latest issue to test investors’ appetite for new health-care companies that have yet to show profit but are aiming for high growth.The Minneapolis-based health insurer raised about $925 million on Wednesday, selling 51.4 million shares for $18 each after marketing 60 million of them for $20 to $23. The shares dropped 7.6% to $16.64 Thursday in New York trading, giving the company a market value of $10.4 bill Business World Politics Business Howell date : 210624 16h30m38s Politics • • New FTC chief Khan names some top staffers, including competition chief Tech critic and the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, has named three top staffers in a signal that the agency could become more aggressive in how it enforces antitrust law and laws against deceptive advertising. Khan, who was sworn in on June 15, named Holly Vedova to be the acting head of the Bureau of Competition, Sam Levine to be the acting head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and Erie Meyer to be the agency's chief technologist, an FTC spokesman said on Thursday. Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stock futures trade mixed after reaching record levels, Dow gains after Nike results beat Stock futures opened mixed Thursday evening on the heels of a record-setting session, with the three major indexes gaining amid hopes that a bipartisan infrastructure would help further stoke economic activity. Business • • Caterpillar, Steelmakers Gain as Biden Deal Ups Demand View (Bloomberg) -- Caterpillar Inc. and steelmakers surged as President Joe Biden’s bipartisan $579 billion infrastructure deal buoyed the outlook for U.S. demand.Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar gained 2.6% after jumping as much as 3.8% in New York on Thursday, the most in three months. U.S. Steel Corp. climbed more than 3% and Nucor Corp., the largest U.S. steel producer, rose 2% amid a similar increase by the Bloomberg Americas Iron/Steel Index. Farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. and aluminum comp Business • • Royal Caribbean says two guests onboard ship test COVID-19 positive Royal Caribbean Group said on Thursday two guests on its cruise liner, Adventure of the Seas, had tested positive for COVID-19. Both guests were not vaccinated and had been quarantined before they disembarked on Thursday in Freeport, The Bahamas, Royal Caribbean International, a unit of the company clarified in a statement. The news comes a week after the company said it would delay the launch of its new cruise liner by nearly a month after eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19. Business • • Stock Rally to Extend on U.S. Economic Optimism: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set to rise Friday after U.S. shares hit a record on a bipartisan $579 billion U.S. infrastructure deal that stoked economic optimism. The dollar fell.Equity futures climbed in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 pushed up to all-time peaks. Sectors seen as the biggest beneficiaries of the recovery from the pandemic, such as energy, led gainers overnight, while big banks climbed as they cleared stress tests.President Joe Biden celebrat Politics • • Biden, Senators Get $579 Billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden celebrated his tentative deal with a group of Democratic and Republican senators on a $579 billion infrastructure plan, saying it would create millions of jobs while fulfilling a major piece of his economic agenda.The group of senators, who had been negotiating among themselves and with the White House for weeks, “has come together to forge an agreement that will create millions of American jobs and modernize our American infrastructure,” Biden said at the Whit Business • • Ride-Hailing Giant Didi Seeks Up to $4 Billion in U.S. IPO (Bloomberg) -- Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing Inc. is looking to raise as much as $4 billion in one of the biggest U.S. initial public offerings of the past decade.Didi, which is one of the largest investments in SoftBank Group Corp.’s portfolio, is marketing 288 million American depositary shares for $13 to $14 apiece, according to a filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.At the top of the range, the company would have a market value of more than $60 billion b Howell date : 210624 15h30m01s Health • • UPDATE 1-Pfizer halts distribution of anti-smoking drug after finding carcinogen Pfizer Inc said on Thursday it is pausing distribution of its anti-smoking treatment, Chantix, after finding elevated levels of cancer-causing agents called nitrosamines in the pills. The drugmaker is recalling a number of lots of the anti-smoking drug. The U.S. drug regulator has in the past reached out to companies whose drugs had N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) over accepted levels. Business • • Market Recap: Thursday, June 24 Stocks rose to record levels Thursday as investors digested another batch of key economic data. Gabriela Santos, Global Market Strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Jeff Carbone, Cornerstone Wealth Managing Partner joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss. World • • Mexico rejected tainted pork at U.S. border before barring Smithfield plant Mexican inspectors have rejected three pork skin cargos at the U.S.-Mexico border since April from the biggest U.S. pork plant operated by industry giant Smithfield Foods as well as another shipper, the country's health safety agency told Reuters. In Mexico, pork skins are mostly used to make chicharrones, a popular fried delicacy used in a variety of dishes, from tacos to soups. Mexico was the biggest export market for U.S. pork by volume before being surpassed by China in 2020. Business • • Mercedes-Benz USA accidentally puts out data from nearly 1,000 customers No Mercedes-Benz system was compromised and no files were maliciously misused, the company added. The data accidentally made accessible comprised self-reported credit scores, driver license and social security numbers and credit card information which was entered by customers and interested buyers on dealer and company websites between January 2014 and June 2017. Mercedes said any individual who had credit card information, a driver's license number or a social security number included in the data will be offered a complimentary two-year subscription to a credit monitoring service. Business • • Fedex down after hours following earnings Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre joined Yahoo FInance Live to break down the key metrics of FedEx's recent earnings report. Howell date : 210624 14h29m24s Politics • • UPDATE 1-U.S. House targets 'predatory lenders', votes to repeal Trump banking rule The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to repeal a contentious banking rule introduced during former President Donald Trump's administration that Democrats say allows predatory lenders to skirt state consumer protections. Lawmakers voted 218 to 208 to roll back the so-called "true lender" rule, which attempted to clarify what laws applied to lenders like fintechs when partnered with traditional banks, and clears the way for its removal as President Joe Biden is expected to sign it. "Predatory lenders trap working class communities like mine in cycles of debt, and the Trump administration's so-called 'True Lender' rule helps them get around state consumer protection laws to do it," said Illinois Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García, who introduced the CRA legislation. Business • • Stocks Hit Record on Bets Economy Is Pushing Ahead: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks climbed to an all-time high as President Joe Biden’s bipartisan $579 billion infrastructure deal added to optimism the economic recovery is taking hold. The dollar fell.Companies that stand to benefit the most from a rebound in activity outperformed -- with financial and energy shares leading gains in the S&P 500. Caterpillar Inc., the world’s biggest maker of mining and construction equipment, jumped alongside raw-material producers such as U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. U.S. • • UPDATE 1-U.S. State Dept approves possible sale of F-16 fighters, missiles to Philippines, Pentagon says The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets, as well as Sidewinder and Harpoon missiles, to the Philippines in three separate deals with a combined value of more than $2.5 billion, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The Philippines is looking for a new multi-role fighter jet and is evaluating the F-16 and the SAAB Abs Gripen and others. The government of the Philippines has requested to buy 10 F-16C Block 70/72 aircraft and two F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft made by Lockheed Martin Co. The export of that arms package, which includes spares and training, is valued at up to $2.43 billion, the Pentagon said. Business • • Tesla Rallies So Much That This Year’s Loss Is Set to Disappear (Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. shares are back in vogue.The electric vehicle maker’s stock is up nearly 10% in three sessions, leaving them poised to erase the losses that piled up this year as investors moved out of growth stocks and sentiment shifted against the company.The latest surge reversed nearly two months of lackluster trading, when investors soured on the company amid growing competition threats from traditional automakers, signs of a potential sales slowdown in China and an ongoing semico Politics • • U.S. infrastructure deal includes $6 billion sale from oil reserve -document The infrastructure deal struck by a group of bipartisan senators and President Joe Biden on Thursday is partially funded by a $6 billion sale from the U.S. emergency oil reserve, according to a document circulated by Republican lawmakers. A sale of that size equals a drawdown of about 82 million barrels, based on Thursday's price of $73 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude. The deal was a step forward for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Senate deal, but the battle is not over. Business • • BlackRock plans more employee support after review of complaints BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Larry Fink said on Thursday the company would create new support channels for employees and start evaluating the conduct of senior leaders, including himself, after a legal review of intolerant behavior at the world's top asset manager. Fink described the steps in an all-hands memo following a review by the law firm of Paul, Weiss that was led by partner Loretta Lynch, a former U.S. Attorney General. The review came after employees complained about racial and sexual harassment, and the conduct of executives, in a series of reports this spring. Business • • FedEx Q4 sales, earnings top estimates as e-commerce, business spending ramps The shipping company's results will likely be boosted again by strong consumer e-commerce demand and a pick-up in business shipping. Howell date : 210624 13h58m47s Politics • • Biden, Senators Get $579 Billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden celebrated his tentative deal with a group of Democratic and Republican senators on a $579 billion infrastructure plan, saying it would create millions of jobs while fulfilling a major piece of his economic agenda.The group of senators, who had been negotiating among themselves and with the White House for weeks, “has come together to forge an agreement that will create millions of American jobs and modernize our American infrastructure,” Biden said at the Whit Business • • Mexico’s Central Bank Stuns Economists With Key Rate Hike (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s central bank wrong-footed economists and boosted the peso by unexpectedly increasing borrowing costs for the first time since late 2018, after inflation remained way above target.In a split decision, Banco de Mexico raised its key rate by a quarter-point to 4.25% in response to a jump in inflation that policy makers had described as transitory. The decision, supported by three of its five-member board, surprised all 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who had expected th Business • • 'More volatility expected' in energy sector amid transition to renewables: ING There is “more volatility expected” in the energy sector, with price moves in both the short and long term as a result of the global energy transition to renewables, according to a report released by ING (ING). Business • • A Mining Startup’s Rush for Underwater Metals Comes With Deep Risks (Bloomberg) -- A seabed mining startup, DeepGreen Metals Inc., has successfully sold itself to investors as a game-changing source of minerals to make electric car batteries that can be obtained in abundance—and at great profit—while minimizing the environmental destruction of mining on land.But there’s strong scientific evidence that the seabed targeted for mining is in fact one of the most biodiverse places on the planet—and increasing reason to worry about DeepGreen’s tantalizing promises. Bl Business • • Oil Edges Up With Focus on Upcoming OPEC+ Production Meeting (Bloomberg) -- Oil eked out a small gain in a choppy trading session with traders awaiting upcoming deliberations among OPEC+ producers that may lead to a supply hike.U.S. crude futures closed 0.3% higher after switching between small gains and losses on Thursday. Oil’s recent advance pushed the commodity into overbought territory earlier this week, signaling the rally may fade. When it meets next week, the producer alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia is widely expected to revive some more o Politics • • Election Day should be a 'day off' U.S. President Joe Biden says Election Day should be a holiday for workers in the United States, President Joe Biden said Thursday. "If I had my way, and I think it is really important, every Election Day would be a day off," he said because people who work certain shifts can't make it to the polls. Biden also told reporters he plans to travel the country to push voting rights, during remarks in the White House about a bipartisan infrastructure agreement. Howell date : 210624 13h28m10s Politics • • Beware the bipartisan infrastructure 'deal' Numerous political ploys still endanger the "bipartisan" bill Biden and several Republicans announced on June 24. Business • • UPDATE 1-Harry Sloan's Spinning Eagle SPAC files for $2 bln U.S. IPO Spinning Eagle Acquisition Corp, backed by former Hollywood executive Harry Sloan, filed for an initial public offering of up to $2 billion on Thursday, in what would be the biggest blank-check offering so far this year. The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which will be listed on the Nasdaq, said it would be looking to sell 200 million units at $10 each. If priced successfully, Spinning Eagle will become the biggest SPAC on offer this year amid a slowdown in blank-check dealmaking due to tighter regulatory scrutiny and waning investor appetite. Business • • ETFs to look at amid bipartisan infrastructure deal Tom Lydon, ETF Trends CEO, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss infrastructure ETFs amid Biden’s announcement on infrastructure deal. World • • OFFICIAL CORRECTION-Italy reports 28 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, 927 new cases Italy reported 28 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 30 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 927 from 951. Italy has registered 127,380 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 328 from a previous 344. Politics • • Student loan servicer censured over 'what appears to be false' Congressional testimony Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) sent a letter to a key student loan servicer over "what appear to be false and misleading" statements during a Congressional testimony, Yahoo Finance has learned. World • • Banned Australian Lobsters Are Sneaking Into China Via Hong Kong (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s rock lobsters -- a long-prized delicacy among Chinese consumers -- may be finding their way onto mainland menus through a backdoor that circumvents a worsening diplomatic and trading dispute between the two nations.Since direct shipments to China virtually ground to a halt last November, Hong Kong has become the world’s largest importer of Australian lobsters, with monthly trade growing more than 2,000% from October to April. While lower prices will have spurred some i Howell date : 210624 12h57m33s Business • • Exclusive: EssilorLuxottica considers suing GrandVision over 7 billion euro deal -source EssilorLuxottica, the French-Italian maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, announced the bid for GrandVision in July 2019, aiming to control the Dutch eyewear group's more than 7,000 outlets across the world. But the planned deal has since been at the centre of a legal battle between the two sides, with EssilorLuxottica arguing that decisions made by GrandVision during the COVID-19 pandemic could give grounds for ending its proposed takeover. On Monday, an arbitration court ruled that GrandVision had breached obligations of the takeover agreement, which meant that EssiLux was no longer bound to the pact. Business • • U.S. infrastructure deal would fund electric buses, charging stations A bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure framework does not contain new money for electric vehicle rebates but would spend $15 billion to boost EV charging stations and buy electric school and transit buses, the White House said in a fact sheet. President Joe Biden proposed $174 billion on electric vehicles, including $100 billion on electric vehicle consumer rebates. The funding would "accomplish the president’s goal of building 500,000 EV chargers" and "electrify thousands of school and transit buses across the country," the White House said. World • • Delta Variant Surging From Israel to Colorado: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The delta coronavirus variant first identified in India is raging across the world, with health officials in Europe and Asia racing to respond. In the U.S., Colorado officials blamed the variant for an outbreak in the western part of the state.Israel, one of the early pioneers in vaccination, is delaying its reopening for tourists and is poised to reverse an easing of mask rules after a surge in cases linked to delta. Hungary, also among the initial front-runners in inoculations, Politics • • Biden, Senators Get $579 Billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden celebrated his tentative deal with a group of Democratic and Republican senators on a $579 billion infrastructure plan, saying it would create millions of jobs while fulfilling a major piece of his economic agenda.The group of senators, who had been negotiating between themselves and with the White House for weeks, “has come together to forge an agreement that will create millions of American jobs and modernize our American infrastructure,” Biden said at the Wh Business • • Berkshire Hathaway appears to buy back more stock Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc appears to have extended its drive to repurchase its own stock, even with its share price near a record high, according to regulatory filings and an analyst. Edward Jones & Co analyst James Shanahan estimated that buybacks have totaled about $5.15 billion between April 22 and June 22, and about $6.46 billion in the second quarter, based on Berkshire's average share price during the applicable periods. Berkshire did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment. Howell date : 210624 12h26m56s Health • • UPDATE 1-Pfizer says COVID vaccine is highly effective against Delta variant The Pfizer-BioNTech >PFE.N< vaccine is highly effective against the Delta variant of COVID-19, a Pfizer official in Israel said on Thursday. First identified in India, Delta is becoming the globally dominant variant of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. "The data we have today, accumulating from research we are conducting at the lab and including data from those places where the Indian variant, Delta, has replaced the British variant as the common variant, point to our vaccine being very effective, around 90%, in preventing the coronavirus disease, COVID-19," Alon Rappaport, Pfizer's medical director in Israel, told local broadcaster Army Radio. World • • EU leaders to commit to finishing banking union ... one day European leaders will promise on Friday to complete the EU's banking union in the future, but will leave it to their finance ministers to work out when, their draft conclusions showed. Completion of the banking union, which would mean setting up a controversial common deposit insurance scheme, would sharply reduce the possibility of a major banking crisis in the 19 countries sharing the euro and in this way boost market confidence in the euro and demand for the currency. But the issue is highly sensitive in several euro zone countries and euro zone finance ministers together with their non-euro colleagues from other EU countries have been stuck trying to agree on the deposit guarantee scheme for years. Politics • • U.S. Labor Board prosecutor hopes to bulk up staffing, budget as gig worker scrutiny grows The top prosecutor at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the U.S. agency that investigates unfair labor practices, is pushing for a bigger budget and more staff, he told Reuters, adding he would not be surprised to see a jump in complaints about employees being misclassified as contractors. Peter Sung Ohr, the acting general counsel at the labor board, is pushing to increase the agency's annual budget for fiscal year 2022 by 10% and to add over 150 more employees to its offices, to prosecute U.S. labor law violations. In a rare interview, Ohr told Reuters he would not be surprised to see a jump in complaints about employees being misclassified as contractors. Business • • Stocks Climb as Biden Strikes Infrastructure Deal: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks climbed to a record as President Joe Biden’s bipartisan $579 billion infrastructure deal added to optimism the economic recovery will keep pushing ahead. The dollar fell.Companies that stand to benefit the most from a rebound in growth led gains in the S&P 500 after the news. Caterpillar Inc., the world’s biggest maker of mining and construction equipment, surged alongside raw-material producers such as U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. Financial shares rallied before the re Business • • The return-to-work clothing boom is underway Out of stocks online for work clothing finally starts to show up in some cold hard data on the consumer. Politics • • Biden, Senators Get $579 Billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said he’s reached a tentative deal with a group of Democratic and Republican senators on a bipartisan, $579 billion five-year infrastructure plan that would fulfill one of his top priorities.“We have a deal,” Biden told reporters after the senators presented their agreement to him at the White House. He said the bill would move alongside separate legislation that would spend trillions more on what he called “human infrastructure” that the GOP opposes.“There is Howell date : 210624 11h56m19s Politics • • UPDATE 1-U.S. trade nominee urges 'robust monitoring' of aircraft subsidy truce with EU The United States must carry out "robust monitoring" of its five-year truce with the European Union in a 17-year battle over aircraft subsidies, Jayme White, President Joe Biden's nominee to serve as deputy U.S. Trade Representative, said on Thursday. White said in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee that, if confirmed, he would also make clear that the United States would not hesitate to take countervailing measures against the EU if it did not comply. Business • • Teamsters launch campaign to organize Amazon workers The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the nation’s largest labor unions, approved on Thursday an ambitious effort to unionize employees at e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN), the union told Yahoo Finance. Business • • UPDATE 1-Teamsters votes to support and fund Amazon workers The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union in the United States and Canada, has voted to formalize a resolution to support, fund and supply resources to employees of Amazon.com Inc in their unionization efforts. "Amazon workers are calling for safer and better working conditions, and with today's resolution, we are activating the full force of our union to support them," Randy Korgan, the union's national director for Amazon, said on Thursday. Business • • Stocks Climb as Biden Strikes Infrastructure Deal: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks climbed after President Joe Biden’s bipartisan $559 billion infrastructure deal added to optimism the economic recovery will keep pushing ahead. The dollar fell, while Treasuries were little changed.Companies that stand to benefit the most from a rebound in growth led gains in the S&P 500 -- which headed toward a record. Financial shares rallied before the results of the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, with major banks expected to pass, paving the way for a doubling of payo Business • • Tesla Rallies So Much That This Year’s Loss Is Set to Disappear (Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. shares are back in vogue.The electric vehicle maker’s stock is up nearly 12% in three sessions, leaving them poised to erase the losses that piled up this year as investors moved out of growth stocks and sentiment shifted against the company.The latest surge reversed nearly two months of lackluster trading, when investors soured on the company amid growing competition threats from traditional automakers, signs of a potential sales slowdown in China and an ongoing semico Business • • Teamsters votes to support and fund Amazon workers "Amazon workers are calling for safer and better working conditions, and with today's resolution, we are activating the full force of our union to support them," Randy Korgan, the union's national director for Amazon, said on Thursday. Nearly 96% of delegates voted in favor of the resolution at the 30th international convention of Teamsters, which includes representatives from 500 unions and together account for 1.4 million workers in the United States. Howell date : 210624 11h25m43s World • • Biden Balances Climate Need With Human Rights in Chinese Solar Ban (Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration’s narrowly focused ban on Chinese solar products is designed to confront alleged human-rights abuses in the Xinjiang region without stifling the fast-growing use of renewable energy in the U.S.The order imposed Thursday, which affects the import of silica-based products made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., Ltd., represents one of President Joe Biden’s biggest steps yet to counter alleged mistreatment of China’s ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority.Yet it falls s Business • • A Covid underclass is forming Pressure is likely to mount on unvaccinated workers to get the shots or accept unhappy consequences. World • • Delta Variant Surging From Israel to Colorado: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The delta coronavirus variant first identified in India is raging across the world, with health officials in Europe and Asia racing to respond. In the U.S., Colorado’s epidemiologist blamed the variant for an outbreak in the western part of the state. Israel, one of the early pioneers in vaccination, is delaying its reopening for tourists and is poised to reverse an easing of mask rules after a surge in cases linked to delta. Hungary, also among the initial front-runners in inocul Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks extend gains after Biden infrastructure announcement, S&P 500 and Nasdaq set record highs Stocks rose to record levels Thursday as investors digested another batch of key economic data. Business • • Bright Health IPO Tests Market’s Desire for New Insurers (Bloomberg) -- Bright Health Group Inc. shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, the latest issue to test investors’ appetite for new health-care companies that have yet to show profit but are aiming for high growth.The Minneapolis-based health insurer raised about $925 million on Wednesday, selling 51.4 million shares for $18 after marketing them for $20 to $23 apiece. Trading under the ticker symbol BHG, the shares fell 5.2% to $17.06 at 12:36 p.m. in New York.Bright’s mar Business • • Robinhood to restrict users who 'flip' IPO shares On its website and in a recent note to customers, Robinhood warned that investors who sell or "flip" their IPO shares could be restricted from participating in future IPO deals for two months. "We won't prevent you from selling shares you get through the IPO Access program," the company said https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/ipo-access on its website. "However, if you sell IPO shares within 30 days of the IPO, it's considered "flipping" and you'll be restricted from participating in IPOs for 60 days." Howell date : 210624 10h55m06s Politics • • Biden Says He Has Infrastructure Deal With Bipartisan Senators (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said he’s reached a tentative deal with a group of Democratic and Republican senators on a bipartisan, $559 billion infrastructure plan that would fulfill one of his top priorities.“We have a deal,” Biden told reporters after the senators presented their agreement to him at the White House. But he said the bill would move alongside separate legislation that would spend hundreds of billions more on what he calleed “human infrastructure” that the GOP opposes.“The Business • • FedEx Q4 earnings preview: E-commerce spending, business shipments likely fueled 24% revenue jump The shipping company's results will likely be boosted again by strong consumer e-commerce demand and a pick-up in business shipping. Politics • • UPDATE 1-U.S. Treasury's Yellen to attend G20 finance, climate meetings in Italy U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will attend the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Venice, Italy, on July 9-10 to press U.S. policy priorities on taxes, climate change and an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Treasury said on Thursday. Yellen will meet with G20 counterparts and attend the Venice International Conference on Climate with G20 counterparts on July 11. Yellen said on Wednesday that she is seeking to win G20 finance ministers' endorsement of the "core principles" of U.S. proposals to revamp international taxation, including a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%. Business • • Bosch says CEO Denner, Chairman to step down at end of 2021 Germany's Robert Bosch GmbH said Chief Executive Volkmar Denner would step down at the end of the year after about 10 years at the helm to focus on research, and would be succeeded by the head of the automotive parts business unit, Stefan Hartung. Unlisted Bosch, the world's largest automotive supplier, added that Chairman Franz Fehrenbach would also retire at the end of the year, and would be replaced by finance chief Stefan Asenkerschbaumer. Bosch, with almost 400,000 staff and 72 billion euros ($85.4 billion) in sales last year, said the moves were part of a generational change that was planned well in advance. Business • • Oil Little Changed With Rally Cooling Ahead of OPEC+ Meet (Bloomberg) -- Oil traded little changed as prices lost momentum ahead of upcoming deliberations among OPEC+ producers that may lead to a supply hike.Futures in New York switched between small gains and losses on Thursday after oil’s recent rally pushed the commodity into overbought territory this week. When it meets next week, the producer alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia is widely expected to revive some more of its halted output, according to a Bloomberg survey.“You can’t continue to p Howell date : 210624 10h24m30s Business • • Airline Industry to Weigh Goal of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 (Bloomberg) -- The airline industry’s global trade group will propose eliminating carbon emissions on a net basis by 2050, as pressure builds to improve the climate goals of a segment that’s come under increasing criticism for its use of fossil fuels.The International Air Transport Association will ask carriers to adopt the target at its annual meeting in Boston in October, Willie Walsh, its director general, said in an interview Thursday.While airlines including British Airways owner IAG SA, De Business • • Black Market Bullion Is in Crosshairs of Bolivian Lawmakers (Bloomberg) -- Bolivian lawmakers are debating a bill that would require all gold produced in the country to be offered to the central bank as the nation builds its reserves and cracks down on the illegal bullion trade.Local producers would need certification to sell abroad, and would first be required to offer their gold to the central bank at international prices in return for tax breaks, according to a copy of the draft bill. Exports would be permitted once the bank meets its annual buying li Business • • Key U.S. Oil Storage Hub Seen Depleting as Producers Hold Tight (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil inventories in America’s largest storage hub are falling fast as the post-pandemic demand rebound continues to outpace production.Stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate oil futures fell nearly 4 million barrels in the last two weeks, bringing inventories to the lowest since March of 2020 when the pandemic forced the country into lockdown. Analysts are estimating and traders are betting that supplies will drop to multi-year lows by Business • • Mogul Who Built a $1.1 Billion Fortune Still Bikes to Work (Bloomberg) -- Marek Piechocki helped build a billion-dollar fortune, but the Polish tycoon isn’t letting it change his ways.The co-founder of LPP S.A., the country’s largest fashion retailer, shuns the limelight, even avoiding having his photograph taken, and still rides to work by bicycle rather than limousine.That’s even as his family foundation has accumulated about $1.1 billion in wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. LPP’s stock has more than doubled since November as inve Business • • Skoda aims for at least half its European car sales by 2030 to be electric Skoda Auto, part of Germany's Volkswagen Group, wants electric cars to make up at least half of its sales in Europe by 2030 as it transitions from motor engines in the coming decade, the Czech carmaker said on Thursday. As part of its strategy, Skoda will unveil at least three more all-electric models, adding to two models currently. The new models will be positioned below its Enyaq iV electric SUV. U.S. • • State Spending Could Surge at One of Fastest Paces in a Decade (Bloomberg) -- Governors across the U.S. are pushing for one of the biggest upticks in spending in the last decade as states emerge from Covid-19 with better than expected revenue and infusions of federal stimulus cash.Total general fund spending proposals rose 5% to $963.6 billion in fiscal year 2022, compared to spending estimates from the year prior. Overall, 39 states are forecasting spending increases, according to a report published Thursday by the National Association of State Budget Offi Business • • Buddhist Monk Who Built Popular Tokyo Startup Seeks IPO in 2021 (Bloomberg) -- Kazuma Ieiri was bullied at school, too poor to go to university, and spent years in his bedroom as a recluse. More than 20 years later, he’s aiming to take his startup public at a valuation of more than $1 billion.Campfire Inc., which helps individuals and small groups raise funds online, is seeking to list shares this year at a valuation of as much as 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion), Ieiri said in an interview. It’s a long-anticipated IPO for the popular crowdfunding operator, th World • • Delta Variant Surging From Israel to Colorado: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The delta coronavirus variant first identified in India is raging across the world, with health officials in Europe and Asia racing to respond. In the U.S., Colorado officials blamed the variant for an outbreak in the western part of the state.Israel, one of the early pioneers in vaccination, is delaying its reopening for tourists and is poised to reverse an easing of mask rules after a surge in cases linked to delta. Hungary, also among the initial front-runners in inoculations, Howell date : 210624 09h53m53s Business • • REFILE-UPDATE 1-Microsoft shows Windows 11, first major overhaul in six years Microsoft Corp on Thursday showed Windows 11, which will hit markets toward the end of this year and is the first major revamp of its Windows operating system since 2015. The software that turned Microsoft into a household name and dominated personal computers for years has been overtaken in popularity by devices using Apple and Google software, but it is still core to Microsoft's strength in the corporate market. And the upgraded operating system may also appeal to individuals, who have helped drive sales of PCs sharply higher over the past year due to work-from-home practices adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Business • • Canada appoints CDIC CEO Peter Routledge to oversee financial sector Canada has named Peter Routledge the country's top banking regulator for a seven-year term starting on June 29, the country's finance department said on Thursday. Routledge will become the next Superintendent of Financial Institutions when Jeremy Rudin retires on June 28. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is the government agency tasked with overseeing the country's financial sector. Business • • Dozens of Ex-Sears Stores to Hit Market as CEO Culls Assets (Bloomberg) -- The owner of former Sears stores is looking to sell as many as 50 properties as it tries to generate cash and focus on the development of other sites it owns.Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that emerged from the Sears bankruptcy, wants to unload 40 to 50 sites that “were less interesting in terms of uses of our capital,” according to Chief Executive Officer Andrea Olshan.“I’ve been very clear what I want to own and what I don’t think is strategic for us Politics • • Pelosi to Name Select Committee to Probe Jan. 6 Capitol Riot (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will create a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol after Republicans blocked naming an independent commission to conduct the probe.Pelosi said that with little chance of establishing an independent inquiry, she would act to form the new panel of lawmakers to investigate the causes of the attack by a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters and what can be done to prevent such future violence.“January 6 World • • Biden Balances Climate Need With Human Rights in Chinese Solar Ban (Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration’s narrowly focused ban on Chinese-made solar products is designed to confront alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region without stifling the fast-growing use of renewable energy in the U.S.The order imposed Thursday, which affects the import of silica-based products made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., Ltd., represents one of President Joe Biden’s biggest steps yet to counter alleged mistreatment of China’s ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority.Yet it fa World • • EU hits Belarus potash transit with economic sanctions - official journal New European Union economic sanctions on Belarus prohibit any import or transport of products including potash, petroleum and tobacco, while banning new loans or dealings in longer-term securities, the bloc's official journal said on Thursday. The EU imposed the sanctions earlier in the day, affecting contracts concluded before June 25, the journal said, or with institutions whose state participation was 50% as of June 1 this year. The sanctions mean Belarus, the world's largest producer of potash, will face a challenging task to find other countries to transport the fertiliser ingredient via the Baltic Sea. Howell date : 210624 09h23m16s World • • U.S. ambassador returns to Moscow after leaving amid crisis in ties - Ifax U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said on Thursday he had returned to Moscow after leaving the country in April amid a diplomatic crisis, the Interfax news agency reported, as relations improve slightly in the wake of last week's leader' summit. U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on June 16 for talks that both leaders described as pragmatic, but not friendly. "I am pleased to return to Moscow," Sullivan said. Health • • Oxford researchers say they developed blood test predictor of vaccine efficacy Researchers at Oxford University said on Thursday they have developed a method to predict the efficacy of new COVID-19 vaccines based on a blood test, potentially offering a short-cut around massive clinical trials that are increasingly difficult to conduct. The researchers looked at the concentration of a range of virus-fighting antibodies in the blood of trial participants after they had received the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, now known as Vaxzevria. By looking at which of those trial volunteers later contracted symptomatic COVID-19 and which did not, the researchers came up with a model they hope will predict how powerful other vaccines will be, based on those blood readings. Politics • • Infrastructure Deal Closer With Biden to Meet Senators Today (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden and a group of bipartisan senators are close to agreement on a $559 billion infrastructure plan that would fulfill one of his top priorities, according to lawmakers and officials familiar with the discussions.Biden will meet with the senators Thursday at 11:45 a.m. Washington time, and White House aides involved in the talks indicated to the lawmakers that he would support the plan once the details are nailed down, two people familiar with the matter said.“We a Business • • UPDATE 1-Google delays Chrome's blocking of tracking cookies to late 2023 Google's Chrome web browser will not fully block tracking cookies until late 2023, the Alphabet Inc company said on Thursday, delaying by nearly two years a move that has drawn antitrust concerns from competitors and regulators. Google had wanted to bar reams of ad-personalization companies from gathering users' browsing interests through cookies from January 2022. After an investigation, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) agreed this month with Google to oversee the Chrome changes. Business • • Oil Little Changed With Rally Cooling Ahead of OPEC+ Meet (Bloomberg) -- Oil traded little changed as prices lost momentum ahead of upcoming deliberations among OPEC+ producers that may lead to a supply hike. Futures in New York switched between small gains and losses on Thursday after oil’s recent rally pushed the commodity into overbought territory this week. When it meets next week, the producer alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia is widely expected to revive some more of its halted output, according to a Bloomberg survey.“You can’t continue to Business • • Grantham Calls Meme Stocks ‘Biggest U.S. Fantasy Trip’ (Bloomberg) -- Investors are witnessing the “biggest U.S. fantasy trip of all time” in the stock market thanks to a clueless Federal Reserve, speedy stimulus and surprising success with Covid-19 vaccinations, according to Jeremy Grantham, financial historian and co-founder of the investment firm GMO.It’s been just over a year since the last stock market crash, which resulted in a 35% drop from peak to trough, followed by the fastest rebound in history.“The Covid crash is quite distinct from a cl Howell date : 210624 08h52m39s Business • • EMERGING MARKETS-Latam FX cheers weak U.S. data; Mexican central bank awaited * Mexican central bank expected to hold rates * MSCI on Argentina in focus By Ambar Warrick June 24 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso rose on Thursday ahead of a central bank rate decision, while other Latin American currencies surged after middling U.S. labor data dispelled some concerns over immediate policy tightening by the Federal Reserve. The peso rose about 0.7%, with the Mexican central bank widely expected to stand pat on rates. Data on Thursday showed consumer prices in the first half of June rose more than expected, while a separate reading showed Mexico's jobless rate declined in May. "The bank will likely highlight the recent upside inflation surprises, noting that they have largely been related to the increase in prices of energy items and the bottlenecks related to reopening of the economy," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a note to clients. U.S. • • UPDATE 1-Biden administration extends residential eviction ban until end of July The Biden administration on Thursday said it was extending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) COVID-19 residential eviction moratorium until July 31. A CDC statement Thursday extending it to July 31 said "this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium". On Tuesday, a group of 44 U.S. lawmakers had called for the extension, citing an estimate that about "6 million renter households are behind on their rent and at risk of eviction". U.S. • • Drought Indicators in Western U.S. Flash Warnings of the ‘Big One’ (Bloomberg) -- Sarah Brunner opened the irrigation spigots on her farm in March, three months early. The rain should have still been falling in California. Now that summer is taking hold, she and her husband are considering shifting their meager water supplies into pastures so their animals will have enough to eat.Brunner’s worries don’t stop at the barnyard. The family’s fields of shallots, garlic and goats are surrounded by thick Northern California forests, dried out and primed to burn. An ea Business • • US STOCKS-Nasdaq, S&P 500 scale new peak as jobs recovery gains traction The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 indexes hit all-time highs on Thursday, boosted by shares of Tesla and other top-shelf technology firms as data showing fewer weekly jobless claims bolstered views of a steady recovery in the labor market. Tesla Inc rose 3.8% after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he would list SpaceX's space internet venture, Starlink, when its cash flow is reasonably predictable, adding that Tesla shareholders could get preference in investing. Business • • U.S. Mortgage Rates Jump Above 3% for First Time Since April (Bloomberg) -- Mortgage rates in the U.S. rose above 3% for the first time in 10 weeks.The average for a 30-year loan was 3.02%, up from 2.93% last week and the highest since April 15, Freddie Mac said Thursday.“As the economy progresses and inflation remains elevated, we expect that rates will continue to gradually rise in the second half of the year,” Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement. “For those homeowners who have not yet refinanced – and there remain many borro Business • • Stocks Climb Amid Signals Economy Is Pushing Ahead: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose toward a record after data signaled the economic recovery is taking hold, despite mounting concern about inflation pressures. The dollar fell, while Treasuries were little changed.Most major groups in the S&P 500 rose, with technology and retail companies among the best performers. Eli Lilly & Co. led health-care shares higher as its experimental drug for Alzheimer’s gained breakthrough status from U.S. regulators. The Federal Reserve is set to release the results from Business • • Airline Industry to Weigh Goal of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 (Bloomberg) -- The airline industry’s global trade group will propose eliminating carbon emissions on a net basis by 2050, as pressure builds to improve the climate goals of a segment that’s come under increasing criticism for its use of fossil fuels.The International Air Transport Association will ask carriers to adopt the target at its annual meeting in Boston in October, Willie Walsh, its director general, said in an interview Thursday.While airlines including British Airways owner IAG SA, De Howell date : 210624 08h22m03s Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise, S&P 500 and Nasdaq set record highs Stocks rose to record levels Thursday as investors digested another batch of key economic data. Business • • Why China’s stance on crypto might hurt the market ‘long term’ CoinDesk Managing Editor, Ben Schiller, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the continued roller coaster ride in cryptocurrency volatility as China’s crackdown continues to put constraints on the market and what the future of crypto might be as a result. Business • • Renault-Nissan rejig how they manage Daimler partnership - sources The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is set to scrap a role overseeing ties with Daimler in favour of individual relations with the German group, three sources told Reuters, as they try to better manage a partnership that has not met initial hopes. The shift comes as alliance-level executive Jacques Verdonck, who was in charge of the cooperation with Daimler, retires at the end of the month, the sources familiar with the matter said. France's Renault will instead rely on its head of partnerships, Sandra Gomez, while Nissan will do the same with Catherine Perez. Business • • Apple banks on physical stores as economies reopen, retail chief says Apple Inc is expanding retail operations as the United States emerges from the pandemic, betting that a combination of strategies developed before and during COVID-19 will make its stores more popular than ever, its retail chief told Reuters. Apple is doing this as the retail industry works out what the post-pandemic future will look like, including consumers who have become used to ordering almost everything online. For Apple, the answer is keeping what helped it through the pandemic, and doubling down on its pre-pandemic strategy of in-store events and experiences beyond shopping. Business • • Fannie-Freddie Shock Is Latest Blow to Funds in Doomed Trade (Bloomberg) -- A plunge in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares after a Supreme Court ruling marked one of the biggest setbacks yet in a disappointing decade for funds that wagered that these entities would one day exit federal control.Capital Group, Fairholme Capital Management, Paulson & Co., Blackstone Group Inc.’s credit unit, Discovery Capital Management and Pershing Square are among investors that have bet on a massive jump in value for the government-sponsored enterprises.Those wagers went s Business • • The Fed’s hawkish stance ‘the start of something bigger' Morgan Stanley Investment Management Fixed Income Portfolio, Jim Caron, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss what to expect in the market as the Fed continues to decide on the policy they need to enact in order to fight inflation concerns. Howell date : 210624 07h51m26s Business • • Visa Agrees to Buy Open-Banking Platform Tink for $2 Billion (Bloomberg) -- Visa Inc. has agreed to buy Swedish open-banking platform Tink AB as the payment giant looks to expand beyond its card network.San Francisco-based Visa said it will pay a total of 1.8 billion euros ($2.15 billion) -- including cash and retention incentives -- to acquire the fintech firm, according to a statement Thursday.Banks and startups use Tink to access consumer financial data. The startup was founded in Stockholm in 2012 and it has about 400 employees, with technology that c World • • EXPLAINER-What are the main issues in Germany's federal election? The manifestos presented by the parties vying to form Germany's next government set out very different visions for the future of the country, and Europe, after September's federal election. At stake is the direction that Germany, Europe's largest economy, will take after Angela Merkel's departure as chancellor. The conservative candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, highlights his experience governing Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. Business • • Carnival posts $2 billion in loss on prolonged cruise suspension Cruise operators have recorded little to no revenue due to the no-sail order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, forcing them to tap billions of dollars in debt and even sell a few ships to stay afloat. Carnival ended the second quarter with $9.3 billion in cash and short-term investments, down from $11.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, as it spent heavily to prepare its ships for voyages. Refinitiv data shows Carnival's loss in the last four quarter was $1.97 billion at the least. World • • UPDATE 1-UK mobile operator EE to bring back roaming charges in the EU British mobile operator EE said on Thursday it was bringing back mobile roaming charges in the European Union for new and upgrading customers from next January, wiping out a benefit that has saved tourists and business travellers millions of pounds since the charges were abolished in 2017. The company, which is owned by BT, had previously said it had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges following Brexit. Users will be charged 2 pounds a day ($2.78) for roaming in a total of 47 European destinations, it said. Business • • Stocks Climb Toward Record Amid Economic Optimism: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks headed toward a record after data signaled the economic recovery is pushing ahead, despite mounting concern about inflation pressures. The dollar fell, while Treasuries were little changed.The S&P 500 extended this week’s rally after reports showed a drop in jobless claims and a jump in orders for durable goods at the fastest pace since January. The Federal Reserve is set to release the results from its stress tests after the market close -- with major banks all expected to Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise, S&P 500 and Nasdaq set record highs Stocks rose to record levels Thursday as investors digested another batch of key economic data. Howell date : 210623 21h29m25s Business • • Musk says Starlink to go public once cash flow is more predictable Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk will list SpaceX's space internet venture, Starlink, when its cash flow is reasonably predictable, the billionaire entrepreneur said late on Wednesday. "Going public sooner than that would be very painful," Musk said in a tweet. "Will do my best to give long-term Tesla shareholders preference." Health • • Sydney Cases Spike; JPMorgan Staff May Need Jabs: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is backing health authorities in Sydney to control an outbreak of the Delta strain of the coronavirus without going into a full lockdown, even as some say stronger measures are needed. JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it may require employees to be vaccinated as the bank begins to reopen offices.Women are more likely to develop persistent symptoms after a coronavirus infection, a condition known as “Long Covid,” a survey conducted in England shows Business • • Asian shares tread water, markets eye U.S. inflation signals Asian shares marked time on Thursday, with China nudging lower, while the U.S. dollar held below an 11-week high as investors reassessed U.S. Federal Reserve statements on inflation and looked to upcoming data for direction. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq closed at a record high on Wednesday, while other major U.S. indexes ended lower alongside European stocks. The market has whipsawed over the last week, feeling the after-effects of a surprise projection for rate increases as soon as 2023 by the U.S. Federal Reserve which knocked stocks, boosted the dollar and led to the flattening of the U.S. bond yield curve. Business • • Oil Steady Near $73 With Shrinking Stockpiles Tightening Market (Bloomberg) -- Oil was steady near $73 a barrel as shrinking stockpiles in the U.S. and China added to bullish sentiment around the global demand recovery.Gasoline inventories in the U.S. unexpectedly fell last week, while nationwide crude supplies dropped for a fifth week, the longest run since January. Chinese stockpiles have also shrunk to the lowest this year, according to data provider Kayrros, with the market tightening as key consumers rebound from Covid-19.Oil may be facing some near-ter World World Howell date : 210623 19h28m49s Health • • Sydney Cases Spike; JPMorgan Staff May Need Jabs: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is backing health authorities in Sydney to control an outbreak of the Delta strain of the coronavirus without going into a full lockdown, even as some say stronger measures are needed. JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it may require employees to be vaccinated as the bank begins to reopen offices.Women are more likely to develop persistent symptoms after a coronavirus infection, a condition known as “Long Covid,” a survey conducted in England shows Business • • UPDATE 2-Japan's Kioxia, formerly Toshiba Memory, aims for Sept IPO - report Japan's Kioxia Holdings Corp, the world's second largest maker of flash memory chips and formerly known as Toshiba Memory, plans an initial public offering as early as in September, weekly financial magazine Diamond reported on Thursday. Kioxia last year shelved plans to offer up to 334.3 billion yen ($3 billion) in shares, which would have been Japan's largest IPO of 2020, amid heightened trade frictions between China and the United States. The Tokyo bourse is expected to give its approval in July, the report said, citing sources. Business • • Hong Kong’s Lalamove Files Confidentially for $1 Billion U.S. IPO (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s on-demand logistics and delivery firm Lalamove has filed confidentially for a U.S. initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The company, also known as Huolala in China, is looking to raise at least $1 billion in the share sale, the people said. Details of the offering including the fundraising amount are still subject to change depending on investor demand, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.“The World • • U.S. to Block Some Solar Goods Made in Xinjiang Region (Bloomberg) -- Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks trade and supply chains disrupted by the pandemic. Sign up here.The U.S. is poised to bar some solar products made in China’s Xinjiang region, according to several people familiar with the matter, marking one of the Biden administration’s biggest steps yet to counter alleged human rights abuses against China’s ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority.Factories in Xinjiang -- where advocacy groups and a panel of United Nations experts say Uyghurs Business • • John McAfee, Antivirus Software Pioneer, Dead in Prison Cell (Bloomberg) -- John McAfee, the creator of the eponymous antivirus software, was found dead Wednesday in prison outside Barcelona. He was 75.In recent years, McAfee became a prominent booster of cryptocurrencies, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. president, had numerous run-ins with the law and traded in extreme conspiracy theories.McAfee was discovered dead in his prison cell hours after Spain’s National Court approved his extradition to the U.S. over multiple tax fraud charges. Security personnel at World • • U.S. Negotiators Prepare for Return to Iran Nuclear Talks (Bloomberg) -- U.S. negotiators are prepared to return to a seventh round of indirect talks with Iran on re-entering on 2015 nuclear deal once the leadership in Tehran is ready, a senior administration official said.President Joe Biden’s negotiating team, led by Iran envoy Robert Malley, could return to talks in Vienna as early as next week, though that date might be pushed back, according to the official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.Earlier Wednesday, the Jer Business • • Asian Stocks Mixed as Traders Weigh Fed’s Message: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks opened mostly steady Thursday after U.S. shares moved in narrow ranges as traders digested commentary from Federal Reserve officials on the outlook for stimulus. Treasuries held a retreat.Shares slipped in Japan and Australia, and rose in South Korea, while futures pointed lower in Hong Kong. U.S. contracts climbed, after a modest drop in the S&P 500 despite gains among firms that benefit from economic reopening. A rally in Tesla Inc. helped the Nasdaq Composite eke o Howell date : 210623 18h28m12s Health • • JPMorgan Staff May Need Jabs; Brazil Sets Record: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it may require employees to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus as the bank begins to reopen offices, while Brazil reported a record number of infections.Women are more likely to develop persistent symptoms after a coronavirus infection, a condition known as “Long Covid,” a survey conducted in England shows. In the U.S., public-health leaders sought to reassure Americans that Covid-19 shots are safe after reports of post-vaccination heart inflammatio Business Business Business Business Business • • UPDATE 1-Social network for doctors Doximity raises $606 mln in U.S. IPO Doximity Inc, a social network for doctors, said on Wednesday it had raised nearly $606 million in its initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, giving it a valuation of about $4.6 billion. About $111.5 million from the IPO proceeds would go to a selling stockholder, the company said. Healthcare-focused technology companies including Doximity have benefited from pandemic-led tailwinds and have found favor with investors. Business • • John McAfee, Antivirus Software Pioneer, Found Dead in Prison (Bloomberg) -- John McAfee, the creator of the eponymous antivirus software, was found dead Wednesday in prison outside Barcelona, according to the Associated Press. He was 75.In recent years, McAfee became a prominent booster of cryptocurrencies, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. president, had numerous run-ins with the law and traded in extreme conspiracy theories.McAfee was discovered dead in his prison cell hours after Spain’s National Court approved his extradition to the U.S. over multiple tax f Business • • Fannie-Freddie Ruling Marks Latest Blow to Funds in Doomed Trade (Bloomberg) -- A plunge in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares after a Supreme Court ruling marked one of the biggest setbacks yet in a disappointing decade for funds that wagered that these entities would one day exit federal control.Capital Group, Fairholme Capital Management, Paulson & Co., Blackstone Group Inc.’s credit unit, Discovery Capital Management and Pershing Square are among investors that have bet on a massive jump in value for the government-sponsored enterprises.Those wagers went s Business • • Dwindling U.S. Crude Hub Stocks Seen Falling to Historical Lows (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil inventories in America’s largest storage hub could fall to historically low levels by the end of September as the demand rebound continues to outpace production.Stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate oil futures fell nearly 4 million barrels in the last two weeks, bringing inventories to the lowest since March of 2020 when the pandemic forced the country into lockdown. Analysts are estimating and traders are betting that supplies Howell date : 210623 17h27m35s Business • • Rising inflation puts Bank of England on the spot The Bank of England will say on Thursday whether it is worried about a recent jump in inflation, which broke above the central bank's 2% target and looks set to climb higher as Britain reawakens its economy from its coronavirus slumber. With global policymakers grappling with economic overheating risks against the backdrop of huge stimulus programmes, Governor Andrew Bailey and other BoE officials have mostly said Britain's faster price growth is likely to prove transitory. The BoE is expected to leave its benchmark rate at an all-time low of 0.1% and press on with its 895 billion-pound ($1.25 trillion) bond-buying programme when it announces its June policy decision at 1100 GMT. Business • • Fannie-Freddie Fate a Mystery After High Court Market Shock (Bloomberg) -- In one fell swoop, the Supreme Court crushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders and gave President Joe Biden carte blanche to rewrite the rules for the U.S.’s massive housing market.Left unanswered was the same question that’s befuddled Washington for more than a decade: Will anyone ever figure out what to do with Fannie and Freddie, which backstop a whopping $5.7 trillion of mortgages?The high court’s decision Wednesday largely shot down investors’ claims that Obama era regu Business • • Asia Stocks to Slip as Traders Mull Policy Outlook: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks looked set to dip Thursday after U.S. shares moved in narrow ranges as traders digested commentary from Federal Reserve officials on the outlook for stimulus. Treasuries retreated.Equity futures fell in Japan and Australia and were little changed in Hong Kong. In the U.S., firms that benefit from economic reopening -- such as retailers and financials -- outperformed but overall the S&P 500 edged lower. A rally in Tesla Inc. helped the Nasdaq Composite eke out a record Business • • John McAfee, Antivirus Software Pioneer, Found Dead in Prison (Bloomberg) -- John McAfee, the creator of the eponymous antivirus software, was found dead Wednesday in prison outside Barcelona, according to the Associated Press. He was 75.In recent years, McAfee became a prominent booster of cryptocurrencies, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. president, had numerous run-ins with the law and traded in extreme conspiracy theories.McAfee was discovered dead in his prison cell hours after Spain’s National Court approved his extradition to the U.S. over multiple tax f Business • • Fannie-Freddie Ruling Marks Latest Blow to Funds in Doomed Trade (Bloomberg) -- A plunge in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares after a Supreme Court ruling marked one of the biggest setbacks yet in a disappointing decade for funds that wagered that these entities would one day exit federal control.Capital Group, Fairholme Capital Management, Paulson & Co., Blackstone Group Inc.’s credit unit, Discovery Capital Management and Pershing Square are among investors that have bet on a massive jump in value for the government-sponsored enterprises.Those wagers went s Business • • Dwindling U.S. Crude Hub Stocks Seen Falling to Historical Lows (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil inventories in America’s largest storage hub could fall to historically low levels by the end of September as the demand rebound continues to outpace production.Stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate oil futures fell nearly 4 million barrels in the last two weeks, bringing inventories to the lowest since March of 2020 when the pandemic forced the country into lockdown. Analysts are estimating and traders are betting that supplies Business Howell date : 210623 16h26m58s Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stock futures edge higher ahead of jobless claims data Stock futures opened slightly higher Wednesday evening following a muted session earlier in the day, with the three major indexes ending mixed ahead of another batch of key economic data this week. Business • • UPDATE 1-Fed's Rosengren says central bank needs to keep eye on financial stability risks Federal Reserve officials need to keep a close watch on financial stability risks, and rising home prices in particular should be monitored, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said on Wednesday. "Long periods of very low interest rates do encourage people to take risk," Rosengren said during a virtual conversation organized by the New England chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. The surge in home prices seen in some markets is similar to the rise during the boom and bust of the last housing crisis, though that pattern may not necessarily be repeated this time around, Rosengren said. Business • • 'We’re seeing a lot more buyers rather than sellers,' on the crypto market: Voyager Digital CEO Steve Ehrlich, Voyager Digital CEO, joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down his thoughts on the current crypto market during the recent dip in the market. Business • • Asia Stocks to Slip as Traders Mull Policy Outlook: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks looked set to dip Thursday after U.S. shares moved in narrow ranges as traders digested commentary from Federal Reserve officials and the outlook for stimulus. Treasuries retreated.Equity futures fell in Japan and Australia and were little changed in Hong Kong. In the U.S., firms that benefit from economic reopening -- such as retailers and financials -- outperformed but overall the S&P 500 edged lower. A rally in Tesla Inc. helped the Nasdaq Composite eke out a recor Howell date : 210623 15h26m20s U.S. • • U.S. restricts exports to 5 Chinese firms over rights violations The United States on Wednesday restricted exports to five Chinese companies that it said were implicated in Chinese human rights violations, including large producers of polysilicon for the solar panel industry. At least some of the companies are major manufacturers of monocrystalline silicon and polysilicon that are used in solar panel production. Politics • • Yellen Renews Debt-Limit Plea With August Default Possible (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her department may exhaust emergency measures to avoid breaching the U.S. debt limit as soon as August unless Congress acts to avert a potential default that would be “catastrophic.”“Defaulting on the national debt should be regarded as unthinkable,” Yellen said Wednesday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on her department’s budget.“Failing to increase the debt limit would have absolutely catastrophic economic consequences,” s Health • • Heart Risks Called Extremely Low; NYC Home Shots: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S. public-health leaders sought to reassure Americans that Covid-19 shots are safe after reports that a relatively small number of mostly young men had suffered a heart problem after being immunized.A new study released Wednesday found that an estimated 20 million individuals in the U.S. were likely infected with Covid-19 by mid-July of last year, about 17 million more than previously thought. New York City will begin offering free at-home vaccinations to anyone who wants one.Pr Business • • Sprinklr Rebounds in Debut After Downsized $266 Million IPO (Bloomberg) -- Sprinklr Inc., a customer experience software maker, sunk and then climbed back in its trading debut after raising $266 million in a downsized initial public offering priced below a marketed range.The shares, priced below the marketed range at $16 apiece in the IPO, swung between a gain of as much as 25% and a loss of up to 8.8% on Wednesday. They closed up 10% to $17.60, giving the company a market value of $4.4 billion.Accounting for stock options and similar holdings, the compa Business • • GLOBAL MARKETS-U.S. stocks end mixed with Nasdaq at record close, dollar gains Wall Street shares were mixed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq closing at a record high, while other major U.S. indexes ended lower alongside European stocks as traders eyed the latest statements from Federal Reserve officials. The market has whipsawed over the last week, feeling the aftereffects of the Fed's surprise projection last week for rate increases as soon as 2023, which knocked stocks, boosted the dollar and led to the flattening of the U.S. bond yield curve. The dollar ended higher, reversing earlier losses on Wednesday as two Fed officials said that a period of high inflation in the United States could last longer than anticipated, a day after Fed Chair Jerome Powell played down rising price pressures. Howell date : 210623 14h25m43s Business • • CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar steadies as investors reassess Fed outlook The recovery this week for the Canadian dollar reflects the pullback in the U.S. dollar and moves in U.S. rates, said Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco. The gap between Canada's 5-year yield and its U.S. equivalent was at 9.4 basis points in favor of the Canadian bond, up about 3 basis points since the Fed's release last Wednesday of its latest policy statement and economic projections. U.S. crude oil futures settled 0.3% higher at $73.08 a barrel, while the Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.2303 to the greenback, or 81.28 U.S. cents. Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks end mixed, Nasdaq ekes out record high as tech stocks add to gains Stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hovering near record highs as concerns over tightening monetary policy at least temporarily faded. World • • Heart Risks Called Extremely Low; NYC Home Shots: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S. public-health leaders sought to reassure Americans that Covid-19 shots are safe after reports that a relatively small number of mostly young men had suffered a heart problem after being immunized. A new study released Wednesday found that an estimated 20 million individuals in the U.S. were likely infected with Covid-19 by mid-July of last year, about 17 million more than previously thought. New York City will begin offering free at-home vaccinations to anyone who wants one.P Business • • S&P 500 Stuck in Trading Lull While Bonds Retreat: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks traded in a tight range Wednesday as investors assessed prospects for an economic recovery and continued Federal Reserve support amid the threat of inflation. Treasuries fell.The S&P 500 drifted between gains and losses throughout the day, with companies tied to a broader reopening of the economy -- such as retail and financial shares -- outperforming. A rally in Tesla Inc. drove the Nasdaq Composite to a fresh record even as the gauge rose just 0.1%. Fannie Mae and Freddie Business • • UPDATE 1-Airlines urged to tighten Airbus A320 checks after COVID storage Regulators have called for more rigorous checks when pulling some Airbus jets out of pandemic storage, following flawed cockpit readings that can suggest blocked sensors. Pilots rely on airspeed readings derived from external probes known as pitot tubes, which can become blocked by insect nests or dirt if they are not properly sealed during storage. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in a safety directive covering the Airbus A320 family that "an increasing number of operational disruptions have been reported due to airspeed discrepancies" as they return to the air. Howell date : 210623 13h55m05s Politics • • Bragg Leads Farhadian Weinstein in Manhattan D.A. Primary (Bloomberg) -- Alvin Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, had a steady but narrow lead in the Democratic primary for Manhattan District Attorney on Wednesday, but the tens of thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted will stretch out and could possibly shift the race.Those uncounted votes kept hope alive for Tali Farhadian Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor and the wife of Saba Capital co-founder Boaz Weinstein. On Wednesday morning, Bragg, who would be the first Black Manhattan distric Business • • Fed’s Kaplan Sees Hike in 2022, Taper Starting Sooner Than Later (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy will likely meet the Federal Reserve’s threshold for tapering its asset purchases sooner than people think, said Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, who has penciled in an interest-rate increase next year.“As we make substantial further progress, which I think will happen sooner than people expect -- sooner rather than later -- and we’re weathering the pandemic, I think we’d be far better off, from a risk-management point of view, beginning to adjust these purchas Politics • • EU envoy sees 'plenty of time' to resolve U.S.-EU dispute over steel, aluminum tariffs The European Union's top diplomat in Washington said the United States and Europe had enough time to resolve a continuing dispute over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs in coming months, but acknowledged the issue was complex and would take work. Stavros Lambrinidis said he was encouraged by progress made during last week's U.S.-EU summit, and an agreement to suspend tariffs for five years in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies paid to Airbus and Boeing. He told a virtual trade event that Brussels was continuing to press Washington to safely ease travel restrictions on Europeans entering the United States, and said he hoped the issue could be resolved "very soon." Howell date : 210623 13h24m28s Health • • NIH begins clinical trial testing COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Wednesday it had begun a study to evaluate the immune responses generated by COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant or postpartum women. Pregnant women are at higher risk of complications including premature birth, high blood pressure with organ failure risk, need for intensive care and possible death, according to the NIH. A research study conducted in February in Israel showed that antibodies were detected in all 20 women administered with both the doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine during their third trimester of pregnancy and also in their newborns. Business • • Three disasters in 2020 created 'a movement, not just a moment': Ursula Burns The presidency of Donald Trump, the police murder of George Floyd, and the COVID-19 pandemic comprise "three disasters" that should bring about a fundamental shift on issues like racial and gender equality, said Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox. World • • NYC Offers At-Home Shots; U.S. Cases Likely Higher: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- An estimated 20 million individuals in the U.S. were likely infected with Covid-19 by mid-July of last year, about 17 million more than previously thought, a new study found. More than 1,200 cases of heart inflammation have been reported in people who received messenger RNA vaccines.Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to allow Britons who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus to travel to more than 150 countries without the need to quarantine on their r Business • • U.S. retail stock buying hit record level on Friday -Vanda Research Retail investors bought more stocks on Friday than at any other time on record, taking advantage of a sharp drop in share prices, analysts at Vanda Research said on Wednesday. Net inflows from individual investors into equities were $2.05 billion on Friday, Vanda analyst Giacomo Pierantoni and senior strategist Ben Onatibia said in a note to clients. The move was spurred by the recent recovery of stocks favored by retail traders and a rotation out of cryptocurrencies that led millennials to reengage with equity markets, they said. Business • • Activist investor who shook up Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's says this is the next big retail opportunity It could be time to make some money in the apparel retail space, contends one closely watched activist investor. U.S. • • FBI Director Wray urges companies stop paying ransoms to hackers FBI Director Chris Wray on Wednesday pleaded with public companies and other hacking victims to avoid paying ransom, saying he fears it will only embolden cyber criminals to ramp up future attacks. "In general, we would discourage paying the ransom because it encourages more of these attacks, and frankly, there is no guarantee whatsoever that you are going to get your data back," Wray testified before a U.S. Senate appropriations panel. The Justice Department has disclosed it managed to help the Colonial Pipeline Co recover some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom it paid to hackers - an attack that led to widespread shortages at gas stations on the East Coast. Howell date : 210623 12h53m51s Business • • Guggenheim Partners to Settle SEC Allegations of Impeding Whistle-Blowers (Bloomberg) -- The brokerage arm of Guggenheim Partners will pay about $209,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that the firm’s policies discouraged employees from reporting potential wrongdoing, the regulator said.Until last July, Guggenheim Securities prohibited employees from reaching out to officials at the SEC or other watchdogs without prior consent from the firm’s lawyers, the regulator said in a filing Wednesday. Such restrictions, which the SEC says were include Business • • Glaxo CEO Walmsley Buys Time as Strategy Gets Modest Backing (Bloomberg) -- Emma Walmsley may have bolstered her position at the top of GlaxoSmithKline Plc, at least for now, following a lukewarm reaction to long-awaited plans to restructure the pharmaceutical giant after years of underperformance.With a potential activist investor challenge looming from Elliott Management Corp., Walmsley laid out why she thinks she is the right “change agent” to run the pharmaceutical business that will be left once Glaxo finally carves out its consumer arm via a de-merg Business • • Splunk is Yahoo Finance Plus’ investment idea of the day Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre reports details on Yahoo Finance’s Investment idea of the day. Business • • Biden to Oust Fannie-Freddie Regulator After Court Ruling (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will move immediately to replace the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Calabria, an appointee of former President Donald Trump with broad powers over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for Calabria’s removal with a Wednesday ruling that made clear the president had the authority to oust the regulator. A White House official responded by saying Biden would start the process of inserting an FHFA di Business • • Oil Pares Gains With Technicals Showing Crude Is Overbought (Bloomberg) -- Oil pared gains with technical indicators showing the commodity is overbought, while traders assessed depleting U.S. stockpiles.Futures in New York traded little changed after earlier climbing as much as 1.9% on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate’s 14-day Relative Strength Index held above 70, signaling oil is due for a pullback. American crude supplies, gasoline inventories and stockpiles at the nation’s largest storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, all declined, according to a U.S. Business • • Fannie, Freddie Plunge as High Court Deals Blow to Investors (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a punishing blow to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors in their challenge to the government’s collection of more than $100 billion in profits from the government-sponsored enterprises.The justices threw out a core part of the investors’ lawsuit, rejecting claims that the Federal Housing Finance Agency exceeded its authority under federal law. Fannie and Freddie cratered, each plunging the most in intraday trading since 2013.Investors, the court said, Health • • Reuters Events: Death after COVID - What insurers do not know about post-pandemic mortality Life insurers need to look well beyond COVID-19 deaths to see how the global pandemic is altering the mortality risk of people they cover, a medical insurance expert said on Wednesday. Data show that one in eight Americans who survived being hospitalized for COVID were dead within five months of their recovery - but not from COVID, Paulo Bandeira Pinho, vice president and medical director of innovation at Diameter Health, said at the Reuters Future of Insurance U.S.A. 2021 conference. That is because the highly contagious virus leaves people more susceptible to many other ailments, elevating the risk of death from those other, seemingly unrelated causes, he said. Howell date : 210623 12h23m15s Business • • Biden to Oust Fannie-Freddie Regulator After Court Ruling (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will move immediately to replace the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Calabria, an appointee of former President Donald Trump with broad powers over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for Calabria’s removal with a Wednesday ruling that made clear the president had the authority to oust the regulator. A White House official responded by saying Biden would start the process of inserting an FHFA di Business • • Ackman Re-Engages With SPAC Target After Deal for UMG Stake (Bloomberg) -- Bill Ackman said he has already re-engaged with a potential target for his remaining blank-check company after reaching a deal to buy a 10% stake in Universal Music Group before its spinoff from Vivendi SE this year.As part of the deal announced Sunday with Vivendi, investors in Ackman’s blank-check company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Inc., will not only receive shares in Universal Music but will also retain common stock in Ackman’s remaining blank-check company, which he re Business • • GDP is back. Workers are not The recovery is leaving some workers behind. But it's possible a worker boom is coming. Health • • Government health care is overtaking private coverage Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman reports details on the shift in health care coverage. Business • • Volatility in Bitcoin is too high to justify a strong place in your portfolio: Strategist Gaurav Mallik, State Street Global Advisors Chief Portfolio Strategist, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss outlook on the Fed, biggest risks to the market, and crypto’s volatility. Business • • Explainer-What is the Treasury yield curve and what is it telling us? A hawkish shift from the U.S. Federal Reserve last week has focused attention on the shape of the yield curve. Here’s a short primer explaining what the yield curve is and how its shape may reflect expectations of the economy’s trajectory. WHAT IS THE U.S. TREASURY YIELD CURVE? Howell date : 210623 11h52m38s Politics • • Tech Antitrust Showdown Opens as Lawmaker Rips ‘Bullying’ (Bloomberg) -- The House Judiciary Committee’s consideration of antitrust bills targeting big tech began Wednesday with bipartisan pledges to use legislation to break the hold that the largest companies have on the internet economy.In its first action, the committee approved a bill revising the fees companies pay when they seek antitrust approval for mergers. It would increase fees for the biggest deals, and the money would provide additional funding for the Federal Trade Commission and the Just Business • • Jobless claims preview: Another 380,000 Americans likely filed new unemployment claims last week The Department of Labor is set to release its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Business • • U.S. retail stock buying hit record level on Friday -Vanda Research Retail investors bought more stocks on Friday than at any other time on record, taking advantage of a sharp drop in share prices, analysts at Vanda Research said on Wednesday. Net inflows from individual investors into equities were $2.05 billion on Friday, Vanda analyst Giacomo Pierantoni and senior strategist Ben Onatibia said in a note to clients. The S&P 500 fell 1.31% on Friday and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.92%, after a U.S. Federal Reserve official suggested the U.S. central bank might raise interest rates sooner than previously expected. Business • • Fed’s Bostic Sees 2022 Rate Liftoff, Taper Call in a Few Months (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said the central bank could decide to slow its asset purchases in the next few months and he favored lifting interest rates in 2022 in response to a faster-than expected recovery from Covid-19 pandemic.“Given the upside surprises in recent data points, I have pulled forward my projection for our first move to late 2022,” Bostic told reporters Wednesday following a speech to the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs. ‘’ Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mixed, Nasdaq sets fresh record high Stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hovering near record highs as concerns over tightening monetary policy at least temporarily faded. World • • AMLO’s Reforms Will Be Difficult to Pass, Mexico Senate Leader Says (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ambitious reform agenda, which includes three major constitutional amendments, faces a difficult path through a divided congress where parties have little appetite to reach consensus, Senate majority leader Ricardo Monreal said.“It will be complicated,” Monreal said about pushing the government’s legislative priorities in the second part of Lopez Obrador’s six-year term. “I’m not overflowing with optimism, I am cautious,” he said in Howell date : 210623 11h21m59s Business • • Oil Gains as U.S. Supply Drop Reinforces Tighter Crude Market (Bloomberg) -- Oil clung to gains with a fifth straight weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies pointing to a rapidly tightening market.Futures rose as much as 1.9% in New York on Wednesday, while Brent crude held above $75 a barrel. American crude supplies tumbled by more than 7 million barrels, according to a U.S. government report. Gasoline inventories posted the biggest drop since early March, while supplies at the nation’s biggest storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, slid to the lowest since Mar Business • • Stocks in Choppy Trading While Treasuries Decline: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks moved in a narrow range as investors assessed prospects for an economic recovery and continued Federal Reserve support amid the threat of higher inflation. Treasuries retreated.Equities briefly turned negative, with bond yields ticking higher after Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic projected a rate liftoff next year and two hikes in 2023. Companies tied to a broader reopening of the economy -- such as retail, financial and energy shares -- rose, while technology stocks u World • • Bank of England wants tougher rules for bank takeovers after Greensill Parliament should consider toughening up the rules on who can take control of a bank in light of what happened to Wyelands Bank following the collapse of Greensill Capital, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Wednesday. Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta's metals-to-finance empire GFG Alliance took control of Wyelands Bank in 2016. Wyelands financed GFG Alliance that was closely linked to financing company Greensill Capital, which went bust earlier this year. Business • • Nike Q4 earnings: Analysts mull China as a drag, or 'much ado about very little' With Nike set to report Q4 earnings on Thursday, all eyes are on the sportswear brands performance in China — and ever crucial region for the sportswear giant. Business • • National antitrust watchdogs want more say in enforcing EU tech rules German and French antitrust watchdogs and their counterparts in the other 25 EU countries on Wednesday argued for a bigger role in enforcing proposed tough new rules reining in Alphabet unit Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), proposed by the European Commission last year, targets online gatekeepers - companies that control data and access to their platforms - which thousands of businesses and millions of Europeans rely on for their work or social interactions. Under the draft legislation, three or more EU countries can ask the EU competition regulator to open an investigation while a digital markets advisory committee made up of national representatives will be consulted on fines and non-compliance. World • • NYC Offers At-Home Shots; U.S. Cases Likely Higher: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- An estimated 20 million individuals in the U.S. were likely infected with Covid-19 by mid-July of last year, about 17 million more than previously thought, a new study found. More than 1,200 cases of heart inflammation have been reported in people who received messenger RNA vaccines.Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to allow Britons who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus to travel to more than 150 countries without the need to quarantine on their r Business • • Amazon will rise and get through any regulatory pressure: Analyst Luis Strohmeier, Octavia Wealth Advisors Partner and Wealth Advisor joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest in markets. Howell date : 210623 10h51m22s Health • • Biogen working to speed up confirmatory study for approved Alzheimer's drug Biogen Inc and partner Eisai Co Ltd said on Wednesday they were working to speed up completion of a confirmatory trial of their controversial Alzheimer's drug that was recently given an accelerated approval by the U.S. drug regulator. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug on June 7 using its accelerated approval pathway, which requires a study to confirm the drug works as intended, and gave a deadline of nine years ending 2029 for the trial. The FDA approved the drug - despite strong objection of its own expert advisory panel - for all patients with Alzheimer's, although Aduhelm has only been tested for patients in the early stages of the disease. Business • • Fannie, Freddie Plunge as High Court Deals Blow to Investors (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a punishing blow to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors in their challenge to the government’s collection of more than $100 billion in profits from the government-sponsored enterprises.The justices threw out a core part of the investors’ lawsuit, rejecting claims that the Federal Housing Finance Agency exceeded its authority under federal law. Fannie and Freddie cratered, each plunging the most in intraday trading since 2013.Investors, the court said, Business • • WRAPUP 1-U.S. new home sales hit one-year low; prices soar Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell to a one-year low in May as the median price of newly built houses soared amid expensive raw materials, including framing lumber. "New home sales along with existing home sales suggest home buying activity is past its peak," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York. New home sales dropped 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 769,000 units last month, the lowest level since May 2020. Business • • UPDATE 1-G20 labor ministers look to protect gig workers Labor ministers from many of the world's biggest economies in the Group of 20 said on Wednesday they will pursue tougher rules to protect 'gig economy' workers. In a statement following a meeting in Sicily, the ministers said they wanted to avoid any misclassification of the employment status for such gig workers that "might prevent them from accessing the same protections and rights of employees". The G20 meeting comes as the European Union is set to propose an EU-wide regulatory framework by year-end, and courts and regulators have sought to address perceived shortcomings in the gig economy. Business • • Global companies' capex to hit decade-high growth this year - Refinitiv data Global companies are set to ramp up their expansion plans this year, after being bogged down in the last few years, as economies recover from the pandemic and firms start to see higher profits and cashflows. According to an analysis of Refinitiv data for 4100 global non-financial firms with a market value of at least $1 billion, estimates show their cumulative capital expenditure is set to grow 10% this year, the most in a decade, before slowing in 2022. Analysts expect lower borrowing costs, governments' infrastructure spending and global transitioning to green energy to boost corporate capex this year. Howell date : 210623 10h20m45s Business • • Canada's M&A boom fuels hiring spree, higher pay Record-breaking dealmaking in Canada is encouraging investment banks to beef up staffing, but the increased demand for bankers is forcing some to pay up in unique ways to attract new hires. Canadian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) year to date surged to a record $206.5 billion and IPOs hit an all-time high of $5.6 billion, according to Refinitiv, after the pandemic crushed dealmaking in the first three quarters of 2020. HSBC, JPMorgan Chase & Co and National Bank of Canada are expanding their M&A teams. World • • UPDATE 1-Brazil real to strengthen 'much more', says economy minister Brazil's real is now at a more "favorable" level and is likely to strengthen much further, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Wednesday, the day the currency hit a one-year high of 4.9386 per dollar. In an online event hosted by the Sao Paulo Federation of Industries, Guedes said a "consistent and coherent" policy mix will push the dollar further below 5.00 reais and help keep the long end of the interest rate curve under control. "The exchange rate now is much more favorable ... but the equilibrium (dollar/real) rate is possibly much lower than where it is just now," Guedes said. Business • • UPDATE 1-CEE MARKETS-Crown firms on Czech rate hike, hawkish outlook The Czech crown firmed on Wednesday afternoon as the central bank governor said monetary policy is likely to have entered a phase of gradual tightening after the bank raised rates for the first time since early 2020. The Czech central bank's board voted on Wednesday to lift its key two-week repo rate by 25 basis points to 0.50%, delivering the second rate hike in as many days in Central Europe after Hungarian policymakers raised borrowing costs on Tuesday. "With further increases in interest rates the default option, the only uncertainty about Czech monetary policy is how far rates will go over the coming quarters," said Liam Peach, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. World • • Airlines urged to tighten Airbus A320 checks after COVID storage Regulators have called for more rigorous checks when pulling some Airbus jets out of pandemic storage, following flawed cockpit readings that can suggest blocked sensors. Pilots rely on airspeed readings derived from external probes known as pitot tubes, which can become blocked by insect nests or dirt if they are not properly sealed during storage. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in a safety directive covering the Airbus A320 family that "an increasing number of operational disruptions have been reported due to airspeed discrepancies" as they return to the air. Business • • Lander Leads Council Speaker Johnson in NYC Comptroller Race (Bloomberg) -- City Council member Brad Lander of Brooklyn was riding the endorsements of fellow progressive Democrats to a sizable lead over Speaker Corey Johnson in the party’s primary for New York City comptroller.Lander, backed by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren as well as The New York Times, had 31% of Tuesday’s vote with 84% of precincts reporting, compared with 23% for Johnson, according to the Associated Press.The men led a field of 10 candi Howell date : 210623 09h50m07s Business • • Alfi shares plunge from record highs Shares of Alfi fell as much as 30% on Wednesday after the software firm’s stock price more than doubled in the previous session. Business • • Microsoft needs to impress a lot of people with Windows 11 Microsoft's is expected to launch Windows 11 on June 24, and it's going to need to be a hit with some important buyers. Business • • Why apparel retailers are poised to outperform Macellum Capital Management CEO, Jonathan Duskin, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the future of retail as stores continue to reopen and the state of e-commerce. Business • • UPDATE 1-Tencent-backed Soulgate halts U.S. IPO plans after getting new funding options Soulgate Inc, the Chinese social networking app backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, has halted plans for its initial public offering in the United States, the company said on Wednesday. The company, which was aiming for a valuation of up to $1.8 billion, said it scrapped its plans to list on the Nasdaq because it received other offers to raise capital. "Due to alternative financing options made available to Soulgate, the company decided to halt the IPO," a Soulgate spokesperson said. Business • • Oil Gains as U.S. Supply Drop Reinforces Tighter Crude Market (Bloomberg) -- Oil clung to gains with a fifth straight weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies pointing to a rapidly tightening market.Futures rose as much as 1.9% in New York on Wednesday, while Brent crude held above $75 a barrel. Domestic crude supplies tumbled by more than 7 million barrels, according to a U.S. government report. Gasoline inventories posted the biggest drop since early March, while supplies at the nation’s biggest storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, slid to the lowest since Mar Howell date : 210623 09h19m30s World • • Chilean scientists repurpose CO2 monitors to stop COVID spread indoors Chilean researchers have repurposed a carbon dioxide detector model to warn of the risk of contracting COVID-19 in enclosed spaces. The prototype measures air pollution which, in a room with people, would include the coronavirus if anyone was infected since it is known to circulate via exhaled vapor. The monitor, developed by the University of Chile's Center for Mathematical Modeling and Center of Excellence in Astrophysics and Technologies Related, is already being tested in university campuses in the South American country. Business • • Chile’s Bargain-Basement Stocks Too Good to Miss for Some (Bloomberg) -- Chile’s fall from grace as the poster child of Latin America has come at a heavy price for equities. Some investors think it has gone too far.Equities are trading near their biggest discount to emerging-market peers on record in terms of forward price-to-earnings after almost two years of political turmoil -- even as the economy rebounds.Gross domestic product will jump as much as 9.5% this year, according to the central bank, the fastest pace since 1992. What’s more, copper, whic Business • • How China can make or break Nike’s sales and profits BMO Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Simeon Siegel, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss an early preview of Nike’s Q4 earnings that expect the company to beat and how the main focus of investors might be centered around issues including: digital sales growth, improvements in supply chain execution, and, critically, assurance that geopolitical risks in China can be contained. Business • • Gensler Says Assets Worth Trillions May Need Tighter Rules (Bloomberg) -- Trillions of dollars in assets need more sunlight and may require tighter rules, a problem highlighted by this year’s disruptions in financial markets, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said Wednesday.Gensler, speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview, said he’s directed the agency’s staff to review how to toughen a slew of regulations that touch everything from meme stocks to blank-check companies. He made clear that the SEC could also do more to keep tabs Business • • How Legal & General is holding companies accountable to ESG initiatives John Hoeppner, Head of U.S. Stewardship and Sustainable Investments at Legal & General Investment Management America, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss why the company is dropping four companies from its funds over 'insufficient' responses to climate change. Business • • Fannie, Freddie Plunge as High Court Deals Blow to Investors (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors in their challenge to the government’s collection of more than $100 billion in profits from the government-sponsored enterprises.The justices threw out a core part of the investors’ lawsuit, rejecting claims that the Federal Housing Finance Agency exceeded its authority under federal law.Common shares of Fannie Mae slumped as much as 42% and those of Freddie Mac plunged 44%, both posting their steepest intrad Business • • UPDATE 1-Turkey in talks with several countries on FX swap, close to deal with Azerbaijan -sources Turkey has ramped up talks with other countries over securing a currency swap agreement and a deal with Azerbaijan looks likely to be the first achieved, four Turkish sources with knowledge on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Turkish Central Bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu told a meeting with banks that Turkey was in talks with four countries on FX swap deals and at "a very good point" with two of those, according to two participants. Howell date : 210623 08h48m52s Business • • Oil Gains as U.S. Supply Drop Reinforces Tighter Crude Market (Bloomberg) -- Oil clung to gains with a fifth straight weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies pointing to a rapidly tightening oil market.Futures rose as much as 1.9% in New York on Wednesday, while Brent crude held above $75 a barrel. Domestic crude supplies tumbled by more than 7 million barrels last week to the lowest since March 2020, according to a U.S. government report. Gasoline inventories posted the biggest decline since early March, while supplies at the nation’s biggest storage hub at Business • • Stocks Near Record Highs After Mixed Economic Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks traded near all-time highs as prospects for an economic recovery overshadowed concern over faster inflation. The dollar fell, while Treasuries fluctuated.Companies tied to a broader reopening of the economy led gains in the S&P 500, with commodity, retail and industrial shares among the best performers. Data Wednesday showed a measure of U.S. manufacturing activity expanded in June at the fastest pace in records dating back to 2007. Meantime, sales of new homes dropped unex Business • • NBCUniversal to stream major Tokyo Olympics events in push for Peacock viewers Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal said on Wednesday it will air some of the most anticipated Tokyo Olympics events including gymnastics and USA Men's basketball on its streaming platform Peacock, in an effort to draw more viewers to the service. The Olympics, which this summer will have limited spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are an opportunity for NBCUniversal to attract viewers and advertiser dollars and promote its Peacock streaming service at a time when viewers are watching less live TV. Politics • • UPDATE 1-U.S. Supreme Court bolsters presidential power over housing finance agency The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday made it easier for President Joe Biden to remove the head of the federal housing finance agency while also nixing separate claims brought by shareholders of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The court upheld part of a lower court ruling that the Federal Housing Finance Agency's structure is unconstitutional under the separation of powers doctrine because the agency's lone director is insufficiently accountable to the president. But the justices faulted the lower court for allowing the shareholders to pursue separate litigation challenging a 2012 agreement between the FHFA and the Treasury Department arising from the government's rescue of the mortgage finance firms following the 2008 housing crisis. Business • • U.S. Supreme Court curbs union power in farm-access dispute The U.S. Supreme Court tightened the reins on organized labor on Wednesday, citing property rights in reviving a bid by two fruit companies to block a decades-old California regulation that let union organizers enter agricultural properties without an employer's consent. The 6-3 ruling, with the court's conservative justices in the majority, found that the regulation that gave union organizers access to two fruit companies' workers was akin to the government taking private property for public use without just compensation in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment. Howell date : 210623 06h48m13s Politics • • Congressman urges Biden administration to close vaping flavor ban 'loopholes' The acting FDA commissioner is set to testify before lawmakers about youth vaping. Business • • Baltic index perks up as capesize rates increase The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index snapped three straight sessions of losses to gain on Wednesday, as rates increased for the capesize and supramax vessel segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was up 28 points, or 0.9%, at 3,147 points. The capesize index gained 85 points, or 2.2%, to 3,868 points. Business • • Mediaset investors agree to move company legal base to the Netherlands Mediaset's shareholders on Wednesday backed a plan to make the Netherlands the legal base of Italy's top commercial broadcaster, potentially paving the way for cross-border deals needed to fight competition from online rivals. Mediaset's investors equal to 95.6% of the capital represented at the shareholders meeting backed the redomiciliation plan, the company said in a statement. The Dutch base move was part of a deal between Mediaset and its second-largest investor Vivendi to end a five-year long legal battle paralysing Mediaset's strategy. World • • Ryanair CEO sees travel 'mushrooming' despite COVID-19 restrictions As the summer holiday season kicks off, the number of passengers hopping on Ryanair planes is "mushrooming" despite travel restrictions in place to control the spread of the coronavirus, Group Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said on Wednesday. In an interview with Reuters ahead of a news conference in Lisbon, O'Leary said bookings had recovered very strongly over the last eight weeks, with particularly high volumes of bookings to Portugal and other summer destinations from Germany, Scandinavia, and the Benelux countries. "Traffic is mushrooming and a lot of that folk are families going on summer holidays to the beaches of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy," O'Leary said, adding the airline was on track to fly 80 to 100 million passengers by March 2022. Business • • Czechs Lift Rates to Start Campaign Against Inflation Threat (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Czech Republic raised borrowing costs for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic, becoming the second country in the European Union’s east to take action against the risk of inflation spiraling out of control.The central bank raised its main interest rate by a quarter-point to 0.5% on Wednesday, as expected. The move comes one day after policy makers in Hungary increas Business • • Corteva says CEO James Collins Jr to retire Pesticide and seed maker Corteva Inc said on Wednesday Chief Executive Officer James Collins Jr will retire, months after activist investor Starboard Value LP had sought his ouster. Starboard had nominated eight directors to the board of Corteva in January, seeking to oust Collins and take control of the company. In March, the activist investor settled after Corteva agreed to appoint three new independent directors backed by Starboard. Business • • Global regulators to introduce first oversight of ESG raters A global securities watchdog plans to publish its first regulatory guidance for raters of corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in July to stem growing concern among asset managers about overstated green credentials. The concern over so-called greenwashing has grown as more investments are channelled into climate-friendly funds, giving rise to a burgeoning market for ratings on how different companies deal with ESG challenges. Ashley Alder, chair of the IOSCO body that groups securities regulators from the United States, Europe and Asia says that many countries have no rules for ESG raters. Howell date : 210622 21h28m39s Business • • Share buybacks remain an option for SoftBank, says CEO Son SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday share buybacks remain an option, amid a slide in the conglomerate's shares. "Buybacks are always on my mind as an important option but when and how big requires balanced thinking," Son said at SoftBank's annual shareholders' meeting, adding that the group also needs to consider alternative uses of its capital. Shares in SoftBank, which completed a record 2.5 trillion yen ($22.6 billion) buyback programme in May, have slid amid weakness in tech stocks. Business • • Asian Stocks Steady After Soothing Fed Comments: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks were steady Wednesday after reassuring comments on inflation and monetary policy from Federal Reserve officials bolstered investor sentiment. Treasury yields held declines.Stocks fluctuated in narrow ranges, dipping in Japan and Australia, but outperforming in Hong Kong, while also edging higher in China. U.S. equity contracts gained after the S&P 500 climbed a second day. The dollar strengthened versus major peers.Overnight, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his vie Business • • Agencies Behind China’s Top Livestreaming Stars Plan IPOs (Bloomberg) -- The incubators behind two of China’s most popular influencers are making preparations for initial public offerings as competition in the live-streaming e-commerce market intensifies.Meione, the Shanghai-based agency behind China’s “lipstick king” Austin Li Jiaqi, is looking to hire a chief financial officer ahead of a possible U.S. share sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm, backed by Whales Capital and DT Capital Partners, is considering raising as much as Business • • Tech leads tentative rally as Powell soothes markets Stocks found a footing and swinging bond markets calmed down on Wednesday, with testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell providing investors with reassurance that the central bank has an eye on inflation but is not hastening to hike rates. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3%. World • • Delta Spreads in Sydney; Olympics Bans Alcohol: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Sydney will impose new restrictions, including compulsory mask-wearing at all indoor venues, as an outbreak of the Delta variant spreads. Restrictions have been stepped up in Wellington after an Australian tourist tested positive after returning from the New Zealand capital. The Tokyo Olympic organizers have dropped plans to sell alcohol at venues given the move could fuel the spread of the virus. Thailand reported a record daily Covid-19 death count, while Taiwan will extend its Business • • SoftBank CEO Says He ‘Shouldn’t’ Comment on Slow-Motion Buyout (Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son responded to a question at the company’s annual shareholders meeting about whether he’s considering a “slow-motion” buyout with an awkward no-comment.“Many things are possible, but it’s hard to comment on it. I shouldn’t comment on it. No comment,” Son said.SoftBank has discussed the idea of such a buyout, Bloomberg News reported in December. Essentially, the company would buy back its own shares and push up the percentage of the company Son hi Business • • Fed Throws China a Curveball Just When It Seeks Stability (Bloomberg) -- China’s capacity to maintain stability in its financial markets is being tested by the Federal Reserve’s sudden hawkish shift.Beijing has repeatedly voiced concern that liquidity-fueled bubbles overseas would burst when monetary conditions finally started to tighten. Bullish speculation domestically already prompted intervention by Chinese authorities, particularly in commodities. As such, a move by the Fed that starts to head off such a risk would be welcomed by the Communist Par Howell date : 210622 19h28m02s Business • • RPT-FOCUS-Reality check for VW in China after sluggish start for electric car series Volkswagen AG's ID series - the backbone of its electric vehicle ambitions - is off to what even company sources call a worryingly slow start in China. Sales in May of two ID.4 electric SUV models, launched only two months earlier, came to a mere 1,213 combined. Volkswagen's venture with state-owned SAIC Motor , which makes the slightly bigger ID.4 X model, had been targeting sales of 50,000-60,000 vehicles this year, according to comments by Yang Siyao, a company marketing executive, in Chinese media in March. U.S. • • Ex-Commissioner Kelly Doubts Democrats on Crime: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City residents are voting Tuesday for a mayor to lead the most populous U.S. city’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will run through 9 p.m. It will be the city’s first mayoral contest to be decided by ranked-choice voting, which asks New Yorkers to select their top five candidates rather than choose just one.Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams led in an Ipsos poll released Monday on the Democratic primary, with former presidential cand Politics • • Pelosi to Decide on Select Panel to Probe Capitol Riot (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to announce this week whether she will create a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol after Republicans blocked naming an independent commission to conduct the probe, a spokesman said.Pelosi set out the timetable at a leadership meeting, Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, said.“Her preference continues to be a bipartisan commission which Senate Republicans are blocking,” Hammill said on Twitter.A person f Business • • Asian Stocks Steady After Soothing Fed Comments: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks were steady early Wednesday after reassuring comments on inflation and monetary policy from Federal Reserve officials. The dollar and Treasury yields held declines.Japanese and South Korean stocks fluctuated, while Australian shares retreated. U.S. equity contracts edged up after the S&P 500 climbed a second day as Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his views that inflation pressures will be transitory even after a notable increase in recent months.Oil traded around $73 a Business Business World Business Howell date : 210622 18h27m26s World • • New Zealand on Alert; Tokyo Olympics Bans Alcohol: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand health officials are scrambling to trace the contacts of an Australian traveler from Sydney who visited Wellington over the weekend while infectious with Covid-19.The Tokyo Olympic organizers have dropped plans to sell alcohol at venues given the move could fuel the spread of the virus, Kyodo reported, without attribution. China plans to keep travel restrictions in place for at least another year as officials fret over the emergence of new variants.The White House ackn Politics • • Pelosi to Decide on Select Panel to Probe Capitol Riot (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to announce this week whether she will create a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol after Republicans blocked naming an independent commission to conduct the probe, a spokesman said.Pelosi told set out the timetable at a leadership meeting, Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, said in an email.A person familiar with the meeting had said earlier that Pelosi had told the group she decided to appoint a selec Business • • Oil Steadies Near $73 With Report Pointing to Falling Stockpiles (Bloomberg) -- Oil was steady in Asian trading after an industry report pointed to another decline in U.S. crude stockpiles, adding to a bullish outlook.Futures in New York traded near $73 a barrel after edging lower on Tuesday. The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories dropped by 7.2 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data. If confirmed by government figures due later Wednesday, that would be a fifth straight weekly draw, the longest run of declin Business • • Asia Eyes Steady Start on Soothing Fed Comments: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks are set for a steady open Wednesday after reassuring comments on inflation and supportive monetary policy from Federal Reserve officials. The dollar and Treasury yields dropped.Futures were little changed in Japan and Australia, and rose in Hong Kong. The S&P 500 climbed a second day as Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his views that inflation pressures will be transitory even after a notable increase in recent months. U.S. equity contracts edged up in early trading.Oil World Business U.S. Business Howell date : 210622 17h26m50s Business • • UPDATE 2-SoftBank-backed Dingdong targets over $6 bln valuation in U.S. IPO Chinese unicorn Dingdong, backed by SoftBank Vision Fund II, is aiming for a more than $6 billion valuation in its New York debut as the grocery app joins Asian tech startups seeking to tap into the IPO boom in the United States. The valuation represents a jump of over 20% from the $5.1 billion the company was worth after the Japanese conglomerate invested in it last month. Dingdong said it aims to raise up to $357 million in its IPO as it seeks to navigate a crowded sector that has seen established players including Alibaba Group and Pinduoduo compete aggressively. World • • Confidence among UK employers hits five-year high - REC British employers are their most confident about the economy in almost five years, helped by the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, a survey showed on Wednesday, but the lack of staff to fill jobs is a growing problem. That was the highest level since July 2016, shortly after Britain voted to leave the European Union, and the first time the index was in positive territory since 2018. "This surge in employers' confidence in the UK economy is remarkable," Neil Carberry, REC chief executive, said. World • • U.S. to Miss Biden’s Target; New Zealand on Alert: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand health officials are scrambling to trace the contacts of an Australian traveler from Sydney who visited Wellington over the weekend while infectious with Covid-19. The White House acknowledged that the U.S. will likely fall just short of President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70% of U.S. adults a first Covid-19 shot by the July 4 holiday.Infections surged to a record in South Africa’s industrial hub of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria. Moscow moved to b World • • People want trusted news, Reuters Institute says The coronavirus pandemic stoked hunger for trusted news in a time of global crisis and a clear majority of people want media organisations to be impartial and objective, The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said on Wednesday. Trust in news grew during the pandemic, especially in Western Europe, helping brands with a reputation for reliable reporting, though mistrust was particularly apparent in the polarised media of the United States. A clear majority of people across countries believed news outlets should reflect a range of views and try to be neutral, the institute said in its annual Digital News Report (https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021). Business • • Biden sees work needed to address problems created by big tech firms -White House U.S. President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech. Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work underway in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms. "These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country's ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businesses, and tech startups," said the White House official. Politics • • UPDATE 1-Biden sees work needed to address problems created by big tech firms -White House U.S. President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech. Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work underway in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms. "These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country's ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businesses, and tech startups," said the White House official. U.S. • • Federal court closes Dakota Access case, but allows for fresh challenges A U.S. district court closed a long-running case against the Dakota Access oil pipeline on Tuesday, but allowed for Native American tribes and other opponents of the line to file additional actions against it, court documents showed. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in May denied a request by the Standing Rock Sioux and other adversaries of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to shut the pipeline, saying the tribes had failed to prove the line's continued operation would cause irreversible harm. The decision allowed the 570,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline out of North Dakota's Bakken shale basin to continue operating at least until an environmental review of the line is completed, a process that is expected to take until March 2022. Business Howell date : 210622 16h26m13s Howell date : 210622 15h25m36s Business • • Bitcoin-Proxy MicroStrategy Shows Hodler Discount in Selloff (Bloomberg) -- One enterprise-software maker’s stock slide might smell like opportunity for Bitcoin bulls handy with a calculator.The recent plunge in the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency has taken the momentum out of MicroStrategy Inc. shares, which became a proxy for Bitcoin after CEO Michael Saylor began amassing the digital tokens last summer. And at one point Tuesday, Bitcoin’s slide to below $29,000 helped take MicroStrategy’s stock down as much as 12%. Shares closed 5% lower on Business • • Bitcoin Bounces Back After Tumbling Below $30,000 Threshold (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin whipsawed investors by tumbling below $30,000 for the first time since January and erasing gains for the year before recouping the day’s losses. The original cryptocurrency closed out the New York trading session marginally higher at around $32,900, after falling as much as 12%. The wild ride continued subsequently, since Bitcoin trades around the clock, with the digital token tracking slightly lower again. It has lost more than 50% from its mid-April high of almost $65,00 Business • • Oil Pares Losses as Industry Report Shows Falling U.S. Supplies (Bloomberg) -- Oil pared losses after an industry report showed a decline in U.S. crude supplies.The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute was said to report domestic crude inventories fell 7.2 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data. That would be a fifth straight weekly decline if the U.S. government confirms the data on Wednesday.“That’s a pretty big number and that’s where we’re seeing the support,” said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tra Business • • Exxon investors to prod revamped board on net zero carbon study Investors calling for Exxon Mobil Corp to study the impact of getting its oil and gas business to net-zero emissions by 2050 will push for talks later this year with what they hope is a more sympathetic board. Exxon shareholders voted 49.4% in favor of the study, a regulatory filing showed on Monday. Companies typically respond to proposals that get majority support from investors. Business • • Potash partnership with BHP 'not our focus': Nutrien executive Canadian potash producer Nutrien is not focused on any potential collaboration with miner BHP Group, a senior Nutrien executive said on Tuesday in the company's first public comments about reports of possible cooperation. BHP has for years been constructing a potash mine at Jansen, Saskatchewan, near Nutrien's six mines in the Canadian province. Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported in May that BHP and Nutrien were negotiating a joint venture that would see Nutrien take control of the Jansen mine, while Bloomberg reported the companies discussed various partnership options. Business • • China’s Full Truck Climbs in Debut After $1.6 Billion IPO (Bloomberg) -- Full Truck Alliance Co., an Uber-like trucking startup, rose 13% in its trading debut after raising $1.6 billion in one of the year’s biggest U.S. initial public offerings by a Chinese company.The American depositary shares, after rising as much as 20% on Tuesday, closed at $21.50, giving the company a market value of about $23.6 billion. The company backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., sold 82.5 million shares in the IPO at the top of the marketed range of $1 Howell date : 210622 14h25m00s Politics • • Biden Aides Leave Senate Talks Without Infrastructure Deal (Bloomberg) -- Top White House aides wrapped up a meeting with group of senators Tuesday without producing an infrastructure compromise, as differences on how to pay for a proposed $579 billion in new spending for roads, bridges and other projects continue to bedevil the talks.Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, Steve Ricchetti, counselor to President Joe Biden, and Louisa Terrell, the White House legislative affairs director, were at the Capitol for discussions with the 10-m Business • • GameStop Jumps After Raising $1.1 Billion in Stock Sale Plan (Bloomberg) -- GameStop Corp. climbed Tuesday after completing an at-the-market offering program by selling 5 million shares for a total of $1.13 billion via Jefferies.Shares of the video-game retailer rose 10% to $220.40 after the announcement. It will use net proceeds from the offering to invest in growth initiatives and maintain a strong balance sheet, the company said in a statement released Tuesday.GameStop is one of the Reddit-driven “meme” stocks that have soared this year. As retail trad Business • • Fed's Powell sticks to transient inflation scenario on Capitol Hill "The reference to price pressures which are “larger and may persist longer than expected” suggests Powell is more attune to upside inflation risks than a few months ago." "The dollar has crept a little lower, but has been under pressure for much of the day so I’d put that down more to just a continuation of the existing trend." World • • Argentina to Pay $430 Million to Paris Club, Avert Default (Bloomberg) -- Argentina will make a $430 million payment to the group of wealthy government creditors known as the Paris Club, avoiding a default after missing a $2.4 billion maturity last month.Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman said that the country came to an understanding with the group and will have until March 31 to renegotiate the remainder of the debt. The country will pay part of the $430 million before the end of July and the rest sometime next year. Guzman didn’t specify the World • • UPDATE 1-World Bank vows to keep board apprised of climate action progress The World Bank on Tuesday agreed to boost its spending on climate change to 35% from 28% and to provide annual progress reports to its board after its draft climate change action plan came under fire for lacking a clear implementation strategy. The bank, the largest source of climate finance for developing countries, said it would also publicly release a roadmap to show how it will help those nations meet their Paris climate accord targets. Bank officials pledged to provide the board with regular updates, with details to be included in an addendum to the plan, Genevieve Connors, who oversees tracking and reporting of climate finance for the World Bank, told Reuters. Business • • Powell Plays Down Inflation Though Prices Higher Than Expected (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the price increases seen in the economy recently are bigger than expected but reiterated that they will likely wane.“A pretty substantial part, or perhaps all of the overshoot in inflation comes from categories that are directly affected by the re-opening of the economy such as used cars and trucks,” Powell said Tuesday in response to a question before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “Those are things that we would Business • • Stocks Climb After Powell’s Inflation Reassurance: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks climbed after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his views that inflation pressures will be transitory even after a notable increase in recent months. The dollar fell.In a testimony to the House Select Subcommittee Tuesday, Powell said he’s got “a level of confidence” that prices will eventually come down, while noting that it would be “very, very unlikely” to see the kind of 1970s-style inflation. He also said that a 5% inflation environment wouldn’t be accepta Howell date : 210622 13h54m22s Business • • Ford to supply engines, transmissions for new U.S Postal delivery vehicles Ford Motor Co will provide engines, transmissions and other parts for the next-generation U.S. Postal Service (USPS) delivery vehicles being built by Oskhosh Defense. The USPS plans to buy a mix of electric and gasoline-powered Postal Service vehicles. Ford will provide parts for both the electric battery and internal combustion engine versions, including engines and transmissions made in Michigan, along with suspensions and other components, Ford said, declining to release financial terms. Business • • Microsoft Rises to Join Apple in Exclusive $2 Trillion Club (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. took its place in the history books as just the second U.S. public company to reach a $2 trillion market value, buoyed by bets its dominance in cloud computing and enterprise software will expand further in a post-coronavirus world.Its shares rose as much as 1.1% to $265.64 on Tuesday in New York, enough for the software company to join Apple Inc. as one of only two companies trading at such a lofty value. Saudi Aramco eclipsed that threshold briefly in December 20 Business • • Egypt eyes surge in fintech investment after new laws New legislation and regulatory changes in Egypt are set to unleash a surge in new fintech investments and change the way the country's largely unbanked citizens do business, industry players say. Fintech innovation in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, has trailed other emerging market powerhouses such as China, India, Kenya and Indonesia, a situation the industry hopes the new legal environment will change. One innovator is MNT NV, a microfinance lending and payments company with more than a million active customers and a 21.7% market share. Business • • CannTrust’s Ex-CEO, Chairman Charged Over Hidden Pot Plants (Bloomberg) -- CannTrust Holdings Inc.’s former chief executive officer, chairman and a board director have been charged with fraud and other offenses related to breaches of cannabis growing rules in Canada.The charges against former CEO Peter Aceto, former Chairman Eric Paul and former Vice Chairman Mark Litwin include making false statements to the Ontario Securities Commission and to the market, and authorizing or allowing other crimes, the regulator said Tuesday. Litwin and Paul were also ch World • • Chile weighing issue of third booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine Chile is studying the possibility of issuing a third, booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines, its president said on Tuesday, as the country seeks to beat back the latest wave of infections amid questions about how effective the widely used Sinovac vaccine is against more transmissible virus variants. President Sebastian Pinera said health experts were examining "many scientific studies" to determine if a third dose would be necessary as he launched the rollout of vaccines among teenagers in Chile. Chile has relied heavily on the COVID-19 shot developed by China's Sinovac to roll out one of the world's fastest vaccination campaigns, administering 16.8 million doses, along with 3.9 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and smaller amounts of inoculations from Cansino Biologics and AstraZeneca. Business • • Stocks Climb After Powell’s Inflation Reassurance: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks climbed after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his views that inflation pressures will be transitory even after a notable increase in recent months. The dollar fell.In a testimony to the House Select Subcommittee Tuesday, Powell said he’s got “a level of confidence” that prices will eventually come down, but it’s very hard to say when bottlenecks are going to disappear. He also noted that a 5% inflation environment wouldn’t be acceptable, and urged patience at Business • • Oil Slips Amid Signals of Potential OPEC+ Supply Hike (Bloomberg) -- Oil slid with reports that Russia and other OPEC+ nations are considering raising production in the wake of a tightly-supplied global crude market.Futures in New York fell 0.8% on Tuesday and Brent crude also declined after crossing $75 a barrel in Asia’s trading hours. While price indicators and inventory data show a pattern of demand outstripping supply, there are concerns that OPEC+ will boost output. The producer coalition will meet next week and Russia -- which jointly leads Howell date : 210622 13h23m45s Business • • Wait Times for Chips Hit Record 18 Weeks as Shortage Deepens (Bloomberg) -- Chip-starved industries from automakers to consumer electronics will need to wait a bit longer for components, as delays in filling orders continue to get worse.Chip lead times, the gap between ordering a semiconductor and taking delivery, increased by seven days to 18 weeks in May from the previous month, an indication that chipmakers’ struggles to keep up with demand are worsening, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. That gap, already the longest wait time sinc Business • • 3 reasons why airline delays and cancellations could persist this summer American Airlines' flight cancellations last weekend may have just been the beginning of headaches for summer travelers. Business • • Stocks Climb After Powell’s Inflation Reassurance: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his views that inflation pressures will be transitory. The dollar fell.In a testimony to the House Select Subcommittee Tuesday, Powell said he’s got “a level of confidence” that prices will eventually come down, but it’s very hard to say when bottlenecks are going to disappear. He also noted that a 5% inflation environment isn’t acceptable, and urged patience at evaluating data on prices.Earlier Tuesday, New York Fed Business • • U.S. business borrowings jump 20% in May - ELFA survey In the second straight month of double-digit growth in borrowings, more companies lined up for new loans, leases and lines of credit compared with last year, but borrowings in May fell 17% from the previous month. "With COVID-related payment modifications resolved for the most part, ELFA members report their portfolios performing well." Washington-based ELFA, which reports economic activity for the nearly $1-trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals rose to 77.4% in May from 76.3% in April. Business • • Former CannTrust CEO, directors charged in illegal pot growing case Two former directors and a former chief executive of Canadian cannabis producer CannTrust Holdings Inc have been charged with fraud in connection with an illegal cultivation scandal dating back to 2019, Ontario's markets regulator said on Tuesday. The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) said former CannTrust CEO Peter Aceto, and former directors Mark Litwin and Eric Paul were charged under the Securities Act for failing to disclose two years ago that about half the total growing area at CannTrust's Pelham, Ontario facility was not licensed by Health Canada. Politics • • Adams to Accept Outcome: McGuire in Brooklyn: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City residents are voting Tuesday for a mayor to lead the most populous U.S. city’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will run through 9 p.m. It will be the city’s first mayoral contest to be decided by ranked-choice voting, which asks New Yorkers to select their top five candidates rather than choose just one.Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams led in an Ipsos poll released Monday on the Democratic primary, with former presidential cand Business • • Powell Says Inflation From Reopening Larger Than Expected (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the price increases seen in the economy recently are bigger than expected but reiterated that they will likely wane.“A pretty substantial part, or perhaps all of the overshoot in inflation comes from categories that are directly affected by the re-opening of the economy such as used cars and trucks,” Powell said Tuesday in response to a question before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.But the Fed chair acknowledged th Howell date : 210622 12h53m08s Business • • Quality stocks haven't been this cheap in more than 20 years Quality is on sale in the stock market. You interested in buying? Business • • Labor union Teamsters to vote towards unionizing Amazon workers At its 30th international convention, representatives from 500 local unions, representing 1.4 million workers across the United States, will come together to discuss how it can support and help improve livelihoods of Amazon workers, Teamsters said in a statement. Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Amazon, one of the largest private employers in America, has for decades discouraged attempts among its over 800,000 U.S. employees to organize, showing managers how to identify union activity, raising wages and warning that union dues would cut into pay. Business • • Blackstone Bets $6 Billion on Shifting Path to Suburban Homes (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc.’s new single-family rental strategy is a $6 billion bet that tight housing markets will lead Americans to seek new ways to get suburban housing.The private equity giant agreed to buy Home Partners of America Inc., a rental company that owns more than 17,000 houses, according to a statement on Tuesday. The company gives tenants the option of buying their rental at a predetermined price, making it unique among large single-family landlords.Blackstone’s acquisit World • • Notices on Iran-linked websites say they have been seized by U.S. Notices appeared on Tuesday on a number of Iran-affiliated websites saying they had been seized by the United States government as part of law enforcement action. Iranian news agencies said that the U.S. government had seized several Iranian media websites and sites belonging to groups affiliated with Iran such as Yemen's Houthi movement. "The domain almasirah.net has been seized by the United States Government in accordance with a seizure warrant...as part of a law enforcement action by the Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and Federal Bureau of Investigation." World • • Tehran Says Nuclear Talks May Go Past August: Iran Snapshot (Bloomberg) -- Here is a snapshot of what’s happening with Iran nuclear talks and energy markets.Latest DevelopmentsIran raised the possibility that talks to rescue its nuclear deal with world powers could extend beyond August, when President Hassan Rouhani is set to be replaced by a hardline judge Ebrahim Raisi.Diplomats ended their latest round of negotiations in Vienna on Sunday and haven’t said when they’ll reconvene. They are trying to restore a 2015 agreement that limited Iran’s atomic act Howell date : 210622 12h22m30s Business • • US STOCKS-Nasdaq hits record high as Big Tech roars back The Nasdaq hit an intra-day record high on Tuesday, lifted by Amazon, Microsoft and other top-shelf growth companies, while investors awaited remarks about the economic recovery from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Amazon.com Inc rose 1.5% and was on track for its first record-high close since September, while Microsoft climbed 0.8% to an intra-day record. Business • • Why are bitcoin prices still plunging? Bitcoin prices remain under pressure. Here is one new reason why. Business • • Twitter opens applications to test new content subscription features Twitter Inc said Tuesday it will seek applications from users who want to be the first to test new content subscription and ticketing features, as the social platform works to build more ways for users to earn money. Twitter users can apply to get first access to "Super Follows," which will let them sell exclusive content to paying subscribers, and "Ticketed Spaces," to charge for entry into audio chat rooms they host on the platform. Both features are part of Twitter's plan to compete with other social media companies to attract more influential content creators by letting them earn money from fan followings. Business • • Extreme weather to push property insurance higher -Hippo CEO Extreme weather events and shortage of labour and materials for repairs will push property insurance rates higher in the next several years, the chief executive of U.S. home insurer Hippo said on Tuesday. As homeowners stayed home during the pandemic, their properties suffered more damage due to issues such as bathroom leaks, and it was harder to get tradespeople in to mop up, Assaf Wand, chief executive officer and co-founder of Hippo said in an interview at the Reuters Future of Insurance USA conference. "The severity of the claims increased quite significantly," Wand said, pointing to higher rates charged by plumbers and to buy lumber. Business • • MicroStrategy Leads Crypto Stock Slump as Bitcoin Bounces (Bloomberg) -- MicroStrategy Inc. sank, leading a slump in cryptocurrency-exposed stocks, as Bitcoin tumbled below the $30,000 key level for the first time in five months.The enterprise software company fell as much as 12%, its steepest intraday decline since May 19, before paring to a 4.5% loss on Tuesday. Shares of other crypto-linked firms stemmed their losses after Bitcoin plunged, briefly wiping out its entire gain for this year before recovering to rise as much as 2.1%. Shares of MicroStra Business • • Self-driving car tech firm Quanergy in China-backed SPAC deal to go public Quanergy Systems Inc, a supplier of self-driving car technology, said on Tuesday it will go public through a merger with Chinese blank-check company CITIC Capital Acquisition Corp. Quanergy is the latest company developing LiDAR technology - which uses laser beams to help generate a three-dimensional map of the road - to turn to a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to go public. Others that have done so include Peter Thiel-backed Luminar Technologies Inc and AEye Inc. Howell date : 210622 11h51m53s Business • • Amazon sees Prime Day sales boost amid supply chain snags Amazon Prime Day saw strong online sales growth in the United States on Monday even as supply chain snafus and a robust spending appetite limited the level of discounts on popular products like electronics. Total online sales across all U.S. retailers jumped 8.7% from last year's levels to $5.6 billion, data from Adobe's Digital Economy Index released on Tuesday showed. Amazon.com uses Prime Day deals to boost the number of subscribers to the program. Business • • Self-driving car tech firm Quanergy in China-backed SPAC deal to go public Quanergy Systems Inc, a supplier of self-driving car technology, said on Tuesday it will go public through a merger with Chinese blank-check company CITIC Capital Acquisition Corp. Quanergy is the latest company developing LiDAR technology - which uses laser beams to help generate a three-dimensional map of the road - to turn to a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to go public. Others that have done so include Peter Thiel-backed Luminar Technologies Inc and AEye Inc. Politics • • NYC’s Diversity Hailed; Adams to Accept Outcome: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City residents are voting Tuesday for a mayor to lead the most populous U.S. city’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will run through 9 p.m. It will be the city’s first mayoral contest to be decided by ranked-choice voting, which asks New Yorkers to select their top five candidates rather than choose just one.Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams led in an Ipsos poll released Monday on the Democratic primary, with former presidential cand Business • • UPDATE 1-Fed's Daly says could get to taper threshold late this year The U.S. central bank may be in a position to start reducing its extraordinary support of the U.S. economy by late this year or early next year, according to San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly. "I am bullish on the recovery," Daly told reporters on Tuesday after a talk on climate change risks at the Peterson Institute. "Substantial further progress" towards full employment and the Fed's 2% inflation goal - the threshold the Fed set last December for reducing its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases - is "within our line of sight - I think it's possible we could even get there some time late this year, early next year." Business • • Oil to Near $100, Commodities Boom Likely to Resume: Qatar Forum (Bloomberg) -- Oil prices are likely to keep rising toward $100 a barrel while a cool-off in commodity prices won’t last, leaders of key firms said at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday. The head of Royal Dutch Shell Plc said governments will need to help companies cut customer emissions.Earlier, one of Deutsche Bank AG’s top shareholders signaled his backing for consolidation in Europe’s financial services industry, arguing that the continent’s lenders need scale to compete globally. Billionai Business • • Bitcoin’s Money-Printing Machine Breaks Down as Futures Fall (Bloomberg) -- One of the most reliable trades in cryptocurrencies has gone awry.Bitcoin futures, which typically trade at a premium to the spot price, have collapsed along the curve amid a brutal selloff in the world’s largest cryptocurrency. That’s obliterated what’s known as the basis trade, in which a trader would buy Bitcoin in the spot market today and sell long-dated futures, locking in the discrepancy between the two prices.It’s a painful watershed for one of the crypto market’s most ubi Howell date : 210622 11h21m16s Business • • Colonial Pipeline Sued for Gas Crisis From Ransomware Attack (Bloomberg) -- Colonial Pipeline Co. was sued by a gas station seeking to represent thousands more over the ransomware attack in May that paralyzed the U.S. East Coast’s flow of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.EZ Mart 1 LLC, a two-pump station in Wilmington, North Carolina, buys its fuel from a distributor supplied by Colonial, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Georgia. Colonial’s headquarters, in Alpharetta, is the site of the “control center” where the electronic ransom n Business • • Krispy Kreme Seeks $640 Million in IPO as Sales Move Online (Bloomberg) -- Krispy Kreme Inc., the doughnut chain owned by JAB Holdings BV, is seeking to raise as much as $640 million in an initial public offering.The company said in a filing Tuesday that it plans to sell almost 27 million shares for $21 to $24 apiece. At the top end of the range, Krispy Kreme would have a market value of $3.86 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Amid photos of doughnuts dripping with sugary glaze a Business • • Citigroup’s Catherine Mann Named to BOE Rate-Setting Panel (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Catherine Mann, a former chief economist at Citigroup Inc. and the OECD, will become a policy maker at the Bank of England from September, bringing international experience to the central bank as it weighs when it recalibrate its easy-money stimulus.Mann will replace Gertjan Vlieghe, whose term expires in August, on the Monetary Policy Committee, according to a statement from the U.K. T Business • • Bitcoin Bounces Back After Tumbling Below $30,000 Threshold (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin briefly turned positive after tumbling earlier below $30,000 and erasing gains for the year amid growing concern about a broad crypto crackdown from China.The original cryptocurrency, which dropped below the key round-number level for the first time since January, has lost more than 50% from its mid-April high of almost $65,000. That compares with a gain of about 12% for the S&P 500 since the end of December. The coin started 2021 trading around $29,000 following a fourfol Politics • • NYC’s Diverse Slate Hailed; Ocasio-Cortez Picks: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City residents are voting Tuesday for a mayor to lead the most populous U.S. city’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will run through 9 p.m. It will be the city’s first mayoral contest to be decided by ranked-choice voting, which asks New Yorkers to select their top five candidates rather than choose just one.Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams led in an Ipsos poll released Monday on the Democratic primary, with former presidential cand Business • • Coinbase-backed crypto trading firm Amber Group valued at $1B Michael Wu, Amber Group Co-Founder and CEO joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest news as the firm hits $1 billion valuation after fresh funding. Business • • Amazon’s Prime Day U.S. Shoppers Spending Less Per Order So Far (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. shoppers in the U.S. spent less per order during the first 32 hours of the annual Prime Day sale than the previous two years, according to Numerator, suggesting shoppers are flocking to the site to buy diapers and cereal rather than flat-screen televisions and laptops.The average Amazon order was $47.14 in the first 32 hours of the event, down from $54.64 last year, when Prime Day fell in October. Order size also trailed the $58.91 in 2019, when Prime Day was in Ju Howell date : 210622 10h50m40s Politics • • What special relationship? Canada grimaces amid hail of U.S. trade blows After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a cordial first meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in February, marking an end to years of battles with the Trump administration, a relieved Canadian official said, "We feel we are off to the races here." But old trade disputes that flared up during the Trump years show no signs of fading. Last month Washington announced plans to double duties on imports of Canadian lumber and requested a dispute panel on Canada's dairy import quotas. Business • • Reddit-Hyped Oil Explorer Sells $100 Million in New Shares (Bloomberg) -- Torchlight Energy Resources Inc., the tiny oil company touted on Reddit as a possible short squeeze, moved quickly to cash in on its sudden popularity by selling about $100 million in new shares.The Texas-based oil driller that started the year with a market valuation of $71 million disclosed the share sale in a federal filing late Monday. Torchlight, which has seen its valuation more than double in just the past week to more than $1 billion, said it may issue another $150 million Business • • GameStop Jumps After Raising $1.1 Billion in Stock Sale Plan (Bloomberg) -- GameStop Corp. climbed Tuesday after completing an at-the-market offering program by selling 5 million shares for a total of $1.13 billion via Jefferies.Shares of the video-game retailer rose as much as 13% to $225.88 after the announcement, though the stock had pared the advance to about 5.5% around 12:15 p.m. in New York. It will use net proceeds from the offering to invest in growth initiatives and maintain a strong balance sheet, the company said in a statement released Tuesda Business • • MicroStrategy Leads Crypto Stock Slump as Bitcoin Bounces (Bloomberg) -- MicroStrategy Inc. sank, leading a slump in cryptocurrency-exposed stocks, as Bitcoin tumbled below the $30,000 key level for the first time in five months.The enterprise software company fell as much as 12%, its steepest intraday decline since May 19, before paring to a 4.1% loss. Shares of other crypto-linked firms sank as Bitcoin plunged, briefly wiping out its entire gain for this year before recouping some of its losses. Shares of the company -- which has been making a bullis Business • • Stock market news live updates: Nasdaq reaches record high, Bitcoin prices tumble on regulatory concerns in China Stocks drifted sideways on Tuesday, with equities steadying following concerns over the path forward for monetary policy. World • • UPDATE 1-Spain, Portugal likely to cut 2021 borrowing targets - debt officials Spain and Portugal will likely be able to reduce their government borrowing targets for 2021 in the second half of this year, debt management officials from both countries said on Tuesday. Spain's debt office head Pablo de Ramon-Laca Clausen said Spain would probably be in a position by the summer to reduce the issuance target for the rest of 2021. Portugal also expects to scale down the country's funding plan at the margin for the rest of the year as tax receipts for the country have been higher than expected, debt management office head Cristina Casalinho said. Business • • Wait Times for Chips Stretch Further, Deepening Shortage (Bloomberg) -- Chip-starved industries from automakers to consumer electronics will need to wait a bit longer for components, as delays in filling orders continue to get worse.Chip lead times, the gap between ordering a semiconductor and taking delivery, increased by seven days to 18 weeks in May from the previous month, an indication that chipmakers’ struggles to keep up with demand are worsening, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. That gap, already the longest wait time sinc Howell date : 210622 10h20m03s Business • • Why this surging chicken wing chain suddenly wants you to eat saucy thighs Wingstop is bullish on thighs. Business • • CannTrust’s Ex-CEO, Chairman Charged Over Hidden Pot Plants (Bloomberg) -- CannTrust Holdings Inc.’s former chief executive officer, chairman and a board director have been charged with fraud and other offenses related to breaches of cannabis growing rules.The charges against former CEO Peter Aceto, former Chairman Eric Paul and former Vice Chairman Mark Litwin include making false statements to the Ontario Securities Commission and to the market, and authorizing or allowing other crimes, the regulator said Tuesday. Litwin and Paul were also charged with Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks drift, Bitcoin prices tumble on regulatory concerns in China Stocks drifted sideways on Tuesday, with equities steadying following concerns over the path forward for monetary policy. Business • • WRAPUP 1-Record-high U.S. house prices, tight supply hold back sales U.S. home sales fell for a fourth straight month in May as record-high prices amid low inventory frustrated potential buyers, a trend that could persist for a while, with builders unable to deliver more houses because of expensive lumber. The decline in sales reported by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday was concentrated in the single-family housing segment, which benefited from a migration from cities as millions of Americans sought more spacious accommodations for home offices and schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing home sales dropped 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.80 million units last month. World • • UPDATE 1-Fed's Daly says climate change poses 'significant' economic risk Climate change poses a "significant risk" to the global economy and the financial system, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said on Tuesday, adding that large swaths of the United States could be disrupted. The economic reckoning with the effects of climate change - everything from how people work to what crops can be grown to property damage and capital investment - may also be unevenly felt across communities, Daly said in remarks prepared for delivery at a virtual event at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "No one really knows the severity and scale of climate change, where and who will be most affected, or the nature, extent, and duration of our response to the risks." Howell date : 210622 09h49m26s Politics • • Ocasio-Cortez Ranks Stringer 2nd; NYC Mayor Mum: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City residents are voting Tuesday for a mayor to lead the most populous U.S. city’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will run through 9 p.m. It will be the city’s first mayoral contest to be decided by ranked-choice voting, which asks New Yorkers to select their top five candidates rather than choose just one.Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams led in an Ipsos poll released Monday on the Democratic primary, with former presidential cand Business • • A Record Buyout Is Just the Start as Wealthy Flee Tax Hike (Bloomberg) -- For 110 years, four generations of Mills family members earned their money by expanding their great-grandfather’s Chicago apron business into a medical supplier that ranked among the nation’s largest private companies.But soon after Democrats turned their attention toward raising taxes for the wealthy this year, the family signed a deal to cash out billions.It was no coincidence, according to people close to the more-than $30 billion transaction, which sold part of Medline Industr Business • • India's antitrust watchdog orders probe into Google in smart TVs suit India's antitrust watchdog on Tuesday ordered an investigation into allegations that Alphabet Inc's Google abused its Android operating system's position in the country's smart television market. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which last year began looking into a case filed by two lawyers against the U.S. tech giant, said its initial review found Google had breached certain anti-competitive laws. The CCI said that based on information available, including submissions made by Google, it was "convinced that a case is made out for directing an investigation" by the CCI director general. Business • • Facebook’s Oculus Gets Swift Pushback Against VR Advertising (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. is already getting blowback for its plan to place advertisements in games on its Oculus virtual reality headset.Blaston, the futuristic shooter game by Resolution Games, has pulled out of the test days after Facebook announced it, citing complaints. Blaston was the only game Facebook confirmed had agreed to its test, though it said other developers were on board.“After listening to player feedback, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertisi Business • • Bitcoin wipes out 2021 gains as China crackdown continues Bitcoin's price fell to under $30,000 this morning, erasing all 2021 gains. World • • EU Commission approves Italy's 191.5 bln euro recovery scheme The European Commission approved on Tuesday Italy's 191.5 billion euro plan, the biggest in the European Union, to recover from the pandemic and transform the economy to become greener and more digitalised in coming years. Once the plan is also approved by EU finance ministers in July, Italy will get 24.9 billion euros in pre-financing for projects foreseen under the plan. The Commission said Italy would allocate 37% of all spending, the EU requirement, to fight climate change through renovation to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. Business • • Spain, Portugal likely to reduce borrowing target this year - debt management officials Spanish and Portuguese debt management officials said on Tuesday that they believe both countries will be in a position to reduce their borrowing targets for the year in the second half of 2021. Spain's debt management office head Pablo de Ramon-Laca Clausen said Spain would also probably be in a position by the summer to reduce the issuance target for the rest of the year. Portugal's debt management office head Cristina Casalinho also said she expects to scale down the country's funding plan at the margin for the rest of the year as tax receipts for the country were higher than expected. Howell date : 210622 09h18m49s World • • Fed's Daly says climate change poses 'significant' economic risk The economic reckoning with the effects of climate change - everything from how people work to what crops can be grown to property damage and capital investment - may also be unevenly felt across communities, Daly said in remarks prepared for delivery at a virtual event at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "No one really knows the severity and scale of climate change, where and who will be most affected, or the nature, extent, and duration of our response to the risks." Republicans have criticized the U.S. central bank for delving into the effects of climate change, saying that doing so distracts it from its congressionally-mandated job to pursue full employment and stable prices. World • • EU Commission approves Germany's 25.6 billion euro recovery plan The European Commission approved on Tuesday Germany's 25.6 billion euro plan to recover from the pandemic and transform the economy to become greener and more digitalised in coming years. Once the plan is also approved by EU finance ministers in July, Germany will get 2.3 billion euros in pre-financing for projects foreseen under the plan. "The reforms and investments outlined will contribute to the digitalisation and decarbonisation of the German economy so that it is better prepared for the future," Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. Business • • Stocks Rebound Amid Thin Trading Before Powell: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rebounded in a thin trading session, with traders awaiting a testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.The hearing could shed more light on how much longer the central bank should keep its monetary policy on an emergency footing -- especially after the recent hawkish pivot by Fed officials. Powell’s written remarks prepared for the appearance before the House Select Subcommittee at 2 p.m. Washington time show him sticking to the position that the pickup in inflatio Business • • Citigroup’s Catherine Mann Named to BOE Rate-Setting Panel (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Catherine Mann, a former chief economist at Citigroup Inc. and the OECD, will become a policy maker at the Bank of England from September, bringing international experience to the central bank as it weighs when it recalibrate its easy-money stimulus.Mann will replace Gertjan Vlieghe, whose term expires in August, on the Monetary Policy Committee, according to a statement from the U.K. T World • • Colonial Pipeline Sued for Gas Crisis From Ransomware Attack (Bloomberg) -- Colonial Pipeline Co. was sued by a gas station seeking to represent thousands more over the ransomware attack in May that paralyzed the U.S. East Coast’s flow of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.EZ Mart 1 LLC, a two-pump station in Wilmington, North Carolina, buys its fuel from a distributor supplied by Colonial, according to a complaint filed Monday in a Georgia federal court. Colonial’s corporate headquarters is in Alpharetta, Georgia, site of the “control center” where the electr Business • • Williams Says Fed’s Rate Liftoff Still Way Off in the Future (Bloomberg) -- A discussion about raising interest rates is still quite a ways off as the Federal Reserve begins debating tapering its bond-buying program, New York Fed President John Williams said.“That’s still way off in the future,” Williams said of rate hikes during a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday with Michael McKee and Jonathan Ferro. “Right now, really, I think the attention is on the taper.”The U.S. central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, on which Williams Business • • CannTrust’s Ex-CEO, Chairman Charged Over Pot-Growing Breaches (Bloomberg) -- CannTrust Holdings Inc.’s former chief executive officer, chairman and a board director have been charged with fraud and other offenses related to breaches of cannabis growing rules.The charges against former CEO Peter Aceto, former Chairman Eric Paul and former Vice Chairman Mark Litwin include making false statements to the Ontario Securities Commission and to the market, and authorizing or allowing other crimes, the regulator said Tuesday. Litwin and Paul were also charged with Howell date : 210622 08h48m12s Business • • GameStop Jumps After Raising $1.1 Billion in Stock Sale Program (Bloomberg) -- GameStop Corp. climbed Tuesday after completing an at-the-market offering program by selling 5 million shares for a total of $1.13 billion via Jefferies.Shares of the video-game retailer rose as much as 13% to $225.88 after the announcement. It will use net proceeds from the offering to invest in growth initiatives and maintain a strong balance sheet, the company said in a statement released Tuesday.GameStop is one of the Reddit-driven “meme” stocks that have soared this year. As Business • • Russian Firms Lure Vaccine Skeptics With Snowmobile Raffles (Bloomberg) -- Russian industrial giants, facing a third wave of Covid-19 infections that threatens to undermine the economic recovery, are trying to buy their way to herd immunity.Alrosa is raffling a snowmobile and Hyundai Solaris for workers who get vaccinated, Evraz and Severstal enter them into lotteries for cash and other prizes, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel offers an extra day off after the shots, and Phosagro lets employees jump to the front of the line to qualify for all-expense paid trips Business • • Aston Martin’s $3.5 Million Supercar Embroiled in Swiss Spat (Bloomberg) -- Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc said it’s suing a company affiliated with one of its dealers in Switzerland, alleging that it withheld customer deposits collected for the 2.5 million-pound ($3.5 million) Valkyrie supercar.The automaker accused Nebula Project AG of failing to pass some deposits taken from customers along to Aston Martin and said it has terminated an unconventional commercial arrangement its previous management team entered in 2016. Under the now-dissolved Business • • Gold Declines as Dollar Strengthens Ahead of Powell Testimony (Bloomberg) -- Gold slipped as the dollar strengthened ahead of testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who may provide more clues on the outlook for monetary policy.Inflation had picked up but should move back toward the Fed’s target once supply imbalances clear, Powell said in written remarks for his appearance Tuesday before a U.S. House subcommittee. Powell may face questions on his views about the pace of the economic rebound.Bullion tumbled the most in 15 months last week after t Business • • Venture capital firm Blockchain Capital raises $300 million from PayPal, Visa Founded in 2013, Blockchain Capital has so far invested in more than 110 companies, including cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase Global Inc and Kraken as well as crypto platform Anchorage and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea. Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies that were on the path to the mainstream crashed last month, hit by news of renewed regulatory scrutiny in China and Tesla boss Elon Musk halting the use of bitcoin for car purchases. Blockchain Capital said some investors in Fund V, including PayPal and Visa, will also be participating in a strategic partnership program. Business • • Stocks and Bonds Wobble as Powell Set to Testify: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks struggled to find direction on Tuesday after notching their biggest rally in five weeks, with traders awaiting a testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.The hearing could shed more light on how much longer the central bank should keep its monetary policy on an emergency footing -- especially after the recent hawkish pivot by Fed officials. Powell’s written remarks prepared for the appearance before the House Select Subcommittee at 2 p.m. Washington time show him Howell date : 210622 08h17m35s Business • • U.S. existing home sales decline as prices surge to record high Existing home sales dropped 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.80 million units last month, back to their pre-pandemic level, the National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday. Properties typically remained on the market for 17 days in May, down from 26 days in May 2020. World • • U.N. expert says Eritrea has 'effective control' in parts of Tigray Eritrea now has "effective control" of parts of Ethiopia's Tigray region, a U.N. human rights expert said on Tuesday, calling for troops to withdraw and for a prompt investigation into abuses, including the abduction of refugees. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, was addressing the Human Rights Council a day after he presented a report that described violations by Eritrean troops in Tigray, including summary executions and the abduction and disappearance of Eritrean refugees there. Business • • ‘Roller-Coaster Ride’ in Bonds Puts Onus on Powell to Bring Calm (Bloomberg) -- Treasury traders are looking for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to provide some calm after a volatile few sessions that have sent yields on what one bank described as a “roller-coaster ride.”Ten-year yields have swung in a 25-basis-point range in the past three sessions, having initially been thrown higher by the Fed’s comments that brought forward bets on interest-rate hikes. Monday’s trading encapsulated that volatility, with yields initially dropping to 1.35% before climbi Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks drift lower, Bitcoin prices tumble on regulatory concerns in China Stocks slipped on Tuesday to give back some gains from day earlier, with equities steadying following concerns over the path forward for monetary policy. Business • • Digital banking startup Majority raises new round led by Valar Ventures Majority, a Houston and Stockholm-based digital banking provider for immigrant communities in the United States said on Tuesday that it had raised $19 million in seed funding. The round was led by New York-based Valar Ventures, the venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel, with participation from Avid Ventures, Heartcore Capital and a group of former startup founders, the company said. Majority will use the cash injection to grow the business and expand to new migrant communities in US, CEO Magnus Larsson said in an interview. Howell date : 210621 22h38m32s Business • • SpaceX's Starlink expects it can provide global coverage around September Starlink, the satellite internet unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX, expects to be able to provide continuous global coverage by around September but will then need to seek regulatory approvals, its president Gwynne Shotwel said on Tuesday. "We've successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe," she told a Macquarie Group technology conference via webcast. Business • • Key Oil Spread Jumps to Seven-Year High in Sign of Supply Crunch (Bloomberg) -- A key spread between monthly oil futures contracts has blown out to the widest level in seven years as traders bet that U.S. crude inventories are about to get a whole lot tighter.The premium traders are placing on West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery over October contracts touched $1.12 a barrel on Monday. Before this, the gap between the third- and fourth-closest contracts had only traded above $1 over two periods in the past 13 years -- in 2008 and from mid-2013 Business • • Stocks, Futures Up as Concerns Over Fed Pivot Ease: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose Tuesday, tracking a U.S. equity rebound, as the prospect of gradual policy tightening tempered concerns over the Federal Reserve’s hawkish tilt. Treasuries and the dollar stabilized after a retreat.Japanese shares outperformed, helping a gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks to the biggest climb in about three weeks. S&P 500 contracts edged up after the index rallied overnight, aided by a revival of the value trade in sectors like energy and financials. European equity fu Business • • Treasury Yields Rebound From Post-Fed Plunge to Multi-Month Lows (Bloomberg) -- Yields on longer-dated Treasuries rebounded in the U.S. session Monday after collapsing to multi-month lows during a broad risk-off move earlier in Asia trading, as American stocks rebounded and reflationary bets began to return.The yield on the benchmark 30-year bond ended the day up close to 10 basis points at around 2.11% after diving to 1.93%, a level unseen since February. Yields on the 10-year note saw the third largest intraday swing of the year after plummeting to 1.35% in Business World Business World • • UPDATE 1-Criticism of Apple Daily raid is attempt to 'beautify' security threats-HK leader Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam hit back on Tuesday against criticism of authorities' actions against pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily as attempts to "beautify" acts that endangered national security. Hundreds of police raided the newspaper last week as part of a national security probe in which senior Apple Daily executives were arrested over allegations of "collusion with a foreign country" and HK$18 million ($2.3 million) in assets frozen. Police have said dozens of Apple Daily articles may have violated the security law, the first instance of authorities targeting media articles under the legislation. Howell date : 210621 18h44m45s Howell date : 210621 17h44m08s U.S. • • U.S. administers more than 318 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC The United States has administered 318,576,441 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 317,966,408 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by June 20. The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna MRNA.O and Pfizer/BioNTech as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Monday. Business • • EMBARGOED-Canadian convenience store operator Parkland rolls out EV charging network in B.C. Parkland Corp said on Monday it will open up to 100 ultra-fast electric vehicle charging ports in British Columbia by 2022, creating the largest network in the province by site count, up from just a handful in Canada today. Calgary-based Parkland, Canada's second largest convenience store operator, said it will invest C$10 million $8.09 million) in the network at about 25 existing retail sites from Vancouver Island to Calgary. "What we can offer our customers is charge points every 100 to 150 kilometres (93.2 miles) along major routes," Parkland chief executive Bob Espey told Reuters. World • • Delta Strain Spreads in U.S., India Dose Record: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is gaining steam in undervaccinated pockets of the U.S., according to a study. Coupled with accelerating cases in the South, the finding casts a pall on the inoculation effort in the country even though 150 million Americans have been fully vaccinated.India gave more than 8.5 million doses on Monday, setting a daily record for the nation. In Japan, the Tokyo Olympics will limit the number of spectators to 10,000 people per ven Business • • Chicken Producer Sanderson Exploring Sale, Dow Jones Says (Bloomberg) -- Sanderson Farms Inc., the U.S.’s third-biggest chicken producer, is exploring a sale, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The company has hired Centerview Partners to give advice about a sale, and potential buyers include Continental Grain Co., according to Dow Jones.Chief Financial Officer Mike Cockrell declined to comment, citing company policy on not responding to market speculation. Centerview and Continental Grain, which owns Wayne Farms LLC, the sixth- World • • UPDATE 1-World's biggest pork plant in U.S. unable to ship to Mexico -USDA website The world's biggest pork plant - a Smithfield Foods Inc facility in North Carolina - has been ineligible to export to Mexico since last Wednesday, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture website. Mexico has historically been the biggest export market for U.S. pork by volume, although it was surpassed last year by China. A major buyer of hams, Mexico purchased about 708,00 metric tons of U.S. pork in 2019 worth about $1.3 billion. Business • • Asia Stocks to Rise as Worries Over Fed Pivot Ease: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks Tuesday are set to track a U.S. equity rebound as the prospect of very gradual policy tightening tempers some of the concerns about the Federal Reserve’s hawkish tilt. Treasuries and the dollar retreated.Futures rose in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The S&P 500 rallied the most in five weeks, outperforming the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100, aided by a revival of the value trade in sectors like energy and financials. U.S. equity contracts were steady in early trading.Y Howell date : 210621 16h43m31s World • • Delta Strain Spreads in U.S., India Dose Record: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is gaining steam in undervaccinated pockets of the U.S., according to a study. Coupled with accelerating cases in the South, the finding casts a pall on the inoculation effort in the country even though more than 45% of the population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.India gave more than 8.5 million doses on Monday, setting a daily record for the nation. In Japan, the Tokyo Olympics will limit the number of spectator Business • • Asia Stocks to Rise as Worries Over Fed Pivot Ease: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks are set to track a rebound in U.S. equities as the prospect of very gradual policy tightening tempers some of the concerns about the Federal Reserve’s hawkish tilt. Treasuries and the dollar retreated.Futures rose in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The S&P 500 rallied the most in five weeks, outperforming the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100, aided by a revival of the value trade in sectors like energy and financials. Crude oil and gold jumped as a dollar gauge snapped a s Business • • Goldman Zeroes In on Millennial Spending With South African Fund (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a unit of South Africa’s Discovery Ltd. have tailored an investment offering to profit from trends such as the spending habits of millennials and advances in health care.Discovery’s Global Megatrends Fund allows clients in South Africa to allocate investments equally across four of Goldman’s equity portfolios linked to the themes of technology, health care, environmental sustainability and a younger generation of consumers.Customers will have acc U.S. • • Adams Overtakes Yang in Google Searches: NYC Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City’s mayoral primary is a day away. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams held onto his lead in a new poll from Ipsos, with Andrew Yang in second, Kathryn Garcia in third and Maya Wiley in fourth.Early voting ended Sunday afternoon with nearly 200,000 people casting their ballots. That’s more than one-fourth of the roughly 700,000 New Yorkers that went to the polls in 2013 when Mayor Bill de Blasio won the Democratic primary.Garcia, the former city Sanitation Commission Business • • UPDATE 1-U.S. NRC launches investigation at Southern Georgia Vogtle 3 nuclear unit The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Monday it launched a special inspection at Southern Co's Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia to identify what led to remediation work at the third unit, which is under construction. The NRC said its team will focus on the electrical cable raceway system, which is designed to prevent a single event from disabling redundant safety-related equipment. Business World Business Howell date : 210621 15h42m55s Business • • Chicken Producer Sanderson Exploring Sale, Dow Jones Says (Bloomberg) -- Sanderson Farms Inc., the U.S.’s third-biggest chicken producer, is exploring a sale, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The company has hired Centerview Partners to give advice about a sale, and potential buyers include Continental Grain Co., according to Dow Jones.Chief Financial Officer Mike Cockrell declined to comment, citing company policy on not responding to market speculation. Centerview and Continental Grain, which owns Wayne Farms LLC, the sixth- World • • EssiLux weighs ending $8.6 billion Grandvision takeover after court rules Spectacles maker EssilorLuxottica on Monday said it was considering canceling its proposed 7.2 billion-euro ($8.6 billion) takeover of Dutch eyewear store operator Grandvision, after a Dutch court said EssilorLuxottica was no longer obliged to go through with the deal. An arbitration court in the Netherlands on Monday ruled that Grandvision had breached obligations of the takeover agreement, which meant that EssiLux was no longer bound to the pact. EssilorLuxottica, French-Italian maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, in a statement said it welcomed the decision. Business • • Powell Renews Forecast for Inflation Subsiding Toward Fed’s Goal (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said inflation had picked up but should move back toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% target once supply imbalances resolve.“Inflation has increased notably in recent months,” Powell said in written remarks prepared for his Tuesday testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, citing increases in oil prices and a “rebound” in Politics • • U.S. trade boss Tai: We will not incentivize firms to move jobs overseas The Biden administration said on Monday it was working closely with the United Autoworkers union in pressing Mexico to probe alleged labor rights violations at a General Motors Co plant in that country, and vowed to fight for a worker-focused trade policy. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told members of the UAW union during a visit to Flint, Michigan, that the Biden administration would work to implement trade policies that lifted wages and expanded opportunity for workers everywhere. "At USTR we want to encourage a race to the top with higher standards and real, rapid enforcement of our trade agreements," she said. World • • Delta Strain Spreads in U.S., Canada Eases Travel: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is gaining steam in undervaccinated pockets of the U.S., according to a study. Coupled with accelerating cases in the South, the finding casts a pall on the inoculation effort in the country even though more than 45% of the population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.Canada announced a loosening of travel restrictions for fully vaccinated people. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said England is on track for curbs to Business • • NY Fed's Williams says he is not concerned by higher use of reverse repo facility "It's effective and I'm not concerned about the amount of uptake on that ... or whether it would increase further," Williams told reporters. Usage of the program, known as the reverse repo facility, surged further after the Fed lifted the rate it pays firms to 0.05% from zero at last week's policy meeting, a move Williams said was aimed at helping to keep the Fed's key benchmark rate within the target range of zero to 0.25%. Firms parked a record $765 billion overnight with the Fed on Monday. Business • • What is polkadot and how it's catching up to ethereum: former NYSE trader Polkadot is an ethereum competitor that's gaining the attention of Wall Street Howell date : 210621 10h28m04s World • • EU slaps sanctions on more Myanmar officials, state companies The European Union on Monday imposed a third round of sanctions on Myanmar officials and state companies over the military coup on Feb. 1 that overthrew elected leader Aung Suu Kyi and sent the country tumbling into chaos. Neither sanctions nor diplomacy nor the increasing violence have had an obvious impact on the junta, which argues that the coup which ended 10 years of tentative democratic reforms will bring a "disciplined democracy." The EU imposed an asset freeze and a travel ban on eight Myanmar officials, among them the home affairs minister responsible for the police force, and slapped sanctions on three companies that are state-owned or controlled by the military. World • • U.S. Says 150 Million Have Been Fully Vaccinated: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. said 150 million Americans have been fully inoculated against Covid-19. Canada announced a loosening of travel restrictions for fully vaccinated people. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said England is on track for curbs to be lifted in July, while Germany warned a fourth wave is possible. Hong Kong cut its mandatory hotel quarantine in half for international travelers from most places.Cases surged in Indonesia, and China said it needs to fully vaccinate 80%-85% of the p World • • KPMG faces call for record fine from British accounting watchdog Britain's accounting watchdog called for KPMG's UK arm to be fined more than 15 million pounds ($21 million) on Monday over a 'conflict of interest' when it advised on the sale of bed maker Silentnight. KPMG, which is one of the world's Big Four auditors and was advising on the sale to U.S. private equity company HIG Capital in 2011, said the fine should be no more than 5 million pounds, and that it no longer has a restructuring business. An independent tribunal was held on Monday to determine sanctions on KPMG and one of its partners following the tribunal's "adverse findings" of loss of objectivity. Business • • Soho House Owner Plans New York IPO for Members-Only Club Group (Bloomberg) -- Membership Collective Group, the company behind the trendy Soho House members clubs, has filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.The firm, which owns 28 Soho House clubs around the world, plans to list its Class A common stock under the symbol MCG, according to a statement Monday. Its portfolio also includes nine members-only workspaces in London, Los Angeles and New York, the Ned in London and interiors retailer Soho Home.Founded in 1995 in London’s So Business • • Tiny Texas Oil Driller Hyped on Reddit Surges 130% in a Week (Bloomberg) -- Obscure oil company Torchlight Energy Resources Inc. saw its shares more than double in a week after it became the latest stock touted on Reddit as a possible short squeeze.The Plano, Texas-based company jumped as much as 74% to $10.88 a share on Monday before paring some gains, though it’s still up about 130% from a week ago. Torchlight, which has a market capitalization of about $1.2 billion, is the second-biggest gainer on the Nasdaq this year.In December, Torchlight announced Business • • Soaring costs challenge Canadian retailers counting on post-COVID surge Canadian retailers are readying for a post-pandemic rebound as consumers emerge from lockdowns and open their wallets, but higher costs are eroding their profit margins and fanning inflationary pressures. Skyrocketing transport and input costs - fueled by a global shipping container shortage and surging demand for raw materials - mean prices set a few months ago no longer make sense, especially when demand for goods is so high that certain products are selling out before they even arrive. While the Bank of Canada says the current period of high inflation is transitory, it warned this month that if supply imbalances persist, inflation might lead it to reduce stimulus more quickly than expected. Howell date : 210621 09h57m28s Howell date : 210620 22h08m21s Business • • Emerging-Market Bulls Pin Currency Hopes on Hawks Outpacing Fed (Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market currencies hit by a hawkish Federal Reserve may soon regain their record run against the dollar on expectations that developing central banks may outpace their U.S. counterpart in policy tightening.The currencies of Brazil, Russia, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Hungary -- countries that delivered multiple rate hikes or are expected to do so soon -- are retaining quarterly gains and outperforming peers. More may join their ranks, with tightening expectations Business • • Evergrande Bounces After Four-Year Low, Squeezing Shorts (Bloomberg) -- China Evergrande Group shares posted wild swings on Monday, rallying as much as 7% after touching a four-year low in Hong Kong, squeezing short sellers.Shares of Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan’s flagship property developer jumped to as much as HK$10.60, rebounding from the lowest since May 2017. The stock has dropped about 50% since he clinched a deal with investors to avert a cash crunch in September.Short interest in Evergrande shares has surged threefold in three weeks, putting World • • Shenzhen Tightens Travel Rules; Toyota Gives Shots: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Shenzhen, China’s southern tech hub, is tightening restrictions on public transit and at the airport, as nearly 40 inbound passengers tested positive for Covid.Japan is looking to accelerate its vaccine rollout by allowing private employers and universities to administer shots on-site. Russia, Germany and Portugal reported an expanding spread of the highly transmissible delta variant that first appeared in India.Guests lined up to board Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s Freedom of th Business • • Axiata, Telenor to Ink $11 Billion Deal for Malaysia Tie-up (Bloomberg) -- Axiata Group Bhd. and Norway’s Telenor ASA will sign a definitive agreement as soon as Monday to combine their Malaysian mobile operations in what would be the biggest telecom transaction in the southeast Asian country, people familiar with the matter said.The boards of Axiata and Telenor approved the transaction and an announcement could come as early as Monday, the people said, asking not to be named as the process is private. The terms of a deal will be largely similar to what World Business Business Howell date : 210620 20h07m44s World • • Oil edges up as Iran nuclear talks drag on Oil prices nudged up on Monday, underpinned by strong demand during the summer driving season and a pause in talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal that could indicate a delay in resumption of supplies from the OPEC producer. Brent crude futures for August gained 30 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.81 a barrel by 0051 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July was at $71.96 a barrel, up 32 cents, or 0.5%. Both benchmarks have gained for the past four weeks amid optimism over the pace of global vaccinations and a pick up in summer travel. Business • • Stocks, Yields Decline as Fed Pivot Saps Reflation: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks slid Monday and Treasury yields fell as traders soured on the reflation trade in the wake of a hawkish pivot by the Federal Reserve. The dollar remained at about a two-month high.Japan led the Asian equity retreat, with the Nikkei 225 dropping as much as 3.4%, while U.S. futures edged down after an S&P 500 slump. Hong Kong fell and Chinese shares were modestly lower. Treasury yields slipped, taking the 30-year rate below 2% for the first time since February, as the prospect Business • • In Good Sign for Global Economy, Korea Exports Post Early Double-Digit Gains (Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s exports are set to climb by double digits again in June as the global economy shakes off the effects of the pandemic, though a slower pace from recent months suggests the days of outsize gains may have passed.Exports rose 29.5% in the first 20 days of the month from a year earlier, the customs office reported Monday. Adjusted for calendar effects, average daily shipments increased 33.7% in the period, which had half a business day less compared with last year.As vacc World • • U.S. Warns China on Covid Origin; Cruise Sets Sail: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- China will risk international isolation if it fails to allow a “real” investigation on its territory into the origins of the virus that caused the pandemic, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. Japan looks to accelerate its vaccine rollout by allowing private employers and universities to administer shots on-site. Russia, Germany and Portugal reported an expanding spread of the highly transmissible delta variant that first appeared in India.Guests lined up to board R World Business U.S. Business • • Dollar holds near multi-month high after Fed's hawkish tilt The dollar held near multi-month peaks against other major currencies on Monday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets last week by signalling it would raise interest rates and end emergency bond-buying sooner than expected. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, stood at 92.232 after gaining 1.9% last week, its biggest rise since March 2020. "Like many, I had expected the 61.8 Fibonacci retracement in the dollar index to hold for a bit ... and at least see some consolidation," said Chris Weston, the head of research at Pepperstone Markets Ltd, a foreign exchange broker based in Melbourne. Howell date : 210620 18h07m08s Howell date : 210619 23h05m49s World • • U.S. Sends Taiwan Shots; Brazil Deaths Top 500,000: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. sent 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine to Taiwan, reflecting part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to donate 25 million shots worldwide to stem the pandemic. Amid a spike in cases over the past six weeks, Taiwan still faces a serious shortage of vaccines.Brazil reached 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. As the milestone was officially passed, thousands protested in major cities against President Jair Bolsonaro and his handlin World • • Olympics-Organisers show off Olympic village a month before Games begin Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics opened the athletes' village to the media on Sunday, showing off apartments and a timber-laced shopping plaza where 11,000 athletes would stay and mingle during the sporting extravaganza. The once-delayed Games are due to start on July 23 amid concern that the influx of thousands of people from around the world would contribute to the spread of the novel coronavirus. Japan has avoided the kind of explosive outbreaks that crippled many other countries. World • • 'Forces for good will prevail' - Taiwan welcomes massive US vaccine aid Taiwan reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the United States for shipping 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the major semiconductor-producing island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections. Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through "vaccine diplomacy," initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden's administration advances its pledge to send 80 million U.S.-made shots around the world. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted she was touched by the U.S. move. World • • UPDATE 1-Cuba encouraged by early efficacy results of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine Cuba's Soberana 2 vaccine candidate has shown 62% efficacy with just two of its three doses, state-run biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said on Saturday, citing preliminary data from late phase trials. Cuba, whose biotech sector https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-vaccine-cuba-focus-idUKKBN27S1OZ has exported vaccines for decades, has five vaccine candidates in clinical trials, of which two - Soberana 2 and Abdala - are in late phase trials. "In a few weeks we should have the results for the efficacy with three doses which we expect will be superior," said Vicente Vérez​, director of the state-run Finlay Vaccine Institute, which developed Soberana 2. World • • Airlines, holiday companies ramp up pressure on Britain to ease travel rules Britain's airlines and holiday companies are planning a "day of action" on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season. Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. As the clock ticks down to July, Europe's biggest airline Ryanair and Manchester Airports Group on Thursday launched legal action to try to get the government to ease the rules before the industry's most profitable season starts. World • • UK's Sunak considers cap to annual pension rise - Sunday Times British finance minister Rishi Sunak is considering blocking a near 6% rise in old-age pension payments as part of a wider effort to rein in the cost of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spending, the Sunday Times newspaper said. Under a pension promise in the Conservative Party's 2019 election campaign, state pensions are meant to rise each year by the highest of the annual inflation rate, wage growth or 2.5%. Due partly to distortions from the coronavirus pandemic, annual wages in the three months to April grew by an annual 5.6% - creating an extra 4 billion pound ($5.5 billion) annual cost for future pensions. World • • Brazil Deaths Reach 500,000; U.S. Shots to Taiwan: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Brazil reached 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. As the milestone was officially passed, thousands protested in major cities against President Jair Bolsonaro and his handling of the pandemic.U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S Howell date : 210619 21h05m13s World World • • 'Forces for good will prevail' - Taiwan welcomes massive US vaccine aid Taiwan reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the United States for shipping 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the major semiconductor-producing island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections. Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through "vaccine diplomacy," initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden's administration advances its pledge to send 80 million U.S.-made shots around the world. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted she was touched by the U.S. move. World • • U.S. Sends Taiwan Shots; Brazil Deaths Top 500,000: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. sent 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine to Taiwan, reflecting part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to donate 25 million shots worldwide to stem the pandemic. Amid a spike in cases over the past six weeks, Taiwan still faces a serious shortage of vaccines. Brazil reached 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. As the milestone was officially passed, thousands protested in major cities against President Jair Bolsonaro and his handli World • • Airlines, holiday companies ramp up pressure on Britain to ease travel rules Britain's airlines and holiday companies are planning a "day of action" on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season. Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. As the clock ticks down to July, Europe's biggest airline Ryanair and Manchester Airports Group on Thursday launched legal action to try to get the government to ease the rules before the industry's most profitable season starts. World • • UK's Sunak considers cap to annual pension rise - Sunday Times British finance minister Rishi Sunak is considering blocking a near 6% rise in old-age pension payments as part of a wider effort to rein in the cost of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spending, the Sunday Times newspaper said. Under a pension promise in the Conservative Party's 2019 election campaign, state pensions are meant to rise each year by the highest of the annual inflation rate, wage growth or 2.5%. Due partly to distortions from the coronavirus pandemic, annual wages in the three months to April grew by an annual 5.6% - creating an extra 4 billion pound ($5.5 billion) annual cost for future pensions. World • • Brazil Deaths Reach 500,000; U.S. Shots to Taiwan: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Brazil reached 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. As the milestone was officially passed, thousands protested in major cities against President Jair Bolsonaro and his handling of the pandemic.U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S U.S. • • Texas Student Housing Authority Files for Bankruptcy (Bloomberg) -- Texas Student Housing Authority filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, listing between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities.The non-profit, state chartered corporation had assets of $1 million to $10 million, and as many as 199 creditors, according to a June 18 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.The Southlake, Texas-based organization was established in 1995 to purchase and manage student housing facilities located near the campuses of maj Business • • Taper No Grounds for Tantrum to Stock Bulls Wielding $28 Billion (Bloomberg) -- The thought of central bank policy makers easing off their campaign to liquefy bond markets has hung like a sword over equity investors for years. At least at the earnings level, there may be less reason for anguish than is usually recognized.Research from UBS Group AG says that should the Federal Reserve turn off the spigot on its annual $1.4 trillion in quantitative-easing spending, the hit to the S&P 500 Index would be a 3% decline in prices. That’s a relatively paltry headwind Howell date : 210619 19h04m36s World • • Airlines, holiday companies ramp up pressure on Britain to ease travel rules Britain's airlines and holiday companies are planning a "day of action" on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season. Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. As the clock ticks down to July, Europe's biggest airline Ryanair and Manchester Airports Group on Thursday launched legal action to try to get the government to ease the rules before the industry's most profitable season starts. World • • UK's Sunak considers cap to annual pension rise - Sunday Times British finance minister Rishi Sunak is considering blocking a near 6% rise in old-age pension payments as part of a wider effort to rein in the cost of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spending, the Sunday Times newspaper said. Under a pension promise in the Conservative Party's 2019 election campaign, state pensions are meant to rise each year by the highest of the annual inflation rate, wage growth or 2.5%. Due partly to distortions from the coronavirus pandemic, annual wages in the three months to April grew by an annual 5.6% - creating an extra 4 billion pound ($5.5 billion) annual cost for future pensions. World • • Brazil Deaths Reach 500,000; U.S. Shots to Taiwan: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Brazil reached 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. As the milestone was officially passed, thousands protested in major cities against President Jair Bolsonaro and his handling of the pandemic.U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S U.S. • • Texas Student Housing Authority Files for Bankruptcy (Bloomberg) -- Texas Student Housing Authority filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, listing between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities.The non-profit, state chartered corporation had assets of $1 million to $10 million, and as many as 199 creditors, according to a June 18 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.The Southlake, Texas-based organization was established in 1995 to purchase and manage student housing facilities located near the campuses of maj Business • • Taper No Grounds for Tantrum to Stock Bulls Wielding $28 Billion (Bloomberg) -- The thought of central bank policy makers easing off their campaign to liquefy bond markets has hung like a sword over equity investors for years. At least at the earnings level, there may be less reason for anguish than is usually recognized.Research from UBS Group AG says that should the Federal Reserve turn off the spigot on its annual $1.4 trillion in quantitative-easing spending, the hit to the S&P 500 Index would be a 3% decline in prices. That’s a relatively paltry headwind Business • • Bank Stocks Lurch Into Ranks of June’s Worst as Rally Unravels (Bloomberg) -- U.S. bank stocks are morphing from leaders into losers amid more signs that their searing 35% rally through this year’s first five months may have outrun the fundamentals.With two weeks left in the quarter, some investors aren’t waiting around to find out. The S&P 500 Banks Index, which rose three times more than the broad market through May, slid 8.1% this past week and more than 10% so far this month. This left indexes of the largest U.S. diversified lenders and regional banks r Business • • Maverick’s Last Shot at BOE Will Sound Inflation Alarm: Eco Week (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Bank of England’s chief economist is poised to sound an alarm bell on inflation before he leaves the building.Andy Haldane is likely to emphasize the risk of price growth getting out of control when he attends his final Monetary Policy Committee decision on Thursday. He’s been the sole advocate on the panel for dialing down stimulus and outspoken on the growing threat of inflation, Business • • Bond Sales to Dwindle as U.S. Summer Lull Begins (Bloomberg) -- New high-grade bond sales are expected to slow next week as the U.S. summer lull starts to kick in, with syndicate desks calling for just $15 billion to $20 billion of fresh supply.Eyes will be on Treasury yields following a turbocharged flattening of the curve this week as traders brought forward expectations for when the Federal Reserve will start raising rates. Increasing confidence that Fed tightening will help check inflation weighed on the long-end Friday, sending the 30-yea Howell date : 210619 17h03m59s World • • Brazil Deaths Reach 500,000; U.S. Shots to Taiwan: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Brazil reached 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. As the milestone was officially passed, thousands protested in major cities against President Jair Bolsonaro and his handling of the pandemic.U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S U.S. • • Texas Student Housing Authority Files for Bankruptcy (Bloomberg) -- Texas Student Housing Authority filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, listing between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities.The non-profit, state chartered corporation had assets of $1 million to $10 million, and as many as 199 creditors, according to a June 18 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.The Southlake, Texas-based organization was established in 1995 to purchase and manage student housing facilities located near the campuses of maj Business • • Taper No Grounds for Tantrum to Stock Bulls Wielding $28 Billion (Bloomberg) -- The thought of central bank policy makers easing off their campaign to liquefy bond markets has hung like a sword over equity investors for years. At least at the earnings level, there may be less reason for anguish than is usually recognized.Research from UBS Group AG says that should the Federal Reserve turn off the spigot on its annual $1.4 trillion in quantitative-easing spending, the hit to the S&P 500 Index would be a 3% decline in prices. That’s a relatively paltry headwind Business • • Bank Stocks Lurch Into Ranks of June’s Worst as Rally Unravels (Bloomberg) -- U.S. bank stocks are morphing from leaders into losers amid more signs that their searing 35% rally through this year’s first five months may have outrun the fundamentals.With two weeks left in the quarter, some investors aren’t waiting around to find out. The S&P 500 Banks Index, which rose three times more than the broad market through May, slid 8.1% this past week and more than 10% so far this month. This left indexes of the largest U.S. diversified lenders and regional banks r Business • • Maverick’s Last Shot at BOE Will Sound Inflation Alarm: Eco Week (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Bank of England’s chief economist is poised to sound an alarm bell on inflation before he leaves the building.Andy Haldane is likely to emphasize the risk of price growth getting out of control when he attends his final Monetary Policy Committee decision on Thursday. He’s been the sole advocate on the panel for dialing down stimulus and outspoken on the growing threat of inflation, Business • • Bond Sales to Dwindle as U.S. Summer Lull Begins (Bloomberg) -- New high-grade bond sales are expected to slow next week as the U.S. summer lull starts to kick in, with syndicate desks calling for just $15 billion to $20 billion of fresh supply.Eyes will be on Treasury yields following a turbocharged flattening of the curve this week as traders brought forward expectations for when the Federal Reserve will start raising rates. Increasing confidence that Fed tightening will help check inflation weighed on the long-end Friday, sending the 30-yea World • • Chevron returning offshore workers, restarts output halted by U.S. storm HOUSTON (Reuters) -Chevron Corp said on Saturday it was returning offshore workers who had been evacuated ahead of Tropical Storm Claudette from its Gulf of Mexico production platforms. Chevron said it was ramping up production at its Tahiti platform where production had been halted by the storm. Other Chevron-operated facilities in the Gulf are running at normal levels, it said in a notice on its website https://www.chevron.com/media/updates. Howell date : 210619 15h03m23s World World • • Chevron returning offshore workers, restarts output halted by U.S. storm HOUSTON (Reuters) -Chevron Corp said on Saturday it was returning offshore workers who had been evacuated ahead of Tropical Storm Claudette from its Gulf of Mexico production platforms. Chevron said it was ramping up production at its Tahiti platform where production had been halted by the storm. Other Chevron-operated facilities in the Gulf are running at normal levels, it said in a notice on its website https://www.chevron.com/media/updates. U.S. • • U.S. administers more than 317 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC The United States has administered 317,117,797 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 379,003,410 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 316,048,776 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by June 18 out of 377,935,390 doses delivered. The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna MRNA.O and Pfizer/BioNTech PFE.N, BNTX.O, as well as Johnson & Johnson's JNJ.N one-shot vaccine as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday. Business • • U.K. Grocer Morrison Rejects $7.6 Billion Proposal From CD&R (Bloomberg) -- Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc rejected as undervalued an unsolicited proposal from U.S. buyout firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC that valued the U.K. grocery chain at about 5.5 billion pounds ($7.6 billion).Morrison received a proposed cash offer at 230 pence a share on June 14 and rejected it three days later after discussions with its adviser Rothschild & Co., the company said in an emailed statement Saturday. The proposal is about 29% more than Friday’s close in London, a hefty p World • • As Iran veers right, ties with Gulf Arabs may hinge on nuclear pact Gulf Arab states are unlikely to be deterred from dialogue to improve ties with Iran after a hardline judge won the presidency but their talks with Tehran might become tougher, analysts said. Prospects for better relations between Muslim Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Gulf Arab monarchies could ultimately hinge on progress to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, they said, after Ebrahim Raisi won Friday's election. Business • • 'We’re changing the face of what a software engineer looks like;' Google diversity officer As the nation celebrates the first-ever federally recognized Juneteenth holiday, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has announced a $50 million unrestricted grant to 10 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The grant represents the tech giant’s largest commitment to date for HBCUs and builds on Google’s Pathways to Tech initiative, which is part of the company’s racial equity initiative. World • • U.S. Improvement Clouded by Variant; Russia Surge: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S.The U.S. sent 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine to Taiwan, reflecting part of Biden’s pledge to donate 25 million shots worldwide to stem the pandemic.Russia added the highest number of cases since the end of January, w Howell date : 210619 13h02m45s U.S. • • U.S. administers more than 317 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC The United States has administered 317,117,797 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 379,003,410 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 316,048,776 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by June 18 out of 377,935,390 doses delivered. The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna MRNA.O and Pfizer/BioNTech PFE.N, BNTX.O, as well as Johnson & Johnson's JNJ.N one-shot vaccine as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday. Business • • Buyout Firm CD&R Explores Takeover of U.K. Grocer Morrisons (Bloomberg) -- Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc rejected as undervalued an unsolicited proposal from U.S. buyout firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC that valued the U.K. grocery chain at about $5.5 billion pounds ($7.6 billion).Morrison received a proposed cash offer at 230 pence a share on June 14 and rejected it three days later after discussions with its adviser Rothschild & Co., the company said in an emailed statement Saturday. The proposal is about 29% more than Friday’s close in London, a hefty Business • • 'We’re changing the face of what a software engineer looks like;' Google diversity officer As the nation celebrates the first-ever federally recognized Juneteenth holiday, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has announced a $50 million unrestricted grant to 10 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The grant represents the tech giant’s largest commitment to date for HBCUs and builds on Google’s Pathways to Tech initiative, which is part of the company’s racial equity initiative. U.S. • • Texas Student Housing Authority Files for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy (Bloomberg) -- Texas Student Housing Authority filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, listing between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities.According to a June 18 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, TSHA had assets of $1 million to $10 million, and as many as 199 creditors.The TSHA is a not-for-profit, state chartered corporation established in 1995 to purchase and manage student housing facilities located near the campuses of major colleges and universit World • • U.S. Improvement Clouded by Variant; Russia Surge: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S.The U.S. sent 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine to Taiwan, reflecting part of Biden’s pledge to donate 25 million shots worldwide to stem the pandemic.Russia added the highest number of cases since the end of January, w World • • Mexico accepts U.S. request to probe Tridonex autoparts plant for labor abuses Mexican officials said on Saturday they would look into alleged worker rights violations at the Tridonex autoparts factory in northern Mexico, after the U.S. government requested a review under the terms of a new trade pact. The complaint from the U.S. Trade Representative's office (USTR) last week marked the second time the United States has flagged potential labor abuses in Mexico under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA. Mexican officials said they have accepted the U.S. request for a review of Tridonex in the border city of Matamoros to determine if workers had the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Howell date : 210619 11h02m09s Business • • 'We’re changing the face of what a software engineer looks like;' Google diversity officer As the nation celebrates the first-ever federally recognized Juneteenth holiday, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has announced a $50 million unrestricted grant to 10 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The grant represents the tech giant’s largest commitment to date for HBCUs and builds on Google’s Pathways to Tech initiative, which is part of the company’s racial equity initiative. World • • U.S. Improvement Clouded by Variant; Russia Surge: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S.The U.S. sent 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine to Taiwan, reflecting part of Biden’s pledge to donate 25 million shots worldwide to stem the pandemic.Russia added the highest number of cases since the end of January, w World World World • • Italy reports 28 new coronavirus deaths, 1,197 cases Italy reported 28 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 35 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections was up to 1,197 from 1,147. Italy has registered 127,253 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 394 from 416. Business • • Buyout Firm CD&R Explores Takeover of U.K. Grocer Morrisons (Bloomberg) -- Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC confirmed it’s weighing a cash offer for U.K. grocery chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc. The U.S. buyout firm has until July 17 to make a formal bid under British takeover rules, CD&R said in a statement on Saturday. Private equity investors are seeking to capitalize on the improving fortunes of leading supermarket chains after lockdowns triggered a surge in in-store and online grocery spending. Morrison and competing U.K. supermarkets including Tesco Howell date : 210619 09h01m33s World • • Mining companies in Chile seek input into the country's new constitution Mining companies operating in Chile will seek to enter the constitutional debate set to start soon in the world's top copper-producing nation as the firms try to preserve growth of the sector, an industry leader told local media on Saturday. A broad political agreement generated after the violent social protests that shook Chile in 2019 resulted in an assembly of 155 members that will have to draft a new constitution for the country. Joaquin Villarino, head of the Mining Council - which unites large firms such as Anglo American, Antofagasta , Barrick and BHP - told local newspaper El Mercurio that it had written a document outlining how the companies would like to operate under the new constitution. Business • • UK's Morrisons declines comment on report of 5.5 billion stg bid approach Britain's Morrisons declined comment on Saturday after a report that private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has made a preliminary bid approach to the supermarket group's board that could value it at 5.5 billion pounds ($7.59 billion). A spokesperson for Morrisons, based in Bradford, northern England, had no comment on the Sky News report. A spokesperson for CD&R also had no comment. U.S. • • Restaurants 'confused, frustrated' after lawsuit brings SBA grants to screeching halt A legal fight over small business grants comes as many are still challenged by acute worker shortages and soaring costs. Business World • • U.S. Improvement Clouded by Variant; Russia Surge: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S infections have fallen to the level of the first lockdowns in March 2020, though President Joe Biden warned of a “deadly threat” from the highly-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S.Russia added the highest number of cases since the end of January, with Moscow remaining the nation’s hot spot, registering the highest number of daily infections on record.The U.K. government is considering changes to its quaran World • • UPDATE 2-Khamenei protege wins landslide in Iran vote amid low turnout Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge who is under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses, secured a landslide victory on Saturday in Iran's presidential election after a contest marked by voter apathy over economic hardships and political restrictions. With all 28.9 million ballots counted, Raisi was elected with a tally of 17.9 million, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on state TV. Howell date : 210619 07h00m55s Business • • Buyout Firm CD&R Is Said to Explore Takeover of Wm Morrison (Bloomberg) -- Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC is weighing a bid for U.K. grocery chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, according to people familiar with the matter.The American buyout firm is in the early stages of evaluating a takeover bid, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. CD&R is interested in expanding in the grocery sector, the people said, adding that no final decision has been made and considerations may not lead to a formal offer. Representatives World • • UPDATE 1-Hardline judge wins landslide in Iran presidential vote amid low turnout Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses, secured a landslide victory on Saturday in Iran's presidential election after a contest marked by voter apathy over economic hardships and political restrictions. With some 90% of the 28.6 million ballots counted, Raisi's tally was 17.8 million, interior ministry official Jamal Orfi said, giving him an unassailable lead. Business Business Business Business • • For third-party sellers, Amazon Prime Day can be a double-edged sword Amazon's Prime Day can benefit or crush third-party sellers. It's all about preparation. World • • EU warns Lebanon's leaders of sanctions over 'home-made' crisis The European Union's foreign policy chief told Lebanon's leaders on Saturday they were to blame for the country's political and economic crisis and some could face sanctions if they continue to obstruct steps to form a new government and implement reform. Speaking after what he called a "frank exchange" with President Michel Aoun, Josep Borrell said he was bringing a firm message that the country stood on the edge of financial collapse and politicians could not afford to waste more time. Howell date : 210618 21h09m13s World • • UPDATE 1-Crowds gather for hearing of two Apple Daily executives on national security charge Crowds gathered outside a Hong Kong court early on Saturday ahead of a hearing for two executives of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily charged under the city's sweeping national security law, in a case that has drawn international condemnation. Editor-in-chief Ryan Law, 47, and chief executive Cheung Kim-hung, 59, were among five Apple Daily executives arrested on Thursday when 500 police raided the outlet's newsroom, which authorities described as a "crime scene." The other three, Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai, were released on bail late on Friday, according to Apple Daily. U.S. • • Yang, Garcia Plan Joint Campaign Stops: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- Former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang, the one-time frontrunner whose campaign has slid in polling in recent weeks, will campaign together Saturday in Queens before holding a joint press conference in lower Manhattan, both campaigns said.Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams holds the lead in a new poll on New York’s Democratic mayoral primary, with civil-rights lawyer Maya Wiley and Garcia battling for second.Early voting ends June 20. Many voters rem Business • • UPDATE 4-Largest Boeing 737 MAX model takes off on maiden flight Boeing Co's 737 MAX 10, the largest member of its best-selling single-aisle airplane family, took off on its maiden flight on Friday, in a further step toward recovering from the safety grounding of a smaller model. The plane completed a roughly 2-1/2-hour flight over Washington State, returning to Renton Municipal Airport near Seattle at 12:38 p.m. The first flight heralds months of testing and safety certification work before the jet is expected to enter service in 2023. Business • • Ex-Tesla president sold stocks worth $247 million since June 10 - SEC filing Long-time Tesla Inc executive and president Jerome Guillen, who left the company earlier in June, has sold an estimated $274 million worth of shares after exercising stock options since June 10, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The filing, which was submitted to the SEC on Tuesday, said that Guillen expected to sell 215,718 shares for $129 million that day, and that he offloaded another 145,289 stocks worth $89.6 million on June 14, and 90,111 stocks worth $55 million on June 10. Guillen, a former Mercedes engineer who was with Tesla since 2010, oversaw the company's entire vehicles business before being named president of the Tesla Heavy Trucking unit in March. Business • • March Headwinds Return for Asia Stocks, With a Twist (Bloomberg) -- It feels like deja vu for Asia, with a resurgent dollar, worries over bond yields and weakness in China threatening to weigh on stocks just as they did in March. But investors say the market is far more resilient this time.Outweighing the negative impact of the hawkish pivot by the Federal Reserve are a deepening valuation discount versus major peers and falling coronavirus cases in the region. A slump in bond yields is also helping, with those on 10-year U.S. treasuries sliding t Politics • • Biden to Meet With Top U.S. Financial Regulators on Monday (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to meet with top U.S. financial regulators on Monday to discuss the health of the system they oversee and how his administration’s priorities, including on climate change and inclusion, can best be addressed.The meeting, which was announced by the White House on Friday night, comes at a critical stage for Biden’s infrastructure proposal and after Federal Reserve officials said this week that they anticipated two interest rate increases by the end of 2023. Howell date : 210618 19h08m36s World • • Crowds gather for hearing of two Apple Daily executives on national security charge Crowds gathered outside a Hong Kong court early on Saturday ahead of a hearing for two executives of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily charged under the city's sweeping national security law, in a case that has drawn international condemnation. Editor-in-chief Ryan Law, 47, and chief executive Cheung Kim-hung, 59, were among five Apple Daily executives arrested on Thursday when 500 police raided the outlet's newsroom, which authorities described as a "crime scene." The other three, Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai, were released on bail late on Friday, according to Apple Daily. Business Business Politics Politics • • Antitrust Bills Have Some Democrats Asking Pelosi to Slow Down (Bloomberg) -- A group of centrist Democrats have asked House leaders to slow down consideration of a half-dozen antitrust proposals virulently opposed by the big tech companies the bills target.Eight members of the New Democrat Coalition wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top deputy, as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, asking the Judiciary Committee to hold full legislative hearings before proceeding to the final consideration of the bills that Nadler had planne World • • CDC Says Delta Strain Likely to Dominate in U.S.: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, warning that a highly transmissible variant of the virus could cause more deaths. The delta variant first found in India and now spread widely in the U.K. is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S., said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Americans can pack bags for European vacations as the European Union lifts travel curbs for residents of the U.S. Non-essent Business • • Exxon, union try new approach to resolve increasingly bitter dispute Exxon Mobil Corp and the United Steelworkers union (USW) hope to break an increasingly bitter dispute over a Texas refinery contract next week by taking a different approach of sending one negotiator each to contract talks instead of a whole team, company and union officials said on Friday. Exxon seven weeks ago locked out 650 union workers at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery and lubricants plant after failing to reach agreement on a new contract. The union has accused Exxon of trying to dissolve seniority provisions, colluding to break the union and falsely claiming the union's seniority terms are unique. Howell date : 210618 18h08m00s Politics • • Biden to Meet With Top U.S. Financial Regulators on Monday (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to meet with top U.S. financial regulators on Monday to discuss the health of the system they oversee and how his administration’s priorities, including on climate change and inclusion, can best be addressed.The meeting, which was announced by the White House on Friday night, comes at a critical stage for Biden’s infrastructure proposal and after Federal Reserve officials said this week that they anticipated two interest rate increases by the end of 2023. World U.S. • • RPT-Court grants relief against CDC order in cruise line lawsuit with Florida A Federal court in Tampa on Friday granted Florida a preliminary injunction against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) decision to prevent an immediate resumption of cruise operations. The order will prevent the agency from enforcing against a cruise ship arriving in, within, or departing from Florida. The lawsuit was filed in April by Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the state had sought a quick lifting of a "nationwide lockdown" on the cruise industry that has been in place since March 2020. Business • • Exxon, union try new approach to resolve increasingly bitter dispute Exxon Mobil Corp and the United Steelworkers union (USW) hope to break an increasingly bitter dispute over a Texas refinery contract next week by taking a different approach of sending one negotiator each to contract talks instead of a whole team, company and union officials said on Friday. Exxon seven weeks ago locked out 650 union workers at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery and lubricants plant after failing to reach agreement on a new contract. The union has accused Exxon of trying to dissolve seniority provisions, colluding to break the union and falsely claiming the union's seniority terms are unique. World • • U.K. Dodges Downgrade From Fitch With Outlook Shifted to Stable (Bloomberg) -- The outlook for the U.K.’s sovereign debt score has been upgraded to stable by Fitch Ratings, which said Friday that the country’s economy and public finances have proved more resilient to the pandemic shock than the credit assessor had anticipated.Fitch previously had a negative outlook on the U.K., but the country avoided being downgraded, with the firm keeping its rating at AA-, its fourth-highest grade, according to a statement Friday.“Stronger economic activity will support t Howell date : 210618 17h07m24s Business World World • • Survey finds commitment to racial justice at work is fading Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer of Benevity, joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down her thoughts on Benevity's recent survey showing how employees believe that coroporate commitment to racial justice is fading. World • • Argentina to announce deal to restart beef exports next week, sources say Argentina has clinched a deal with meat packers aimed at partially restarting exports after a one-month suspension, and the country is set to announce the agreement early next week, two source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday. The world's fifth largest beef exporter and a key supplier to China, Argentina halted exports for a month in mid-May due to fast-rising domestic food prices. Meat packers, fearing the curbs could be extended, have been negotiating a way to lift them. World • • CDC Says Delta Strain Likely to Dominate in U.S.: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, warning that a highly transmissible variant of the virus could cause more deaths. The delta variant first found in India and now spread widely in the U.K. is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S., said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Americans can pack bags for European vacations as the European Union lifts travel curbs for residents of the U.S. Non-essent U.S. • • NYC's Stonewall Inn vows post-COVID comeback during Pride Month: ‘This is the gay church’ New York's famed Pride Parade will be mostly virtual this year, but the Stonewall Inn's owners emphasized New York City’s revival, and the bar's comeback. Howell date : 210618 16h06m48s World • • U.K. Dodges Downgrade From Fitch With Outlook Shifted to Stable (Bloomberg) -- The outlook for the U.K.’s sovereign debt score has been upgraded to stable by Fitch Ratings, which said Friday that the country’s economy and public finances have proved more resilient to the pandemic shock than the credit assessor had anticipated.Fitch previously had a negative outlook on the U.K., but the country avoided being downgraded, with the firm keeping its rating at AA-, its fourth-highest grade, according to a statement Friday.“Stronger economic activity will support t World • • Survey finds commitment to racial justice at work is fading Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer of Benevity, joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down her thoughts on Benevity's recent survey showing how employees believe that coroporate commitment to racial justice is fading. World • • CDC Says Delta Strain Likely to Dominate in U.S.: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, warning that a highly transmissible variant of the virus could cause more deaths. The delta variant first found in India and now spread widely in the U.K. is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S., said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Americans can pack bags for European vacations as the European Union lifts travel curbs for residents of the U.S. Non-essent U.S. • • NYC's Stonewall Inn vows post-COVID comeback during Pride Month: ‘This is the gay church’ New York's famed Pride Parade will be mostly virtual this year, but the Stonewall Inn's owners emphasized New York City’s revival, and the bar's comeback. Business • • Jane Street, DRW Traders Made Billions as Virus Hit Markets (Bloomberg) -- Proprietary trading shops are notoriously secretive, so when markets went topsy-turvy in 2020, it was almost impossible to know how successful many firms were. It turns out: Very.Financial results from some of the niche’s key players are quietly making the rounds on Wall Street as the companies seek loans to fund their operations. They show extraordinary gains amid last year’s pandemic turmoil.Jane Street Group LLC is among them. The major player in bond exchange-traded funds saw Howell date : 210618 15h06m10s Business • • GLOBAL MARKETS-Fed update weighs down Wall Street, adds fuel to the dollar All three main indices on Wall Street dropped Friday with investors wary of a more hawkish stance from the U.S. Federal Reserve, while the dollar posted the strongest gains in over a year and oil prices continued a steady climb. After starting the week near record highs, U.S. stocks have steadily dropped since Fed officials projected Wednesday that interest rates may rise sooner than previously expected. Stocks were trending downward after the Wednesday policy update from the Fed, but that decline became sharper after Friday morning comments from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who said he thought the Fed could raise rates as soon as next year. Business • • Nvidia Drops After Touching Record on Arm Deal Prospects (Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. notched a small decline after touching an all-time high Friday amid growing anticipation about whether the chipmaker will win regulatory approval for its proposed acquisition of Arm Ltd.The stock rose as much as 3.9% before erasing the gains to close down 0.1%. So far in June, the stock is up more than 14%, putting it on track for its biggest one-month gain since August.The month’s advance started after Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said he remains confi Business • • Fund Managers Renew Love for Tech Stocks as Interest Rates Ease (Bloomberg) -- So much for that rotation into value. Technology stocks are back on investors’ shopping lists once again, regardless of their valuations.Just a month ago, the shares of faster-growing tech companies were being pummeled amid fears that hot inflation readings would push interest rates higher. While consumer prices did indeed jump, interest rates actually have fallen as investors bet that the inflation surge will be short lived. That’s made expensive but promising companies like soft Business • • ‘Witching’ Sparks Volume Bursts Following Stock-Market Lull (Bloomberg) -- In a week when even a hawkish Federal Reserve failed to shake the equity-market lull, Friday brought some fireworks.Stock transactions spiked amid a quarterly event known as triple witching, when options and futures on indexes and equities expire. Almost 15 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, about 40% above the three-month average, while the benchmark slipped 1.3%, the most in more than five weeks.While the robust volume offers a window of trading liquidity, it can al Business • • Goldman’s Currie Says Buy Commodities Dip, Bull Case Intact (Bloomberg) -- The latest steep selloff in commodities markets is a buying opportunity, according to Jeff Currie at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., one of the sector’s biggest bulls.The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index slumped 3.6% Thursday for its biggest one-day drop in almost 14 months, with soybeans and platinum giving up their gains for the year. The complex has been hit by several bearish factors: the Federal Reserve’s signals on potential interest-rate increases, plus a stronger dollar, Chinese e Politics • • Senator says climate must be a part of infrastructure package: 'We are running out of time' As lawmakers offer dueling infrastructure proposals in an effort to get a bipartisan bill across the finish line, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich is looking to a different option: pushing forward with the President’s climate priorities, through budget reconciliation. Business • • PayPal at Highest Since February on Price Hike for Merchants (Bloomberg) -- PayPal Holdings Inc. jumped after warning merchants it will raise prices for some of its new products.The company plans to charge 3.49% of a transaction’s value plus 49 cents for merchants that use its proprietary services, PayPal said Friday in a statement. For instance, retailers will have to pay more to accept Venmo payments or use a product that lets consumers split their purchases into four installments.“We are making changes to our published rates in the United States to bet Business • • Stock market news live updates: Stocks drop after hawkish Fed signals, Dow posts fifth straight session of declines Stocks fell Friday to extend a streak of choppy trading after the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision and projections. Business Howell date : 210618 14h05m32s Business • • AdvisorShares CEO still sees reopening plays to be made AdvisorShares CEO Noah Hamman joined Yahoo Finance to share where he sees opportunity in the stock market headed into the summer. U.S. • • Power Crunch Keeps California on Edge as Brutal Summer Looms (Bloomberg) -- California is bracing for another afternoon of blistering weather and potential blackouts as officials urge people to conserve power and forecasters warn of a brutal summer ahead.Grid officials kept the lights on Thursday and said they don’t expect rolling outages on Friday, either. Still, they’re urging consumers to curb power use, especially in the early evening when solar production fades and temperatures are expected to be above 105 Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) degrees in S Business • • Wall Street Week Ahead: Fed shift causes rally in value stocks to wobble The Federal Reserve's hawkish shift is forcing investors to reevaluate the rally in so-called value stocks, which have taken a hit in recent days after ripping higher for most of the year. Shares of banks, energy firms and other companies that tend to be sensitive to the economy’s fluctuations have tumbled following the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday, when the central bank surprised investors by anticipating two quarter-percentage-point rate increases in 2023 amid a recent surge in inflation. The Russell 1000 Value Stock Index is down 4% from its June peak, though still up 13.2% this year. Business • • EMERGING MARKETS-Chilean peso leads Latam FX losses as copper prices plunge * Peru's sol near record low * Mexican, Chilean pesos worst weekly performers * Brazil's real sole weekly gainer (Recasts with Chilean peso, updates prices) By Susan Mathew and Ambar Warrick June 18 (Reuters) - Chile's peso slipped to its lowest level this year, while Mexico's currency hit a 13-week low as hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official pushed up the dollar and hit commodity markets. The Chilean peso slumped 1.4%, leading losses across Latin America as copper prices headed for their worst week since March 2020. Business • • Fed’s Bullard Says High Inflation May Warrant 2022 Liftoff (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Inflation risks may warrant the Federal Reserve beginning raising interest rates next year, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said, backing an even-earlier liftoff than penciled in by many of his colleagues.“I put us starting in late 2022,” Bullard said Friday during a TV interview on CNBC, referring to interest-rate projections published Wednesday by the U.S. central bank after a t Business • • TREASURIES-U.S. Treasury yield curve flattens as Fed seen more proactive on inflation The Fed surprised markets on Wednesday when it said that policymakers are forecasting two interest rate hikes in 2023. “It does seem as though the market has now shifted its view that the Fed’s going to let inflation run wild, to the Fed’s basically going to kill inflation in the cradle,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, an interest rate strategist at TD Securities in New York, adding that "the truth is probably somewhere in the middle." Yields jumped on Friday after St. Louis Federal Reserve bank President James Bullard said he thinks rate increases will begin next year as inflation rises faster than expected. World • • CDC Says Delta Strain Likely to Dominate in U.S.: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, warning that a highly transmissible variant of the virus could cause more deaths. The delta variant first found in India and now spread widely in the U.K. is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S., said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Americans can pack bags for European vacations as the European Union lifts travel curbs for residents of the U.S. Non-essen Business • • Oil Rises for Fourth Week With Strong Global Demand Ahead (Bloomberg) -- Oil posted a fourth straight weekly gain as signs of a global demand recovery and supply discipline among producers encouraged investors.Futures in New York rose 1% this week. Strong U.S. demand growth is being passed on to Europe and emerging markets, where India is also starting to show improvements, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In a Bloomberg Television interview on Friday, Energy Aspects Ltd.’s Amrita Sen said the oil market could see an “incredibly” tight summer, and Howell date : 210618 13h34m56s Business • • Fed’s Bullard Says High Inflation May Warrant 2022 Liftoff (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Inflation risks may warrant the Federal Reserve beginning raising interest rates next year, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said, backing an even-earlier liftoff than penciled in by many of his colleagues.“I put us starting in late 2022,” Bullard said Friday during a TV interview on CNBC, referring to interest-rate projections published Wednesday by the U.S. central bank after a t Business • • TREASURIES-U.S. Treasury yield curve flattens as Fed seen more proactive on inflation The Fed surprised markets on Wednesday when it said that policymakers are forecasting two interest rate hikes in 2023. “It does seem as though the market has now shifted its view that the Fed’s going to let inflation run wild, to the Fed’s basically going to kill inflation in the cradle,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, an interest rate strategist at TD Securities in New York, adding that "the truth is probably somewhere in the middle." Yields jumped on Friday after St. Louis Federal Reserve bank President James Bullard said he thinks rate increases will begin next year as inflation rises faster than expected. World • • CDC Says Delta Strain Likely to Dominate in U.S.: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, warning that a highly transmissible variant of the virus could cause more deaths. The delta variant first found in India and now spread widely in the U.K. is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S., said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Americans can pack bags for European vacations as the European Union lifts travel curbs for residents of the U.S. Non-essen Business • • Oil Rises for Fourth Week With Strong Global Demand Ahead (Bloomberg) -- Oil posted a fourth straight weekly gain as signs of a global demand recovery and supply discipline among producers encouraged investors.Futures in New York rose 1% this week. Strong U.S. demand growth is being passed on to Europe and emerging markets, where India is also starting to show improvements, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In a Bloomberg Television interview on Friday, Energy Aspects Ltd.’s Amrita Sen said the oil market could see an “incredibly” tight summer, and Business • • FOREX-Fed-fueled dollar rises as bears make for exits The dollar extended its advance against a basket of currencies on Friday, building on the gains logged after the U.S. Federal Reserve earlier this week surprised markets by signaling it would raise interest rates and end emergency bond-buying sooner than expected. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.37% at 92.213, its highest since mid-April. The jolt to foreign exchanges was triggered on Wednesday by Fed forecasts showing 13 of the 18-person policy board saw rates rising in 2023, versus only six previously, with the median board member tipping two hikes in 2023. U.S. • • Yang Hears From NYC Tower Critics; Adams Leads: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams holds the lead in a new poll on New York’s Democratic mayoral primary, with civil-rights lawyer Maya Wiley and former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia battling for second.Early voting ends June 20. Many voters remain puzzled over a ranked-choice voting system that asks residents to select their top five candidates, rather than choose just one.The city has paid out a record $110 million of matching funds to candidates running in the Howell date : 210618 13h04m19s Business • • Fed’s Bullard Says High Inflation May Warrant 2022 Liftoff (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Inflation risks may warrant the Federal Reserve beginning raising interest rates next year, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said, backing an even-earlier liftoff than penciled in by many of his colleagues.“I put us starting in late 2022,” Bullard said Friday during a TV interview on CNBC, referring to interest-rate projections published Wednesday by the U.S. central bank after a t Business • • Stocks Tumble, Yield Curve Flattens Amid Fed Reset: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Stocks fell for a fourth day, putting the S&P 500 on pace for its worst week since February, as the Federal Reserve’s surprise hawkishness upends the reflation trade that has dominated markets this year. Commodities such as copper slumped while the dollar touched a two-month high.The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a proxy for so-called value shares, fell more than the benchmark index as investors step back from trades tied to expectations for hot economic growth and inflation. Even Business • • Gold Heads for Its Biggest Weekly Loss in More Than a Year (Bloomberg) -- Gold traded little changed, heading for a weekly drop, after a regional Federal Reserve president said high inflation may call for the U.S. central bank to tighten its monetary policy next year.It may be appropriate for the Fed to begin raising interest rates next year given a forecast for inflation above the U.S. central bank’s 2% target, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said. “I put us starting in late 2022,” Bullard said Friday during a TV interview on CNBC, referring to i World • • Ivory Coast says chocolate traders failing to pay farmers living wage premium Major chocolate traders in Ivory Coast are failing to pay a $400-per-tonne premium on beans aimed at curbing farmer poverty, the country's cocoa regulator said in a draft letter seen by Reuters on Friday. The Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) said companies including Mondelēz International Inc were offsetting the Living Income Differential (LID) by offering a negative country differential - normally a premium of 70 to 150 pounds ($99-$212) per tonne to reflect the quality of Ivory Coast's beans. Mondelēz said it was paying the full LID. Business • • Investors brace for annual Russell index rebalancing with pandemic imprint Market participants are girding for probably the biggest trading event of the year next Friday, as FTSE Russell stages the final reconstitution of its indexes, and trillions of dollars in investments could be influenced by the event that will reflect a wild trading year marked by the pandemic and the "meme" stock craze. On the last Friday every June, FTSE Russell refreshes the components in its range of indexes, such as the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks and Russell 1000 index of large-cap names. Together they make up the Russell 3000 index. Howell date : 210613 13h40m55s Politics Reuters 210613 13h10m White House says NATO will launch 'ambitious' security initiatives The White House said on Sunday that NATO members would launch an "ambitious" set of initiatives ahead of Monday's summit to ensure the alliance keeps providing security through 2030 and beyond. It said the 30 member countries would agree to revise NATO’s "Strategic Concept" that will guide its "approach to the evolving strategic environment, which includes Russia’s aggressive policies and actions; challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China to our collective security, prosperity, and values; and transnational threats such as terrorism, cyber threats, and climate change." The White House said the new Strategic Concept would be prepared for adoption at the 2022 NATO Summit. World Reuters 210613 13h04m UPDATE 2-White House says G7 rally around need to 'counter and compete' with China White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race. On China, the G7 meeting was "a significant move forward from where the G7 has ever been before and reflects a growing convergence that wasn't there a few years ago," Sullivan said aboard Air Force One on its way to Brussels. "There is a broad view that China represents a significant challenge to the world's democracies," Sullivan said, adding that leaders agreed the need for a common agenda in addressing China, including elements where they would "stand up and counter and compete." Business Bloomberg 210613 13h02m Musk Says Tesla to Use Bitcoin Transactions When Mining Cleaner (Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions when mining the digital coin is done with more clean energy, Elon Musk said in a tweet Sunday.The transactions will start back up “when there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend,” Musk said after confirming the electric-car maker had sold about 10% of its Bitcoin holdings.The billionaire said the sale was done “to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market Business World Bloomberg 210613 11h40m Netanyahu’s Record-Long Era as Israel’s Leader Ends (Bloomberg) -- Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year run in power was terminated as Israel’s parliament voted in a disparate coalition that’s pledged to put aside conflicting political ideologies in order to focus on national imperatives like charting an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.Lawmakers in the 120-member parliament voted 60 to 59 with one abstention to install religious Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett as prime minister. He’s set to hand the reins in August 2023 to the centrist Business Reuters 210613 11h40m Exclusive-Shell weighs blockbuster sale of Texas shale assets Royal Dutch Shell is reviewing its holdings in the largest U.S. oil field for a potential sale, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a key moment in its shift away from fossil fuels as it faces growing pressure to slash carbon emissions. The sale could be for part or all of Shell's position in the U.S. Permian Basin, located mostly in Texas, which accounted for around 6% of the Anglo-Dutch company's total oil and gas output last year. Shell declined to comment. Howell date : 210613 11h40m17s Business Reuters 210613 11h12m Ferrari's fashions reveal high-performance fabrics with 'couture touch' Ferrari on Sunday rolled out its first in-house fashion collection, offering fans of the Ferrari brand and its supercars a touch of "couture" within a contemporary clothing range. The launch marks a major step in Ferrari's new brand strategy, one of its biggest investments outside the car business, which the company wants to account for around 10% of the profits in 7-10 years. Ferrari's plans to extend its brand also include a new restaurant in hometown Maranello in northern Italy with Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura. Business Reuters 210613 11h08m Exclusive: IMF exploring creation of new trust to provide SDRs to broader group of countries - Georgieva The International Monetary Fund is exploring creation of a new trust that could allow its members to lend their IMF reserves to a broader range of countries, including middle-income countries vulnerable to climate change, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday. Georgieva said leaders of the Group of Seven rich economies had given the IMF a 'green light' to keep working on the plan, and China - the world's second largest economy - had also expressed interest, along with middle income countries that could benefit from such a fund. She said the IMF would continue working on the "Resilience and Sustainability Trust" - which could help countries combat climate change or improve their health care systems - ahead of the July meeting of finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies, which includes China. Business Reuters 210613 09h40m UPDATE 1-IMF will explore options for re-allocating reserves to raise $100 bln for poor countries The International Monetary Fund on Sunday welcomed the Group of Seven's support for expanding the global lender's emergency reserves by $650 billion and said it would work with members on ways to provide $100 billion to the poorest countries. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement, said the $650 billion allocation of Special Drawing Rights, the largest ever, would help boost global reserves and allow countries to fund needed fiscal measures to exit the pandemic. She said she would work with IMF members in the coming months on how they could re-allocate some of their SDRs or use budget loans to reach the global target of raising $100 billion to help the most vulnerable countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. World Reuters 210613 09h40m UPDATE 1-Macron says we love sausage but let's not waste time on this President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said that France respects Britain's sovereignty but it is time to end rows over sausages and focus on more serious issues. "My wish is that we succeed collectively in putting into action what we signed several months ago," Macron told a news conference at the G7 leaders' summit. Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Macron during a meeting how he would feel if Toulouse sausage makers could not sell their products on Paris markets, drawing a comparison with northern Ireland sausage makers. World Bloomberg 210613 09h40m Summit Wraps Up With Covid, China, Climate Takeaways: G-7 Update (Bloomberg) -- It’s the last day of the Group of Seven summit hosted on the southern English coast by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with the final communique confirming a commitment to provide 1 billion extra doses of Covid-19 vaccines for other countries. It also, as expected, backs U.S.-led calls for a fresh probe of the origins of the pandemic.The statement presses China over human rights and urges Russia to hold to account groups carrying out ransomware attacks from its soil.After some Business Yahoo Finance 210613 09h40m Fed decision, retail sales: What to know this week Investors will be mainly focused on the Federal Reserve's June policy decision this week. Howell date : 210613 09h39m40s World Bloomberg 210613 09h12m Summit Wraps Up With Covid, China, Climate Takeaways: G-7 Update (Bloomberg) -- It’s the last day of the Group of Seven summit hosted on the southern English coast by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with the final communique confirming a commitment to provide 1 billion extra doses of Covid-19 vaccines for other countries. It also, as expected, backs U.S.-led calls for a fresh probe of the origins of the pandemic.The statement presses China over human rights and urges Russia to hold to account groups carrying out ransomware attacks from its soil.After some Business Yahoo Finance 210613 09h11m Fed decision, retail sales: What to know this week Investors will be mainly focused on the Federal Reserve's June policy decision this week. World Reuters 210613 09h01m UK records another 7,490 COVID cases, 8 deaths The United Kingdom has recorded another 7,490 daily COVID-19 cases and the deaths of 8 people who tested positive for the virus within 28 days, official data shows. The data also showed that 78.4% of the adult population have had a first vaccine dose while 55.9% have had a second. Business Reuters 210613 08h55m Exclusive-Shell considering possible sale of U.S. Permian assets (Reuters) -Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is reviewing its holdings in the largest oil field in the United States for a possible sale as the company looks to focus on its most profitable oil-and-gas assets and grow its low-carbon investments, according to sources familiar with the matter. The sale could be for part or all of Shell's position in the U.S. Permian Basin, located mostly in Texas. Shell declined to comment. World Bloomberg 210613 08h54m G-7 Commits to 1 Billion Extra Covid Shots in Final Communique (Bloomberg) -- Group of Seven leaders promised to deliver at least 1 billion extra doses of vaccines over the next year in the most dramatic element of the bloc’s effort to help bring an end to the global Covid-19 pandemic.In the final communique, obtained first by Bloomberg News, the G-7 worked to revitalize cooperation between some of the world’s most powerful economies, after a period during Donald Trump’s administration in the U.S. when such documents were often done away with.The summit fea Business Reuters 210613 08h51m IMF says will explore options for re-allocating $100 bln in SDRs to poor countries The International Monetary Fund on Sunday welcomed the Group of Seven's support for a $650 billion allocation of the lender's emergency reserves and said it would work with members on way to re-allocate $100 billion of that to the poorest countries. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement, said the $650 billion allocation of Special Drawing Rights, the largest ever, would help boost global reserves and allow countries to fund needed fiscal measures to exit the pandemic. She said she would work with IMF members in coming months on how they could channel SDRs or use budget loans to reach the goal of raising $100 billion for the most vulnerable countries. World Reuters 210613 08h45m G7 pledge cooperation on carbon leakage as EU border tariff looms The Group of Seven leaders on Sunday pledged to work together to tackle carbon leakage, weeks before the European Union is due to propose a world-first plan to impose CO2 emission costs on imports of certain polluting goods. As large emitters such as the EU wrestle with how to meet targets to cut CO2 emissions drastically and quickly, concerns are rising about so-called carbon leakage - the risk that tough climate policies could cause companies to relocate to regions where they can continue to pollute cheaply. "We ... acknowledge the risk of carbon leakage, and will work collaboratively to address this risk and to align our trading practices with our commitments under the Paris agreement," G7 leaders said on Sunday in a joint communique. Howell date : 210613 00h37m29s Business Bloomberg 210612 23h56m Saudi Arabia’s Taiba, Dur Start Talks to Form $2.4 Billion Firm (Bloomberg) -- Taiba Investment Co. and Dur Hospitality Co. are in talks to combine their businesses, potentially forming a company with a total market value of about $2.4 billion in Saudi Arabia’s hospitality and investment industry.The discussions are preliminary and may not lead to a combination, according to regulatory statements. The companies didn’t provide further information. Taiba, which has a market capitalization of 5.5 billion riyals ($1.5 billion), operates as an investment company World Bloomberg 210612 22h37m Ramaphosa on Economic Reform Roll Bolsters South African Markets (Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is finally making good on a long-standing pledge to enact policy reforms, signaling the tide may be turning for the coronavirus-battered economy.The ruling African National Congress sidelined his main rival Ace Magashule last month, cementing his control of the party and giving him more leeway to take tough decisions. Since then, his administration has sold a majority stake in the state airline and taken a decisive step to tackle crippling e World Bloomberg 210612 21h37m Israel to Vote on Fragile Coalition to End Long Netanyahu Rein (Bloomberg) -- Benjamin Netanyahu’s record-setting run as Israeli leader approached a precipice Sunday as lawmakers are set to vote on a coalition with conflicting ideologies but united in ousting the indicted prime minister and ending more than two years of political turmoil.Parliament will hold its confidence vote on the proposed government led by Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid in the afternoon. Most analysts expect a narrow victory for the two men despite pressure Business Bloomberg 210612 21h37m European Bank Stocks Lead Rally After a Decade of Disappointment (Bloomberg) -- This time, it may be more than just another false dawn for European bank stocks.The worst performers among Europe’s equity markets in the past decade have had occasional hot streaks, but with this year’s re-emergence of inflation promising an end to an era of near-zero interest rates, the sector is among the biggest gainers in 2021.The Stoxx 600 Banks Index is up 76% since a low in September, its steepest advance since the recovery from the financial crisis. Societe Generale SA, B Business Bloomberg 210612 21h37m Spending Surge Might Be Just What Stocks Need to Hit New Heights (Bloomberg) -- Plans for the biggest corporate spending boom in more than a decade could be the next driver for stock markets trading at record highs.Last year’s prudence among companies is giving way to jubilant investment across a swath of industries, driven by economic reopenings, low interest rates and government support. Such a signal of confidence in the future is making the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co., State Street Global Markets and Invesco Ltd. optimistic that equity investors can rea Business Reuters 210612 20h37m Exclusive-Toshiba's No.2 shareholder calls for immediate resignation of board chair, 3 directors TOKYO (Reuters) -Toshiba Corp's second-biggest shareholder on Sunday demanded the board chairman and three other directors immediately resign after an investigation found the company had colluded with the Japanese government to pressure foreign investors. The letter, seen by Reuters, is from 3D Investment Partners, which owns a 7.2% stake in Toshiba. It is likely to heighten scrutiny into governance at Toshiba, a renowned industrial conglomerate in crisis sparked by Thursday's report. Business Bloomberg 210612 16h37m Out-of-Control Shipping Costs Fire Up Prices From Coffee to Toys (Bloomberg) -- The skyrocketing price of shipping goods across the globe may hit your pocketbook sooner than you think -- from that cup of coffee you get each morning to the toys you were thinking of buying your kids.Transporting a 40-foot steel container of cargo by sea from Shanghai to Rotterdam now costs a record $10,522, a whopping 547% higher than the seasonal average over the last five years, according to Drewry Shipping. With upwards of 80% of all goods trade transported by sea, freight-c Howell date : 210612 22h36m53s Business Reuters 210612 20h36m Exclusive-Toshiba's No.2 shareholder calls for immediate resignation of board chair, 3 directors TOKYO (Reuters) -Toshiba Corp's second-biggest shareholder on Sunday demanded the board chairman and three other directors immediately resign after an investigation found the company had colluded with the Japanese government to pressure foreign investors. The letter, seen by Reuters, is from 3D Investment Partners, which owns a 7.2% stake in Toshiba. It is likely to heighten scrutiny into governance at Toshiba, a renowned industrial conglomerate in crisis sparked by Thursday's report. Business Bloomberg 210612 16h36m Out-of-Control Shipping Costs Fire Up Prices From Coffee to Toys (Bloomberg) -- The skyrocketing price of shipping goods across the globe may hit your pocketbook sooner than you think -- from that cup of coffee you get each morning to the toys you were thinking of buying your kids.Transporting a 40-foot steel container of cargo by sea from Shanghai to Rotterdam now costs a record $10,522, a whopping 547% higher than the seasonal average over the last five years, according to Drewry Shipping. With upwards of 80% of all goods trade transported by sea, freight-c World Reuters 210612 16h36m U.S., South Korea reaffirm cooperation toward denuclearization of Korean Peninsula U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-Yong reaffirmed a commitment between their countries and Japan to work closely toward the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the State Department said. The statement, issued after the two met on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit, referred, without naming North Korea, to efforts that have made little or no progress toward getting Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal. Blinken and Chung also stressed the importance of multilateral cooperation to address other regional issues "including the return to the path to democracy for the people of Burma," the statement said, referring to a military coup in Myanmar earlier this year. World Bloomberg 210612 15h36m Canada to Reject Future Thermal Coal Mining Projects (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government will no longer approve thermal-coal mining projects because of their contribution to the climate crisis.“New thermal coal mining projects or expansions are not in line with the ambition Canadians want to see on climate, or with Canada’s domestic and international climate commitments,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement as Group of Seven leaders gather in the U.K. for their first in-person summit since the pandemic.Canada is the only Business Bloomberg 210612 14h36m After the Pandemic, a Wave of Spending by Older Consumers (Bloomberg) -- The world’s emergence from the coronavirus pandemic is set to unleash a wave of spending by older consumers, with increasing opportunities for investors in aging-linked stocks.That’s the view of money managers who see huge pent-up demand from wealthy seniors for medical services and luxury goods. They also expect that the forced adoption of the internet by older people during lockdown will open up this demographic permanently to e-commerce companies and social networks.The number Business Bloomberg 210612 13h36m Catching Rides on Meme-Mafia Trades May Boil Down to Models (Bloomberg) -- Staring at a meme stock craze that shows few signs of abating, Wall Street is still wrestling with how to trade it.Many traders scroll through Reddit blogs that cheer on day traders to suss out the next big thing. Others obsessively track Stocktwits citations. There are even firms hiring WallStreetBets veterans to get inside the heads of the people who call themselves apes with diamond hands.The stakes are high. Meme stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp. h Business Bloomberg 210612 13h36m Crisis Reaches Crossroads for Global Interest Rates: Eco Week (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Federal Reserve’s much awaited interest-rate meeting this week is just one of a panoply by global central banks whose policies are increasingly diverging as economies respond in different ways to the coronavirus crisis.An anticipated decision in Washington on Wednesday to stay the course with an easing stance for the duration of the American summer may only underscore how what was o Howell date : 210612 20h36m16s World Reuters 210612 16h36m U.S. has administered 308.1 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines, CDC says The United States has administered 308,112,728 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 374,397,205 doses in the country as of Saturday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures were up from the 306,509,795 doses of vaccine that the CDC said had been administered as of June 11, out of 373,413,945 doses delivered. The CDC tally includes the two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine. World Reuters 210612 15h36m Swiss voters to decide on pesticides ban, terrorism law and COVID-19 aid Switzerland heads to the polls on Sunday in a batch of referendums which could see the country become only the second in the world to ban artificial pesticides. Laws to combat terrorism, cut CO2 emissions and provide emergency COVID-19 funding also face binding votes under the Swiss system of direct democracy. One initiative aims to prohibit the use of artificial pesticides within 10 years. World Bloomberg 210612 15h36m Canada to Reject Future Thermal Coal Mining Projects (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government will no longer approve thermal-coal mining projects because of their contribution to the climate crisis.“New thermal coal mining projects or expansions are not in line with the ambition Canadians want to see on climate, or with Canada’s domestic and international climate commitments,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement as Group of Seven leaders gather in the U.K. for their first in-person summit since the pandemic.Canada is the only Business Bloomberg 210612 14h36m After the Pandemic, a Wave of Spending by Older Consumers (Bloomberg) -- The world’s emergence from the coronavirus pandemic is set to unleash a wave of spending by older consumers, with increasing opportunities for investors in aging-linked stocks.That’s the view of money managers who see huge pent-up demand from wealthy seniors for medical services and luxury goods. They also expect that the forced adoption of the internet by older people during lockdown will open up this demographic permanently to e-commerce companies and social networks.The number Business Bloomberg 210612 13h36m Catching Rides on Meme-Mafia Trades May Boil Down to Models (Bloomberg) -- Staring at a meme stock craze that shows few signs of abating, Wall Street is still wrestling with how to trade it.Many traders scroll through Reddit blogs that cheer on day traders to suss out the next big thing. Others obsessively track Stocktwits citations. There are even firms hiring WallStreetBets veterans to get inside the heads of the people who call themselves apes with diamond hands.The stakes are high. Meme stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp. h Business Bloomberg 210612 13h36m Crisis Reaches Crossroads for Global Interest Rates: Eco Week (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Federal Reserve’s much awaited interest-rate meeting this week is just one of a panoply by global central banks whose policies are increasingly diverging as economies respond in different ways to the coronavirus crisis.An anticipated decision in Washington on Wednesday to stay the course with an easing stance for the duration of the American summer may only underscore how what was o Business Bloomberg 210612 13h36m Bullet-Proof Treasury Market Eyes Fed Meeting With Trepidation (Bloomberg) -- After the longest rally in almost a year, the Treasury market is ill-positioned for any surprises from the Federal Reserve next week.Bond investors, who have been abandoning short bets, are anticipating that officials will reaffirm that their ultra-loose policy remains appropriate, and that it’s too soon to start even contemplating tapering the central bank’s purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities.Any hint that such discussions are in the works could provide a rude a Business Bloomberg 210612 13h36m Frontloaded Credit Supply Expected Before Fed Meeting (Bloomberg) -- Fresh supply in the U.S. investment-grade market is expected to be front-loaded next week ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday. Traders will be watching for any clues on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering talk.Syndicate desks are calling for $25 billion to $30 billion of issuance, a slowdown from the $35.95 billion that priced this week.The strong primary market sales come as investors continue to see a positive backdrop for credit.A Treasury marke Howell date : 210612 18h35m39s World Reuters 210612 16h35m U.S. has administered 308.1 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines, CDC says The United States has administered 308,112,728 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 374,397,205 doses in the country as of Saturday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures were up from the 306,509,795 doses of vaccine that the CDC said had been administered as of June 11, out of 373,413,945 doses delivered. The CDC tally includes the two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine. World Reuters 210612 15h35m Swiss voters to decide on pesticides ban, terrorism law and COVID-19 aid Switzerland heads to the polls on Sunday in a batch of referendums which could see the country become only the second in the world to ban artificial pesticides. Laws to combat terrorism, cut CO2 emissions and provide emergency COVID-19 funding also face binding votes under the Swiss system of direct democracy. One initiative aims to prohibit the use of artificial pesticides within 10 years. World Bloomberg 210612 15h35m Canada to Reject Future Thermal Coal Mining Projects (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government will no longer approve thermal-coal mining projects because of their contribution to the climate crisis.“New thermal coal mining projects or expansions are not in line with the ambition Canadians want to see on climate, or with Canada’s domestic and international climate commitments,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement as Group of Seven leaders gather in the U.K. for their first in-person summit since the pandemic.Canada is the only Business Bloomberg 210612 14h35m After the Pandemic, a Wave of Spending by Older Consumers (Bloomberg) -- The world’s emergence from the coronavirus pandemic is set to unleash a wave of spending by older consumers, with increasing opportunities for investors in aging-linked stocks.That’s the view of money managers who see huge pent-up demand from wealthy seniors for medical services and luxury goods. They also expect that the forced adoption of the internet by older people during lockdown will open up this demographic permanently to e-commerce companies and social networks.The number Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Catching Rides on Meme-Mafia Trades May Boil Down to Models (Bloomberg) -- Staring at a meme stock craze that shows few signs of abating, Wall Street is still wrestling with how to trade it.Many traders scroll through Reddit blogs that cheer on day traders to suss out the next big thing. Others obsessively track Stocktwits citations. There are even firms hiring WallStreetBets veterans to get inside the heads of the people who call themselves apes with diamond hands.The stakes are high. Meme stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp. h Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Crisis Reaches Crossroads for Global Interest Rates: Eco Week (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Federal Reserve’s much awaited interest-rate meeting this week is just one of a panoply by global central banks whose policies are increasingly diverging as economies respond in different ways to the coronavirus crisis.An anticipated decision in Washington on Wednesday to stay the course with an easing stance for the duration of the American summer may only underscore how what was o Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Bullet-Proof Treasury Market Eyes Fed Meeting With Trepidation (Bloomberg) -- After the longest rally in almost a year, the Treasury market is ill-positioned for any surprises from the Federal Reserve next week.Bond investors, who have been abandoning short bets, are anticipating that officials will reaffirm that their ultra-loose policy remains appropriate, and that it’s too soon to start even contemplating tapering the central bank’s purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities.Any hint that such discussions are in the works could provide a rude a Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Frontloaded Credit Supply Expected Before Fed Meeting (Bloomberg) -- Fresh supply in the U.S. investment-grade market is expected to be front-loaded next week ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday. Traders will be watching for any clues on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering talk.Syndicate desks are calling for $25 billion to $30 billion of issuance, a slowdown from the $35.95 billion that priced this week.The strong primary market sales come as investors continue to see a positive backdrop for credit.A Treasury marke Howell date : 210612 16h35m01s World Bloomberg 210612 15h54m Canada to Reject Future Thermal Coal Mining Projects (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government will no longer approve thermal-coal mining projects because of their contribution to the climate crisis.“New thermal coal mining projects or expansions are not in line with the ambition Canadians want to see on climate, or with Canada’s domestic and international climate commitments,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement as Group of Seven leaders gather in the U.K. for their first in-person summit since the pandemic.Canada is the only Business Bloomberg 210612 14h35m After the Pandemic, a Wave of Spending by Older Consumers (Bloomberg) -- The world’s emergence from the coronavirus pandemic is set to unleash a wave of spending by older consumers, with increasing opportunities for investors in aging-linked stocks.That’s the view of money managers who see huge pent-up demand from wealthy seniors for medical services and luxury goods. They also expect that the forced adoption of the internet by older people during lockdown will open up this demographic permanently to e-commerce companies and social networks.The number Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Catching Rides on Meme-Mafia Trades May Boil Down to Models (Bloomberg) -- Staring at a meme stock craze that shows few signs of abating, Wall Street is still wrestling with how to trade it.Many traders scroll through Reddit blogs that cheer on day traders to suss out the next big thing. Others obsessively track Stocktwits citations. There are even firms hiring WallStreetBets veterans to get inside the heads of the people who call themselves apes with diamond hands.The stakes are high. Meme stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp. h Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Crisis Reaches Crossroads for Global Interest Rates: Eco Week (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The Federal Reserve’s much awaited interest-rate meeting this week is just one of a panoply by global central banks whose policies are increasingly diverging as economies respond in different ways to the coronavirus crisis.An anticipated decision in Washington on Wednesday to stay the course with an easing stance for the duration of the American summer may only underscore how what was o Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Bullet-Proof Treasury Market Eyes Fed Meeting With Trepidation (Bloomberg) -- After the longest rally in almost a year, the Treasury market is ill-positioned for any surprises from the Federal Reserve next week.Bond investors, who have been abandoning short bets, are anticipating that officials will reaffirm that their ultra-loose policy remains appropriate, and that it’s too soon to start even contemplating tapering the central bank’s purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities.Any hint that such discussions are in the works could provide a rude a Business Bloomberg 210612 13h35m Frontloaded Credit Supply Expected Before Fed Meeting (Bloomberg) -- Fresh supply in the U.S. investment-grade market is expected to be front-loaded next week ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday. Traders will be watching for any clues on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering talk.Syndicate desks are calling for $25 billion to $30 billion of issuance, a slowdown from the $35.95 billion that priced this week.The strong primary market sales come as investors continue to see a positive backdrop for credit.A Treasury marke World Reuters 210612 13h35m UPDATE 1-Peru's Fujimori pushes again to annul votes as Castillo nears runoff win Peruvian right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who is expected to lose a runoff election against a socialist rival, on Saturday said she would lead a protest to pressure for the annulment of votes that did not favor her. Front-runner Pedro Castillo, a member of the left-wing Free Peru party, is close to being named the Andean country's next president as the count from the second round of voting earlier this month nears an end. Castillo, an elementary school teacher who was raised in an impoverished village, was leading the count by 51,000 votes on Saturday morning, with around 59,000 votes remaining to be counted. Howell date : 210612 14h34m25s World Reuters 210612 13h37m UPDATE 1-Peru's Fujimori pushes again to annul votes as Castillo nears runoff win Peruvian right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who is expected to lose a runoff election against a socialist rival, on Saturday said she would lead a protest to pressure for the annulment of votes that did not favor her. Front-runner Pedro Castillo, a member of the left-wing Free Peru party, is close to being named the Andean country's next president as the count from the second round of voting earlier this month nears an end. Castillo, an elementary school teacher who was raised in an impoverished village, was leading the count by 51,000 votes on Saturday morning, with around 59,000 votes remaining to be counted. World World Reuters 210612 12h34m Canada's Trudeau called for concerted G7 approach to China - source Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led a Group of Seven discussion of China on Saturday and called on leaders to come up with a unified approach to the challenges posed by the People's Republic, a source said. G7 leaders - who together control about $40 trillion in economic clout - reached broad alignment on building a concerted approach to China, the source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. "Trudeau's message today was that we really need to work to build a consensus on a unified approach to the challenges that China presents all of us," the source said. Business Bloomberg 210612 12h34m Iraq Sees Oil Prices at $68 to $75 a Barrel in 2nd Half (Bloomberg) -- Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, said crude prices will be in the range of $68 to $75 a barrel in the second half.The price range is expected because of a commitment to OPEC+ output cut, Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told reporters at the Baghdad International Book Fair.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had predicted earlier in the week that the recovery in global oil demand will gather strength in the second half of the year, as the group prepare World Reuters 210612 10h34m UPDATE 1-Germany's Merkel urges pragmatic approach to Northern Ireland German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Saturday for a "pragmatic solution" to disagreements over part of the Brexit deal that covers border issues with Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain will do "whatever it takes" to protect its territorial integrity in a trade dispute with the European Union, threatening emergency measures if no solution was found. "I have said that I favour a pragmatic solution for contractual agreements, because a cordial relationship is of utmost significance for Britain and the European Union," she said. Howell date : 210612 12h33m49s Business Bloomberg 210612 12h03m Iraq Sees Oil Prices at $68 to $75 a Barrel in 2nd Half (Bloomberg) -- Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, said crude prices will be in the range of $68 to $75 a barrel in the second half.The price range is expected because of a commitment to OPEC+ output cut, Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told reporters at the Baghdad International Book Fair.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had predicted earlier in the week that the recovery in global oil demand will gather strength in the second half of the year, as the group prepare World Reuters 210612 10h33m UPDATE 1-Germany's Merkel urges pragmatic approach to Northern Ireland German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Saturday for a "pragmatic solution" to disagreements over part of the Brexit deal that covers border issues with Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain will do "whatever it takes" to protect its territorial integrity in a trade dispute with the European Union, threatening emergency measures if no solution was found. "I have said that I favour a pragmatic solution for contractual agreements, because a cordial relationship is of utmost significance for Britain and the European Union," she said. World Reuters 210612 09h33m WTO boss sees way for deal to speed COVID vaccines for poor nations The head of the World Trade Organization said there was a pathway for a global deal to get more COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, despite a split over whether drugs firms should be stripped of their intellectual property rights. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, speaking to reporters before joining discussions among leaders of the Group of Seven nations, said she was hopeful there would be more clarity on the way ahead for the IP waiver issue by July. WTO members agreed on Wednesday to start formal talks on a plan to boost COVID-19 vaccine supply to developing countries but the battle lines are drawn for tough negotiations. World Reuters 210612 09h33m Delta-variant COVID-19 cluster detected at Strasbourg art school A cluster of Delta-variant COVID-19 infections has been detected at an art school in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, the regional health authority said on Saturday. The four cases, confirmed as the more contagious variant first detected in India, were found at the Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin, which was closed by authorities on June 10 until further notice. Officials at the Grand Est regional health authority said they were testing dozens of people who may have been in contact with the four people infected, as well as conducting a localised vaccination campaign targeting the student community. Politics Reuters 210612 08h33m UPDATE 2-America is back with Biden, France's Macron says The United States is back as a cooperative leader of the free world under President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday, illustrating the relief felt by many key U.S. allies that the tumult of Donald Trump's presidency is over. Macron's remark echoes that of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who hailed Biden on Thursday as "a big breath of fresh air". Neither Macron nor Johnson drew an explicit parallel between Biden and Trump, though both praised Biden's distinctly cooperative tone and officials said there was relief after Trump at times shocked and bewildered many European allies. World Bloomberg 210612 08h33m G-7 Haggles Over Strong U.S. Push to Counter China’s Clout (Bloomberg) -- Group of Seven leaders debated how strongly to respond to China’s effort to win influence around the world and rebuke it over alleged forced labor practices -- with U.S. President Joe Biden taking a more hawkish stance and some other leaders wary of the risk the group is seen as an outright anti-China bloc.Saturday’s talks at the G-7 summit on the Cornish coast of southern England have focused in part on China. During that session Biden, along with U.K. host Boris Johnson and Cana Howell date : 210612 10h33m10s World World World Reuters 210612 08h33m Italy reports 52 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, 1,723 new cases Italy reported 52 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 69 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 1,723 from 1,901. Italy has registered 126,976 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 574 from a previous 597. World Bloomberg 210612 08h33m G-7 Haggles Over Strong U.S. Push to Counter China’s Clout (Bloomberg) -- Group of Seven leaders debated how strongly to respond to China’s effort to win influence around the world and rebuke it over alleged forced labor practices -- with U.S. President Joe Biden taking a more hawkish stance and some other leaders wary of the risk the group is seen as an outright anti-China bloc.Saturday’s talks at the G-7 summit on the Cornish coast of southern England have focused in part on China. During that session Biden, along with U.K. host Boris Johnson and Cana World Reuters 210612 08h33m Socialist Castillo close to victory in Peru as few votes remain to be counted Peruvian socialist candidate Pedro Castillo was close to being named the Andean country's next president as the vote count neared an end, making a last-minute flip by right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori increasingly unlikely. Castillo, an elementary school teacher raised in an impoverished village, was leading the count by 51,000 votes on Saturday morning, when only around 62,000 votes remained to be counted. "We won, teacher Pedro Castillo (is) President," tweeted his party, Free Peru, late on Friday. World Reuters 210612 07h33m Russia tests COVID-19 vaccine as nasal spray for children - agencies Russia has tested a nasal spray form of its COVID-19 vaccine that is suitable for children aged 8-12, and plans to launch the new product in September, the scientist who led the development of the Sputnik V vaccine said on Saturday. Alexander Gintsburg, who heads the Gamaleya Institute that developed Sputnik V, said the spray for children used the same vaccine "only instead of a needle, a nozzle is put on", the TASS news agency reported. Howell date : 210611 21h32m48s U.S. Reuters 210611 19h32m U.S. SBA halts some grants under injunction in lawsuit filed by white restaurant owners The U.S. government on Friday said it would not disburse approved pandemic relief funds to more than 2,900 small businesses owned by women, veterans and disadvantaged people to comply with an injunction issued by a federal court in Texas. The program, part of President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, has provided more than $27 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to more than 100,000 restaurants, but some aid has been frozen in the wake of lawsuits brought by white restaurant owners in Tennessee and Texas who alleged discrimination. Administration officials said they would continue to fight to maintain the program. U.S. Reuters 210611 17h32m Apple tightens rules after Justice Department targeted U.S. lawmakers (Reuters) -Apple Inc on Friday said it has tightened some of its rules for responding to legal requests after the U.S. Justice Department during Donald Trump's presidency subpoenaed it for information on Democratic lawmakers. Apple said it recently instituted a limit of 25 identifiers such as email addresses or phone numbers per legal request. The Cupertino, California-based company said it received a subpoena from the Justice Department in February 2018 for information on 109 identifiers made up of 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses, but that it did not release content such as emails and pictures to prosecutors. World Reuters 210611 17h32m UPDATE 2-Putin says relations with U.S. at lowest point in years Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with NBC News ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden next week, said U.S.-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years. Putin and Biden will meet in Geneva on Wednesday. The White House has said Biden will bring up ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, the jailing of dissidents and other issues that have irritated the relationship. Business Reuters 210611 17h32m UPDATE 1-Three top executives exit Chesapeake Energy U.S. oil and gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp said on Friday that three executives will leave the company, the latest exits this year after it launched a search for a new chief executive and emerged from bankruptcy. Frank Patterson, executive vice president of exploration and production; James Webb, general counsel; and William Buergler, senior vice president, will depart on Friday, according to a regulatory filing. The exits came after former Chief Executive Officer Doug Lawler left in April. Politics Reuters 210611 16h32m U.S. Trade Representative Tai to hold talks in Britain next week U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to Britain on Wednesday and hold talks with British trade minister Elizabeth Truss after participating in a U.S.-European Union summit and holding several bilateral meetings, her office said. Tai first disclosed her trip to Brussels - her first overseas trip - during a town hall hosted by the AFL-CIO trade federation on Thursday, but the UK stop was previously not known. The U.S. trade czar's office released details late on Friday, saying Tai would arrive in Brussels on Sunday for the U.S.–EU summit and bilateral meetings with counterparts, including EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Business Yahoo Finance 210611 16h32m Data: LGBTQ buyers opt for cheaper homes that need ‘TLC’ over pricier digs Many new LGBTQ homebuyers are choosing fixer-uppers over flashier digs, the National Association of Realtors found. Howell date : 210611 19h32m11s U.S. Reuters 210611 17h32m UPDATE 1-Apple tightens rules after Justice Department targeted U.S. lawmakers Apple Inc on Friday said it has tightened some of its rules for responding to legal requests after the U.S. Justice Department during Donald Trump's presidency subpoenaed it for information on Democratic lawmakers. Apple said it recently instituted a limit of 25 identifiers such as email addresses or phone numbers per legal request. The Cupertino, California-based company said it received a subpoena from the Justice Department in February 2018 for information on 109 identifiers made up of 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses, but that it did not release content such as emails and pictures to prosecutors. U.S. Reuters 210611 17h32m Apple tightens rules after Justice Department targeted U.S. lawmakers (Reuters) -Apple Inc on Friday said it has tightened some of its rules for responding to legal requests after the U.S. Justice Department during Donald Trump's presidency subpoenaed it for information on Democratic lawmakers. Apple said it recently instituted a limit of 25 identifiers such as email addresses or phone numbers per legal request. The Cupertino, California-based company said it received a subpoena from the Justice Department in February 2018 for information on 109 identifiers made up of 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses, but that it did not release content such as emails and pictures to prosecutors. World Reuters 210611 17h32m UPDATE 2-Putin says relations with U.S. at lowest point in years Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with NBC News ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden next week, said U.S.-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years. Putin and Biden will meet in Geneva on Wednesday. The White House has said Biden will bring up ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, the jailing of dissidents and other issues that have irritated the relationship. Politics Reuters 210611 16h32m U.S. Trade Representative Tai to hold talks in Britain next week U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to Britain on Wednesday and hold talks with British trade minister Elizabeth Truss after participating in a U.S.-European Union summit and holding several bilateral meetings, her office said. Tai first disclosed her trip to Brussels - her first overseas trip - during a town hall hosted by the AFL-CIO trade federation on Thursday, but the UK stop was previously not known. The U.S. trade czar's office released details late on Friday, saying Tai would arrive in Brussels on Sunday for the U.S.–EU summit and bilateral meetings with counterparts, including EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Business Yahoo Finance 210611 16h32m Data: LGBTQ buyers opt for cheaper homes that need ‘TLC’ over pricier digs Many new LGBTQ homebuyers are choosing fixer-uppers over flashier digs, the National Association of Realtors found. Business Bloomberg 210611 16h32m Mudrick’s AMC Bet Backfires After Meme Frenzy Wrecks Hedges (Bloomberg) -- After weeks of profiting from the stock and debt of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., hedge fund Mudrick Capital Management ended up with a 5.4% loss after a derivatives bet went haywire.The fund, which specializes in distressed debt, suffered the losses on AMC after day traders pushed the movie theater’s shares up as much as 127% on a single day, derailing call options Mudrick had sold on AMC shares to hedge exposure to the company, according to a person with knowledge of the matt Howell date : 210611 18h31m35s U.S. World World Business Politics Reuters 210611 16h31m U.S. Trade Representative Tai to hold talks in Britain next week U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to Britain on Wednesday and hold talks with British trade minister Elizabeth Truss after participating in a U.S.-European Union summit and holding several bilateral meetings, her office said. Tai first disclosed her trip to Brussels - her first overseas trip - during a town hall hosted by the AFL-CIO trade federation on Thursday, but the UK stop was previously not known. The U.S. trade czar's office released details late on Friday, saying Tai would arrive in Brussels on Sunday for the U.S.–EU summit and bilateral meetings with counterparts, including EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Politics Reuters 210611 16h31m UPDATE 1-U.S. Trade Representative Tai to hold talks in Britain next week U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to Britain on Wednesday and hold talks with British trade minister Elizabeth Truss after participating in a U.S.-European Union summit and holding several bilateral meetings, her office said. Tai first disclosed her trip to Brussels - her first overseas trip - during a town hall hosted by the AFL-CIO trade federation on Thursday, but the UK stop was previously not known. The U.S. trade czar's office released details late on Friday, saying Tai would arrive in Brussels on Sunday for the U.S.–EU summit and bilateral meetings with counterparts, including EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Business Yahoo Finance 210611 16h31m Data: LGBTQ buyers opt for cheaper homes that need ‘TLC’ over pricier digs Many new LGBTQ homebuyers are choosing fixer-uppers over flashier digs, the National Association of Realtors found. Business Bloomberg 210611 16h31m Mudrick’s AMC Bet Backfires After Meme Frenzy Wrecks Hedges (Bloomberg) -- After weeks of profiting from the stock and debt of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., hedge fund Mudrick Capital Management ended up with a 5.4% loss after a derivatives bet went haywire.The fund, which specializes in distressed debt, suffered the losses on AMC after day traders pushed the movie theater’s shares up as much as 127% on a single day, derailing call options Mudrick had sold on AMC shares to hedge exposure to the company, according to a person with knowledge of the matt Howell date : 210611 17h30m59s World Reuters 210611 17h22m Brazil looks at extending expiry date of J&J COVID vaccines Brazil's health regulator Anvisa met with representatives of Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen on Friday to discuss extending the expiry date of a batch of 3 million doses of its COVID vaccine bought by the South American nation. The batch of vaccines expires on June 27. Business Reuters 210611 17h03m UPDATE 1-Three top executives exit Chesapeake Energy U.S. oil and gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp said on Friday that three executives will leave the company, the latest exits this year after it launched a search for a new chief executive and emerged from bankruptcy. Frank Patterson, executive vice president of exploration and production; James Webb, general counsel; and William Buergler, senior vice president, will depart on Friday, according to a regulatory filing. The exits came after former Chief Executive Officer Doug Lawler left in April. Politics Reuters 210611 16h53m U.S. Trade Representative Tai to hold talks in Britain next week U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to Britain on Wednesday and hold talks with British trade minister Elizabeth Truss after participating in a U.S.-European Union summit and holding several bilateral meetings, her office said. Tai first disclosed her trip to Brussels - her first overseas trip - during a town hall hosted by the AFL-CIO trade federation on Thursday, but the UK stop was previously not known. The U.S. trade czar's office released details late on Friday, saying Tai would arrive in Brussels on Sunday for the U.S.–EU summit and bilateral meetings with counterparts, including EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Business Business Business Business Reuters 210611 15h30m White House says G7 leaders will endorse proposed 15% global minimum corporate tax G7 leaders meeting in Britain will endorse U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal for global minimum tax of at least 15% on corporations, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter on Friday. The U.S. Treasury in May proposed a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% to try to end a downward spiral of corporate tax rates. "America is rallying the world to make big multinational corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in our middle class at home," Sullivan tweeted. Howell date : 210611 16h30m21s Business Reuters 210611 15h49m White House says G7 leaders will endorse proposed 15% global minimum corporate tax G7 leaders meeting in Britain will endorse U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal for global minimum tax of at least 15% on corporations, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter on Friday. The U.S. Treasury in May proposed a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% to try to end a downward spiral of corporate tax rates. "America is rallying the world to make big multinational corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in our middle class at home," Sullivan tweeted. U.S. Yahoo Finance 210611 15h49m GLAAD president backs corporate LGBTQ embrace, calls for 'welcome, open' workplaces Corporate support has become key in a culture where LGBTQ concerns are increasingly prominent, according to GLAAD's president. Business Reuters 210611 15h35m UPDATE 1-White House says G7 leaders will endorse proposed 15% global minimum corporate tax G7 leaders meeting in Britain will endorse U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal for global minimum tax of at least 15% on corporations, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter on Friday. The U.S. Treasury in May proposed a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% to try to end a downward spiral of corporate tax rates. "America is rallying the world to make big multinational corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in our middle class at home," Sullivan tweeted. Business Business Howell date : 210611 15h29m45s Business Bloomberg 210611 15h02m Lumber Prices Post Biggest–Ever Weekly Drop With Buyers Balking (Bloomberg) -- Lumber futures posted their biggest-ever weekly loss, extending a tumble from all-time highs reached last month as sawmills ramp up output and buyers hold off on purchases.Prices in Chicago fell 18% this week, the biggest decline for most-active futures in records going back to 1986. Lumber has has now dropped almost 40% from the record high reached on May 10.Sawmills appear to be catching up with the rampant homebuilding demand in North America that fueled a months-long rally, br Business Yahoo Finance 210611 15h01m 'Bitcoin is bad for crime,' says crypto asset manager The Justice Department was recently able to recover $2.3 million worth of bitcoin (BTC-USD) extorted from Colonial Pipeline, suggesting that digital currency may not always be the best tool for criminals. Business Bloomberg 210611 14h50m Gold Heads for Weekly Loss as Dollar and Yields Rebound (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell as Treasury yields climbed from near a three-month low and the dollar strengthened. The metal erased some short-lived gains that were made in the wake of a U.S. inflation report.Thursday’s U.S. report on the consumer price index showed that price increases were largely driven by categories associated with economic reopenings, bolstering the view that inflation pressures may ease later in the year. With the Federal Reserve setting a high bar for reconsidering its dovish s Business Reuters 210611 14h48m Wall Street Week Ahead: Fed meeting looms for stocks as inflation worries collide with 'Goldilocks' markets Investors will be zeroing in on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week as a "Goldilocks" market environment that has helped lift stocks to record highs and tamed a bond selloff is tested by rising inflation. Stocks have climbed steadily in recent weeks and now stand at fresh records, extending a rally that has seen the S&P 500 gain 13% this year and nearly 90% from its March 2020 low. U.S. government bonds have also rallied after their first-quarter selloff, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield, which moves inversely to prices, recently at 1.46%, some 30 basis points below its first quarter highs. Business Reuters 210611 14h46m GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks set record highs as bond yields slide European shares, the S&P 500 and an index of global stock performance scaled new peaks while yields on U.S., Japanese and European government debt fell on Friday as investors embraced the easy monetary policies of major central banks. Investor sentiment rose in Europe after the European Central Bank raised its growth and inflation projections on Thursday, and also renewed a pledge to keep stimulus flowing. The MSCI all-country world equity index, a benchmark that tracks shares in 50 countries, set a new intraday high and record close at 719.52, up 0.2% in a late-day surge that also lifted the S&P 500 to an all-time close. Howell date : 210611 14h29m09s Business Bloomberg 210611 14h20m Biden Moves to Strengthen Market Protections for Farmers (Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration announced Friday it will strengthen U.S. regulatory protections for livestock and poultry producers in their dealings with meatpackers after Covid outbreaks and a cyber attack on JBS SA highlighted domination of the industry by a few giant companies.“The pandemic and other recent events have revealed how concentration can take a painful toll on independent farmers and ranchers, while exposing working family consumers to higher prices and uncertain output,” Business Bloomberg 210611 14h16m Tech Giants Face Demands to Downsize in New Antitrust Bills (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and other U.S. technology giants would have to sell or exit key businesses under sweeping antitrust legislation proposed by House lawmakers.The proposal is among a series of bills introduced Friday by House Democrats and Republicans that would place significant new constraints on how tech platforms run their businesses and give antitrust enforcers more legal authority to take on some of the country’s largest and most lucrative businesses.“Unregulated te Business Bloomberg 210611 14h08m Stocks Rise to Record With Focus Turning to Fed: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities eked out a gain in choppy trading as investors continued to assess the outlook for inflation and the path of Federal Reserve monetary policy. Ten-year Treasury yields held at around the lowest since March.Friday’s advance of 0.2% came a day after the S&P 500 notched its first all-time high since early May as data showed U.S. consumer price increases in May were largely driven by categories associated with economic reopenings, bolstering the view that inflation pressu U.S. Bloomberg 210611 14h02m Keystone-Quashing Activists Demand Biden Block Other Pipelines (Bloomberg) -- Environmentalists emboldened by this week’s defeat of Keystone XL are pressuring President Joe Biden to revoke permits for other oil and gas pipelines, warning their votes depend on the administration blocking fossil fuel infrastructure.“If you need and want us -- as I know the Biden team does -- to come out in stronger numbers for 2022, then you have to do right by our community,” Jane Kleeb, the president of Bold Alliance, who spent more than a decade battling TC Energy Corp.’s Business Yahoo Finance 210611 14h01m Stock market news live updates: S&P 500 ekes out record closing high as traders shake off inflation concerns Stocks were higher as investors looked beyond a hotter-than-expected report on inflation. Business Bloomberg 210611 13h56m Wall Street Warned by U.S. Regulators to Speed Up Libor Exit (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street banks must speed up their efforts to stop using Libor, U.S. regulators said Friday in issuing one of their most stern warnings yet about abandoning the scandal-plagued benchmark.The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and other watchdogs are trying to light a fire under lenders including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The regulators issued their latest admonishment on the London Interbank Offered Rate at a Friday meeting of the Finan Howell date : 210611 13h58m31s Business Yahoo Finance 210611 13h40m Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mixed after reaching record highs Stocks were higher as investors looked beyond a hotter-than-expected report on inflation. Business Reuters 210611 13h33m UPDATE 1-Starbucks Stadium? Coffee chain applies for naming rights Starbucks Corp has applied with the U.S. trademark office for the right to use its name on a sports stadium or training facility. In a June 2 application, the coffee chain sought approval to use its name in "providing stadium and training facilities for sports and entertainment activities" and "promoting business, sports and entertainment events of others." Approval could enable Seattle-based Starbucks to join companies such as AT&T, Bank of America, Canadian Tire, FedEx, Oracle, PPG Paints, Target, Toyota and United Airlines whose names already adorn professional stadiums and arenas. Business Bloomberg 210611 13h26m Wall Street Warned by U.S. Regulators to Speed Up Libor Exit (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street banks must speed up their efforts to stop using Libor, U.S. regulators said Friday in issuing one of their most stern warnings yet about abandoning the scandal-plagued benchmark.The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and other watchdogs are trying to light a fire under lenders including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The regulators issued their latest admonishment on the London Interbank Offered Rate at a Friday meeting of the Finan Business Reuters 210611 13h23m UPDATE 1-U.S. House lawmakers introduce bipartisan bills to target Big Tech Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced four bills on Friday aimed at reining in the power of the tech giants in what one congressional aide described as a revolution in antitrust. Two of the bills address the issue of giant companies, such as Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, creating a platform for other businesses and then competing against those same businesses. One measure bans platforms from owning subsidiaries that operate on their platform if those subsidiaries compete with other businesses - potentially forcing the Big Tech firms to sell assets. Health Reuters 210611 13h20m COVID SCIENCE-Vaccines effective vs variants despite diminished antibodies; kids may be as contagious as adults The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. The one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and the two-dose vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech appear to protect against worrisome coronavirus variants despite diminished levels of antibodies that can neutralize the newer versions of the virus, two studies in the journal Nature suggest. Howell date : 210611 13h27m54s Business Bloomberg 210611 13h18m Oil Rises for Third Week With IEA Flagging Need for More Crude (Bloomberg) -- Oil posted its third straight weekly rise on improving demand, with the International Energy Agency warning the market will need extra supply next year.Futures in New York rose 1.9% this week, extending its rally to the highest settle since October 2018. The IEA said that OPEC and its allies will need to lift output to keep the market adequately supplied, though the agency predicted demand won’t reach pre-virus levels until late 2022. Meanwhile, road traffic in the U.S. and much o Business Yahoo Finance 210611 13h15m Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mixed after reaching record highs Stocks were higher as investors looked beyond a hotter-than-expected report on inflation. Business Yahoo Finance 210611 13h09m SIMULATE rides alternative food wave with plant-based chicken, courts Gen Z with the help of TikTok A company backed by Alexis Ohanian is using memes to drive in its customers. Business Reuters 210611 13h05m FOREX-Dollar looks stronger as euro and sterling dip * Dollar index gains, Euro and pound fall * Currency markets look head to Fed meeting * Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Updates prices, adds commentary, changes byline, previous dateline London) By Sinéad Carew NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - The euro and sterling dipped against the dollar on Friday as investors bet interest rates would stay lower for longer in Europe and Britain while looking ahead to next week's U.S. monetary policy meeting. The dollar index, showing its strongest weekly gain since early May, was last up 0.57% on the day at 90.5810 while the euro was down 0.63% at $1.2099, on track for its biggest weekly decline since the end of April. A day after the European Central Bank stuck to its dovish stance, ECB policymaker Klaas Knot said that flexible fiscal rules would be needed for years as monetary policy remains constrained. Business Reuters 210611 13h03m EMERGING MARKETS-Brazilian real falls for the week; Mexican peso eyes weekly gain * Brazil's service sector rebounds in April * Mexico industry output suffers setback in April * Peru's Castillo cites 'victory' as vote count nears end (Adds comments, bullets, details; Updates prices throughout) By Susan Mathew and Shreyashi Sanyal June 11 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies weakened against a strong dollar on Friday, with Brazil's real on track for its worst session in three weeks. Brazilian services sector rebounded in April, official figures showed on Friday, though it failed to recover all the ground lost in March and activity remained below levels in February last year before the pandemic struck. A Reuters poll showed, Brazil's central bank will announce the third consecutive 75 basis point hike of its benchmark rate next week, and possibly hint at a more aggressive cycle ahead by dropping its commitment to a "partial normalization" of policy. Business Bloomberg 210611 12h58m Thrasio Is in Talks to Go Public Via Michael Klein SPAC (Bloomberg) -- Thrasio, an acquirer of private-label businesses on Amazon.com Inc., is in talks to go public through a merger with a blank-check company set up by former Citigroup Inc. rainmaker Michael Klein, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The online retailer, backed by private equity firm Advent International, could be valued at well over $2 billion in a merger with Churchill Capital Corp. V, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Tha Howell date : 210611 12h57m16s Business Reuters 210611 12h45m TREASURIES-Bears bail out as 10-year Treasuries eye best week in a year * Ten-year yield hits 3-month low, investors rush to cover shorts * Ten-year yield down as much as 13 bps this week, steepest fall in 1 yr * Another new record for Fed's reverse repo facility (Updates with market activity, analyst comment, Fed facility details) By Ross Kerber and Tom Westbrook BOSTON / SINGAPORE, June 11 (Reuters) - Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were close to their biggest weekly decline in a year on Friday as the market deemed a spike in inflation to be transitory, squeezing bears out of short positions. At that point, the yield had fallen roughly 13 basis points for the week, the steepest weekly drop since last June. Traders said short-covering was driving the bond rally, in a market that remains the recipient of enormous Federal Reserve support, after U.S. inflation data on Thursday was dismissed as insufficiently scary to prompt early tapering of stimulus. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210611 12h38m ‘Markets are very sanguine about the future inflation prospects’: Research Affiliates CIO Chris Brightman, CIO at Research Affiliates, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the outlook on the rotation out of growth into value stocks, inflationary pressures, and the global minimum tax. Business Reuters 210611 12h30m U.S. House lawmakers introduce bipartisan bills to target Big Tech Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced five bills on Friday, four of them aimed at reining in the power of the tech giants in what one congressional aide described as a revolution in antitrust. "From Amazon and Facebook to Google and Apple , it is clear that these unregulated tech giants have become too big to care and too powerful to ever put people over profits," said U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat who sponsored this measure along with Representative Lance Gooden, a Republican. Business Bloomberg 210611 12h15m Oil Heads for Third Weekly Gain as IEA Sees Need for More Crude (Bloomberg) -- Oil is on track for a third straight weekly rise as the crude market’s demand revival gains traction, with the International Energy Agency warning the market will need extra supply next year.Futures in New York are up about 2% so far this week and hit the highest intraday level since 2018 on Friday. The IEA said that OPEC and its allies will need to lift output to keep the market adequately supplied, though the agency predicted demand won’t reach pre-virus levels until late 2022. Business Yahoo Finance 210611 12h14m 'This is the cusp of a very fast moving wave into the home:' Hoy Health CEO on telehealth Improving cultural competence in health care is not just about being able to speak a patient's language. It's about engaging patients and finding solutions that fit their lifestyle, customs and schedules, says Mario Anglada, CEO of Hoy Health, which offers tele-health services for $25, drugs priced between $10 and $40, and a voucher system to gift drugs to friends and family abroad. Howell date : 210611 12h26m40s Business Bloomberg 210611 12h15m Oil Heads for Third Weekly Gain as IEA Sees Need for More Crude (Bloomberg) -- Oil is on track for a third straight weekly rise as the crude market’s demand revival gains traction, with the International Energy Agency warning the market will need extra supply next year.Futures in New York are up about 2% so far this week and hit the highest intraday level since 2018 on Friday. The IEA said that OPEC and its allies will need to lift output to keep the market adequately supplied, though the agency predicted demand won’t reach pre-virus levels until late 2022. Business Yahoo Finance 210611 12h13m 'This is the cusp of a very fast moving wave into the home:' Hoy Health CEO on telehealth Improving cultural competence in health care is not just about being able to speak a patient's language. It's about engaging patients and finding solutions that fit their lifestyle, customs and schedules, says Mario Anglada, CEO of Hoy Health, which offers tele-health services for $25, drugs priced between $10 and $40, and a voucher system to gift drugs to friends and family abroad. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210611 12h08m ‘There’s a bright future for the cannabis industry’: Flora Growth CEO Luis Merchan, Flora Growth CEO, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the outlook on the cannabis industry and the reason behind moving the company’s headquarters to Miami, Florida. World Reuters 210611 12h04m UPDATE 1-Iran nuclear deal talks to resume on Saturday - Iranian official Talks between Iran and world powers on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume in Vienna on Saturday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday. "The participants are expected to continue consultations on the possible return of the United States to the nuclear accord and ensuring the full and effective implementation of this agreement," Araqchi, Iran's top negotiator at the talks, said on his channel on the Telegram messaging app. Business Bloomberg 210611 12h03m Equity Rally Fades; Yields Hold Around March Lows: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks were mixed in choppy trading and benchmark bond yields held around the lowest since March as investors continued to assess the outlook for inflation and the path of Federal Reserve monetary policy.The main American equity indexes swung between gains and losses, with the S&P 500 hovering around a record in afternoon trading. Biotechs including Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., which sank after halting development of a key therapy, were among the biggest drags, outweighing ga Business Bloomberg 210611 12h01m Security Stocks Eye Best Week in Months as List of Hacks Grows (Bloomberg) -- Shares of cybersecurity companies have been on a tear of late, as a rash of high-profile hacks prompt an aggressive response from the U.S. government and may signal strong demand for their services over the long term.Attacks have recently come with alarming regularity. McDonald’s Corp. on Friday confirmed a breach of South Korean and Taiwan data, a day after hackers stole source code and related internal tools from Electronic Arts Inc. Earlier this week, JBS USA said it had paid a Business Bloomberg 210611 11h57m Tiger Global’s Flagship Hedge Fund Declined 6.3% Last Month (Bloomberg) -- Tiger Global Management’s hedge fund struggled in May, losing 6.3% and leaving it in the red for year.The flagship, equity-focused fund declined 0.8% for the first five months of 2020, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The average stock-picking hedge fund has gained 6.8% in the same period after rising 0.4% in May, according to Hedge Fund Research’s Equity Hedge Total Asset Weighted Index.The performance is an unusual blip for Tiger Global, which is known for its Howell date : 210611 11h56m03s Business Yahoo Finance Video 210611 11h45m Avocado consumption is seeing ‘double-digit growth’: Mission Produce CEO Steve Barnard, Mission Produce CEO, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the company’s latest earnings and the growth outlook for the avocado industry. World Bloomberg 210611 11h40m Johnson Urges Avoiding Errors of Previous Recoveries: G-7 Update (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed fellow Group of Seven leaders along the English coast, kicking off three days of summitry after meeting U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time on Thursday.The first order of business will be the economic recovery as the world’s most-developed nations discuss ways out of the pandemic even as the number of cases is rising worryingly in the U.K. Also look for signs of whether Brexit-related tensions will flare up in meetings on the side.Key U.S. Reuters 210611 11h35m U.S. says 'gravely concerned' about upcoming Ethiopia election The U.S. is "gravely concerned" about the environment in which the June 21 elections in Ethiopia will be held, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Friday. "We urge politicians and community leaders to reject violence and to refrain from inciting others," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in the statement. Politics Bloomberg 210611 11h32m Biden Moves to Strengthen Fair-Market Protections for Farmers (Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration announced Friday it will strengthen U.S. regulatory protections for livestock and poultry producers in their dealings with meatpackers after Covid outbreaks and a cyber attack on JBS SA highlighted domination of the industry by a few giant companies.“The pandemic and other recent events have revealed how concentration can take a painful toll on independent farmers and ranchers, while exposing working family consumers to higher prices and uncertain output,” Business Reuters 210611 11h31m Exclusive: Lithium Americas delays Nevada mine work after environmentalist lawsuit Lithium Americas Corp has delayed plans to excavate its Thacker Pass lithium mine site in Nevada, according to court filings, while a federal judge considers whether the former Trump administration erred in approving the project that opponents say could threaten sage grouse and other wildlife. The delay is the latest setback for the U.S. critical minerals industry as environmentalists pressure courts and regulators to block mining projects from a slew of companies including ioneer Ltd , Antofagasta Plc , Rio Tinto and others, even if those mines produce metals key to fighting climate change. Thacker Pass, if completed, would be the largest lithium mine in the United States, producing 30,000 tonnes of lithium annually - enough to make more than 475,000 electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Business Reuters 210611 11h31m Mexican auto parts lobby sees chip supply crunch over by December Mexico's main autopart association INA forecasts that the severe semiconductor chip shortage that has slammed the brakes on the global auto industry will subside in July and return to normal by the end of this year. Semiconductor chips are a crucial component for electronics in modern cars, including touchscreen displays as well as driver assist and other safety systems. The chip shortage in North America alone has caused the region's carmakers to cut previously expected output by 1.16 million vehicles in May, a figure that has accelerated each month since the start of the year, according to data from IHS Markit. Howell date : 210611 11h25m26s Business Yahoo Finance 210611 11h16m Meme stock CEOs should just be honest and transparent: former Cisco CEO Long-time Cisco CEO John Chambers chats with Yahoo Finance Live about the meme stock movement sweeping the country. U.S. Reuters 210611 11h10m Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting goes to Minneapolis Star Tribune The Minneapolis Star Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism on Friday for its coverage of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police, as the announcement of the winners of the most prestigious awards in U.S. journalism got underway in New York. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210611 11h02m Advocates push to forgive $8B in student debt held by disabled borrowers Yahoo Finance reporter Aarthi Swaminathan joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest with student loan forgiveness for disabled borrowers. Business Reuters 210611 11h01m UPDATE 1-IMF forecasts robust economic growth for Guatemala through 2023 Guatemala's economy is expected to expand by 4.5% this year according to a projection from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Friday, as Central America's biggest market begins to recover from a pandemic-induced slump. The Washington-based international lender sees 2021 growth prospects bolstered by a U.S. economic recovery, though it also cited downside risks including sluggish coronavirus vaccine distribution and the possible impact of new strains of COVID-19. In a statement, the IMF said it expects further expansion of the Guatemalan economy of 4.0% in 2022 followed by 3.5% growth in 2023, when it is seen recovering to pre-pandemic levels. Business Reuters 210611 11h01m Santander's Orcel case could face long delay as hearing postponed A Spanish court on Friday postponed a hearing in the dispute between Santander and Italian banker Andrea Orcel over a withdrawn offer to make him chief executive, potentially spelling a lengthy delay in the long-running case. Santander and Orcel ended up in the Madrid court after Spain's largest bank dropped plans to make Orcel, who was then the top investment banker at Swiss bank UBS, its CEO after a dispute over his pay package. The proceedings were suspended last month after a request from Orcel's lawyer for UBS Chairman Axel Weber and Mark Shelton, head of performance and rewards at Switzerland's biggest bank, for them to testify. World Reuters 210611 10h56m NEWSMAKER-Bitcoin law is only latest head-turner by El Salvador's 'millennial' president The young president of small Central American nation El Salvador leapt to worldwide fame this week after his country became the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, but Nayib Bukele is no stranger to controversy. The International Monetary Fund quickly flagged economic and legal risks to the unprecedented use of bitcoin in the small economy. From firing officials via Twitter to entering Congress with heavily armed soldiers, Bukele has tended to ruffle establishment feathers since he became president in 2019. Howell date : 210610 23h08m07s U.S. Reuters 210610 22h58m PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - June 11 The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. - A prominent Harvard drug researcher on Thursday became the third member of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee to resign over the agency's decision to approve Biogen Inc's drug for Alzheimer's, questioning whether the drug works. - The Biden administration launched an initiative Thursday aiming to make more government data available to artificial intelligence researchers, part of a broader push to keep the U.S. on the cutting edge of the crucial new technology. Business Reuters 210610 22h52m Analysis-Frequent run-ins with India gov't cloud U.S. tech expansion plans Another spat between India's government and U.S. big tech has exacerbated disillusion among firms which have spent billions to build hubs in their largest growth market, to the extent some are rethinking expansion plans, people close to the matter said. The government on Saturday said Twitter Inc had not indicated compliance with new rules aimed at making social media firms more accountable to legal requests, and therefore risked losing liability exemptions for content posted on its platform. Twitter joins compatriots Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc and Facebook-owned WhatsApp in long being at loggerheads with the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over data privacy bills and policies some executives have called protectionist, but tension has escalated in recent weeks. Business Reuters 210610 22h36m TREASURIES-Bears bail out as 10-year Treasuries eye best week in a year The U.S. yield curve flattened and benchmark 10-year Treasuries were headed for their best week in a year on Friday as the market deemed a spike in inflation to be transitory, squeezing bears out of a host of short positions. The 10-year yield, which falls when prices rise, dropped about 2.6 basis points to 1.4335% in Asia, its lowest since early March. The yield has fallen nearly 13 basis points for the week so far, the steepest weekly drop since last June. Business Reuters 210610 22h30m Amazon Web Services says will open data centers in Israel In April, AWS and Google won a tender for the four phase project known as "Nimbus". "Today, Amazon Web Services Inc, an Amazon.com company, announced it will open an infrastructure region in Israel in the first half of 2023", AWS said in a statement on Friday. Business Bloomberg 210610 22h18m Toshiba Sought Ministry Help to Swing Key Vote, Probe Finds (Bloomberg) -- Toshiba Corp. sought government help in an attempt to influence a key shareholder vote that installed its slate of directors, an independent probe has found in a vindication for investor activism in Japan.The voting, which went against nominees put up by Singapore-based Effissimo Capital Management, wasn’t fairly managed, according to the results of an investigation by several law firms that Toshiba shared. The Japanese electronics-to-energy conglomerate “devised a plan to effecti Business Bloomberg 210610 22h14m Gold Holds Gain as Investors Weigh U.S. Inflation, ECB Decision (Bloomberg) -- Gold held an advance as some investors deemed that the slightly faster-than-expected rise in U.S. inflation is likely to be transitory, keeping ongoing central-bank support intact.The consumer price index climbed 0.6% in May, the second-largest advance in more than a decade. Though distorted by the pandemic, the CPI jumped 5% from a year ago, the biggest annual gain since August 2008, according to Labor Department data Thursday. Real yields eased after the data, boosting the appea Business Howell date : 210610 21h07m31s Business Reuters 210610 20h47m GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia extends global stocks rally, U.S. bond yields fall on easing inflation fears U.S. bond yields fell to three month lows and a broad gauge of Asian shares rose on Friday as investors saw enough one-off factors in U.S. consumer price data to back the Federal Reserve's conviction that rising inflation will be transitory. Data overnight showed U.S. consumer price index posted its biggest year-on-year increase at 5% since August 2008, following a 4.2% rise in April. At the same time, U.S. Labor Department data also showed the lowest level of new claims for unemployment benefits in nearly 15 months last week. Business Bloomberg 210610 20h46m Oil Drops After Climbing Back Above $70 on Robust Demand Outlook (Bloomberg) -- Oil retreated after edging back above $70 a barrel Thursday, with prices still set to eke out a modest weekly gain on improving demand.Futures in New York dropped 0.7% on Friday after closing at the highest since October 2018 in the previous session. While prices have eased, there is a raft of bullish signs for the market. Road traffic in the U.S. and most of Europe is pretty much back to pre-virus levels, while OPEC predicted that the global demand recovery will gather strength i Health Bloomberg 210610 20h43m Indians Already Ravaged By Virus Now Slammed With Medical Debt (Bloomberg) -- In the shadows of the Taj Mahal, shoemaker Shyambabu Nigam worked for years to save enough money to buy his wife Anju a small house with a view of the iconic 17th century mausoleum. Yet in just a matter of months, they were forced to give it up.After Anju fell seriously ill with Covid-19 last year, the couple turned to a mix of subsidized government hospitals and more expensive private clinics to treat the illness and pay for two open-heart surgeries that followed. The total costs Business Bloomberg 210610 20h42m Bitcoin Ruling Roils Crypto World Seeking Regulatory Clarity (Bloomberg) -- International banking regulators’ decision to classify Bitcoin as the riskiest of assets dragged cryptocurrencies further into the mainstream financial world.It also made it extremely costly for banks to hold digital tokens on their balance sheets, potentially delaying crypto’s wider adoption.The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposed that a 1,250% risk weight be applied to a bank’s exposure to Bitcoin and certain other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin jumped on the announcement Business Reuters 210610 20h27m Archer's flying taxi makes splashy debut in heated market Archer Aviation unveiled its first electric flying taxi "Maker" in a Tesla-style debut on Thursday as an increasing number of investors and aviation companies pile into the hot but yet-to-be-approved urban air mobility space. Interest in zero-emission aircraft that take off and land like helicopters but fly like planes is growing as aerospace companies look for new markets and face pressure to help decarbonize their industry though the battery-operated vehicles. Maker's debut, staged at a hangar using XR technology to simulate a ride, followed news on Thursday of two separate deals involving electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft companies based in Britain and Brazil. Business Reuters 210610 20h23m SoftBank's PayPay surges ahead in Japan's digital payments race For six decades, shoppers at Mikawaya, a rice dealer in eastern Tokyo, paid in cash - until sales staff from payments app PayPay swept through the low-lying district, persuading the store to give their product a try. With customers clamouring to use the service and nearby stores signing up, PayPay's offer of free installation and no handling fees was too good to refuse, the store's owners say. Owned by deep-pocketed SoftBank, PayPay has deployed a shoe-leather sales force of thousands to target restaurants, drugstores and supermarkets, attracting more than 3 million merchants, an industry-leading number in a country with about 5.3 million businesses, according to government data. Business Reuters 210610 20h19m Oil trims gains, but heads for third weekly rise on demand recovery Oil prices slipped on Friday but were set for their third weekly rise on expectations for a recovery in fuel demand in Europe, China and the United States as rising vaccination rates lead to an easing of pandemic curbs. Brent crude futures fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $72.29 a barrel at 0145 GMT, reversing most of Thursday's climb to its highest close since May 2019. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $70.07 a barrel, after climbing 0.5% on Thursday to its highest close since October 2018. Business Bloomberg 210610 20h08m Biggest Polluters Need a Rulebook to Unlock Cash for Change (Bloomberg) -- A new type of financing that allows borrowers to shift toward less dependence on fossil fuels has been hampered by a lack of clear labeling and definitions.Expansion of transition finance that specifies the use of proceeds “has been impeded by a lack of clear market standards on what constitutes a transition asset,” said Atul Jhavar, head of sustainable capital markets for the Asia-Pacific region at Barclays Bank Plc.After explosive growth in environmental, social and governance b Business Business Business Business Business Business Reuters 210610 19h07m China's Huawei aims to reach driverless car technology in 2025 China's Huawei Technologies aims to develop driverless passenger car technology by 2025, an executive said on Thursday, as the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker diversifies its business in the face of U.S. sanctions. "Our team's goal is to reach true driverless passenger cars in 2025," Wang Jun, senior executive at Huawei's smart vehicle unit, told an industry conference. Dozens of startups, automakers and large technology firms such as internet search leader Baidu Inc are accelerating work on self-driving vehicle systems which are expected to bring a sea change to the transportation industry. Business Bloomberg 210610 19h07m Japan’s Biggest Bank to Bet $9 Billion on Riskier Asset Push (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s biggest bank is planning to plow about $9 billion into a new investment team that will look to buy credit, equities and alternative assets in a bid to lift investment returns.Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. expects to begin buying the assets in the second half of this year that will likely focus on U.S. securities, said the group’s head, Yoshiaki Nemoto. His team will manage a new investment account, separate from the bank’s conventional securities portfolio, and will Politics Reuters 210610 19h07m Trump administration subpoenaed Apple for lawmakers' data -New York Times The U.S. Justice Department under former President Donald Trump subpoenaed Apple Inc for data from the accounts of at least two Democrats on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee in an attempt to find out who was behind leaks of classified information, the New York Times reported on Thursday. The records of at least a dozen people tied to the committee were seized in 2017 and early 2018, including those of Representative Adam Schiff, then the panel’s top Democrat and now its chairman, the Times said. Prosecutors under Jeff Sessions, the first attorney general in Trump's Republican administration, were seeking to find the sources behind media reports about contacts between Trump associates and Russia, the Times said. World Reuters 210610 19h07m UK report says Hong Kong security law used to 'drastically curtail freedoms' Beijing has broken its legal obligations by undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and used a national security law to "drastically curtail freedoms" in the global financial hub, according to a report by Britain on its former colony. In a foreword in the six-monthly report covering July-December 2020, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the city in June last year was being used to stifle political opposition. There had been "clear breaches" of the 1984 Joint Declaration, signed by then Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that guaranteed wide-ranging freedoms for Hong Kong, Raab said. Howell date : 210610 19h06m54s World Reuters 210610 18h37m Victoria extends timeline, funding for inquiry into Australia's Crown Resorts The move steps up the duration and depth of the regulatory scrutiny on Crown, at a time when it is trying to overturn a suspension of its new Sydney casino licence and is balancing buyout talks with suitor Star Entertainment Group. The Victorian government said it approved an extension to Oct. 15 from the initial Aug. 1 deadline, and an increase in the funding to A$19.75 million from A$10 million ($7.75 million). The Royal Commission inquiry into Crown was appointed by the state in February to assess its fitness for holding a gambling licence, with other states also probing the company after media accused it of ties to money laundering. Business Bloomberg 210610 18h31m Asian Stocks Steady as U.S. Shrugs Off CPI Jump: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks were steady early Friday after U.S. shares and Treasuries rallied as investors judged that a jump in inflation is likely to be transitory, leaving scope for ongoing central-bank support.Japanese shares fluctuated, South Korea rose and Australia slipped. The S&P 500 Index climbed to a record overnight, while a technology rally boosted the Nasdaq 100. Meme-stocks favored by day traders, such as GameStop Corp., plunged. U.S. equity contracts were little changed.The 10-ye Business Reuters 210610 18h21m Exclusive: MKS Instruments approaches Atotech with acquisition offer - sources (Reuters) - atc.Semiconductor equipment maker MKS Instruments Inc has approached Atotech Ltd, a specialty chemicals group that has a market value of $4.7 billion, with an acquisition offer, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The potential combination would expand MKS's offerings in chip manufacturing through the addition of Atotech's plating chemicals. It would come a few months after Atotech was floated on the stock market by its private equity owner Carlyle Group Inc. Business Reuters 210610 18h17m Fed to announce QE taper in August or September on rising inflation concerns: Reuters poll The Federal Reserve is likely to announce in August or September a strategy for reducing its massive bond buying program, but won't start cutting monthly purchases until early next year, a Reuters poll of economists found. A significant number of Fed watchers also said the central bank would wait until later in the year before announcing a taper, now the main focus for markets fretting over rising inflation as an end to the pandemic in the United States is in sight. Booming demand with the U.S. economy reopening is expected to continue and push up consumer prices this year, with the June 4-10 Reuters poll of over 100 economists showing an upgrade to both growth and inflation forecasts. Business Bloomberg 210610 18h13m Peru Holds Key Interest Rate Near Zero, But Changes Guidance (Bloomberg) -- Peru’s central bank held its key interest rate at an all-time low Thursday, but dropped its commitment to keep it there for “a prolonged period”.The bank kept its benchmark rate at 0.25% for the 14th straight month, making good on its promise to provide liquidity to an economy hard-hit by the pandemic.The decision comes as leftist candidate Pedro Castillo is leading the June 7 runoff election against Keiko Fujimori by 50.2% to 49.8% -- fewer than 70,000 votes, with 99% of ballots Business Bloomberg 210610 18h07m Oil Poised for Third Weekly Gain on Improving Demand Outlook (Bloomberg) -- Oil is poised to eke out a third weekly gain after bouncing around $70 a barrel this week as investors digested varying demand signs.Futures in New York were steady on Friday after closing at the highest since October 2018 in the previous session. OPEC predicted that the global demand recovery will gather strength in the second half of the year, while traffic on U.S. roads and most of Europe was pretty much back to pre-virus levels.See also: OPEC+ Spare Oil Buffer Is Not All It Se Business Reuters 210610 18h07m Flying taxis could poach passengers from planes, Avolon says Airbus and Boeing watch out - one of the world's largest aircraft owners says passenger planes could see their wings clipped by the rapid spread of flying taxi startups. Commercial air travel already faces competition from high-speed trains in parts of the world. Avolon is among the launch customers for up to 1,000 electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVOTL) aircraft being developed by Britain's Vertical Aerospace, which plans to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm. Business Howell date : 210610 18h06m17s Business Bloomberg 210610 17h29m Vertical Wins American, Avolon Orders, Plans to Go Public (Bloomberg) -- Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd., the developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, won pre-order contracts of as much as $4 billion as it plans to go public through a merger with a blank-check company.American Airlines Group Inc., Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy as many as 1,000 of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, from Vertical Aerospace, the company’s first commercial order, according to a state Politics Bloomberg 210610 17h16m Democrats Seek Path Through House for Competitiveness, Chip Bill (Bloomberg) -- House Democrats are maneuvering to quickly pass legislation to bolster the semiconductor industry and support U.S. innovation by adding parts of a Senate bill passed this week to an existing House measure, aiming to counter the economic challenge from China.Under the strategy being considered, the House Science Committee would amend a measure it’s set to begin working on next week to wrap in elements of the $250 billion package that cleared the Senate in an overwhelmingly bipartis Business Bloomberg 210610 17h14m Peru Holds Key Interest Rate Near Zero Amid Election Turmoil (Bloomberg) -- Peru’s central bank held its key interest rate at an all-time low Thursday as uncertainty mounts over the results of Sunday’s contentious presidential election.The bank kept its benchmark rate at 0.25% for the 14th straight month, making good on its promise to provide liquidity to an economy hard-hit by the pandemic.The decision comes as leftist candidate Pedro Castillo is leading the June 7 runoff election against Keiko Fujimori by 50.2% to 49.8% -- fewer than 70,000 votes, with Business Bloomberg 210610 17h11m Asian Stocks Eye Calm Start as U.S. Shrugs Off CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set for a steady open Friday after U.S. shares and Treasuries rallied as investors judged that a jump in inflation is likely to be transitory, leaving scope for ongoing central-bank support.Futures rose in Japan and Hong Kong but were little changed in Australia. The S&P 500 Index climbed to a record overnight, while a technology rally boosted the Nasdaq 100. Meme-stocks favored by day traders, such as GameStop Corp., plunged. U.S. equity contracts fluctuated in World World Business Bloomberg 210610 16h06m Resolute Forest Is Spending $50 Million to Expand Lumber Output (Bloomberg) -- Resolute Forest Products Inc. is spending $50 million to grow its lumber production after a U.S. housing boom sent demand soaring and lifted prices to record highs.The company is expanding capacity at sawmills in Ontario and Florida, it said in a statement Thursday. The funds will also go to modernizing equipment at a facility in Quebec and improving efficiency at one in Arkansas.Despite cooling off recently, lumber futures are still more than double where they were a year ago. Th Howell date : 210610 17h05m41s World Reuters 210610 16h54m Chile shuts capital Santiago once more as vaccines fail to quell rampant cases Chilean health authorities announced a blanket lockdown across the capital Santiago on Thursday following some of the worst COVID-19 case numbers since the pandemic began, despite having fully vaccinated more than half its population. The development, which will alarm authorities elsewhere who are debating how fast to reopen as vaccination campaigns gather steam, comes as Chile's confirmed daily caseload surged 17% in the past two weeks nationwide and 25% in the Metropolitan region that includes Santiago and is home to half the country's population. Jose Luis Espinoza, the president of Chile's National Federation of Nursing Associations (FENASENF), said his members were "on the verge of collapse." Business Reuters 210610 16h21m Two guests onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise test COVID-19 positive Cruise operator Royal Caribbean said on Thursday two guests onboard its Celebrity Millennium ship have tested positive for COVID-19, but are asymptomatic and currently in isolation. The guests, who were sharing a room, are being monitored by the company's medical team, the cruise operator said, adding that it was conducting contact tracing, expediting testing for all close contacts of the individuals. Celebrity Millennium was one of the first cruises in North America to restart sailing last week, after more than a year. Business Bloomberg 210610 16h07m Chinese Ride-Hailing Firm Didi Reveals $1.6 Billion Loss in IPO Filing (Bloomberg) -- Chinese ride-hailing company Didi revealed a $1.6 billion net loss for 2020 as it moves ahead with plans for a U.S. initial public offering.The company in its first public filing for the IPO listed the offering as $100 million, a placeholder that will change when the company discloses terms for the share sale. Didi filed Thursday under the business name Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc., with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. leading the offering.Didi, one of the Business Business Business World Howell date : 210610 16h05m04s World Reuters 210610 15h53m Brazil's top court dismisses bids to block Copa America Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected two of three injunctions sought to prevent the Copa America soccer tournament being held in the country because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 10-nation South American event is due to kick off on Sunday at Brasilia's Mané Garrincha stadium despite criticism of its organizer for hastily relocating the tournament from co-hosts Colombia and Argentina. Justice Carmen Lucia said in her decision that it does not exempt authorities from adopting public health safety measures needed to prevent transmission of the virus that has killed almost half a million Brazilians. World Reuters 210610 15h30m G7 to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expects the Group of Seven to agree to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries during its summit starting on Friday, and help innoculate the world by the end of next year. Just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to supercharge the battle against the coronavirus with a donation of 500 million Pfizer shots, Johnson said Britain would give at least 100 million surplus vaccines to the poorest nations. Some campaign groups condemned the plan as a drop in the ocean, with Oxfam estimating that nearly 4 billion people will depend on COVAX for vaccines, the programme that distributes COVID-19 shots to low and middle income countries. Business Bloomberg 210610 15h26m Evergrande Tycoon Loses $20 Billion as Investors Revolt (Bloomberg) -- Just eight months after celebrating a narrow escape from financial disaster, Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan finds himself back in crisis-fighting mode.Resurgent concerns about the health of China Evergrande Group, Hui’s flagship property company, have pushed its stock to within a hair’s breadth of the lowest level since March 2020. Bondholders are rushing for the exit too, spooked by missed payments at the developer’s affiliates and a report that regulators are probing Evergrande’ Business Reuters 210610 15h17m UPDATE 2-Fed balance sheet tops $8 trillion for first time -data The Federal Reserve's balance sheet topped $8 trillion for the first time, weekly data published on Thursday by the U.S. central bank on its holdings showed. At $8 trillion, the Fed's stash of assets has roughly doubled since it kicked off large-scale purchases in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and brought the economy to a near standstill. The report also showed the Fed appears to have sold around $160 million of its corporate debt holdings since Monday, following the announcement it would unwind its nearly $14 billion corporate credit portfolio. Business Reuters 210610 15h08m Fed balance sheet tops $8 trillion for first time -data NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Federal Reserve's balance sheet topped $8 trillion for the first time, weekly data published on Thursday by the U.S. central bank on its holdings showed. At $8 trillion, the Fed's stash of assets has roughly doubled since it kicked off large-scale purchases in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and brought the economy to a near standstill. The report also showed the Fed appears to have sold around $160 million of its corporate debt holdings since Monday, following the announcement it would unwind its nearly $14 billion corporate credit portfolio. U.S. Business Howell date : 210610 15h04m27s Business Reuters 210610 14h58m UPDATE 1-Vertical Aerospace to go public in $2.2 billion SPAC deal Vertical Aerospace, an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) maker backed by investors such as American Airlines, will go public through a merger with a blank-check firm in a deal valued at $2.2 billion, the company said on Thursday. Vertical Aerospace said it has conditional pre-orders for up to $4 billion and 1,000 eVTOL aircraft, from aircraft lessor Avolon and American Airlines, and a pre-order option from Virgin Atlantic. "If you think about transportation strategically this is the next big frontier," said Domhnal Slattery, chief executive of Avolon, the world's third-largest aircraft leasing company. Politics Reuters 210610 14h55m UPDATE 1-U.S. EPA to re-examine health standards for harmful soot The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday it would re-examine health standards for harmful soot that the previous Trump administration had left unchanged. This is the latest federal air and water regulation that the Biden administration will revisit after the Trump administration either rolled back standards or left them unchanged. The Biden administration will examine the December 2020 decision that left the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter, or soot, unchanged. Politics Yahoo Finance 210610 14h47m Schumer: ‘The federal government is making profits off the backs of our students’ As lawmakers and advocacy groups continue to push for $50,000 in student debt cancellation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed shock over the interest rates that borrowers are being charged by the government. Politics Reuters 210610 14h44m White House opposes EV mileage tax, adjusting gas tax for inflation - source The White House opposes any effort to index gasoline taxes to account for inflation or require electric vehicles to pay a mileage fee to help fund an infrastructure package, a person familiar with Biden's thinking told Reuters on Thursday. Some lawmakers on Thursday expressed support for adjusting the gasoline tax to account for inflation and others have called for making EV users also pay for highway repairs. The federal gasoline tax has remained at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, making it worth 10.1 cents a gallon in real terms. Business Bloomberg 210610 14h43m AMC Rides Meme-Stock Wave to S&P Optimism Over Capital Structure (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. gifted retail shareholders free popcorn. Meanwhile, Reddit day traders gave AMC a path to stability.The movie theater operator has cashed in on its meme-stock status to raise some $1.25 billion through equity offerings in recent months. That, combined with an improving outlook for the movie industry, warranted a credit upgrade from S&P Global Ratings.S&P boosted AMC’s rating to CCC+ from CCC-, a two-notch upgrade that still leaves the company deeply Business Reuters 210610 14h43m Volkswagen U.S. CEO meets with EPA administrator on EVs Volkswagen AG's top U.S. executive met with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to talk about electric vehicles and the push toward cleaner cars as the Biden administration works to revise vehicle emissions rules. Scott Keogh, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, spoke with EPA Administrator Michael Regan and reaffirmed the company's support for an emissions deal with California. Howell date : 210610 14h03m51s Business Reuters 210610 13h57m Intel debates buyout of SiFive to bolster chip technology against Arm - source Intel Corp is debating a possible offer to buy SiFive Inc, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, a company closely associated with open-source technology that is challenging the rise of Intel's rival, Arm Ltd. SiFive, a San Mateo, California-based startup, employs several of the creators of RISC-V, an open-source chip technology that is challenging Arm, the British chip technology firm being acquired by Nvidia Corp for $40 billion. Both Arm and SiFive sell intellectual property such as chip designs to others who ultimately produce the chips. Business Reuters 210610 13h55m Artificial intelligence startup DataRobot seeks to raise $500 million - sources DataRobot is in advanced discussions to raise fresh capital of about $500 million in a funding round that could value the machine learning startup at more than $7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Tiger Global, an existing investor in DataRobot, will participate in the round, which is expected to be the last private fundraiser before a stock market flotation of the company, the sources added. Founded in 2012, DataRobot offers a subscription-based machine learning platform to help companies use big data to perform predictive analytics, a process that otherwise would require manual effort. Business Bloomberg 210610 13h52m Amazon Wants Office Workers Back 3 Days a Week in September (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. wants corporate employees to return to the office at least three days a week by this fall, taking a slightly more relaxed stance from its previous position of a return to an “office-centric culture.”Amazon said it expects office workers in the U.S., U.K. and several other countries to resume working mostly on site the week of Sept. 7, according to an email sent to employees Thursday. Workers can seek exemptions to the rules, which have to be approved. Corporate emp Business Reuters 210610 13h51m Internal data from breach circulating online - CD Projekt Internal company data leaked during a February security breach is now being circulated on the internet, Polish video games maker CD Projekt said in a statement published on Thursday. Separately, video game maker Electronic Arts Inc said on Thursday that it is investigating a recent data breach, where some of its game source code and related tools were stolen. U.S. Reuters 210610 13h48m U.S. charges Israeli traders in healthcare insider trading scheme U.S. prosecutors on Thursday unveiled criminal charges in Manhattan accusing two Israeli traders of illegal trading in several biotechnology and healthcare companies in connection with a sprawling international insider trading scheme. Tomer Feingold and Dov Malnik were accused in a 15-count indictment of securities fraud, wire fraud, tender offer fraud, concealment of a money laundering scheme, and conspiracy. Authorities have said the defendants, who lived in Geneva, Switzerland, generated millions of dollars of profit by trading on nonpublic information concerning mergers and potential transactions involving such companies as Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc and InterMune Inc. Business Reuters 210610 13h45m Mogul Diller says ViacomCBS, Comcast don’t need deals to succeed ViacomCBS Inc and Comcast Corp can succeed without acquiring other businesses, IAC Chairman Barry Diller said during a Reuters Newsmaker event Thursday. The media and Internet mogul, who helped found Fox Broadcasting Company, described competing with Netflix, which would require significant investment, a "fool's errand" at this point. Howell date : 210610 13h33m15s Business Reuters 210610 13h26m FOREX-Dollar edges down after inflation data, ahead of FOMC * FX volatility at lowest since February 2020 * With inflation data out, traders look to FOMC meeting * Bitcoin holds steady * Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Updates prices, adds commentary) By Sinéad Carew NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - The dollar index was down slightly on Thursday after alternating between losses and gains earlier in the session as investors digested elevated U.S. inflation and European Central Bank commentary while eyeing the U.S. Federal Reserve's next meeting. After adopting a wait-and-see attitude all week, sucking volatility from the market and leaving major currencies mostly range-bound, Thursday's developments appeared to add little new direction to currency markets. Earlier in the day, the ECB raised its growth and inflation views but promised to keep ample stimulus flowing, fearing that a retreat now would accelerate a worrisome rise in borrowing costs and choke off recovery. Business Bloomberg 210610 13h19m U.S. Stocks, Government Bonds Rally After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities rallied toward all-time highs and benchmark Treasury yields extended declines to the lowest since March as investors bet that the Federal Reserve will maintain its ultra-accomodative policies even after data showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 touched a record as all the main American equity indexes advanced in afternoon trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was set for its highest level since late April as megacap technology stocks ral Business Bloomberg 210610 13h07m Wall Street Faces All the Same Reflation Doubts After CPI Beat (Bloomberg) -- After weeks of drift and doubt, Wall Street was looking for a decisive signal on price growth to help put the reflation trade back on track. Instead it got another mixed message.Prices paid by U.S. consumers rose in May at the fastest pace since 2008, yet the details of data released Thursday supported the Federal Reserve’s view that the jump will prove transitory.As investors digested the numbers, an initial increase in Treasury yields lasted little more than an hour, and by lunc World Reuters 210610 13h05m U.S., China have discussed Beijing's lagging participation in debt relief -Yellen U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday said China's participation in G20 debt relief programs for poor countries has lagged due to the exclusion of some state lending entities, and Washington and Beijing have discussed increasing Chinese participation. Business Bloomberg 210610 12h59m JBS Paid Hackers $11 Million After Hack Crippled Meat Plants (Bloomberg) -- JBS USA said it paid $11 million in ransom to criminals responsible for the cyberattack that disrupted meat processing across North America and Australia, the latest high profile example of large corporations falling prey to extortion.“This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,” JBS USA Chief Executive Officer Andre Nogueira said in a statement. “However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.”Th Business Bloomberg 210610 12h59m BlackRock Downplays How Big It Is in Wake of Warren Backlash (Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. pushed a message to investors that may seem surprising coming from a $9 trillion asset manager: We’re not really that big.Its revenue comprises just 3% of the industry’s, a smaller proportion compared to the very top players in other sectors, senior managers of the New York-based firm said Thursday during an investor-day presentation.In cloud-computing, the top five players hold more than two-thirds of the market share, and in sales and trading the top five command Howell date : 210610 13h02m38s Business Reuters 210610 12h52m Analysis: Hotter inflation fails to shake U.S. markets out of torpor, with Fed in driver's seat Investors are not freaking out over a spike in U.S. inflation in the past two months, showing confidence that the Federal Reserve is deftly handling a rebound in economic growth even as it leaves markets guessing about how it defines "transitory" when it talks about price increases. In fact, Wall Street's benchmark index inched to a record high after days of sideways trading, and U.S. Treasury yields eased after Thursday's Labor Department report showed the consumer price index (CPI) in May had its biggest year-on-year jump in 13 years. "The Fed is getting some traction on its message that the inflation pressures are transitory," said Colin Asher, senior economist at Mizuho in London. U.S. Yahoo Finance 210610 12h47m 'You pay now or you'll pay later:' Ed Sec Miguel Cardona on school inequity U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona joined Yahoo Finance to discuss how to address inequities among students and the current state of American education, teacher recruitment, and education funding. Business Reuters 210610 12h46m Naspers' directors to have significant shares in company after share exchange deal The incentives of executive directors in Naspers Ltd will be linked to the performance of the company and a share exchange programme with subsidiary Prosus will not alter that, the company said on Thursday. Last month, Naspers and Prosus had announced a share exchange programme under which Prosus, listed on Euronext in Amsterdam, would issue new shares to buy up to 45.4% of its parent Naspers' shares listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Business Bloomberg 210610 12h40m Amazon Wants Office Workers Back 3 Days a Week in September (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. wants corporate employees to return to the office at least three days a week, according to an email sent to employees Thursday, a softer stance from the company’s earlier position that it has an office-centric culture.Amazon said it expects office workers in the U.S., U.K. and several other countries to resume working mostly from the office the week of Sept. 7.“Like all companies and organizations around the world, we’re managing every stage of this pandemic for th Business Bloomberg 210610 12h38m Hunger for Treasuries Drags Yields to 3-Month Low Despite CPI (Bloomberg) -- Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to their lowest level in three months amid signs that traders are continuing to unwind short positions, defying a faster-than-expected increase in U.S. consumer prices.The yield fell as much as 3 basis points to 1.4638%, below its nadir from May 7 as well as the 100-day moving average for the rate. The move, which took it to a level last seen March 4, came after inflation data earlier pushed the rate up by as much as 4 basis point Business Bloomberg 210610 12h35m Stocks Trade at Record, Yields Steady After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities climbed toward record highs and benchmark Treasury yields held around the lowest level since March as investors assessed data that showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 broke above its all-time high as all the main American equity indexes advanced in afternoon trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was set for its highest level since late April as megacap technology stocks rallied. The 10-year Treasury yield eased back below 1.5% following Howell date : 210610 12h32m00s Business Reuters 210610 12h12m Exclusive: Eli Lilly memo says firm did not make false statements to FDA A week before Eli Lilly disclosed to regulators that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating its New Jersey factory, the drugmaker told employees that its own inquiry, led by an outside law firm, found no evidence of wrongdoing there, according to a company memo reviewed by Reuters. On April 8, a group of employees filed an anonymous complaint internally alleging that an executive at its Branchburg, New Jersey, factory had altered documents required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As Reuters reported last month, Lilly tapped the Washington D.C. law firm Covington & Burling LLP to investigate the alleged alterations, which the employees said were meant to downplay serious quality control problems at the plant producing the drugmaker's COVID-19 antibody treatment. Business Reuters 210610 12h09m UPDATE 1-Asda sales growth accelerates in latest quarter British supermarket group Asda on Thursday reported an acceleration in underlying sales growth in its latest quarter and said Walmart was paid nearly 3 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) in dividends before selling most of the business. Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital completed their purchase of a majority stake in Asda from Walmart in February in a deal valuing the chain at 6.8 billion pounds. The transaction, which sees Walmart retain a minority stake, is still subject to final regulatory approval by Britain's competition regulator. Business Bloomberg 210610 12h07m GameStop Tumbles on Stock Sale Plan and Unclear Strategy View (Bloomberg) -- GameStop Corp.’s meteoric rally this year as one of the first meme-stock icons may be losing steam after the company said it planned to sell more shares and offered few details about its turnaround strategy.The Grapevine, Texas-based video-game retailer fell 21% to $238.04 as of 1:50 p.m. in New York on Thursday, after earlier slumping as much as 24%. The stock, which was among the first to get a huge Reddit and social media following earlier this year, has surged about 1,200% in Business Reuters 210610 12h07m Artisan fund joins opposition to Universal Music spin-off U.S. investment fund Artisan Partners on Thursday joined another minority shareholder in French media group Vivendi in opposing its spin-off of Universal Music Group (UMG), decrying the transaction as unfavourable to some investors. Activist fund Bluebell Capital Partners had already questioned Vivendi's plan to cash in on its prize asset - the music label behind artists such as Lady Gaga - through a distribution-in-kind to shareholders. The deal - through which Vivendi aims to list Universal in Amsterdam and spin-off 60% to existing Vivendi shareholders - will be submitted to an investor vote on June 22. Health Yahoo Finance 210610 12h06m 'We cannot just sit around and admire the problem' of health inequity: Nuñez-Smith White House Health Equity Task Force chair Dr. Marcella Nuñez-Smith discuss health equity efforts, data infrastructure needed and how the Biden-Harris administration is tackling systemic problems. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210610 12h06m HoyHealth CEO on providing equal care for all patients Mario Anglada, HoyHealth CEO, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss tackling health equity. Howell date : 210610 12h01m23s Business Reuters 210610 11h54m Crisis-hit EU airlines seek 'more balanced' passenger rights European airlines said on Thursday they will seek to weaken passenger compensation and refund rights in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which left the industry struggling to reimburse billions of euros in fares for grounded flights. Airlines for Europe (A4E), which represents the region's biggest carriers, said the so-called EU261 regulation had severely exacerbated the financial crisis for many airlines. "We're looking for a more balanced approach to consumer protection," Air France-KLM Chief Executive Ben Smith said, adding that the European Union's passenger rights law was "one of the most punitive" in the world. Business Bloomberg 210610 11h46m Monday.com Jumps in Debut After Raising $574 Million in U.S. IPO (Bloomberg) -- Monday.com Ltd., the workplace management software maker, climbed in its U.S. trading debut after raising $574 million in an initial public offering.Shares opened at $173.15 Thursday and traded as high as $182 apiece, or 17% above their IPO price of $155. The stock was trading at $171.48 at 1:39 p.m. in New York, giving Monday.com a market value of $7.5 billion.The Tel Aviv-based company sold 3.7 million shares for $155 each on Wednesday. It had marketed them for $125 to $140.“Usu Business Yahoo Finance 210610 11h45m Starbucks is seeing oat milk shortages Starbucks stores are running low on some supplies as consumers exit quarantine in droves. Business Bloomberg 210610 11h40m JBS Paid Hackers $11 Million After Hack Crippled Meat Plants (Bloomberg) -- JBS USA said it paid $11 million in ransom to criminals responsible for the cyberattack that disrupted meat processing across North America and Australia, the latest high profile example of large corporations falling prey to extortion.“This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,” JBS USA Chief Executive Officer Andre Nogueira said in a statement. “However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.”Th Howell date : 210610 11h30m45s Business Yahoo Finance 210610 11h23m GameStop shares fall as 'investors are getting tired of waiting,' analyst says With a roster of new executives on deck, video game retailer GameStop is gearing up for a turnaround. World Reuters 210610 11h12m UK, U.S. reaffirm commitment to N.Ireland peace deal Britain and the United States reaffirmed their commitment on Thursday to working closely with all parties to a 1998 agreement to protect the delicate peace in Northern Ireland, they said. In a joint statement following talks between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden before the start of a Group of Seven summit, the two underlined their commitment to the Belfast Agreement, which largely ended decades of sectarian violence in the province. Business Bloomberg 210610 11h10m Bank of Canada Brushes Off Temporary Spike in Inflation (Bloomberg) -- Bank of Canada policy makers aren’t worried about the recent run up of inflation they believe is being driven largely by temporary factors, according to a top official.The pick-up in Canadian inflation to above 3% was one of the key issues discussed by policy makers in deliberations this week, Deputy Governor Tim Lane said in a speech after the central bank’s stand-pat decision Wednesday.Officials agreed the higher-than-expected inflation is largely due to unfavorable year-ago com Business Yahoo Finance 210610 11h09m Inflation is a real concern, says this Senator who is a working farmer To Montana Senator Jon Tester, inflation remains a major concern. Business Reuters 210610 11h09m U.S. firms should disclose more climate risk data to investors -lawmakers Two U.S. Democratic Senators urged U.S. regulators on Thursday to ensure that publicly traded companies disclose detailed greenhouse gas emissions data that helps investors measure climate impacts and risks at those companies. The lawmakers filed a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to the agency's call https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sec-climate-investors-idUSKBN2B72LT for public consultation as to how it might direct companies to report more about the environmental impact of their operations. The information is key for investors seeking to understand how much a public company, or issuer, is exposed to climate risk, said Senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said. U.S. Bloomberg 210610 11h07m NYC Public Funds Hit $32 Million; Wiley Gains: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City has paid out a record $32 million of public funds so far for the mayor’s race. Maya Wiley soared past rivals Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia for second place in an Emerson/Pix 11 poll released late Wednesday, following big-name endorsements from progressive politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ranked first ahead of the June 22 Democratic primary.Adams pledged to release his highway toll records, following scr Business Bloomberg 210610 11h07m Stocks Trade at Record, Yields Steady After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities traded at all-time highs and benchmark Treasury yields held around the lowest level since March as investors assessed data that showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 was on track toward a record as all the main American equity indexes advanced in afternoon trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was headed toward its highest level since late April as megacap technology stocks rallied. The 10-year Treasury yield eased back below 1.5% followi World Bloomberg 210610 11h04m China and the U.S. Agree to Push Forward Trade, Investment Ties (Bloomberg) -- Commerce ministers from China and the U.S. agreed to push forward trade and investment links in their first call since the start of the Biden administration, with Washington seeking a more level playing field.Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and his counterpart Gina Raimondo “agreed to promote the healthy development of pragmatic cooperation in trade and investment,” in a phone call Thursday morning China time. The two “exchanged views frankly and pragmatically on relevant is Howell date : 210610 11h00m08s Business Yahoo Finance 210610 10h54m These big retailers will be closed for Thanksgiving this year Three major retailers are stepping up early to say they will be closed for Thanksgiving this year and it's only summer. Business Bloomberg 210610 10h54m Oil Drops as Sanctions Lifted on Former Iran Official (Bloomberg) -- Oil reversed gains after the U.S. lifted sanctions on a former Iranian oil official and two other Iranians involved in oil trading, potentially paving the way for a further return of the Persian Gulf country’s output.Futures in New York slid as much as 1.8% on Thursday before paring losses. The market has been watching for signs of developments in talks between Iran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement, which could spur more Iranian barrels returning to the market.S Business Yahoo Finance Video 210610 10h46m Wage inflation could be with us for some time: Analyst Brandon Pizzurro, GuideStone Capital Management Director of Public Investments joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest market news. Business Bloomberg 210610 10h44m ECB Said to Differ on Bond-Buying Need in Thin Summer Market (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank policy makers differed in their Thursday meeting over how much bond-buying would be needed when liquidity in financial markets is thinner during the summer, according to officials familiar with the debate.The Governing Council session also saw some members raise the prospect of upside risks to inflation in the euro zone, the officials said. The people asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.On Thursday, the Governing Council decided that em Politics Reuters 210610 10h37m UPDATE 1-USTR Tai says she will join Biden in Brussels for talks on EU trade disputes U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday she will accompany President Joe Biden to Brussels next week for "intense negotiations" to try to resolve trade disputes over aircraft, steel and aluminum. Tai said in prepared remarks at an AFL-CIO union event that she will fight for the rights and interests of U.S. workers in those industries and work to set new standards to combat China's industrial policies. "We'll participate in intense negotiations to resolve the 16-year-old Boeing/Airbus disputes and to find a path forward on products like steel and aluminum," Tai said. Business Reuters 210610 10h36m UPDATE 1-TPG-backed LifeStance Health valued at more than $7 bln in U.S. IPO Stock of the company, which is backed by an affiliate of buyout firm TPG, opened at $20, compared to the initial public offering price of $18 set on Wednesday. LifeStance said it sold 40 million shares above the earlier target range of $15 to $17 apiece, raising $720 million. Of the shares sold, 32.8 million were offered by LifeStance and around 7.2 million by the company's existing investors. Howell date : 210610 10h29m32s Business Bloomberg 210610 10h19m U.S. Household Net Worth Reaches Fresh Record on Homes, Stocks (Bloomberg) -- U.S. household net worth jumped in the first three months of the year to a fresh record, propelled by further gains in stock prices and home values.Household net worth increased by $5 trillion, or 3.8%, to $136.9 trillion in the first quarter, a Federal Reserve report out Thursday showed. The gain included a $3.2 trillion gain in the value of equities and a more than $968 billion improvement in real estate held by households.The data underscore how fiscal efforts to speed up the e World Reuters 210610 10h16m EU sees first probes under money for rule-of-law regulation in Sept-Oct The European Commission could in September or October start its first investigations into whether EU governments sufficiently respect the rule of law to qualify for EU budget and recovery funds, EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Thursday. This is likely to be a blow to Poland and Hungary, both of which are under formal EU investigation over breaches of rule of law standards and which had hoped for a much longer delay in the application of the rules which could freeze billions for them. The Commission has been under pressure to start applying a new regulation, in force since Jan. 1, that links access to EU money for governments to respecting the rule of law. U.S. Bloomberg 210610 10h12m NYC Public Funds Hit $32 Million; Wiley Gains: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City has paid out a record $32 million of public funds so far for the mayor’s race. Maya Wiley soared past rivals Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia for second place in an Emerson/Pix 11 poll released late Wednesday, following big-name endorsements from progressive politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ranked first ahead of the June 22 Democratic primary.Adams pledged to release his highway toll records, following scr Politics Yahoo Finance 210610 10h11m 'We will see a financial crisis' if COVID-19 benefits are left in the budget: Kevin Brady Representative Kevin Brady, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee warns that making COVID-19 benefits part of the permanent federal budget will lead to a financial crisis. Business Bloomberg 210610 10h10m Aramco Hires Morgan Stanley for Gas Pipeline Stake Sale (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Aramco has hired Morgan Stanley as the lead adviser to review a potential multibillion-dollar stake sale in its natural gas pipeline network, people familiar with the matter said.The state-owned energy producer is making early preparations for the sale, according to the people, who asked not to to be identified because the information is private. The company hasn’t yet started a formal process and could add more banks to work on the deal, they said.The deal may be structured Business Yahoo Finance Video 210610 10h05m JBS pays $11 million ransom JBS has paid ransomeware hackers $11 million. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley shares the details. Business Bloomberg 210610 10h05m ECB Said to Differ on Bond-Buying Needs in Thin Summer Market (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank policy makers differed in their Thursday meeting over how much bond-buying would be needed when liquidity in financial markets is thinner during the summer, according to officials familiar with the debate.The Governing Council session also saw some members raise the prospect of upside risks to inflation in the euro zone, the officials said. The people asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.On Thursday, the Governing Council decided that em Howell date : 210610 09h58m56s Business Reuters 210610 09h46m Airbus focus is on evolving existing jet models, CEO says Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said in remarks aired on Thursday that the planemaker is looking at how to evolve existing models, and he also voiced optimism about long-term progress toward hydrogen-powered aviation technology. "We have a good portfolio of platforms; we believe the evolution will be on those platforms, on systems, connectivity, energy management and decarbonisation," he told the A4E Aviation Summit, asked where Airbus' main product development focus lay. Reuters reported in March that Airbus was studying a freighter version of its A350 jetliner. World Reuters 210610 09h44m Canada privacy regulator says federal police broke laws using facial recognition software The Canadian federal police force broke the law when they used facial recognition software, the country's top privacy regulator found in a report released on Thursday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in February 2020 that for four months they had been using Clearview AI, a U.S.-based facial recognition software company that cross-references photos with a database compiled from photos posted to social media. It is not clear when the RCMP stopped using the software. Business Reuters 210610 09h40m UPDATE 1-Airbus focus is on evolving existing jet models, CEO says Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said in remarks aired on Thursday that the planemaker is looking at how to evolve existing models, and he also voiced optimism about long-term progress toward hydrogen-powered aviation technology. "We have a good portfolio of platforms; we believe the evolution will be on those platforms, on systems, connectivity, energy management and decarbonisation," he told the A4E Aviation Summit, asked where Airbus' main product development focus lay. Reuters reported in March that Airbus was studying a freighter version of its A350 jetliner. Business Yahoo Finance 210610 09h36m Bond market becomes battleground for fight over inflation Inflation is on the rise, but bond markets are shrugging off the higher readings. World Reuters 210610 09h33m Italy reports 88 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, 2,079 new cases Italy reported 88 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 77 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections was down to 2,079 from 2,199. Italy has registered 126,855 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 626 from a previous 661. Business Bloomberg 210610 09h32m U.S. Equities Rise, Yields Steady After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities rose and government bonds held around the lowest level since March as investors assessed data that showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 was trading around its all-time high as all the main American equity indexes advanced. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was headed toward its highest level since late April as megacap technology stocks rallied. The 10-year Treasury yield eased back below 1.5% following an initial surge in the wake of the inf Howell date : 210610 09h28m17s U.S. Reuters 210610 09h16m Facing scarcity, Cuban model vehicle enthusiasts repair old toys, create new ones Cuban model train enthusiast Miguel Jorda enters another world when he lowers his American Flyer railroad layout down from the ceiling of his bedroom with a pulley mechanism, transforming his Havana home into the stage for a miniature 1950s U.S. town. The 56-year-old's American Flyer steam locomotives, which he inherited from his grandfather, date from before Cuba's 1959 leftist revolution - which saw U.S.-Cuban relations sour - when they were still sold in Havana. Back then, before Washington imposed strict sanctions on Cuba, many of the real trains on the Caribbean's largest island were also from the United States, in contrast with the Chinese trains https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-trains/cuba-takes-first-step-in-railways-upgrade-with-chinese-russian-help-idUSKCN1U900D it received recently as part of an ongoing railroads revamp. Business Reuters 210610 09h15m U.S. applications to start a business rise steadily in May Applications to start new U.S. businesses rose in May as economic activity continued to accelerate. The Commerce Department said on Thursday that business applications increased 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted 500,219 last month. The data is derived from business applications for tax identifications. World Reuters 210610 09h10m UK's Prince Charles meets CEOs in campaign for more sustainable economy Britain's Prince Charles will host a meeting of bosses from some of the world’s leading companies on Thursday as part of his campaign to promote a sustainable economic future and ahead of their meeting with G7 leaders, his office said. Charles, who has spent much of his life campaigning for business and governments to take more notice of environmental issues, will meet chief executives from Bank of America, AstraZeneca, HSBC, NatWest and Heathrow Airport among others. Politics Reuters 210610 09h07m U.S. House panel approves $547 billion infrastructure boost A U.S. House committee early on Thursday voted 38 to 26 to authorize $547 billion in additional spending over five years on surface transportation, a plan that would mostly go toward fixing existing U.S. roads and bridges and increase funding for passenger rail and transit. The vote after more than 17 hours of debate came as the Senate Commerce Committee is set to unveil a compromise surface transportation bill as early as Thursday, sources said. The House bill adopts some proposals made by Democratic President Joe Biden as part of his broader $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. Business Bloomberg 210610 09h07m U.S. Equities Rise, Yields Steady After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities rose and government bonds held around the lowest level since March as investors assessed data that showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 held a small gain after earlier climbing above its all-time high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was headed toward its highest level since late April as megacap technology stocks rallied. The 10-year Treasury yield eased back below 1.5% following an initial surge in the wake of the inflation report.Prices Business Bloomberg 210610 09h06m Consumer Prices in U.S. Top Forecast, Stoking Inflation Concern (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Prices paid by U.S. consumers rose in May by more than forecast, extending a months-long buildup in inflation that risks becoming more established as the economy strengthens.The consumer price index climbed 0.6%, the second-largest advance in more than a decade. Though distorted by the pandemic, the CPI jumped 5% from a year ago, the largest annual gain since August 2008, according to L Howell date : 210610 08h57m41s U.S. Bloomberg 210610 08h44m NYC Public Funds Hit $32 Million; Wiley Climbs: Election Update (Bloomberg) -- New York City has paid out a record $32 million of public funds so far for the mayor’s race. Maya Wiley soared past rivals Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia for second place in an Emerson/Pix 11 poll released late Wednesday, following big-name endorsements from progressive politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ranked first ahead of the June 22 Democratic primary.Adams pledged to release his highway toll records, following scr Business Bloomberg 210610 08h41m Inflation Is Coming for Tofu Next as Americans Pay Up for Protein (Bloomberg) -- Tofu is about to get pricey, and it’s going to test just how much Americans are willing to pay for protein.Americans on a health kick have been actively eating more protein in recent years, but costs for all the major sources of it are soaring. Beef, pork and chicken prices are increasing as demand picks up in the post-pandemic economy. The same is happening with plant-based burgers and other imitation meats.Now, tofu, one of the cheapest options, is next. Bean curd is getting mor Business Bloomberg 210610 08h37m Stocks Trade at Record, Yields Steady After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities traded at all-time highs and government bonds held around the lowest level since March as investors assessed data that showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 climbed above its record high as all the main U.S. equity indexes rallied. The 10-year Treasury yield eased back below 1.5% following an initial surge in the wake of the inflation report.Prices paid by U.S. consumers rose in May at the fastest pace since 2009, according to Labor De Business Reuters 210610 08h30m EMERGING MARKETS-EM FX turn positive; Mexican peso recovers from c.bank reshuffle falls U.S. inflation for May rose more than expected, but not enough to for the U.S. Federal Reserve's to change its loose monetary policy, analysts said. The European Central Bank kept stimulus taps wide open at its meeting. "I don't think there is any reason for the Fed to panic." World Reuters 210610 08h27m Victory in sight for Peru´s Castillo with 70,000 vote margin as fraud claims muddy water Peruvian socialist Pedro Castillo maintained a slim lead over rival Keiko Fujimori on Thursday morning with 99.998% of the votes counted and as electoral authorities met to scrutinise contested votes. Castillo, an elementary school teacher and political novice who won widespread grassroots backing for pledges to rewrite the constitution of the world's No. 2 copper producer and redistribute wealth, had 50.2% of the vote, maintaining a 0.4 percentage point lead over right-wing Keiko Fujimori, or 71,441 votes. "Pedro Castillo is all but certain to be the next president," said Eileen Gavin, principal analyst of Global Markets and the Americas for United Kingdom-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. Business Bloomberg 210610 08h26m Junk Bonds Are Dominating Even One of America’s Safe Havens (Bloomberg) -- The municipal junk-bond boom is roaring back.With the economy rebounding swiftly from the pandemic, interest rates on high-yield state and local government securities have tumbled to the lowest in over two decades. Cash is pouring into mutual funds focused on the junk-rated debt so quickly that money managers are fighting to get in on new deals. And prices have rallied, driving high-yield bonds to their biggest run of outperformance since 2014.The demand is so strong that a Califo Howell date : 210610 08h27m03s Business Reuters 210610 08h20m Ireland Inc bets big multinational footprint can see off tax overhaul The parts of Ireland's economy that rely on the continued success of its multinational jobs machine are betting the deep roots some of the world's biggest companies have laid down can see off the threat of a global corporate tax overhaul. However a softening of Ireland's decades-long tax advantage will show up deficiencies elsewhere when competing for foreign direct investment, most notably a persistent dearth of affordable housing. In a major step toward a global deal, Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed last weekend to squeeze more money out of multinational companies and reduce the allure of low-tax centres such as Ireland with its 12.5% corporate tax rate, backing a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%. U.S. Reuters 210610 08h20m Former UAW president sentenced to 28 months in jail for embezzling union funds A former president of the United Auto Workers, Gary Jones, on Thursday was sentenced to 28 months in jail for embezzling union funds as part of a larger federal probe into corruption in the union. At last year's hearing, he apologized to UAW members "for the betrayal of their trust" and asked for forgiveness. "I failed the UAW," he said. Business Bloomberg 210610 08h19m Oil Advances With Structure Strengthening and Inflation Rising (Bloomberg) -- Oil gained amid higher-than-forecast U.S. inflation data while the crude market’s firming structure signaled supply tightness. Futures in New York rose as much as 1% after reversing an earlier loss on Thursday. U.S. consumer prices grew by more than expected, which may help fuel inflows into commodities from investors trying to hedge against inflation. At the same time, the European Central Bank said underlying price pressures remain subdued, while it lifted economic growth foreca Business Reuters 210610 08h17m Time for Norway to tax luxury electric cars, IMF economists say Norway should begin taxing high-end battery-powered cars to lower the overall cost of its generous electric vehicle (EV) incentives, economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a working paper on Thursday. If implemented, Norway could see taxes levied for the first time on electric cars from luxury automakers such as Porsche, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz, as well as high-end Tesla and Audi models. Seeking to become the first nation to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, oil-producing Norway currently exempts all fully electric vehicles from the taxes imposed on internal combustion engines. Business Bloomberg 210610 08h11m GameStop Drops on Stock Sale Plan and Unclear Strategy View (Bloomberg) -- GameStop Corp.’s meteoric rally this year as one of the first meme-stock icons may be losing steam after the company said it planned to sell more shares and offered few details about its turnaround strategy.The Grapevine, Texas-based video-game retailer fell 9.1% to $275.04 as of 10:08 a.m. in New York on Thursday. The stock, which was among the first to get a huge Reddit and social media following earlier this year, has surged about 1,300% in 2021 as retail investors banded toget Business Reuters 210610 08h11m Ex-BA boss Walsh pours cold water on United Airlines supersonic jet plan Supersonic jets do not have a place in the future, Willie Walsh, the former boss of British Airways, said, adding that he would not buy them if he still ran an airline as he dismissed a plan by United Airlines to bring them back. Supersonic passenger travel died out with the retirement of Concorde in 2003, but United said earlier in June it agreed to buy 15 ultra-fast jets from Boom Supersonic. "We'll watch with interest but no, I wouldn't be buying it," Walsh told an airlines conference on Thursday. Business Bloomberg 210610 08h10m Stocks Trade at Record, Yields Steady After CPI: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities traded at all-time highs and government bonds held around the lowest level since March as investors assessed data that showed consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.The S&P 500 climbed above its record high as all the main U.S. equity indexes rallied. The 10-year Treasury yield eased back below 1.5% following an initial surge in the wake of the inflation report.Prices paid by U.S. consumers rose in May at the fastest pace since 2009, according to Labor De Howell date : 210609 20h24m32s Business Bloomberg 210609 19h52m Oil Extends Drop With Rising U.S. Fuel Stockpiles Denting Rally (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended declines as rising U.S. fuel stockpiles punctured the optimism on demand that drove crude to the highest since 2018 this week.Futures in New York fell 0.8% after slipping back below $70 a barrel Wednesday. American gasoline inventories increased the most since April 2020 last week as refiners eager to boost output to meet an expected surge in consumption over summer left the country awash with fuel. A rolling average of demand ticked lower for the first time in a mont Business Reuters 210609 19h52m Asian shares hold range as investors eye U.S. CPI Asian shares edged higher but held their recent trading range on Thursday as investors focussed on U.S. inflation data and the risk of an upside surprise that could prompt the Federal Reserve to start tapering its massive stimulus. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were marginally higher at 700.6 points, but stayed in the 698-712 points range it has traded in since late May. Japan's Nikkei and Australia's benchmark shares rose 0.4% each. Business Reuters 210609 19h48m GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares hold range as investors eye U.S. CPI Asian shares edged higher but held their recent trading range on Thursday as investors focussed on U.S. inflation data and the risk of an upside surprise that could prompt the Federal Reserve to start tapering its massive stimulus. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were marginally higher at 700.6 points, but stayed in the 698-712 points range it has traded in since late May. Japan's Nikkei and Australia's benchmark shares rose 0.4% each. Business Bloomberg 210609 19h39m TPG-Backed LifeStance Health’s IPO Raises $720 Million (Bloomberg) -- LifeStance Health Group Inc., a mental health care provider with more than 370 locations in the U.S., priced an initial public offering above a marketed range to raise $720 million.The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company and its investors sold 40 million shares for $18 each Wednesday after marketing them for $15 to $17 each, according to a statement. The IPO gives LifeStance a market value of $6.7 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the U.S. Securities Business Reuters 210609 19h38m RPT-UPDATE 2-Meatpacker JBS paid equivalent of $11 mln in ransomware attack, CEO says Meatpacker JBS USA paid the equivalent of $11 million ransom in a cyberattack that disrupted its North American and Australian operations, the company's CEO said in a statement on Wednesday. The subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS SA halted cattle slaughtering at all of its U.S. plants for a day last week in response to the cyberattack, which threatened to disrupt food supply chains and further inflate already high food prices. The cyberattack followed one last month on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. Business Bloomberg 210609 19h36m Asia Stocks Climb as Treasuries Hold Advance: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose Thursday after Treasuries rallied ahead of a U.S. inflation report that may provide clues on the monetary policy outlook. U.S.-China talks bolstered the offshore yuan.Japanese, Australian and Hong Kong shares advanced along with U.S. equity contracts. The S&P 500 again flirted with a record before slipping, continuing a pattern of range-bound trading also evident at a global level.The offshore yuan climbed after the Chinese and U.S. commerce ministers agreed to p Business Bloomberg 210609 19h34m Demand Surges for Bonds With Rating-Cut Protection: India Credit (Bloomberg) -- Investors in India’s local-currency notes are demanding more protection than ever as the world’s worst Covid-19 wave threatens the outlook for businesses.Bondholders are piling into rupee-denominated debt whose interest increases every time the notes’ credit ratings are downgradedIssuance of such bonds has jumped to a record 462.2 billion rupees ($6.3 billion) so far this year, compared with 251.5 billion rupees a year earlier, Bloomberg-compiled data showAn example is debt sold i Business Bloomberg 210609 19h29m Pictet’s Asia Wealth Ambition Suffers Blow as a Dozen Depart (Bloomberg) -- Banque Pictet & Cie SA has lost about a dozen Asia wealth management employees this year, underscoring the challenges for the Swiss firm as it seeks to become a top 10 private bank in the region.The departures include longtime employees and relative newcomers, people familiar with the matter said. Among the more senior employees leaving are Nicolas Staerkle, a more than two-decade veteran of the firm, as well as Xuan-Lam Nguyen Tang, who joined in 2005, the people said, asking for Howell date : 210604 16h02m10s Business Reuters 210604 15h45m Fitch maintains Italy's rating at 'BBB-', with stable outlook Global ratings agency Fitch on Friday affirmed Italy's credit rating at "BBB-", just a notch above junk, saying the COVID-19 pandemic continues to exert an adverse impact on euro zone's third largest economy. "Very high government debt and structurally weak economic growth weigh on the rating," Fitch said in a statement. The agency said an expansion of vaccinations, a decline in new coronavirus cases and the re-opening of a vast majority of the country's economy last month would pave the way for a "swift rebound" in economic activity in the second half of this year. Business Reuters 210604 15h43m Microsoft wins U.S. antitrust okay for $16 billion purchase of Nuance Microsoft Corp has won U.S. antitrust approval for its deal to buy artificial intelligence and speech technology company Nuance Communications Inc, according to a filing made by Nuance to the government. Nuance said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that the deadline for the U.S. government to object to the deal had expired on June 1. Business Reuters 210604 15h40m Mexico's Interjet eyes deal with creditors within a year Mexican airline Interjet hopes to strike a deal with creditors within a year so it can re-start operations after it shut down during the coronavirus pandemic in December, the firm representing it in the debt talks said. Shareholders of the carrier owned by ABC Aerolineas reached an agreement in April for Interjet to seek commercial bankruptcy to allow it to restructure $1.25 billion in liabilities. Interjet had also been struggling before the pandemic. Politics Bloomberg 210604 15h26m SEC Ousts Head of Top Audit Regulator Amid Warren Pressure (Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission, led by Chairman Gary Gensler, has fired the U.S.’s top accounting regulator, a move that is certain to please investor advocates and progressives who had demanded an overhaul of the watchdog.The SEC announced the removal of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman William Duhnke in a Friday statement. He was replaced on an acting basis with PCAOB board member Duane DesParte.The change was approved in a vote by Gensler and the SEC’s Howell date : 210604 15h01m34s Business Yahoo Finance Video 210604 14h45m Market Recap: Friday, June 4 Stocks rose Friday as investors digested a mixed report on the state of the U.S. labor market. Sarah House, Wells Fargo Senior Economist and David Nelson, Belpointe Chief Strategist joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss. Business Bloomberg 210604 14h39m Wall Street Versus Meme Army in AMC’s Big Share Price Divide (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street analysts who typically drive price action in stocks have been relegated to the role of mere extras in the market drama surrounding AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.The movie theater operator’s dizzying stock rally has created a large divide between investors and Wall Street strategists as its share soared to $47.91, more than 800% above the average forecast of analysts covering the stock tracked by Bloomberg. That gap between the two is the biggest among U.S. stocks with Politics Yahoo Finance 210604 14h33m Why barbershops may be the key to increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates While confidence in COVID-19 vaccines has recently risen within communities of color, a way to keep closing the gap, Biden officials think, is to reach people while they are getting a hair cut. Business Bloomberg 210604 14h27m Staples Offers $1 Billion for ODP’s Consumer Unit in New Bid (Bloomberg) -- Staples made a $1 billion offer to buy rival Office Depot’s consumer business, the latest in its multiyear attempt to consolidate the office-products space.USR Parent Inc., the owner of Staples, laid out in a letter Friday its plan to buy the consumer-facing units of ODP Corp., including the Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores and websites. The cash offer, which isn’t for the entire company, is valued at about $18.27 a share, or about 43% of the 30-day average closing share p Business Bloomberg 210604 14h22m AMC’s Dot-Com-on-Steroids Week Ends With More Dizzying Gyrations (Bloomberg) -- True to form, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. ended its wild week with another day of moves that confounded anyone trying to explain them.The new king of meme stocks bounced between gains and losses, closing 6.7% lower at $47.91 on Friday. It’s still up 83% on the week, adding to May’s 160% surge.It’s been quite a ride for AMC, with the stock’s surge enabling the world’s biggest movie-theater chain to sell equity and shore up its shaky balance sheet. On the brink of bankruptcy onl Business Reuters 210604 14h10m U.S. SEC ousts head of accounting watchdog, puts rest of board on notice WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it has voted to remove the head of the accounting oversight board that sets standards for audits of public companies and left the rest of the members on notice. The SEC voted to remove William Duhnke III from his role as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, effective Friday, the agency said in a statement. The other four members will stay on, but the SEC is soliciting resumes for those roles. Business Bloomberg 210604 14h07m Equities Close on Cusp of Record After Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities climbed to within a whisker of their all-time highs after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.Information-technology stocks rose the most in the S&P 500, with the index ending Friday’s session less than 3 points below its May 7 closing record after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. The Nasdaq 100 rallied the most in two weeks, driven b Howell date : 210604 14h00m57s Business Bloomberg 210604 13h46m Trump Banned From Facebook’s Networks for at Least Two Years (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump will remain suspended from Facebook Inc.’s networks for at least two years, and the world’s largest social media company said the former U.S. president will be reinstated in 2023 only if the risk to public safety has subsided.“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s Business Reuters 210604 13h46m Wall Street week Ahead: Investors eye Washington talks after big rally in infrastructure shares Investors will watch Washington in the coming week for clues on whether an outsized rally in shares of companies that would benefit from President Joe Biden's proposed $1.7 trillion infrastructure plan has more room to run. Expectations of spending from Washington on bridges, roads, and tunnels bolstered so-called value stocks, especially the industrials and materials sectors, both up around 20% this year, ahead of the 12.5% gain for the S&P 500. Among the biggest winners have been shares of United States Steel Corp, up nearly 200% since the start of the year, while steel producer Nucor Corp's stock has gained around 104%. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210604 13h37m The upside of Europe reopening is probably not quite as much as we get in the U.S.: U.S. Bank Wealth Management Strategist U.S. Bank Wealth Management Senior Investment Strategist Rob Haworth joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down the key takeaways from May's jobs report and how reopening economies will impact the globbal market. Politics Reuters 210604 13h25m U.S. Republican Senator Capito, Biden to talk again on infrastructure on Monday President Joe Biden and Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who have been discussing a potential deal on infrastructure, agreed in a discussion on Friday to reconnect again on Monday, a Capito spokeswoman said. Business Reuters 210604 13h17m Lockheed in discussions with government to finalize F-35 deliveries for 2022 "While initial discussions indicated 169 aircraft in 2022, we will provide a production range when finalized," the U.S. weapons maker said. The U.S. government is Lockheed's biggest customer, accounting for three quarters of its sales last year. Lockheed has said it expects the production rate for the jets to eventually plateau at about 175 aircraft per year. Howell date : 210604 13h30m21s Business Reuters 210604 13h18m Lockheed in discussions with government to finalize F-35 deliveries for 2022 "While initial discussions indicated 169 aircraft in 2022, we will provide a production range when finalized," the U.S. weapons maker said. The U.S. government is Lockheed's biggest customer, accounting for three quarters of its sales last year. Lockheed has said it expects the production rate for the jets to eventually plateau at about 175 aircraft per year. Business Bloomberg 210604 13h14m Stocks Trade Near Record After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities climbed, pushing the S&P 500 to within a whisker of its all-time high, after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.Information-technology stocks rose the most in the S&P 500, with the index less than 5 points below its May record after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. The Nasdaq 100 climbed toward a one-month high, driven by gains in me Business Bloomberg 210604 13h14m Oil Gains for Second Week on Signs Summer Travel Rush Underway (Bloomberg) -- Oil and gasoline futures both posted their second weekly gain in a row as expectations for a demand pick-up from the northern hemisphere’s summer begin to come to fruition.Futures in New York rose nearly 5% this week, the largest such increase since mid-April. A string of data this week so far affirmed the market’s bet that higher vaccination rates and continuing reopening efforts are unleashing pent-up demand this summer.On the supply side, oil is garnering support from deferred Business Reuters 210604 13h04m UPDATE 1-Costa Rica wins arbitration case over open-pit gold mine it stopped An international arbitration panel ruled that Costa Rica does not owe Canadian miner Infinito Gold any compensation stemming from the cancellation of a potentially lucrative mining project a decade ago, the country's environmental ministry said on Friday. Infinito Gold sought about $400 million in damages in the long-running case over its Crucitas open-pit mine in northern Alajuela province, near the border with Nicaragua, which was fiercely opposed by environmental activists seeking to strengthen the country's ecological stewardship. "We should remain free of open-pit mining," he wrote on Friday. Business Bloomberg 210604 13h03m Trump Banned From Facebook’s Networks for at Least Two Years (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump will remain suspended from Facebook Inc.’s networks for at least two years, and the world’s largest social media company said the former U.S. president will be reinstated in 2023 only if the risk to public safety has subsided.“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s Howell date : 210604 12h59m44s U.S. Yahoo Finance 210604 12h45m SBA's shuttered venue cash off to slow start as 'nervous, worried' small businesses await backstop The SBA released data showing that a mere 31 grants have been awarded as of midday June 1st — barely a fraction of more than 13,000 applicants who have applied. Business Bloomberg 210604 12h38m Apple Working on iPad Pro with Wireless Charging, New iPad Mini (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. is working on a new iPad Pro with wireless charging and the first iPad mini redesign in six years, seeking to continue momentum for a category that saw rejuvenated sales during the pandemic.The Cupertino, California-based company is planning to release the new iPad Pro in 2022 and the iPad mini later this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The main design change in testing for the iPad Pro is a switch to a glass back from the current aluminum enclos Business Bloomberg 210604 12h37m AMC’s Dot-Com-on-Steroids Week Ends With More Dizzying Gyrations (Bloomberg) -- True to form, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is closing out its wild week with another day of moves that are confounding anyone trying to explain them.The new king of meme stocks spent Friday bouncing between a 12% gain and a 6% drop, which counts as placid after a week in which the shares doubled and then crumpled. They fell $1.21 to $50.13 as of 2 p.m. in New York.It’s been quite a ride for AMC, with the stock’s surge enabling the world’s biggest movie-theater chain to sell equ Business Yahoo Finance 210604 12h34m 'We'll play our part in Q4,' Sanofi CEO says on COVID-19 vaccine Sanofi's CEO is bullish on the cancer space as it emerges from being a sleepy giant in drug research and development. Business Bloomberg 210604 12h30m Meme Stock Rally Puts Spotlight on Russell 2000 Index Reshuffle (Bloomberg) -- A busy week for trading desks won’t end with the closing bell, at least for investors tracking FTSE Russell indexes.The index provider is set to announce preliminary changes after the close, and the Russell 2000 will take center stage with tweaks to the gauge of small-cap companies that over the past year have become not so small. That’s because of the surge in meme stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp.The average stock in the 2,000-member index, at $1.7 b Business Bloomberg 210604 12h27m Biden Infrastructure Plan Endangered by Dire U.S. Shortages (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The biggest threat to President Joe Biden’s vision of energizing the U.S. economy with the largest infrastructure program in decades may not be its challenging path through Congress, but a dire shortage of everything from workers to cement mills.While weeks or months of negotiations will be needed to enact legislation, Republicans and Democrats are united in their support for hundreds o Howell date : 210604 12h29m07s U.S. Reuters 210604 12h20m U.S. CDC director urges teens to get vaccinated after hospitalizations rise The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director urged teenagers to get vaccinated, as new data from the agency's researchers showed one in three teenagers who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 early this year needed ICU admission. "I am deeply concerned by the numbers of hospitalized adolescents and saddened to see the number of adolescents who required treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement on Friday. The rate of hospitalization due to COVID-19 increased among adolescents aged 12 to 17 in April to 1.3 per 100,000 people from a lower rate in mid-March, the CDC said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Business Bloomberg 210604 12h19m Stocks Trade Near Record After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities climbed, pushing the S&P 500 to within a whisker of its all-time high, after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.Information-technology stocks rose the most in the S&P 500, with the index less than 5 points below its May record in afternoon trading after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. The Nasdaq 100 climbed toward a one-month high, Business Bloomberg 210604 12h17m G-7 Nears Deal on Minimum Tax, Still Talking on Tech Levies (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Group of Seven governments are nearing a deal to pursue a minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% in international negotiations, but remain at odds over how to treat global technology companies, officials said.Finance ministers are meeting Friday and Saturday in London, and are due to release a statement after the discussions. Agreeing on the minimum tax rate would be only one of two Business Reuters 210604 12h16m U.S. leisure and hospitality pay surges to a record. Now will workers come? But it is unclear if the increases will be sufficient to entice enough workers back to close the employment gap remaining in the sector hit hardest by COVID-19 job losses. Average hourly earnings for workers in leisure and hospitality rose to $18.09 in May, the highest ever and up 5% from January alone, according to Labor Department data released Friday. Pay rose even faster for workers in non-manager roles, who saw earnings rise by 7.2% from January, far outpacing any other sector. U.S. Bloomberg 210604 12h07m Hedge Funds, Tech Spur Texas Wealth Boom as California Fades (Bloomberg) -- Big Tech is flocking to Austin. Big Finance is expanding in Dallas. Houston, the epicenter of the U.S. energy industry, is diversifying away from Big Oil.Florida may be the destination of choice for A-list money managers looking to flee Wall Street. But in the post-pandemic economy, Texas is rising, welcoming a rush of talented, wealthy people from California, New York and Illinois with the lure of lower taxes, luxury suburbs and opportunities to invest their cash -- even as state Howell date : 210604 11h58m30s Business Yahoo Finance 210604 11h43m Elon Musk is ‘a tourist in crypto,' Celsius Network CEO says Celsius Network CEO Alex Machinsky and others criticized Elon Musk following his 'bitcoin breakup' tweet. Politics Yahoo Finance Video 210604 11h39m Facebook bans Trump for two years Facebook has banned Donald Trump for two years. Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre shares the details. Business Bloomberg 210604 11h36m G-7 Nears Deal on Minimum Tax Rate, Still Talking on Tech Levies (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Group of Seven governments are nearing a deal to pursue a minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% in international negotiations, but remain at odds over how to treat global technology companies, officials said.Finance ministers are meeting Friday and Saturday in London, and are due to release a statement after the discussions. Agreeing on the minimum tax rate would be only one of two Business Reuters 210604 11h35m Mattel recalls Rock 'n Glide soothers after reports of infant deaths The infants aged 11 weeks to 2 months were in the soothers and were reportedly placed on their backs and later found on their stomachs, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said, adding that the deaths occurred between April 2019 and February 2020. Mattel said it was recalling the 4-in-1 Rock 'n Glide Soothers and 2-in-1 Soothe 'n Play Gliders. Business Yahoo Finance 210604 11h29m This meme stock exploded 62% in one day and this Wall Street analyst has had enough BofA is keeping it real on Bed Bath & Beyond after its stock goes haywire amid the latest boom for meme stocks. Howell date : 210604 11h27m53s Politics Reuters 210604 11h19m UPDATE 1-U.S. moves to restore endangered species protections weakened under Trump U.S. officials on Friday announced plans to restore protections for endangered species that were weakened under the Trump administration. In a statement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service said they would initiate processes in the coming months "to revise, rescind or reinstate" five Endangered Species Act regulations that were finalized under former President Donald Trump. The move is the latest by the administration of President Joe Biden to reverse business-friendly Trump policies that loosened environmental regulations. Business Bloomberg 210604 11h13m Stocks Trade Near Record After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities climbed, pushing the S&P 500 to within striking distance of an all-time high, after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.Information-technology stocks rose the most in the S&P 500, putting the index within 0.3% of its May 7 record, after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. The Nasdaq 100 climbed toward a one-month high, driven by gains in Politics Yahoo Finance 210604 11h10m Facebook suspends Trump's accounts for two years Facebook has announced that it will suspend former-President Trump's accounts for two years, before reassessing whether they should be reinstated. World Reuters 210604 11h04m UPDATE 1-Putin calls U.S. ransomware allegations an attempt to stir pre-summit trouble President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that suggestions the Russian state was linked to high profile ransomware attacks in the United States were absurd and an attempt to stir trouble ahead of his summit this month with U.S. President Joe Biden. A hack of Brazilian meatpacker JBS's facilities in the United States, reported this week, is the third such ransomware hack in the country since Biden took office in January. JBS told the White House it originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia. Business Reuters 210604 10h49m Chilean union, BHP kick off labor talks at world's largest copper mine The union of workers for BHP's sprawling Escondida mine said on Friday it had delivered an initial proposal for a new collective labor contract, marking the opening salvo in much-watched negotiations at the world's largest copper deposit. The fresh negotiations at Escondida come as copper prices have spiked amid soaring demand and tight supply for the red metal, handing workers additional leverage as they enter into the high-profile talks. "This negotiation takes place in a highly favorable economic environment for the industry, which is estimated to be projected over time," the union said in a statement. World Bloomberg 210604 10h48m Peru Leftist’s Aide Rejects Hugo Chavez Comparison: ‘No Way’ (Bloomberg) -- Pedro Francke knows exactly what investors in Peru and abroad think of his boss, Pedro Castillo: that he’s an extreme leftist with Marxist ties who will sink the Andean country into Venezuela-style economic chaos if elected president.So Francke wasted no time in his first day on the job as Castillo’s top economic adviser to try to dispel these notions.“In no way is he another Hugo Chavez,” Francke, who’s worked as an economist at the World Bank and Peruvian central bank, said in a Howell date : 210604 10h57m15s Business Reuters 210604 10h49m Chilean union, BHP kick off labor talks at world's largest copper mine The union of workers for BHP's sprawling Escondida mine said on Friday it had delivered an initial proposal for a new collective labor contract, marking the opening salvo in much-watched negotiations at the world's largest copper deposit. The fresh negotiations at Escondida come as copper prices have spiked amid soaring demand and tight supply for the red metal, handing workers additional leverage as they enter into the high-profile talks. "This negotiation takes place in a highly favorable economic environment for the industry, which is estimated to be projected over time," the union said in a statement. World Bloomberg 210604 10h48m Peru Leftist’s Aide Rejects Hugo Chavez Comparison: ‘No Way’ (Bloomberg) -- Pedro Francke knows exactly what investors in Peru and abroad think of his boss, Pedro Castillo: that he’s an extreme leftist with Marxist ties who will sink the Andean country into Venezuela-style economic chaos if elected president.So Francke wasted no time in his first day on the job as Castillo’s top economic adviser to try to dispel these notions.“In no way is he another Hugo Chavez,” Francke, who’s worked as an economist at the World Bank and Peruvian central bank, said in a Business Yahoo Finance 210604 10h45m Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise as investors eye mixed May jobs report Stocks rose Friday investors digested a mixed report on the state of the U.S. labor market, with a back-to-back miss on monthly payroll gains serving as potential fuel for policymakers to keep their current support systems in place for longer. Politics Reuters 210604 10h40m Facebook suspends former U.S. President Trump's account for two years Trump's suspension was effective from the initial date in January and will only be reinstated if conditions permit, Facebook said in a blog post. "Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump's suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols," Facebook said. The decision came on the same day as Europe and Britain launched formal antitrust investigations into whether Facebook misuses its vast trove of customer data. Business Reuters 210604 10h26m UPDATE 1-Square considers making bitcoin hardware wallet - Dorsey Fintech company Square Inc is considering making a hardware wallet for bitcoin, Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said in a tweet https://twitter.com/jack/status/1400839179513339905 on Friday. Bitcoin wallets can be stored offline or online at cryptocurrency exchanges, venues where bitcoin can be bought and sold for traditional currencies or other virtual coins. "If we do it, we would build it entirely in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community," said Dorsey. Business Bloomberg 210604 10h24m Colombia Eyes Shorter-Term Debt as Yields Rise After Unrest (Bloomberg) -- Colombia may start relying more heavily on shorter-term debt sales to cover its budget shortfalls, seeking to drive down interest costs after a failed tax-reform push triggered social unrest and sent yields higher. Yields on longer-term bonds fell.Public Credit Director Cesar Arias, a Finance Ministry official who is in charge of the government’s borrowing, said in an interview that he will begin to discuss with investors whether to scale back the maturities on some of the bonds i Howell date : 210604 10h26m38s Business Bloomberg 210604 10h20m Oil Set for Second Weekly Gain Amid Growing Summer Demand Hopes (Bloomberg) -- Oil and gasoline futures both headed for the second weekly gain in a row as expectations for a demand pick-up from the northern hemisphere’s summer begin to come to fruition.Futures in New York headed for a more than 4% rise for the week, while gasoline is also on track for a weekly increase. A string of data this week so far affirmed the market’s bet that increased vaccination rates and continuing reopening efforts are unleashing pent-up demand this summer.On the supply side, oil Business Yahoo Finance 210604 10h19m May jobs report is 'encouraging' but there's 'still a ways to go': US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh weighs in on the outlook for the jobs market on Yahoo Finance Live. Here's one of his biggest takeaways. Business Bloomberg 210604 10h09m Stocks Trade Near Record After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities climbed, pushing the S&P 500 to within striking distance of an all-time high, after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.Information-technology stocks rose the most in the S&P 500, putting the index within 0.3% of its May 7 record, after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. The Nasdaq 100 climbed toward a one-month high, driven by gains in Politics Reuters 210604 10h07m UPDATE 1-U.S. House Democrats propose $547 billion surface transport plan A group of key U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation on Friday to authorize $547 billion in additional spending over five years on surface transport, a plan that would mostly go to fixing existing U.S. roads and bridges and increase funding for passenger rail and transit. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said in a statement the proposal seizes on a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to move our transportation planning out of the 1950s and toward our clean energy future." The bill adopts some proposals made by Democratic President Joe Biden as part of his broader $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. Business Reuters 210604 10h00m US STOCKS-Wall St rises as jobs report calms inflation worries The Labor Department's closely watched report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 559,000 jobs last month, helped by vaccinations and a reopening economy, following an unexpected slowdown in the labor market in April. Worries that a robust economic rebound could lead to a prolonged period of inflation and prompt the Fed to contemplate paring back its crisis level support have weighed on investors' minds recently. Wall Street's main indexes were set to rise for at least second straight week on optimism about an economic rebound amid a raft of encouraging data this week. Business Reuters 210604 09h57m Commodities hedge funds back in vogue after years of outflows Hedge funds focused on commodities have generated strong returns in 2021 and investors long wary of such funds are now putting money into them, betting the recovery from the pandemic will charge demand for oil, gas and raw materials from metals to grains to sugar and coffee. While money has flooded into other commodity investments, hedge funds are a more surprising choice after years of outflows and closures of several high-profile firms. Among the funds notching big gains this year are those run by famed oil investor Pierre Andurand. Howell date : 210604 09h56m00s Business Bloomberg 210604 09h51m Cyber-Crime ETFs Sputter as Meme Stocks Absorb Market’s ‘Oxygen’ (Bloomberg) -- Cybersecurity-focused ETFs are struggling to capitalize on a slew of high-profile hacks that have prompted the White House to urge every U.S. company to beef up security measures.The $2.2 billion ETFMG Prime Cyber Security exchange-traded fund (HACK) and the Global X’s Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) have seen little in the way of inflows. The former notched just $13 million in May after two straight months of outflows, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The White House told corporat Business Bloomberg 210604 09h47m AMC Rides Roller Coaster in Wild Week for New King of Memes (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s wild week isn’t done yet.The new king of meme stocks spent Friday gyrating between a 12% gain and a 6% drop, which counts as placid after a week in which the shares doubled and then crumpled. They rose $5.96 to $57.30 as of 11:32 a.m. in New York.It’s been quite a ride for AMC, with the stock’s surge enabling the world’s biggest movie-theater chain to sell equity and shore up a depleted balance sheet. On the brink of bankruptcy only a few months a Business Yahoo Finance 210604 09h42m Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise as investors eye mixed May jobs report Stocks rose Friday investors digested a mixed report on the state of the U.S. labor market, with a back-to-back miss on monthly payroll gains serving as potential fuel for policymakers to keep their current support systems in place for longer. Business Reuters 210604 09h40m UK says G7 finance ministers' talks were productive Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers made progress in talks about reforming global corporate tax rules in London on Friday, Britain's finance ministry said. "The group held productive negotiations about reforming the global tax system and tackling the tax challenges that arise in a complex, digital global economy," Britain's Treasury said in a statement. Sunak also urged fellow G7 finance ministers to require large companies to be more transparent about their environmental impact, as well as the need for measures to ensure the long-term sustainability of public finances. Business Bloomberg 210604 09h32m Big Tech Leads Stock Rally After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Megacap technology stocks led U.S. equities higher and the dollar fell after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.The Nasdaq 100 climbed toward a one-month high and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell below 1.6% after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. Investors are assessing what the report means for the strength of the economy and the Federal Reserve’ Business Bloomberg 210604 09h31m Canada Suffers Second Jobs-Market Setback Ahead of Reopening (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s labor market weakened for a second month amid widespread restrictions to control a third wave of Covid-19.The economy lost 68,000 jobs in May, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. That adds to the 207,100 positions lost in April. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2%, from 8.1%. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted a loss of 25,000 jobs, with a jobless rate of 8.2%.Despite the back-to-back monthly setbacks, analysts expect a quick rebound as early as this m Business Bloomberg 210604 09h31m G-7 Nears Deal for at Least 15% Global Minimum Corporate Tax (Bloomberg) -- Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations are nearing an agreement to support a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%, people familiar with the discussions said.The ministers are meeting Friday and Saturday in London and are due to release a statement after the discussions. Such an agreement would be one of two parts of a broader deal that countries are trying to reach also covering how to divide up levies on some of the biggest multinational firms like Facebook Inc Howell date : 210604 09h25m23s Business Yahoo Finance Video 210604 09h08m How PPG is balancing paint demand amid supply shortages PPG Executive VP Tim Knavish joins Yahoo Finance to discuss how they deal with shortages in the supply chain with continuing high demands for products and how they have flexibility in trying new workers within the company. Politics Reuters 210604 09h05m Exclusive: JPMorgan resumes political giving, freezes out Republicans who contested 2020 election JPMorgan Chase & Co will resume making political donations to U.S. lawmakers but will not give to Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn President Joe Biden's election victory, according to an internal memo on Friday seen by Reuters. The bank was among many corporations that paused political giving following the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riots when supporters of former president Donald Trump tried to stop Congress from certifying the election. Just hours later, 147 Republicans, the vast majority of them in the House of Representatives, voted to overturn the Electoral College results which Trump falsely claimed were tainted by fraud. World Reuters 210604 09h00m Protecting the UK is vaccination priority, Hancock says Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Friday vaccinating children in the United Kingdom against COVID-19 would take priority over donating vaccine doses to other countries around the world. "My first duty as health secretary for the UK is to make sure that the UK is protected and safe, and whilst thankfully children are very rarely badly affected by COVID themselves, they can still pass on the disease," Hancock said after a summit of G7 healthcare ministers in Oxford, central England. "Alongside that I'm working with my international colleagues to make sure that people can get access to the vaccine around the world, and in particular of course the Oxford vaccine." Business Reuters 210604 09h00m For Fed, jobs report shows progress but likely still short of "substantial" The addition of more than half a million jobs to U.S. payrolls in May nudged the economy further toward the "substantial progress" Federal Reserve officials want to see before changing monetary policy, but likely not far enough to accelerate what's expected to be a cautious and possibly prolonged debate. The Fed in December said it would not start scaling back its wide-open monetary policy until there had been "substantial further progress" in healing the U.S. job market. At that point the number of U.S. payroll jobs was about 10 million below its pre-pandemic peak, and since then only about a quarter of those positions have been regained. World Reuters 210604 08h54m REFILE-Italy reports 73 coronavirus deaths on Friday, 2,557 new cases Italy reported 73 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 59 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 2,557 from 1,968. Italy has registered 126,415 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world. There were 22 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 24 on Thursday. Howell date : 210604 08h54m46s Business Reuters 210604 08h44m U.S. factory orders fall more than expected in April New orders for U.S.-made goods fell more than expected in April as a global semiconductor shortage weighed on the production of motor vehicles and electrical equipment, appliances and components. The Commerce Department said on Friday that factory orders dropped 0.6% in April after increasing 1.4% in March. Factory goods orders in April were weighed down by a 6.1% decrease in orders for motor vehicles and parts. Business Bloomberg 210604 08h36m Canada Suffers Second Jobs Setback Ahead of Reopening (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s labor market weakened for a second month amid widespread restrictions to control a third wave of Covid-19.The economy lost 68,000 jobs in May, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. That adds to the 207,100 positions lost in April. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2%, from 8.1%. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted a loss of 25,000 jobs, with a jobless rate of 8.2%.Despite the back-to-back monthly setbacks, analysts expect a quick rebound as early as this m Business Bloomberg 210604 08h34m Big Tech Leads Stock Rally After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Megacap technology stocks led U.S. equities higher and the dollar fell after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.The Nasdaq 100 climbed the most among the major indexes and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell below 1.6% after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. Investors are assessing what the report means for the strength of the economy and the Federal U.S. Reuters 210604 08h32m Biden sees job growth as 'historic progress' President Joe Biden said that a report showing modest U.S. job growth in May is a sign of "historic progress" for the economy. "Today’s jobs report shows historic progress for American families and the American economy," Biden said on Twitter. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday showed 559,000 nonfarm jobs created last month, with wages rising, though millions of unemployed Americans remained at home. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210604 08h27m AMC CEO seeks approval to issue 25 million shares Myles Udland, Brian Sozzi, and Julie Hyman break down what's next for AMC after AMC CEO Adam Aron's interview with Trey’s Trades disclosed his plans to issue 25 million shares pending shareholders' approval to pay off debt, reduce interest costs, and pay off millions in unpaid rent. Howell date : 210604 08h24m10s World Reuters 210604 08h19m UPDATE 1-Switzerland approves Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12-15 year olds Switzerland on Friday approved vaccinating 12-to-15-year-old children with the COVID-19 shot from Pfizer and BioNTEch, ahead of the country's plan to start inoculating younger people starting as early as July. "Swissmedic has carefully examined the indication-extension application submitted by Pfizer," the regulator said in a statement, after giving the shot temporary ordinary authorisation for 12- to 15-year-olds. The vaccine, like for people over 16 years, must be given in two doses after clinical trials showed around 100% efficiency in the younger age group, Swissmedic said. Business Reuters 210604 08h16m Disney Chairman Iger sells shares worth nearly $100 million Iger sold 550,570 shares of Disney's common stock, the filing https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1207394/000174448921000131/xslF345X03/wf-form4_162276668228962.xml showed. The entertainment company said the sale was part of Iger's move to diversify his portfolio. Iger served as Disney Chief Executive Officer since 2005 and stepped down earlier this year handing over the job to Disney Parks head Bob Chapek. U.S. Reuters 210604 08h12m Biden sees job growth as 'historic progress' President Joe Biden said that a report showing modest U.S. job growth in May is a sign of "historic progress" for the economy. "Today’s jobs report shows historic progress for American families and the American economy," Biden said on Twitter. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday showed 559,000 nonfarm jobs created last month, with wages rising, though millions of unemployed Americans remained at home. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210604 08h12m Makeup sales soar as more states lift mask mandates Cosmetics sales for the four-weeks ended May 22 have surged 16.7% from a year ago, according to the latest data out of Nielsen. Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi shares the details. World Reuters 210604 08h09m Drax, Bechtel team up to look into new bioenergy/carbon capture plants Britain's Drax Group and U.S. engineering company Bechtel have teamed up to identify opportunities to build new bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) power plants around the world, they said on Friday. BECCS is a negative emissions technology which extracts bioenergy from biomass and then captures and stores the carbon dioxide but is not yet at commercial scale. Business Yahoo Finance 210604 08h06m The U.S. economy is 'entering boomtown': economist As economic activity bounces back and the labor market continues to improve, RSM Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas told Yahoo Finance Live the U.S. economy is “entering boomtown.” Business Bloomberg 210604 08h03m U.S. Job Growth Picks Up in Sign of Progress on Filling Openings (Bloomberg) -- U.S. job growth picked up in May -- along with worker pay -- and the unemployment rate fell, signaling firms are making some progress filling a record number of openings as the economy powers up.Payrolls increased by 559,000 last month after a revised 278,000 gain in April, according to a Labor Department report Friday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was for a 675,000 rise. The jobless rate dropped to 5.8%, while the labor participation rate was little cha Business Bloomberg 210604 08h02m Canada Suffers Second Jobs-Market Setback Ahead of Reopening (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s labor market weakened for a second month amid widespread restrictions to control a third wave of Covid-19.The economy lost 68,000 jobs in May, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. That adds to the 207,100 positions lost in April. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2%, from 8.1%. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted a loss of 25,000 jobs, with a jobless rate of 8.2%.Despite the back-to-back monthly setbacks, analysts expect a quick rebound as early as this m Business Bloomberg 210604 07h55m Biden Infrastructure Plan Endangered by Dire U.S. Shortages (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.The biggest threat to President Joe Biden’s vision of energizing the U.S. economy with the largest infrastructure program in decades may not be its challenging path through Congress, but a dire shortage of everything from workers to cement mills.While weeks or months of negotiations will be needed to enact legislation, Republicans and Democrats are united in their support for hundreds o Business Yahoo Finance 210604 07h53m '$30,000 a year is not enough to live on': Billionaire Todd Boehly Billionaire Todd Boehly — co-founder and CEO of holding company Eldridge — said he welcomes wage growth as a means of addressing income inequality. Business Bloomberg 210604 07h52m EU, U.K. Open First Antitrust Probe Into Facebook (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. is facing its first in-depth probe by European regulators, the latest in a series of efforts to crack down on big tech market dominance across the continent.The European Commission said it will investigate whether Facebook misuses a trove of data gathered from advertisers to compete against them in classified ads. It will also check if the company unfairly ties its Marketplace small ad service to the social network.At the same time, the U.K said it was opening probes Business Bloomberg 210604 08h21m Big Tech Leads Stock Rally After U.S. Hiring Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Megacap technology stocks led U.S. equities higher and the dollar fell after a pickup in hiring last month bolstered confidence in the economy, while a strong rise in hourly wages added to inflation worries.The Nasdaq 100 climbed the most among the major indexes and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell below 1.6% after employers added 559,000 jobs last month, just below the average forecast. Investors are assessing what the report means for the strength of the economy and the Federal Business Bloomberg 210604 07h40m Staples Offers $1 Billion for ODP’s Consumer Unit in New Bid (Bloomberg) -- Staples made a $1 billion offer to buy rival Office Depot’s consumer business, the latest in its multiyear attempt to consolidate the office-products space.USR Parent Inc., the owner of Staples, laid out in a letter Friday its plan to buy the consumer-facing units of ODP Corp., including the Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores and websites. The cash offer, which isn’t for the entire company, is valued at about $18.27 a share, or about 43% of the 30-day average closing share p Business Bloomberg 210604 07h40m AMC Rides Roller-Coaster in Wild Week for New King of Memes (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s wild week isn’t done yet.After four days in which the new king of meme stocks doubled and then crumpled, AMC dropped another 5.2% to $48.65 at 9:37 a.m. in New York.It’s been quite a week for AMC, with the stock’s surge enabling the movie-theater chain to sell equity to shore up a depleted balance sheet. On the brink of bankruptcy only a few months ago, the money-losing company is now the darling of retail traders, with this year’s 2,300% gain bei Business Bloomberg 210604 07h39m Vivendi in Talks to Sell 10% of Universal Music to Bill Ackman SPAC (Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SE is in talks to sell 10% of Universal Music Group to a blank-check firm backed by billionaire Bill Ackman while it prepares to spin off most of the world’s biggest music company.The potential transaction would value the home of Taylor Swift, Drake and Billie Eilish at 35 billion euros ($42.4 billion) including debt, Vivendi said in a statement on Friday, above the 30 billion-euro valuation ascribed to the business in 2019 when China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. acquired a sta Business Yahoo Finance 210604 07h39m How the pandemic spurred reform of clinical trials in drug industry Clinical trials are getting a hard look as the pandemic has shown how the current infrastructure favors inequity. Business Bloomberg 210604 07h35m Fate of Biogen’s Stock Rides on Alzheimer’s Drug Decision (Bloomberg) -- For Biogen Inc., the Food and Drug Administration’s expected decision Monday on its Alzheimer’s drug is what a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst called “the mother of all binary events” -- one that could send its shares veering sharply in either direction.If regulators give the company approval to market the drug, called aducanumab, the stock could surge to as much as $450, up from its $272.55 close on Thursday, according to Wall Street analysts. Or it could tumble to $200 if the treat Business Yahoo Finance 210604 07h34m Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise as investors eye mixed May jobs report Stocks rose Friday investors digested a mixed report on the state of the U.S. labor market, with a back-to-back miss on monthly payroll gains serving as potential fuel for policymakers to keep their current support systems in place for longer. Howell date : 210603 21h14m42s Business Bloomberg 210603 20h53m Gold Set for Biggest Weekly Drop Since February Before Jobs Data (Bloomberg) -- Gold headed for its biggest weekly decline since February on investor concerns over a potential pullback in central bank stimulus amid signs the recovery is gathering pace.Bullion extended a drop after tumbling 2% Thursday as the dollar and Treasury yields rose following better-than-expected U.S. data which added to speculation the Federal Reserve may bring forward the timeline for tapering bond purchases. Service providers expanded at the fastest pace on record last month, highli Politics Bloomberg 210603 20h32m Biden Blocks 59 Chinese Companies in Amended Trump Order (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden signed an order Thursday amending a ban on U.S. investment in Chinese companies begun under his predecessor, naming 59 firms with ties to China’s military or in the surveillance industry, including Huawei Technologies Co. and the country’s three biggest telecommunications companies.The ban on new investments will take effect Aug. 2 at 12:01 a.m. in New York, according to administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Investors will ha Business Business Business U.S. Business Business Howell date : 210603 19h14m06s World Reuters 210603 18h43m Australian court fines media for breach of suppression order in Cardinal Pell sex assault case An Australian court on Friday ordered a dozen media firms to pay fines for breaching a suppression order on reporting the conviction of former Vatican treasurer George Pell for child sexual assault. The 12 media outlets, mostly owned by Nine Entertainment Co and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, pled guilty in February to breaching the gag order on reporting on the trial and conviction of the cardinal, after the state agreed to drop all charges against journalists and editors. Business Bloomberg 210603 18h29m Futures, Asia Stocks Dip as Traders Await Payrolls: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell early Friday after U.S. equities sagged amid robust economic data that stoked concerns about a pullback in central bank stimulus. Treasury yields held an advance and the dollar extended a gain.Shares edged back in Japan, South Korea and Australia. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures retreated after the gauges fell overnight, though they came off lows on signs President Joe Biden may be willing to compromise on corporate taxes. Strong U.S. jobs data and record service- Business Reuters 210603 18h21m Duration of U.S. dollar weakness splits FX analysts: Reuters poll The U.S. dollar outlook is uncertain, with foreign exchange strategists in a Reuters poll almost evenly split on the greenback's near-term direction following two months of broad weakness, as they await clearer signs from policymakers. It was trading near a five-month trough against a basket of major currencies on Thursday. The Federal Reserve views the recent pick-up in inflation as transitory and reiterated its accommodative policy pledge. Business Business Business Business Business Bloomberg 210603 19h12m Oil Rally Cools on Stronger Dollar, Paring Second Weekly Gain (Bloomberg) -- Oil trimmed a second straight weekly advance as a recent rally to the highest level since October 2018 cooled on a stronger dollar.Futures in New York slipped 0.5% as a rising U.S. currency made commodities priced in the dollar more expensive for investors. A significant draw in U.S. crude stockpiles added to bullish signs seen this week for the market, but financial flows into West Texas Intermediate and global benchmark Brent oil have been muted, despite headline prices clawing Howell date : 210603 18h13m28s Business Bloomberg 210603 17h58m Retail Traders in India, South Korea Join Meme Craze for AMC (Bloomberg) -- Retail investors in India and South Korea have joined the meme-stock frenzy by piling into AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. through local trading platforms giving them access to U.S. markets.The money-losing movie-theater chain is among the five most-traded U.S. stocks over the past week on both Vested Finance and Stockal, two India-focused platforms for retail investors to buy U.S. equities. AMC Entertainment has accounted for 14% of trades on Vested this week, a greater proportio Business Bloomberg 210603 17h53m Ackman’s SPAC Is in Talks to Take Universal Music Public (Bloomberg) -- A blank-check company backed by billionaire Bill Ackman is in talks to merge with Universal Music Group, setting the stage for the Vivendi SE-owned record label to become a separate business, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The combined entity would be valued at about $40 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Deliberations are ongoing and the talks could still fall apart, they said.Ackman’s special purpose ac Business Business Business Business Business Business Howell date : 210603 17h12m52s Business Reuters 210603 17h04m Banks bulk up in Hong Kong as China business overshadows politics Some global banks, funds and other financial services providers say they are stepping up hiring in Hong Kong, in a sign the city's unique position as a financial gateway to China is outweighing concerns about Beijing's tightening grip over it. Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and other banks are each hiring hundreds of people in the city this year, adding substantially to their existing ranks. Citigroup, for example, has said it is bulking up its staffing by 1,500 people, including additional headcount and replacements in 2021, double the number of people it hired a year ago. Business Reuters 210603 17h01m S&P indexes raise minimum market cap requirements Companies must now have a stock market value of at least $13.1 billion to join the S&P 500, Wall Street's most followed benchmark. Falling below market capitalization minimums does not mean companies will be removed from S&P indexes. Nearly 40 S&P 500 companies currently have stock market values under $11 billion. Business Bloomberg 210603 16h55m Asian Stocks Set to Dip as Traders Await Payrolls: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set for a weaker open Friday after U.S. equities sagged amid robust economic data that stoked concerns about a pullback in central bank stimulus. Treasury yields and the dollar rose.Futures slipped in Japan and Hong Kong and were steady in Australia. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts edged down after the gauges fell overnight but came off lows on signs President Joe Biden may be willing to compromise on corporate taxes. Strong U.S. jobs data and record service-sec Business Bloomberg 210603 16h49m AMC Takes Traders on a Wild Ride, Pockets $587 Million Cash (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. dizzied investors Thursday by losing 40% of its market value, then regaining more than half of it -- and pocketing more than $587 million in fresh cash by exploiting the frenzy.The stock’s wild rally of 2021 initially collapsed on Thursday when the company disclosed plans to sell more shares and use the money to cut its heavy debts. AMC went ahead with the sale anyway, ultimately collecting $587 million by midday, and any concern among investors tha Business Reuters 210603 16h43m UPDATE 1-Meatpacker JBS says all facilities operating after weekend cyberattack All of meatpacker JBS SA's global facilities are fully operational after a weekend cyberattack disrupted much of its North American and Australian operations, the company said on Thursday. The Brazilian meatpacker's arm in the United States and Pilgrim's Pride, a U.S. chicken company mostly owned by JBS, lost less than one day's worth of food production following the hack, according to a statement. JBS has recovered faster than some meat buyers and market analysts expected from the May 30 ransomware attack, which the White House linked to a Russia-based group. Business Bloomberg 210603 16h40m Yellow Faces House Probe Over $700 Million Covid-Aid Loan (Bloomberg) -- A House panel is scrutinizing a $700 million national security loan given to trucking company Yellow Corp. from pandemic relief funds during the Trump administration.The investigation is the latest in a series of inquiries by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Congress into the trillions of dollars in aid that were approved by Congress under former President Donald Trump. Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn, chairman of the panel, announced the probe Thursday in a Business Bloomberg 210603 16h40m Broadcom Gives Strong Forecast on Data Center Chips Demand (Bloomberg) -- Broadcom Inc., one of the world’s largest chipmakers, gave a bullish forecast for quarterly sales, boosted by demand for chips used in data centers and equipment needed to improve consumer home internet speeds.Revenue in the fiscal third quarter will be about $6.75 billion, the San Jose, California-based company said Thursday in a statement. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $6.59 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.A succession of acquisitions by Chie Business Yahoo Finance 210603 16h29m Stock market news live updates: Stock futures drift higher ahead of May jobs report Stock futures opened slightly higher Thursday evening, ticking up as investors awaited a key print on the U.S. labor market. Howell date : 210603 16h12m15s U.S. Bloomberg 210603 15h52m Worst Drought in Decades Escalates Threats Across U.S. West (Bloomberg) -- Almost three-fourths of the western U.S. is gripped by drought so severe that it’s off the charts of anything recorded in the 20-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor.Mountains across the West have seen little precipitation, robbing reservoirs of dearly needed snowmelt and rain, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist and Drought Monitor author with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The parched conditions mean the wildfire threat is high and farmers are struggling to irrigate crops Business Reuters 210603 15h50m Record-high number of U.S. small businesses can't fill job openings - NFIB Nearly half of U.S. small business owners reported unfilled job openings in May, marking the fourth consecutive month of record-high readings as finding qualified applicants remains a lingering challenge, a trade group said on Thursday. The National Federation of Independent Business said in its monthly jobs report that 48% of small business owners reported unfilled job openings in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 44% in April. “Small business owners are struggling at record levels trying to get workers back in open positions,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement. Business Reuters 210603 15h35m UK's Sunak 'hugely optimistic' about G7 agreement British finance minister Rishi Sunak said he was very hopeful that a meeting of G7 finance ministers in London on Friday and Saturday would reach a concrete agreement on taxing large tech companies and other goals. The gathering will be the first time finance ministers from the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada will meet face-to-face since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. "I'm determined we work together and unite to tackle the world's most pressing economic challenges - and I'm hugely optimistic that we will deliver some concrete outcomes this weekend," Sunak said in a statement late on Thursday. Business Bloomberg 210603 15h28m It’s Not Over for Coal as Global Prices Surge on Hot Demand (Bloomberg) -- Coal is seeing a dramatic spike in demand just as several major miners are hit with production problems, sparking a surge in prices from China to Europe.Prices for the dirtiest fossil fuel are soaring as sweltering temperatures in North Asia increase air conditioning needs, adding to already strong demand due to the industrial recovery from the pandemic. Mine safety issues in China, heavy rainfall in Indonesia and disruptions in Colombia are constraining output.The price spike com Politics Reuters 210603 15h23m U.S. Post Service chief faces FBI probe over campaign fundraising The FBI is investigating campaign fundraising activity involving a company that the head of the U.S. Postal Service formerly led, a spokesman for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said on Thursday. DeJoy, a supporter of Republican former President Donald Trump who was named to the post in May 2020, has faced criticism from Democrats over mail service changes and a plan to slow some deliveries to save money. DeJoy previously served as chief executive at North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics. Business Yahoo Finance 210603 15h19m New York Fed President John Williams speaks with Yahoo Finance [Transcript] A full transcript of New York Fed President John Williams's interview with Yahoo Finance on June 3, 2021. Howell date : 210603 15h11m37s Politics Reuters 210603 15h00m U.S. Post Service chief faces FBI probe over campaign fundraising The FBI is investigating campaign fundraising activity involving a company that the head of the U.S. Postal Service formerly led, a spokesman for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said on Thursday. DeJoy, a supporter of Republican former President Donald Trump who was named to the post in May 2020, has faced criticism from Democrats over mail service changes and a plan to slow some deliveries to save money. DeJoy previously served as chief executive at North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics. Business Bloomberg 210603 14h59m AMC Takes Traders on a Wild Ride, Pockets $587 Million Cash (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. dizzied investors Thursday by losing 40% of its market value, then regaining more than half of it -- and pocketing more than $587 million in fresh cash by exploiting the frenzy.The stock’s wild rally of 2021 initially collapsed on Thursday when the company disclosed plans to sell more shares and use the money to cut its heavy debts. AMC went ahead with the sale anyway, ultimately collecting $587 million by midday, and any concern among investors tha Business Reuters 210603 14h58m Explainer: What is a gamma squeeze and how did it drive up AMC's stock price? Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc surged to a record high this week in a blistering rally that again highlighted how an arcane options market dynamic known as a gamma squeeze can super-charge stock price gains. WHAT IS OPTIONS GAMMA? AMC's rally was partly fueled by heavy trading of equity options. Business Reuters 210603 14h39m Facebook to end special treatment for politicians after Trump ban - report The reported change comes as Facebook is expected to announce its response to recommendations made by the company's oversight board when it ruled on the firm's suspension of former U.S. President Donald Trump. As part of its non-binding recommendations, the board said the same rules should apply to all users and that Facebook's existing policies, such as deciding when material is too newsworthy to remove or when to take actions on an influential account, need to be more clearly communicated to users. Facebook declined to comment. Business Bloomberg 210603 14h39m Broadcom Gives Bullish Forecast on Persistent Demand for Chips (Bloomberg) -- Broadcom Inc., one of the world’s largest chipmakers, gave a bullish forecast for quarterly sales, signaling that corporations have returned to spending on their computer networks as they open up offices.Revenue in the fiscal third quarter will be about $6.75 billion, the San Jose, California-based company said Thursday in a statement. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $6.59 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.A succession of acquisitions by Chief Exec Howell date : 210603 14h11m00s Business Bloomberg 210603 14h07m AMC Shakes Off Plunge and Pockets $587 Million of Fresh Cash (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. dizzied investors Thursday by losing 40% of its market value, then regaining most of it -- and pocketing more than $587 million in fresh cash by exploiting the frenzy.The stock’s wild rally of 2021 initially collapsed on Thursday as the company disclosed plans to raise money by selling more shares so it could cut its heavy debts. AMC went ahead with the sale anyway, ultimately collecting $587 million by midday, and any concern among investors that t Business Yahoo Finance 210603 14h06m NY Fed's John Williams: US economy 'quite a ways off' from tapering asset purchases New York Fed President John Williams told Yahoo Finance that he would like to see the U.S. economy make more progress before the central bank pulls back on its aggressive monetary stimulus. Business Yahoo Finance 210603 14h06m Stock market news live updates: Stocks fall despite strong jobs data; Nasdaq sheds 1% as tech shares sink Traders digested two better-than-expected reports on the labor market Business Bloomberg 210603 14h03m Stocks Fall as Job Data Outweigh Biden Tax Pitch: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities fell Thursday as investors digested a raft of economic data and a report President Joe Biden may be open to a lower corporate tax rate than 28%.The S&P 500 rose from session lows after Biden was said to have pitched a 15% minimum tax on U.S. corporations as a way to fund a bipartisan infrastructure package. However, the bounce wasn’t enough to erase earlier declines on concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected. An ADP report showed pa Business Reuters 210603 14h00m UPDATE 1-JPMorgan names global co-heads for investment banking group - memo JPMorgan & Chase Co has named three global co-heads to lead the part of its investment bank which advises other financial institutions on mergers, acquisitions and capital raises, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Jared Kaye, Laurent Nevi and John Purcell will jointly lead the Wall Street bank's FIG industry group, according to the memo, the contents of which were confirmed by a JPMorgan spokeswoman. All three co-heads are long-term JPMorgan executives. Business Reuters 210603 13h51m Boeing CEO warns of airline supply constraints, U.S.-China trade SEATTLE/CHICAGO (Reuters) -Boeing Co Chief Executive Dave Calhoun on Thursday pointed to potential "supply constraints" beginning in the summer after a "more robust" recovery from the coronavirus-related downturn than he had imagined. Speaking at a Bernstein virtual conference, Calhoun also said he expects Boeing will be able to deliver the "lion's share" of roughly 100 787 aircraft sitting in inventory due to production defects and weakened demand. With U.S. leisure travel going "gangbusters" and carriers needing to rehire and rebuild their networks and supply chains, Calhoun pointed to likely "supply constraints for a while." Howell date : 210603 13h40m22s U.S. Reuters 210603 13h32m UPDATE 1-U.S. traffic deaths soar to 38,680 in 2020; highest yearly total since 2007 U.S. traffic deaths soared dramatically after coronavirus lockdowns ended in 2020, hitting the highest yearly total since 2007 as more Americans engaged in unsafe behavior on U.S. roads, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday. For all of 2020, 38,680 people died on U.S. roads - up 7.2% or nearly 2,600 more than in 2019, even though Americans drove 13% fewer miles, preliminary data shows. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210603 13h26m How the pandemic ‘exacerbated’ the worker shortage: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Exec. VP Neil Bradley, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss America’s worker shortage. Business Bloomberg 210603 13h22m Suit to Abolish Libor Will Stay Put in San Francisco, Judge Rules (Bloomberg) -- A judge refused to move a lawsuit seeking to terminate Libor from San Francisco federal court to New York, rejecting an argument by big banks that the case belongs in Manhattan due to the decades of litigation there over the benchmark and court decisions it has produced.In his order Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco sided against some of the world’s biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG.The judge said t Business Bloomberg 210603 13h19m Blue Owl Doubles Size of Bond Sale in First Issue Since Merger (Bloomberg) -- Blue Owl Capital Inc., the newly-formed alternative asset manager from the merger of Owl Rock Capital and Dyal Capital Partners, more than doubled the size of a bond sale, its first since the investing giants combined last month.The firm, through a subsidiary, is selling $700 million of unsecured bonds, up from $300 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. The 10-year notes will yield 165 basis points above Treasuries, after initially discussing around 187.5 basis World Bloomberg 210603 13h18m U.S. Meat Supply Slowly Recovers as JBS Plants Return After Hack (Bloomberg) -- Meat production in the U.S. is climbing back toward normal levels, with the government pressing other companies to boost output while JBS SA’s meat plants recover from last weekend’s cyberattack.More of JBS’s beef plants were running at least one shift Thursday. Still, even as the facilities return to at least partial operation, workers returning to a meat-processing plant in Texas on Wednesday afternoon were told to be ready to do things by hand. With everything from knife sharpe Business Reuters 210603 13h17m New Exxon board member Hietala brings business transformation experience Exxon Mobil's newly elected board member Kaisa Hietala says her work at Finnish refiner and biofuel producer Neste makes her more than just a champion of biofuels, she also has experience transforming a business. Tiny hedge fund Engine No. 1 led a shareholder revolt last week to unseat three directors on Exxon's board and replace them with nominees in the first big boardroom contest at an oil major that made climate change the central issue. For most of her career, 21 years, Hietala worked at Neste. Howell date : 210603 13h09m46s Politics Reuters 210603 13h02m Ex-Treasury employee gets prison for leaks on Trump campaign officials A former senior U.S. Treasury Department employee who pleaded guilty to conspiring to give a reporter sensitive information about Donald Trump's onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort and others was sentenced on Thursday to six months in prison. Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a former senior adviser in Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan. Edwards was accused of making unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports (SARs) - used by banks to alert law enforcement to potential money laundering and other crimes - to a BuzzFeed News reporter using an encrypted messaging program. Business Bloomberg 210603 12h58m Stocks Pare Losses as Biden Floats Lower Tax Rate: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities pared back some losses on Thursday after a report President Joe Biden may be open to a lower corporate tax rate than 28%.The S&P 500 rose from session lows after Biden was said to have pitched a 15% minimum tax on U.S. corporations to Republicans as a way to fund a bipartisan infrastructure package.Previously the benchmark index was lower after a raft of strong economic data prompted concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected. An ADP r World Reuters 210603 12h53m UPDATE 1-Palestinians see little difference in old and new Israeli leaders Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza on Thursday mostly dismissed a change in Israeli government, saying the nationalist leader due to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely pursue the same right-wing agenda. Naftali Bennett, a former head of Israel's main West Bank settler organisation, would be the country's new leader under a patchwork coalition struck on Wednesday. On Thursday Bennett placed much of the blame for the conflict on the Palestinians. Business Reuters 210603 12h51m Tesla's China orders halved in May - The Information The company's monthly net orders in China dropped to about 9,800 in May from more than 18,000 in April, the report https://bit.ly/3phOPE4 said, sending shares down nearly 5% in afternoon trading. China is the electric car maker's second-biggest market after the United States and accounts for about 30% of its sales. Tesla makes electric Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport-utility vehicles in a Shanghai plant. Business Yahoo Finance 210603 12h46m May jobs report preview: Economists look for 674,000 payroll gains as labor supply shortages weigh The U.S. economy likely added back another more than half a million jobs in May as the unemployment rate slid to a new pandemic-era low, helping to stem some of the labor shortages across the economy during its recovery. Business Bloomberg 210603 12h42m AMC Shakes Off 40% Plunge and Pockets $587 Million of Fresh Cash (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. dizzied investors Thursday by losing 40% of its market value, then regaining most of it -- while pocketing more than $500 million in fresh cash by exploiting the frenzy over the stock.The wild rally initially collapsed on Thursday as the company disclosed plans to raise money by selling more shares so it could cut its heavy debts. The company went ahead anyway, ultimately collecting $587 million by midday, and any doubts among investors that their h Howell date : 210603 12h39m08s World Reuters 210603 12h32m U.S. says to make COVID-19 vaccines available to India The United States on Thursday told India about its plans to make COVID-19 vaccines available to other countries, including the South Asian nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office said. The U.S. move comes after the White House laid out a plan to share 25 million surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses with the world and said it would lift some restrictions to allow other countries to buy American-made supplies for vaccine production more easily. In a phone call on Thursday, Modi and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris discussed efforts to improve the bilateral health supply chain, including in vaccine production, the Indian premier's office said in a statement. Business Bloomberg 210603 12h22m Meme Rally Fades as Bed Bath & Beyond, Koss Lose Luster (Bloomberg) -- The latest meme stock frenzy started to unwind Thursday as retail-trader favorites like Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and Koss Corp. tumbled after surging in the previous session.Bed Bath & Beyond shares fell as much as 28%, the steepest selloff since January, after notching a record advance Wednesday. Koss slid as much as 31% after closing at the highest level since early February. Other so-called meme stocks including GameStop Corp. and PetMed Express Inc. declined Thursday.This comes Business Yahoo Finance Video 210603 12h12m Gen Z career advice on TikTok Yahoo Finance’s Sibile Marcellus speaks with TikTok creator Julian Parra to discuss career advice on TikTok. Business Bloomberg 210603 12h09m Stocks Pare Losses as Biden Floats Lower Tax Rate: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities pared back some losses on Thursday after a report President Joe Biden may be open to a lower corporate tax rate than 28%.The S&P 500 rose from session lows after Biden was said to have pitched a 15% minimum tax on U.S. corporations to Republicans as a way to fund a bipartisan infrastructure package.Previously the benchmark index was lower after a raft of strong economic data prompted concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected. An ADP r Business Bloomberg 210603 12h06m AMC Shakes Off 40% Plunge and Pockets $587 Million of Fresh Cash (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. dizzied investors Thursday by losing 40% of its market value, then regaining it all -- while pocketing more than $500 million in fresh cash by exploiting the frenzy over the stock.The wild rally initially collapsed on Thursday as the company disclosed plans to raise money by selling more shares so it could cut its heavy debts. The company went ahead anyway, ultimately collecting $587 million by midday, and any doubts among investors that their holdi Howell date : 210603 12h08m32s Business Bloomberg 210603 11h59m Toronto Home Sales Slow for Second Month Under Lockdown (Bloomberg) -- Toronto’s housing market recorded its second consecutive month of slowing sales in May, as reduced supply and a lingering lockdown to contain the coronavirus helped to cool off the market.The number of homes that traded hands in Canada’s largest city fell 8.9% in May from the month before, according to data released Thursday from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. The seasonally-adjusted average selling price for a home in the Toronto region still rose 1.1% from April, to C$1 Business Yahoo Finance 210603 11h57m This is no longer our grandparents' or parents' stock market: strategist Love it or hate it, the Meme Market is back, and Wall Street strategists say it can’t be ignored. Business Bloomberg 210603 11h50m Job Openings at U.S. Small Businesses Increase to Fresh Record (Bloomberg) -- U.S. small-business owners reported a record share of unfilled positions in May, and more firms are boosting wages to attract workers, the National Federation of Independent Business said Thursday.Some 48% of firms had unfilled positions last month, a fourth consecutive record, the NFIB said in a report published Thursday. A total of 34% of small-business owners said they raised pay, the largest share in a year, and more indicated they plan to raise compensation in the next three Business Bloomberg 210603 11h44m Distressed Muni Borrowers Are Still Piling Up in Pandemic’s Wake (Bloomberg) -- The wave of U.S. municipal-bond distress set off by the pandemic is still spreading even as the economy recovers from the devastation of the outbreak.Eight muni borrowers became distressed last week, lifting this year’s tally to 76, according to Municipal Market Analytics. That puts 2021 on track to exceed almost every year since 2012 in terms of impairments. Only 2020, when the coronavirus caused some of the worst market turmoil on record, was worse.The isolated cases of deterior Business Reuters 210603 11h43m Behold the new entry-level Ford vehicle - it's a truck Ford Motor Co on Thursday confirmed it will introduce a compact pickup truck called Maverick next week, augmenting its entry-level vehicle offerings more than three years after it said it would largely abandon the U.S. sedan market. While Ford said it will provide more details about the truck on June 8, executives have talked about the "white-space" vehicle that will move the U.S. automaker into a new segment, and people familiar with the plans said the Maverick's starting price will be below $20,000. The four-door small pickup will be built, starting in July, at the company's Hermosillo, Mexico, plant with plans to eventually build more than 120,000 annually, according to AutoForecast Solutions. Business Reuters 210603 11h38m Biden order to ban investment in 59 Chinese defense and tech firms The Biden administration will issue a new executive order on Thursday that bans U.S. entities from buying or selling publicly traded securities for 59 Chinese companies with alleged ties to defense or surveillance technology sectors, senior administration officials said. The Treasury Department will enforce and update on a "rolling basis" the new ban list, which replaces one from the Department of Defense, the officials, noting the policy would take effect on Aug. 2. The new order, which is an effort to make a similar Trump-era prohibition more legally sound, signals the administration's intent to "ensure that U.S. persons are not financing the military industrial complex of the People's Republic of China", one of the senior officials told reporters. Howell date : 210603 11h37m54s Business Reuters 210603 11h30m Biden order to ban investment in 59 Chinese defense and tech firms The Biden administration will issue a new executive order on Thursday that bans U.S. entities from buying or selling publicly traded securities for 59 Chinese companies with alleged ties to defense or surveillance technology sectors, senior administration officials said. The Treasury Department will enforce and update on a "rolling basis" the new ban list, which replaces one from the Department of Defense, the officials, noting the policy would take effect on Aug. 2. The new order, which is an effort to make a similar Trump-era prohibition more legally sound, signals the administration's intent to "ensure that U.S. persons are not financing the military industrial complex of the People's Republic of China", one of the senior officials told reporters. Business Yahoo Finance 210603 11h25m Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Mark Tritton isn't getting sucked into meme stock mania Yahoo Finance Live chats with Bed Bath & Bed CEO Mark Tritton about his company being swept up into meme stock mania. Politics Reuters 210603 11h22m White House says can close gap with Republicans in infrastructure talks The White House believes it can close the gap with Republicans in negotiations on a big infrastructure package, press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday after President Joe Biden suggested dropping his plans to hike corporate tax rates as high as 28%. Psaki told reporters that Biden had suggested setting a minimum tax rate for companies at 15% as one option to facilitate an agreement with Republicans, but was keeping its options open as the negotiations continued. Business Bloomberg 210603 11h22m AMC Exploits Rally to Sell Stock, Whipsawing Shares Again (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s wild rally came to a halt on Thursday as the company raised $587 million by selling more shares to bolster a cinema chain that was staring at potential bankruptcy only a few months ago.The stock tumbled as much as 40% to $37.66 on Thursday after the plan was announced. The stock pared some of the losses after AMC said it completed the program in the afternoon. The shares were trading 13% lower to $54.15 in New York at 1:20 p.m.Amid the mania for m Business Reuters 210603 11h17m Alphabet's Waymo partners with Google Maps to offer autonomous rides Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit Waymo said on Thursday it had partnered with Google's Maps to let users book fully autonomous ride-hailing services through the app. The service, called Waymo One, will be added in the "ride-sharing and transit" tabs of the Maps app, Waymo said. Waymo One currently offers fully autonomous rides in the East Valley of Phoenix, Arizona. Business Bloomberg 210603 11h16m Stocks Pare Losses as Biden Floats Lower Tax Rate: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities pared back some losses on Thursday after a report President Joe Biden may be open to a lower corporate tax rate than 28%.The S&P 500 rose from session lows after Biden was said to have pitched a 15% minimum tax on U.S. corporations to Republicans as a way to fund a bipartisan infrastructure package.Previously the benchmark index was lower after a raft of strong economic data prompted concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected. An ADP r Business Bloomberg 210603 11h14m It’s Not Over for Coal as Global Prices Surge on Hot Demand (Bloomberg) -- Coal is seeing a dramatic spike in demand just as several major miners are hit with production problems, sparking a surge in prices from China to Europe and the U.S.Prices for the dirtiest fossil fuel are soaring as sweltering temperatures in North Asia increase air conditioning needs, adding to already strong demand due to the industrial recovery from the pandemic. Mine safety issues in China, heavy rainfall in Indonesia and disruptions in Colombia are constraining output.The pri Howell date : 210603 11h07m18s Business Yahoo Finance 210603 10h57m AMC stock is worth less than a movie ticket: analyst Wall Street continues to advise caution to those folks aggressively trading movie theater chain AMC. World Reuters 210603 10h52m UPDATE 1-Mexico says U.S. to send it 1 mln J&J COVID-19 vaccines Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday that following a conversation with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the United States had agreed to send Mexico one million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine against COVID-19. "I expressed our gratitude in the name of the Mexican people," Lopez Obrador wrote on Twitter. U.S. President Joe Biden had laid out earlier how the United States would share some 25 million of a planned 80 million vaccine doses with the rest of the world. Business Bloomberg 210603 10h41m Stocks Pare Losses on Biden Corporate Tax Report: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities pared back some losses on Thursday after a report said President Joe Biden may be open to a lower corporate tax rate than 28%.The S&P 500 rose from session lows as the Washington Post reported the Biden administration may instead back a 15% corporate tax floor to help win Republican support for an infrastructure package.Previously the benchmark index was lower after a raft of strong economic data prompted concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner t Business Yahoo Finance Video 210603 10h41m Organon goes public, stock falls in debut Kevin Ali, Organon CEO joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the company going public and the focus on women's health. Business Reuters 210603 10h34m Facebook commits to clear and objective advertising practices - French watchdog U.S. social media giant Facebook has offered to commit to clear and objective conditions of access to advertising inventories and ad campaign data, France's antitrust authority said on Thursday following an investigation. Facebook's proposed commitments follows a complaint by French online advertising group Criteo. The watchdog's investigation found that Facebook's practices were "likely" to impair access to advertising inventories and ad campaigns data on Facebook. Howell date : 210603 10h36m42s Business Bloomberg 210603 10h31m Toronto Home Sales Slow for Second Month Under Lockdown (Bloomberg) -- Toronto’s housing market recorded its second consecutive month of slowing sales in May, as reduced supply and a lingering lockdown to contain the coronavirus helped to cool off the market.The number of homes that traded hands in Canada’s largest city fell 8.9% in May from the month before, according to data released Thursday from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. The seasonally-adjusted average selling price for a home in the Toronto region still rose 1.1% from April, to C$1 Business Bloomberg 210603 10h26m JBS Plants Limp Back From Hack With Old-School Manual Labor (Bloomberg) -- JBS SA workers returning to a meat-processing plant in Texas on Wednesday afternoon were told to be ready to do things a bit differently than normal: Work by hand.With everything from knife sharpening to production-line speed controls relying on automation, coming back from a cyberattack that forced the world’s largest meat producer to halt operations across the globe is set to be a bumpy ride. Because the plants are coming back online without some of their systems in service, the Business Bloomberg 210603 10h25m AMC Stock Sale Comes With Warning to Traders: Be Prepared to Lose It All (Bloomberg) -- Investing in AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. comes with the promise of free popcorn, special screenings -- and the chance you’ll lose all your money.That last part is a warning the movie chain and its lawyers made in a regulatory filing on Thursday announcing its intention to sell more than 11 million shares to a market dominated by frenzied retail traders.While companies commonly use cautionary language when making share offerings, the extent of AMC’s was uncommon. It included an Business Bloomberg 210603 10h23m AMC Exploits Rally to Sell Stock, Whipsawing Shares Again (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s wild rally came to a halt on Thursday after the company said it’s selling more shares to bolster a cinema chain that was staring at potential bankruptcy only a few months ago.The stock tumbled as much as 40% to $37.66 on Thursday, and trading was halted multiple times as investors digested AMC’s plan to sell up to 11.55 million shares so it can pay back borrowed money and finance acquisitions. AMC recovered some of the lost ground by 12:20 p.m. in Business Bloomberg 210603 10h19m Oil Slips as Broader Sell-Off Compounds U.S. Fuel Supply Rise (Bloomberg) -- Oil reversed gains as a stronger dollar broadly weighed across commodities, while traders assessed rising fuel stockpiles in the U.S.Futures in New York edged lower after switching between small gains and losses on Thursday. The dollar surged by the most in three weeks, making commodities priced in the currency less attractive, as a spate of strong U.S. economic data ratcheted up wagers the Federal Reserve may need to move faster on tapering its stimulus operations.Meanwhile, U.S. Business Reuters 210603 10h15m UPDATE 1-Qatar Airways says Airbus spat risks 'industrial repercussions' Airbus faces "industrial repercussions" if it fails to resolve a dispute that has driven a wedge between the European planemaker and major customer Qatar Airways, the airline's chief executive told Reuters on Thursday. Raising the stakes of a dispute potentially affecting airplane deliveries, which became public, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker urged the Airbus board to intervene directly. "The ball is in their court to fix the problem we have with them, and it is up to them to resolve this as soon as possible before things can get a bit out of hand," Al Baker added. Howell date : 210603 10h06m05s Politics Reuters 210603 09h57m UPDATE 1-Biden says U.S. to send 25 mln COVID-19 vaccines around the world President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out how the United States would share some 25 million of a planned 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with the rest of the world. The United States will donate nearly 19 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine supply through the COVAX international vaccine sharing program, he said in a statement. The remaining doses, amounting to just over 6 million, would go directly from the United States to countries including Canada, Mexico, India and South Korea, he said. Business Bloomberg 210603 09h55m Russia Cuts Dollar Holdings From $119 Billion Wealth Fund Amid Sanctions (Bloomberg) -- Russia said it will eliminate the dollar from its oil fund to reduce vulnerability to Western sanctions just two weeks before President Vladimir Putin holds his first summit meeting with U.S. leader Joe Biden.The National Wellbeing Fund will shift its dollar holdings into euros, yuan and gold, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.The dollar pared gains on the news Thursday before bouncing back as analysts said the immediate market impact is likely to be limited. The transfer will Business Bloomberg 210603 09h44m The Economic Data Is Already Starting to Beat Expectations Again (Bloomberg) -- One of the big themes of the last year has been that almost everyone has been too pessimistic about the economy and corporate fundamentals.The easiest way to see this is by looking at an economic “surprise index” which attempts to gauge the degree to which the data is beating or missing economists’ forecasts. It’s not a gauge of absolute strength but of relative strength. For about a year now, the Citi Economic Surprise Index for the U.S. has been in positive territory. That means Business Reuters 210603 09h43m Ryanair says it may not take first 737 MAX until after summer Ryanair may decline to accept delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX until after the summer but has not made a final decision, a senior executive said on Thursday. The airline on May 17 said Boeing had promised the first delivery by the end of that month, but the U.S. firm has not yet given a firm date, said Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, the main airline in the Ryanair Group. Business Bloomberg 210603 09h38m Oil Declined With Traders Focusing on U.S. Fuel Supply Gain (Bloomberg) -- Oil erased gains with traders weighing an increase in U.S. gasoline and distillate supplies against declining crude stockpiles.Futures in New York fell as much as 0.9% in choppy trading on Thursday. Domestic gasoline supplies rose by the most since early April, according to a U.S. government report, while distillate inventories climbed by nearly 4 million barrels. Crude stockpiles fell for a second straight week. Meanwhile, a stronger U.S. dollar also reduced the appeal of commodi Howell date : 210603 09h35m27s Business Reuters 210603 09h14m Short sellers mostly held their ground as AMC shares soared About 89.98 million shares in AMC were sold short by the end of Wednesday's trading session compared with 90.87 million short interest at Tuesday's close, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3. AMC shares, which closed Wednesday's session up 95% at $62.55, were last down 24% at $47.33 on Thursday. Business Bloomberg 210603 09h13m Stocks Pare Losses on Biden Corporate Tax Report: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities pared back losses on Thursday as investors digested a raft of economic data and a report President Joe Biden may back a 15% corporate tax floor.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 eased declines after the Washington Post reported the Biden administration may be open to a lower corporate tax rate than 28%. Previously stocks were lower on concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected. An ADP report showed payrolls at U.S. firms rose by the most in n Business Bloomberg 210603 09h05m Oil Rises With U.S. Crude Supplies Falling for Second Week (Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed after a U.S. government report showed crude inventories declined for a second straight week, further evidence of increasing demand as the summer travel season gets underway.Futures in New York rose 0.5% after choppy trading earlier on Thursday. Domestic crude stockpiles slid by about 5 million barrels to the lowest since early February last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. Yet, gasoline and distillate supplies rose.Crude is on track to post a s U.S. Reuters 210603 09h04m U.S. housing regulator extends eviction freeze for some multifamily property A U.S. housing regulator announced Thursday it was extending until the end of September an ongoing moratorium on evictions at multifamily properties backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The move from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) applies to any multifamily property owners who have sought forbearance with the enterprises due to financial hardship. Under the extension, which is now in effect until Sept. 30, those property owners cannot evict tenants for not paying rent, or charge late fees for unpaid rent. Business Reuters 210603 09h01m Citi names John Young as head of commodities for Americas Citigroup Inc has appointed John Young as the head of its commodities business for Americas, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a bid to build its commodities client franchise. He will take on the new role in addition to his current responsibility as global head for business development for commodities. Young, who joined Citi in 2006 to lead its EMEA Commodities businesses, will work towards strengthening the bank's risk and control framework, the memo said. Howell date : 210603 09h04m50s Business Bloomberg 210603 08h56m GM Sees Topping Outlook as Truck Plants Ramp Up; Shares Jump (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. surged the most in four months after saying plans to boost output at two truck plants will allow the company to beat its first-half forecast and hit the high end of its full-year target.GM will increase production of especially profitable heavy duty pickups in Flint, Michigan, and of midsize pickups in Wentzville, Missouri, according to a statement Thursday. The company has done a better job than many rivals in securing semiconductors during scant supply worldwi Business Reuters 210603 08h50m BlackBerry shares soar as trading volume surges BlackBerry shares last traded at $18.00 with 214,883,715 shares already changing hands an hour into the trading session compared with its 25-day moving average of 30.5 million. Trading volume in the stock started to spike higher on May 26 with volume vaulting to 26.5 million shares that day. On Wednesday, it closed up 31% with 346 million shares changing hands, its busiest trading day since January 27. Business Bloomberg 210603 08h47m AMC Exploits Rally to Sell Stock, Whipsawing Shares Again (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s wild rally came to a halt on Thursday after the company said it wanted to sell more shares and raise hundreds of millions of dollars to bolster a cinema chain that was staring at potential bankruptcy only a few months ago.The stock fell as much as 34% and trading was halted multiple times as investors digested AMC’s plan to sell up to 11.55 million shares, with the proceeds used to pay back borrowed money and finance acquisitions. The stock regain World Reuters 210603 08h45m G7 must donate COVID shots to avoid 1918-scale pandemic disaster -CEPI chief Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations must donate COVID-19 shots urgently to avoid an outcome akin to the 1918 flu which killed 50 million people, the head of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) told Reuters. Richard Hatchett, the chief executive of CEPI which co-runs the COVAX vaccine sharing facility, cited the example of Peru, which recently revised its death toll upwards to make it the worst hit country per capita in the world. "It's a moral imperative if we want to avoid situations like Peru, if we want to avoid impacts that could rival those of the 1918 flu, we must send vaccine to countries to protect their health care workers and protect the vulnerable populations now," Hatchett told Reuters in an interview. Business Bloomberg 210603 08h43m Stocks Fall as Jobless Claims Pressure Tech Shares: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities fell on Thursday as investors digested a raft of economic data, fueling concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected.An ADP report showed payrolls at U.S. firms rose by the most in nearly a year, while additional figures on the economic health of the services sector also rose to the highest on record.The S&P 500 declined -- led by technology shares -- and the rally in so-called meme stocks including AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. began Business Bloomberg 210603 08h39m U.S. Services Gauge Climbs to Record, Showcasing Faster Recovery (Bloomberg) -- U.S. service providers expanded at the fastest pace on record in May, highlighting the rapid improvement in business activity across the economy.The Institute for Supply Management’s services index rose to 64 last month -- the highest in data back to 1997 -- from 62.7 in April, data showed Thursday. Readings above 50 signal growth, and the gauge exceeded the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.The figures underscore rising demand for a host of services like air t Howell date : 210603 08h34m12s U.S. Reuters 210603 08h28m Ford says it could face $1.3 billion in new penalties after court ruling The No. 2 U.S. automaker said after the Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal in 2020 it paid increased duties for some prior imports, plus interest. U.S Customs and Border Protection is now seeking additional duties of $181 million and is considering seeking a monetary penalty of "as much as $652 million to $1.3 billion," Ford said, adding it would vigorously defend its actions. Business Yahoo Finance 210603 08h27m Stock market news live updates: Stocks fall as geopolitical, inflation concerns outweigh strong jobs data Traders digested two better-than-expected reports on the labor market Business Bloomberg 210603 08h23m Stocks Fall as Jobless Claims Pressure Tech Shares: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities fell on Thursday as investors digested a raft of economic data, fueling concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected.An ADP report showed payrolls at U.S. firms rose by the most in nearly a year, while additional figures on the economic health of the services sector also rose to the highest on record. The S&P 500 declined -- led by technology and consumer discretionary shares -- and the rally in so-called meme stocks including AMC Entert Business Reuters 210603 08h18m CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar slides as inflation risk hits sentiment * Canadian dollar falls 0.6% against the greenback * Loonie touches its weakest since last Friday at 1.2114 * Oil touches its highest since October 2018 at $69.40 a barrel * Canadian bond yields rise across much of a steeper curve TORONTO, June 3 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened to a six-day low against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as investors weighed inflation risk and awaited jobs data from both the United States and Canada that could offer clues on central bank policy outlooks. World stock markets stepped back from record highs as rising oil prices added to inflation concerns. Oil , one of Canada's major exports, rose to its highest level since October 2018 at $69.40 a barrel before dipping below $69. U.S. Reuters 210603 08h13m U.S. Supreme Court limits reach of federal computer fraud law The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday limited the type of conduct that can be prosecuted under a federal computer fraud law, overturning a former Georgia police officer's conviction for misusing a government database to investigate whether a purported local stripper was an undercover cop. The justices, in a 6-3 decision, sided with former Cumming, Georgia police sergeant Nathan Van Buren in an appeal of his conviction under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, reversing a lower court ruling that had upheld a jury verdict against him. World Reuters 210603 08h13m Suez Canal controlled speed of ship before it blocked waterway, insurer says The speed of a container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March was controlled by the Egyptian waterway's operator before it ran aground, the vessel’s insurer said on Thursday. The statement from UK Club came after the head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said the ship was sailing too fast when it became grounded, but that the canal bore no responsibility. The Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is still being held in the canal while both sides continue compensation talks. Howell date : 210603 08h03m35s Business Yahoo Finance Video 210603 07h55m Retail traders remain key drivers for volatile meme stock activity: strategist Binky Chadha, Deutsche Bank Chief Global Strategist, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how the stock market is faring amid the pandemic and outlook for economic recovery. Business Bloomberg 210603 07h54m Payrolls at U.S. Firms Rise Most in Nearly a Year, ADP Data Show (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.U.S. businesses in May added the most jobs in nearly a year, suggesting companies are making headway filling a record number of vacancies as the economy strengthens.The 978,000 increase in private payrolls was the largest since June 2020 and reflected a large pickup in hiring in the leisure and hospitality industry, according to ADP Research Institute data released Thursday.The ADP figu Business Reuters 210603 07h47m Delta CEO foresees 'renaissance' of U.S. business travel Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian predicted on Thursday a boom in business travel as corporate America emerges from the coronavirus pandemic and businesses reopen. "I think there's going to be a renaissance of business travel in our country, not just for the airlines, I think in general," Bastian said at a Bernstein virtual conference. But that does not mean that overall volume will be 20% to 30% lower, he said, as different types of business travel emerge. Business Reuters 210603 07h44m Lawsuit says Bristol-Myers avoided $6.4 billion payment by delaying cancer drug A new lawsuit claims Bristol-Myers Squibb Co improperly delayed the development of a drug to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to avoid paying $6.4 billion to shareholders of the former Celgene Corp, which the drugmaker bought in 2019. According to a complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, Bristol-Myers would have owed the money had it won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval by specified deadlines for three drugs that Celgene had been developing. The lawsuit said Bristol-Myers failed to use contractually required "diligent efforts" to win approval of the cancer drug Breyanzi by the Dec. 31, 2020, deadline, excusing it from the payments. Business Bloomberg 210603 07h38m GM Sees Topping Outlook as Truck Plants Ramp Up; Shares Rise (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. will boost output at two truck plants, allowing the company to beat its first-half forecast of $5.5 billion in profit and to hit the high end of its full-year target of around $11 billion.The company will increase production of especially profitable heavy duty pickups in Flint, Michigan and of midsize pickups in Missouri, according to a statement Thursday. The automaker has done a better job than many competitors of securing semiconductors during scant supply wo Business Reuters 210603 07h37m Qatar Airways says Airbus spat risks 'industrial repercusssions' The head of Qatar Airways on Thursday urged the board of Airbus to intervene in a dispute between the two companies, telling Reuters that failure to find a solution would risk "industrial repercussions" for the European planemaker. In an interview, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said the ball was in Airbus' court to find a solution before the dispute escalated further. An Airbus spokesman said the planemaker regularly held talks with its customers and that these remained confidential. Business Bloomberg 210603 07h34m Stocks Fall as Jobless Claims Pressure Tech Shares: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities fell on Thursday as investors digested a raft of fresh economic data and mounting geopolitical tensions involving Russia and China.Technology shares led the S&P 500 lower as ADP data showed payrolls at U.S. firms rose the most in nearly a year, adding to concerns the Federal Reserve may withdraw its support sooner than expected. Earlier Russia also said it would eliminate the dollar from its National Wellbeing Fund to reduce exposure to U.S. assets, and the U.S. unve Howell date : 210603 07h32m58s Business Reuters 210603 07h27m UPDATE 1-United Airlines to bring back supersonic flying with Boom deal United Airlines said it would buy ultra-fast jets from Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic, bringing back supersonic passenger travel which died out with the retirement of the Anglo-French Concorde in 2003. Under the agreement, the airline will purchase 15 of Boom's "Overture" aircraft once they meet United's safety, operating and sustainability requirements, with an option for an additional 35 aircraft. Overture, a supersonic aircraft with 65 to 88 seats which will be initially priced at business class fares, would cut transatlantic flying time by 50% to about three-and-half hours. Business Bloomberg 210603 07h25m Plunging Payouts on Top U.S. Power Grid Slam Coal, Nuclear (Bloomberg) -- Coal plants, nuclear reactors and other generators will take a hit next year on the biggest U.S. power grid as payments plunge 64% to help keep the lights on from New Jersey to Illinois.Suppliers to PJM Interconnection LLC’s grid, which serves more than 65 million people, will get $50 a megawatt-day to provide backup capacity for the year starting June 2022, according to the results of an auction released Wednesday. It’s the lowest price in 11 years.The results are an especially h Business Reuters 210603 07h17m U.S. first-quarter worker productivity unrevised at 5.4% U.S. worker productivity rebounded solidly in the first quarter, the government confirmed on Thursday, also noting that labor costs grew instead of contracting as previously reported. Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at an unrevised 5.4% annualized rate last quarter, the Labor Department said. Productivity fell at a 3.8% rate in the fourth quarter. Business Reuters 210603 07h10m UPDATE 1-GM sees 'significantly better' first-half 2021 results, to ramp up production General Motors Co expects first-half 2021 financial results to be significantly better than forecast earlier as semiconductor chip deliveries pick up in the second quarter, the automaker said on Thursday. The Detroit-based company also said it would ramp up production of large- and mid-sized pickups, producing about a 1,000 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra more every month, starting mid-July and increasing shipments of Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon by about 30,000 total units from mid-May. Shares of the company, which restarted operations only recently after factories had been idled due to a global semiconductor chips shortage, were up 3% before the bell. Business Reuters 210603 07h08m Walmart to give 740,000 U.S. store workers free Samsung phones Walmart Inc said on Thursday it would give nearly half its U.S. employees free Samsung phones by the end of the year so they can use an app the company has developed to manage shifts, clock in and stay in "constant communication." The world's largest retailer, which employs nearly 1.6 million people in the United States, said more than 740,000 workers would receive Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro smartphones, cases and protection plans. Walmart declined to share financial details, but the phone sells at $499.99 on Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's website. Business Reuters 210603 07h08m GM sees 'significantly better' first-half 2021 results, to ramp up production The Detroit-based company also said it would ramp up production of large- and mid-sized pickups, producing about a 1,000 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra more every month, starting mid-July and increasing shipments of Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon by about 30,000 total units from mid-May. Shares of the company, which restarted operations only recently after factories had been idled due to a global semiconductor chips shortage, were up 3% before the bell. "The global semiconductor shortage remains complex and very fluid, but the speed, agility and commitment of our team... has helped us find creative ways," Phil Kienle, GM vice president North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations said. Business Yahoo Finance 210603 07h07m Elizabeth Holmes asks court to exclude certain evidence from upcoming fraud trial Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is asking the federal judge overseeing her criminal fraud case to suppress evidence of customer complaints, test results, and findings from a 2016 regulatory agency report related to her now-defunct diagnostics startup because the company’s database containing its own test records was destroyed. Howell date : 210602 21h34m30s Business Bloomberg 210602 21h14m Oil Climbs From 2018 High as Report Signals Falling Stockpiles (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended gains after closing at the highest since October 2018 as an industry report pointing to a decline in U.S. crude inventories reinforced optimism over the demand recovery.Futures in New York rose above $69 a barrel after adding almost 4% over the past two sessions, while Brent neared $72. The American Petroleum Institute reported stockpiles fell by 5.36 million barrels last week, said people familiar. That would be the biggest draw in a month if confirmed by official da Business Bloomberg 210602 21h08m An Empire Built on Dynamite Plans More Green Debt for Renewables (Bloomberg) -- A family-run South Korean conglomerate that got its start as an explosives manufacturer and is now transforming itself into a green energy provider is planning more sustainable debt sales after its debut deal this year.Hanwha Solutions Corp., a Hanwha Group unit run by chaebol heir Kim Dong-kwan, is considering selling offshore green debt potentially in dollars or euros after issuing such notes in yuan in April. The proceeds would help fund its large-scale investments globally for Business Bloomberg 210602 20h51m India’s Gold Revamp Pushes On as Spot Trading Inches Closer (Bloomberg) -- India is moving closer toward setting up spot contracts for gold, finalizing rules for trading and providing the world’s second-biggest consumer a firmer grasp over setting the price of bullion.The gifting of gold at weddings and festivals, and its purchase as a store of value are deeply held traditions in India, and the country has been trying to overhaul its fragmented gems and jewelry industry to make supply more transparent, help enforce purity standards and bolster confidence Business Reuters 210602 20h41m Oil rises for a third day on expectations for fuel demand pickup Oil prices rose for a third day on Thursday on expectations for a surge in fuel demand, particularly in the United States and Europe and China, later this year at the same time major producers are maintaining supply discipline. Brent crude futures were up 49 cents, or 0.7%, at $71.84 a barrel by 0233 GMT, the highest since September 2019. The consensus among market forecasters, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, is that oil demand will exceed supply in the second half of 2021, which has spurred the recent run in prices. Business Reuters 210602 20h37m BMW says China car factories to reach carbon neutrality this year German luxury automaker BMW said on Thursday its factories in China plan to reach carbon emissions neutrality by the end of this year, while its total carbon emissions in its Chinese production chain will fall 80% by 2030. In China, the world's biggest car market, BMW is making vehicles with Brilliance China Automotive in the northeastern city of Shenyang. It is aiming for a quarter of its sales in China to be battery electric vehicles by 2025. Business Bloomberg 210602 19h34m Former Teacher Turned Tycoon Loses $14 Billion in Just Months (Bloomberg) -- Larry Chen, the former school teacher from a poor Chinese village who became one of the world’s richest people, is closing in on losing his billionaire status as shares in his online-education business slump.GSX Techedu Inc. fell 4% in New York trading Wednesday after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded the stock and slashed its price target. The shares have plunged 88% since late January, wiping almost $14 billion from Chen’s fortune and leaving him a net worth of about $1.9 bill Business Bloomberg 210602 19h34m Asia Stocks, U.S. Equity Futures Rise; Oil Climbs: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Most Asian stocks climbed Thursday and U.S. equity futures rose, weathering the latest twist in U.S.-China ties as well as Federal Reserve comments on a potential tapering in stimulus. The dollar was steady.Japan led gains, boosted by optimism over the nation’s vaccine rollout, while Hong Kong and China fluctuated. U.S. contracts advanced after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 posted a modest increase. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said it’s appropriate “to slowly, carefully Howell date : 210602 19h33m54s Business Bloomberg 210602 18h51m Remote Work Drives Japanese to Suburbs, Boosting Home Lender (Bloomberg) -- The work-from-home phenomenon during the pandemic is providing an unexpected boon for one of Japan’s biggest mortgage lenders.Resona Holdings Inc. is enjoying a surge in demand for credit from homebuyers seeking larger properties in the suburbs, where the bank has a strong presence, President Masahiro Minami said. Its mortgage loans climbed 6.5% to 1.3 trillion yen ($12 billion) in the year ended March, the highest in at least three years.“I didn’t expect the housing loan business Business Bloomberg 210602 18h38m Asia Stocks Climb as Traders Weigh Fed Comments: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks climbed Thursday as traders took the latest Federal Reserve comments about the prospect of tapering stimulus in their stride. Treasuries yields held a decline.Shares rose in Japan, Australia and South Korea. U.S. contracts advanced after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 posted a modest increase. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said it’s appropriate “to slowly, carefully move back” on bond purchases at the appropriate time. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields dipped belo Business Business Business Business Business Bloomberg 210602 17h33m Apple’s CEO Sets September Return to Offices in Flexible Setup (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said Wednesday employees should begin returning to offices in early September for at least three days a week.The iPhone maker is pushing staff to return on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at a minimum, with remote work still an option for Wednesdays and Fridays, Cook said in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.“We are setting consistent days in the office to help us optimize our time for in-person collaboration,” he wrote. Some teams will Howell date : 210602 18h33m15s Business Bloomberg 210602 18h08m Oil Steadies After Rallying to Highest Level Since October 2018 (Bloomberg) -- Oil steadied in Asia after closing at the highest level since October 2018 as an industry report pointing to a decline in U.S. crude stockpiles reinforced optimism over the demand recovery.Futures in New York traded near $69 a barrel after adding almost 4% over the previous two sessions. The American Petroleum Institute reported inventories fell by 5.36 million barrels last week, according to people familiar. That would be the biggest draw in a month if confirmed by official data. Business Bloomberg 210602 17h45m Apple’s CEO Sets September Return to Offices in Flexible Setup (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said Wednesday employees should begin returning to offices in early September for at least three days a week.The iPhone maker is pushing staff to return on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at a minimum, with remote work still an option for Wednesdays and Fridays, Cook said in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.“We are setting consistent days in the office to help us optimize our time for in-person collaboration,” he wrote. Some teams will Business Bloomberg 210602 17h36m JBS Plants Limp Back From Hack With Old-School Manual Labor (Bloomberg) -- JBS SA workers returning to a meat-processing plant in Texas on Wednesday afternoon have been told to be ready to do things a bit differently than normal: Work by hand.With everything from knife sharpening to production-line speed controls relying on automation, coming back from a cyberattack that forced the world’s largest meat producer to halt operations across the globe is set to be a bumpy ride. Because the plants are coming back online without some of their systems in service Business Business World Business Politics Business Howell date : 210602 17h32m38s Business Reuters 210602 17h20m U.S. Treasury says G7 expected to endorse U.S. global minimum tax proposal G7 finance ministers are expected to endorse a U.S. proposal for an ambitious global corporate minimum tax when they meet on Friday and Saturday in London, a U.S. Treasury official said on Wednesday. The official said in an emailed statement the Treasury expects the G7 meetings to provide momentum for advancing global corporate tax negotiations towards a broader G20 finance meeting in July in Italy. Business Bloomberg 210602 17h07m Asian Stocks Set for Mixed Start Amid Fed Comments: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set for a mixed start Thursday as traders weigh the latest Federal Reserve comments about the need for a discussion on the time frame for tapering stimulus.Futures pointed lower in Japan and edged higher in Australia and Hong Kong. U.S. contracts were steady after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 posted a modest advance. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said it’s appropriate “to slowly, carefully move back” on bond purchases at the appropriate time. Ten-year U Business Reuters 210602 16h59m UPDATE 1-Four Palihapitiya-backed SPACs look to raise $800 mln through IPOs Four blank-check companies, backed by venture investor Chamath Palihapitiya, are looking to raise a total of $800 million through initial public offerings with a focus on acquiring biotechnology firms, regulatory filings showed on Wednesday. The new companies, Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp I, II, III and VI, said they will not offer warrants in the IPO, long seen as a key incentive for investors to lock up their money in special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). SPACs typically offer shares with warrants, which entitle them to buy more shares at a certain price, making the offer an attractive feature if the underlying stock price goes up. Business Bloomberg 210602 16h43m Wall Street’s Favorite Climate Solution Is Mired in Disagreements (Bloomberg) -- Global warming is the world's biggest market failure, so the solution might just be better trading. On one side of the trade would be the companies clogging the atmosphere with heat-trapping gases; on the other countless projects to eliminate the problem by planting trees or building machines that capture carbon dioxide. Create a market that turns a ton of removed carbon into a commodity just like corn or copper, and money will flow from the emitters to the fixers.That’s the theor Business Bloomberg 210602 16h35m JBS Plants Limp Back From Hack With Old-School Manual Labor (Bloomberg) -- JBS SA workers returning to a meat-processing plant in Texas on Wednesday afternoon have been told to be ready to do things a bit differently than normal: Work by hand.With everything from knife sharpening to production-line speed controls relying on automation, coming back from a cyberattack that forced the world’s largest meat producer to halt operations across the globe is set to be a bumpy ride. Because the plants are coming back online without some of their systems in service Business Bloomberg 210602 16h35m AMC Is Now Worth More Than Half the Companies in the S&P 500 (Bloomberg) -- The moonshot surge in the shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. has vaulted it into the ranks of some of the world’s most valuable companies.The company has gone from a small cap to a large cap in the space of a few months. A 95% gain amid a retail-trading frenzy on Wednesday left the movie-theater chain with a market capitalization of $31.3 billion. That makes it more valuable than half of the companies in the S&P 500 Index.AMC is now worth more than Tyson Foods Inc. and Delt Business Howell date : 210602 16h32m00s Business Yahoo Finance 210602 16h19m Stock market news live updates: Stock futures drift higher ahead of jobs data Stock futures ticked up Wednesday evening, with traders looking ahead to a deluge of data on the labor market Thursday and Friday. Earlier, the three major indexes ended the regular session just a tick above the flat line. Business Bloomberg 210602 16h04m Payouts Plunge on Biggest U.S. Power Grid, Squeezing Generators (Bloomberg) -- Power-plant owners serving the biggest U.S. grid will be paid 64% less next year for being on standby to keep the lights on from New Jersey to Illinois.Suppliers to PJM Interconnection LLC’s grid, which serves more than 65 million people, will get $50 a megawatt-day to provide capacity for the year starting June 2022, according to the results of an auction released Wednesday. That’s down sharply from $140 in the previous auction, held in 2018. Analysts had expected the price would Business Bloomberg 210602 15h59m Asian Stocks Set for Mixed Start Amid Fed Comments: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set for a mixed start Thursday after U.S. equities trimmed gains as traders weigh the latest comments from Federal Reserve officials for clues about a prospective reduction in stimulus support.Futures pointed lower in Japan and edged higher in Australia and Hong Kong after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 faded from early gains. Investors are looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. jobs report for the latest insight into the economic recovery from the pandemic and inflation ris Business Bloomberg 210602 15h55m Fed Plans to Wind Down a Pandemic Corporate Credit Facility (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Board plans to begin gradually selling a portfolio of corporate debt purchased through an emergency lending facility launched last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic was spreading panic through financial markets.“Portfolio sales will be gradual and orderly, and will aim to minimize the potential for any adverse impact on market functioning by taking into account daily liquidity and trading conditions for exchange traded funds and corporate bonds,” the Fed said in a Business Reuters 210602 15h52m GLOBAL MARKETS-Global equities edge higher on hopes of U.S. jobs data Global equities markets firmed on Wednesday ahead of key U.S. economic data due later in the week as investors weighed inflation concerns and a fresh surge in so-called "meme stocks." Oil prices hit the highest level in more than a year on lift from a decision by OPEC and allies to stick to the plan to gradually restore supply, along with the slow pace of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. Wall Street's main indexes ended the session mixed after erasing earlier gains near midday trading led by a jump in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, which nearly doubled in price on Wednesday. World Bloomberg 210602 15h51m JBS Starts to Open Most Meat Plants Sidelined by Cyberattack (Bloomberg) -- JBS SA is starting to at least partially reopen most idled beef plants across North America and Australia after a cyberattack forced the world’s largest meat producer to halt operations.The Brazilian food giant said late Tuesday that it had made “significant progress” to resolve the attack and would have the “vast majority” of its plants operational by Wednesday. A second shift at its Greeley, Colorado facility, one of the largest beef plants in the U.S., was set for a regular pro Business Reuters 210602 15h35m Exclusive: UK's Sunak says U.S. plan to break global tax deadlock could work British finance minister Rishi Sunak said a U.S. proposal to focus on the world's 100 biggest and most profitable firms as part of a global tax deal could work but he insisted that big tech firms must pay more tax in countries where they operate. Sunak told Reuters that the Group of Seven was making "really good progress" on the long-disputed reform before finance ministers from the group of rich economies fly to London for talks on Friday and Saturday. It is also the first since Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump as U.S. president, raising hopes for more cooperation between Washington and the rest of the world. Howell date : 210602 15h31m22s Business Reuters 210602 15h07m Exclusive: Amazon starts testing UK staff for coronavirus variants Amazon is testing its front-line staff in Britain for coronavirus variants and feeding the data to public health officials, including in hotspots where a strain first found in India is spreading fast. The retail giant opened COVID-19 testing labs in the UK and the United States last year to provide voluntary testing for staff and can now also test for variants in Britain, where scientists have pioneered sequencing coronavirus genomes. Aided by a rapid vaccine rollout, Britain is on the verge of reopening its economy after months of lockdowns but the Delta variant first found in India has spread, including in areas where Amazon has its lab and some fulfilment centres. Business Reuters 210602 15h00m UPDATE 1-Fed says it will start unwinding its corporate bond holdings The Federal Reserve will begin to unwind the corporate bond holdings it acquired last year through an emergency lending facility launched to calm credit markets at the height of the pandemic, the central bank announced on Wednesday. The Fed said the sale of its holdings in the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility, which includes corporate bonds purchased in the secondary market and exchange-traded funds that invest in corporate bonds, will be "gradual and orderly." A Fed official said the decision to wind down the corporate credit facility was unrelated to monetary policy. Business Bloomberg 210602 15h00m Exxon Activist Expands Boardroom Presence With Third Seat (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. activist investor Engine No. 1 expanded its presence on the oil giant’s board to three seats, according to preliminary vote tallies.The initial counts show the newest nominee from Engine No. 1’s slate elected to Exxon’s 12-member board is private-equity investor Alexander Karsner, Exxon said Wednesday in a statement. The results, which still need to be certified, confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News.Karsner joins Gregory Goff, former chief executive offi Business Bloomberg 210602 14h57m Former Teacher Turned Tycoon Loses $14 Billion in Just Months (Bloomberg) -- Larry Chen, the former school teacher from a poor Chinese village who became one of the world’s richest people, is closing in on losing his billionaire status as shares in his online-education business slump.GSX Techedu Inc. fell 4% in New York trading Wednesday after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded the stock and slashed its price target. The shares have plunged 88% since late January, wiping almost $14 billion from Chen’s fortune and leaving him a net worth of about $1.9 bill Business Bloomberg 210602 14h53m Oil Advances With Optimism Growing Around Summer Demand Pick-Up (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended gains as signs of a demand recovery from the U.S. to Europe stoke optimism among producers and analysts in the crude market.Futures in New York surged 1.6% on Wednesday. Global benchmark Brent crude closed above the psychological $70-a-barrel mark for two consecutive days for the first time in more than two years.Oil is in “strong demand right now,” with economies around the world opening up, Daniel Yergin, the oil historian and vice chairman at consultant IHS Markit Howell date : 210602 14h30m45s Business Reuters 210602 14h23m US STOCKS-Wall St edges up ahead of key economic data, AMC soars The S&P 500 energy sector, the best-performing group this year, extended its rise, gaining 1.7% as oil prices pushed higher. The materials sector fell 0.9% while a 3.0% fall in Tesla Inc shares dragged on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. A weekly unemployment report and May private payrolls data on Thursday will be followed by monthly jobs numbers on Friday, with investors looking for signs of an economic rebound and rising inflation. Business Bloomberg 210602 14h11m AMC Is New King of Meme Stocks, With a 2,900% Gain This Year (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s Reddit-fueled rally has reached about 2,900% so far this year as retail traders ignore the company’s financial troubles and continue to buy heavily shorted stocks.Shares of the movie-theater chain nearly doubled on Wednesday -- adding to Tuesday’s 23% gain -- after it announced a program called AMC Investor Connect that will reward small-time investors with goodies such as special screenings and free popcorn.The surge has topped 390% in the last t Business Bloomberg 210602 14h10m Tesla Shares Drop Most in Three Weeks on Market-Share Loss (Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. shares fell by the most in three weeks, sitting out of the broader market’s advance, after electric-vehicle sales figures showed a loss in global market share for April.The drop adds to pressure on Tesla’s stock in recent months as investors eyed growing competitive threats, an ongoing chip shortage, multiple crashes, signs of a slowdown in China sales and a potential delay to a factory in Germany. The Wall Street Journal also reported that U.S. regulators warned Tesla Business Bloomberg 210602 14h07m AMC Skyrockets in Reality-Defying Rally That’s Feeding on Itself (Bloomberg) -- The meme-stock frenzy is back -- and bigger than ever.On Wednesday, shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. skyrocketed to an all-time high in a wild trading session as the Reddit retail-trading army came back in force, leaving many Wall Street pros wondering, yet again, what on Earth has become of the U.S. stock market.The money-losing movie-theater rose 95% and closed at a record high at $62.55. At one point the stock rose as much as 127%, pushing its total gains for the year Business Reuters 210602 14h05m FireEye to sell products business for $1.2 billion to Symphony-led investor group U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc said on Wednesday it would sell its products business, including the FireEye name, to a consortium led by private-equity firm Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal will separate FireEye's network, email and cloud security products from its cyber forensics unit, Mandiant Solutions. FireEye, one of the largest cybersecurity firms in the United States, also said its board had approved a share buyback program of up to $500 million. Business Bloomberg 210602 14h05m Stocks Gain as Traders Await New Catalysts: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities rose on Wednesday as the tussle between economic optimism and inflation concern continued to play out in markets.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 faded from early gains as traders awaited fresh catalysts in economic data, including the U.S. jobs report due later this week. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., a favorite among retail traders, rallied. Tesla Inc. fell following a reported loss in electric-vehicle market share. And energy stocks were among the best performing aft Business Yahoo Finance 210602 14h04m Stock market news live updates: Stocks end flat ahead of jobs data; AMC shares skyrocket in ‘meme stock’ resurgence Stock futures edged up Wednesday morning on the heels of a mixed session a day earlier, with the three major indexes struggling for direction at the start of June. Howell date : 210602 14h00m08s Business Reuters 210602 13h39m UPDATE 1-Amid hiring troubles, rising prices, U.S. growth gains speed -Fed The economy grew at a "somewhat faster rate" from early to late May, the Fed reported in its Beige Book summary of anecdotal reports about the economy on Wednesday, with officials noting "the positive effects...of increased vaccination rates and relaxed social distancing measures." But getting a $20 trillion economy back to speed posed challenges of its own, Fed officials reported based on contacts in their 12 regions. Homebuilders could not keep up with demand, manufacturers faced delivery delays of the material needed to finish goods, and "it remained difficult for many firms to hire new workers, especially low-wage hourly workers, truck drivers, and skilled tradespeople." Business Reuters 210602 13h38m JPMorgan Chase on opening bank branches: 200 down, 200 to go JPMorgan Chase & Co is halfway through a campaign to open 400 new bank branches and is closing in on being the first U.S. bank to have a brick and mortar presence in every state except Alaska and Hawaii, a bank executive said on Wednesday. JPMorgan is already the largest American bank by assets, providing loans, credit cards, savings accounts and other services to nearly half of all U.S. households. In 2018, the bank said it would open 400 new branches, many in new markets, to try to get more business from existing clients, said head of Chase branch expansion Dan Deegan. Business Yahoo Finance 210602 13h37m The worst is yet to come for cyberattacks It seems like every other day cybercriminals go after a new industry and disrupt people’s lives. And with each new attack, cybersecurity experts offer words of caution: It could get a lot worse, and it probably will. Business Bloomberg 210602 13h34m Oil Advances With Optimism Growing Around Summer Demand Pick-Up (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended gains as signs of a demand recovery from the U.S. to Europe stoke optimism among producers and analysts in the crude market.Futures in New York surged 1.6% on Wednesday. Global benchmark Brent crude closed above the psychological $70-a-barrel mark for two consecutive days for the first time in more than two years.Oil is in “strong demand right now,” with economies around the world opening up, Daniel Yergin, the oil historian and vice chairman at consultant IHS Markit Business Bloomberg 210602 13h30m AMC Shorts Hang Tight During Epic Rally in Break From January (Bloomberg) -- Facing another push from day traders targeting the most-shorted stocks such as AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., hedge funds aren’t backing down this time.Professional speculators, who were forced to retreat in late January amid a similar assault, are instead boosting their bearish wagers. Their short positions against single shares climbed for a ninth straight week, reaching an almost one-year high relative to the overall equity holdings, according to prime-broker data compiled by Business Reuters 210602 13h26m UPDATE 1-Mexico central bank sees higher growth, inflation this year Mexico's central bank sees a stronger economic recovery and higher inflation this year, raising its 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation forecasts on Wednesday. The Bank of Mexico, known locally as Banxico, forecast 2021 Mexican GDP growth of 6.0%, up from 4.8% previously, and said it expected annual headline inflation of 4.8% in the fourth quarter, versus a prior projection of 3.6%. "Challenges to economic recovery and an environment of high uncertainty still prevail, as the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet faded," the bank said in a quarterly report. Howell date : 210602 13h29m30s Business Reuters 210602 13h17m GLOBAL MARKETS-Global equities rise as investors await U.S. data of growth forecasts U.S. stocks seesawed as global equities markets firmed on Wednesday ahead of a closely watched Federal Reserve report investors will devour to glean insights into how companies are coping with rebounding consumer demand. Wall Street inched higher at the open only to erase gains near midday trading before recently edging up in the latest surge in so-called "meme stocks," despite wary investors remaining unconvinced by central bank assurances that the current inflation upsurge is transitory. The U.S. economic recovery accelerated in recent weeks even as a long list of supply chain troubles, hiring difficulties, and rising prices cascaded through the country, Fed officials said in their latest review of economic conditions, known as the Beige Book report. Business Reuters 210602 13h12m UPDATE 1-Canada finance minister says G7 deal on tech tax is 'within reach' Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday a multilateral agreement on the taxation of tech giants was "within reach" and it should go hand in hand with a deal on a global minimum corporate tax rate. Freeland will travel to London this week for a meeting of the finance ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations (G7). Business Yahoo Finance Video 210602 13h10m ‘Last year we saw about a 300% increase in transactions just using cryptocurrency’: Coinpayments CEO Jason Butcher, Coinpayments CEO, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the outlook on cryptocurrency payments. Business Reuters 210602 13h05m Canada finance minister says G7 deal on tech tax is 'within reach' OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday a multilateral agreement on the taxation of tech giants was "within reach" and it should go hand in hand with a deal on a global minimum corporate tax rate. Freeland will travel to London this week for a meeting of the finance ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations (G7). The United States proposed last month to set the minimum tax at 15%, down from the 21% it proposed in April, but others have argued its proposal does not go far enough on the taxation of tech giants like Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc. Business Reuters 210602 13h01m Euro zone producer prices rise more than expected in April Euro zone producer prices rose more than expected in April, boosted by a surge in energy prices, data from the European Union's statistics office Eurostat showed on Wednesday. Eurostat said prices at factory gates in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 1.0% month on month for a 7.6% year-on-year increase. Intermediate goods' prices rose the most in April against March, rising 1.8% with energy costs registering the second biggest increase of 1.0%. Howell date : 210602 12h58m53s Business Reuters 210602 12h51m FOREX-Dollar little changed as traders seek direction from data The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was up 0.001% at 89.907 at 2:34 p.m. ET, after trading in a range of 89.856 and 90.247. "We're basically treading water, I think, until nonfarm payrolls," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management referring to the jobs report for May due on Friday. Another weak nonfarm payroll report would put pressure on Treasury yields, which in turn would weigh on the greenback, he said. Politics Reuters 210602 12h47m Senate Finance Committee launches probe into AbbVie's tax practices In a letter addressed to AbbVie's chief executive officer, Richard Gonzalez, on Wednesday, Wyden noted that the company has consistently reported a net loss in the United States and net income overseas, despite being headquartered in the country. AbbVie is already under scrutiny for its drug pricing practices, which U.S. lawmakers questioned last month, accusing the company of profiting from Americans by repeatedly raising U.S. prices on its widely-used rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira, while cutting prices abroad. Business Reuters 210602 12h44m US STOCKS-Wall St treads water ahead of key economic data; AMC soars The S&P 500 was little changed on Wednesday ahead of key U.S. economic data due later in the week as investors weighed inflation concerns and a fresh surge in so-called "meme stocks." The S&P 500 energy sector, the best-performing group this year, extended its rise this week, gaining 1.7% as oil prices pushed higher. The materials sector fell 0.9% while a 3.7% fall in Tesla Inc shares dragged on the S&P and helped push the Nasdaq Composite lower. Business Bloomberg 210602 12h44m Stocks Erase Gains as Traders Await New Catalysts: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities pared back gains on Wednesday as the tussle between economic optimism and inflation concern continued to play out in markets.The S&P 500 was little changed and the Nasdaq 100 fell as traders awaited fresh catalysts in economic data, including the U.S. jobs report due later this week. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., a favorite among retail traders, rallied. Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. fell after a reported loss in electric-vehicle market share.As the U.S. economy continues Business Yahoo Finance Video 210602 12h44m Here's the ETF to watch as AMC shares surge Todd Rosenbluth, Head of ETF and Mutual Fund Research at CFRA, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss how meme stocks are playing into ETFs and themes to watch as inflation concerns continues. Politics Reuters 210602 12h42m Half of U.S. states to end Biden-backed pandemic unemployment early Half of U.S. states, all of them led by Republican governors, are cutting off billions of dollars in unemployment benefits for residents, rebuffing a key part of President Joe Biden's response to the coronavirus recession. The payments - an extra $300 per week from the federal government to unemployment recipients because of the pandemic - have become part of a political battle in Washington over how to best guide the country out of an economic downturn. Governor Larry Hogan said that while the program gave "important temporary relief" during the pandemic, it was no longer needed now that "vaccines and jobs ... are in good supply." Business Yahoo Finance 210602 12h30m Jobless claims preview: Initial filings likely broke below 400,000 for the first time since March 2020 The Department of Labor is set to release its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Howell date : 210602 12h28m17s U.S. Reuters 210602 12h19m Two groups challenge U.S. decision to shift auto spectrum to wireless devices Two prominent transportation advocacy groups on Wednesday challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) November decision to shift much of a key spectrum block set aside for auto safety to accommodate the burgeoning number of wireless devices. The Intelligent Transportation Society of America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials brought a legal challenge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeking to reverse the FCC's reallocation of 60% of the 5.9 GHz band spectrum block. Last year, the U.S. Transportation Department said the FCC plan was "a particularly dangerous regulatory approach when public safety is at stake." World Bloomberg 210602 12h20m N.J. to Shut Mega-Sites; NYC Plans School Vaccines: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan to work with churches, colleges, businesses and celebrities to boost coronavirus inoculations. New York City will open vaccination clinics in public schools, and New Jersey is shutting its mega-sites as shot demand wanes.Israel has found a probable link between the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine and cases of heart inflammation in young men. The European Union passed 250 million vaccinations and is on track to reach its target of inoculati Business Yahoo Finance 210602 12h07m Bed Bath & Beyond launches new brands as retail investors send stock skyrocketing Bed Bath & Beyond just made a splash by launching numerous new private label brands designed to boost profits. The stock is also exploding as retail traders sweep it into the meme trade. Yahoo Finance Live chats with CEO Mark Tritton. Business Reuters 210602 12h06m Salesforce Ventures-backed Outreach raises $200 mln at a $4.4 bln valuation Sales intelligence provider Outreach said on Wednesday it had raised $200 million in a funding round led by new investors Premji Invest and STEADFAST Capital Ventures, taking the startup's valuation to $4.4 billion. Other new investors such as Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and Vista Public Strategies participated in the round, which was joined by existing investors including Salesforce Ventures and Lone Pine Capital. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210602 12h02m This is no longer our grandparents’ or parents’ stock market : Strategist Ryan Nauman, Market Strategist at Zephyr, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the the meme stock boom and outlook on the market for the months ahead. Business Reuters 210602 12h00m At F8, Facebook rolls out business messaging changes in e-commerce push Facebook Inc is opening up ways for businesses to interact with customers on Instagram and WhatsApp, it said on Wednesday at its virtual developers conference 'F8 Refresh.' The world's largest social network said it was rolling out tools so developers could build ways for businesses to message customers on Facebook-owned Instagram. Facebook said 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. Howell date : 210602 11h57m40s Business Reuters 210602 11h48m UPDATE 1-Citi picks Goldman partner for healthcare and consumer M&A 'super group' Citigroup has poached a Goldman Sachs partner to launch a new M&A advisory franchise in New York focusing on global healthcare, consumer and wellness as it seeks to increase its presence in key industries, according to a memo seen by Reuters. Chuck Adams, a 16-year Goldman veteran, will take on a new role in December as vice chairman and global head of the new Citi unit, described in the memo as a "super group" which will absorb its existing operations in healthcare as well as consumer and retail. World Reuters 210602 11h39m More safeguards in revamped EU data transfer tools, EU justice chief says The European Commission will on Friday adopt revamped data transfer tools with more legal and privacy safeguards to allow companies to transfer Europeans' data securely around the world, the EU executive's justice chief said on Wednesday. Standard contractual clauses (SCCs) came under the spotlight after Europe's highest court told privacy watchdogs last July to suspend or prohibit transfers via SCCs outside the EU if data protection in other countries could not be assured. SCCs are used by thousands of companies to transfer details for services ranging from cloud infrastructure, data hosting, payroll and finance to marketing. Business Reuters 210602 11h31m UPDATE 1-Hedge fund Elliott Management owns big Dropbox stake, holds discussions Activist investor Elliott Management owns a large stake in Dropbox and has been holding private discussions with the file-sharing service provider for some time, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The hedge fund owns a stake of more than 10% which is valued at more than $800 million, the person said, declining to reveal the exact size of the investment. Dropbox, which was co-founded by Drew Houston who is currently the company's chief executive officer, is valued at roughly $11 billion. Business Reuters 210602 11h28m UPDATE 1-Fed's Harker says it's time to 'think about thinking about' tapering As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the coronavirus crisis and the labor market rebounds, it may be time for Federal Reserve policymakers to start thinking about the best way to slow the pace of its asset purchases, Philadelphia Fed Bank President Patrick Harker said on Wednesday. "We're planning to keep the federal funds rate low for long," Harker said at a virtual event held as part of the Women in Housing and Finance Policy Luncheon. Harker emphasized that the Fed would not move suddenly when it begins to reduce the pace of the purchases, which were ramped up last year in an effort to stabilize markets and support the economy after it was upended by the pandemic. Howell date : 210602 11h27m04s World Reuters 210602 11h23m Ukraine's leader asks lawmakers to adopt 'anti-oligarch' law Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged parliament on Wednesday to adopt a proposed law he said would curb the influence of 'oligarchs', or politically powerful business figures who have dominated the country for decades. The text has not been released, but the authorities say the bill will include a definition of oligarchs that applies to a small number of wealthy businessmen, and restrict their ability to shape policy. Ukraine's allies and major donors have consistently criticized Kyiv for not reining in oligarchs, who own the leading television channels and influence political decision-making. Business Reuters 210602 11h15m Lockheed aims to produce 169 F-35 fighter jets in 2022 The company said it expects the production rate for the jets to eventually plateau at about 175 aircraft per year after 2022, based on the demand by the United States government and partner countries. Lockheed's decision to enter full rate production for the jets has been delayed as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted operations at aircraft manufacturers and their supply chains. The company is expected to deliver between 133 and 139 jets in 2021. Business Bloomberg 210602 11h11m Brookfield Seeks to Break Up $6.9 Billion Pembina-Inter Deal (Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP raised its hostile offer for Inter Pipeline Ltd. to C$8.4 billion ($6.9 billion) as it sought break up the company’s deal with Pembina Pipeline Corp., setting off a full-blown takeover battle for Canada’s fourth-largest pipeline company.Brookfield Infrastructure said Wednesday it will make a cash-and-stock offer valued at C$19.75 per share, representing a 4.4% premium to Pembina’s all-stock proposal, and take it directly to Inter’s investors. Business Reuters 210602 11h10m Ivanhoe's Congo copper JV inks 10-year processing deal with nearby smelter Ivanhoe Mines said on Wednesday its copper mining joint venture in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which started production last week, had signed a 10-year deal to process some of its copper concentrate at a nearby smelter. Congolese authorities last week reiterated a long-standing ban on copper concentrate exports, and said only mining companies with waivers would be allowed to export concentrate. The Lualaba smelter, majority-owned by China Nonferrous Mining Corp Ltd (CNMC), will treat up to 150,000 wet metric tonnes of concentrate a year from the Kamoa-Kakula mine Ivanhoe is developing with Zijin Mining in return for a treatment charge and market-based realization fee. Politics Reuters 210602 11h08m Analysis: Hacks force Biden into more aggressive stance on Russia A ransomware attack on JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, by a criminal group likely based in Russia has strengthened the Biden administration's resolve to hold Moscow responsible for costly cyber assaults - even if they are not directly linked to the Kremlin. U.S. President Joe Biden has launched a review of the threat posed by ransomware attacks and he will discuss the issue of harboring such hackers with Russian President Vladimir Putin this month, the White House said on Wednesday. "President Biden certainly thinks that President Putin and the Russian government has a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. Howell date : 210602 10h56m26s Business Reuters 210602 10h38m Cryptocurrencies show inflows after record outflows in previous two weeks - CoinShares Cryptocurrencies posted inflows last week after hitting record outflows the previous two, as investors took advantage of price declines in the market, data from digital currency manager CoinShares showed late Tuesday. Bitcoin products continued to see outflows last week of about $4 million, CoinShares data showed. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization and the token used for the Ethereum blockchain, showed inflows of $47 million, with total inflows totaling $973 million. Business Bloomberg 210602 10h38m AMC’s All-In Embrace of Retail Mob Good for Another Big Gain (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is really leaning into this whole meme-stock phenomenon.On Wednesday, the movie-theater chain announced that it would reward small-time investors, who have been instrumental in AMC’s wild, logic-defying 1,400% share rally this year, with goodies such as special screenings and free popcorn. It comes a day after AMC took advantage of those meteoric gains to raise $230 million directly from one of its main creditors, Mudrick Capital Management, and sho Business Yahoo Finance 210602 10h34m Stock market news live updates: Stocks edge higher, oil prices extend gains Stock futures edged up Wednesday morning on the heels of a mixed session a day earlier, with the three major indexes struggling for direction at the start of June. Business Bloomberg 210602 10h23m BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Sees Potential for ‘Big Shock’ From Inflation (Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said that investors may be underestimating the potential for a spike in inflation.“Most people haven’t had a forty-plus year career, and they’ve only seen declining inflation over the last 30-plus years,” Fink said at a virtual event hosted by Deutsche Bank AG on Wednesday. “So this is going to be a pretty big shock.”Concern about higher inflation has already seeped into U.S. markets with the cost of goods including lumber and stee Howell date : 210602 10h25m48s World Bloomberg 210602 10h16m Tehran Oil Refinery Halts Operations After Fire, Tasnim Says (Bloomberg) -- Iran’s Tehran Oil Refinery has suspended all operations, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, after a gas leak caused a massive fire sending black plumes of smoke across the city’s skyline. There were no initial reports of deaths or injuries at the refinery, which is located in southern Tehran and also known as the Tondgouyan oil refinery.A leak at a liquid gas pipeline at the facility sparked the blaze, state TV said, quoting the Director-General of crisis management fo Politics Reuters 210602 10h06m UPDATE 1-Biden to meet Republican Senator Capito for infrastructure talks President Joe Biden will sit down for one-on-one talks on Wednesday with Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito aimed at a breakthrough on a bill to revitalize U.S. infrastructure -- though the two disagree on what that word means. Biden and Senate Republicans remain hundreds of billions of dollars apart in their proposals, largely because the Democratic president has a more sweeping definition of infrastructure that includes funding for schools and home health care in addition to roads, bridges and other physical assets. The two parties have been inching closer together in recent weeks, most recently when lead Senate Republican negotiator Capito last week unveiled a $928 billion counteroffer https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/republicans-vs-biden-whats-their-infrastructure-plans-2021-04-22 to Biden's $1.7 trillion proposal. Business Reuters 210602 10h06m Dogecoin jumps on news of launch on Coinbase Pro Dogecoin, a meme-based cryptocurrency popular among retail investors, surged on Wednesday, benefiting from news that digital asset exchange Coinbase will make the crypto unit available to its users on its trading platform. Coinbase said on Tuesday it will immediately accept inbound transfers of dogecoin Coinbase Pro, a trading venue for professional traders. Dogecoin rose 31% on Wednesday to $0.41 in the wake of the Coinbase news. World Reuters 210602 10h01m Brazil expects 5G auction next month- minister BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's communications Minister Fabio Faria said on Wednesday the government expects the spectrum auction for 5G networks to happen next month. The minister does not expect the analysis of the auction rules by Brazil's audit court TCU to delay the auction, saying the government has responded to all the court's questions. Faria said he expects all state capitals in the country to have 5G Stand Alone working by July next year. Business Bloomberg 210602 10h00m Software Startup Outreach Valued at $4.2 Billion in New Funding (Bloomberg) -- Seattle-based Outreach, a startup that specializes in sales intelligence, said it’s valued at $4.2 billion after its latest round of financing, more than triple what it was worth last year.The new $200 million investment was led by new investors Premji Invest and Steadfast Capital Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management and private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Premji Invest is a fund managed by the family office of Indian tech billionaire A Howell date : 210602 09h55m12s Politics Reuters 210602 09h43m Trump's blog page shuts down a month after launch Former U.S. President Donald Trump's blog page, launched last month in the wake of major social media platforms banning him, has been removed from his website. Trump aide Jason Miller on Wednesday said that the page, which had been called "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump," would not be returning. Plans for the Republican former president to launch a social media platform have been teased for months by Trump's team but with little detail. Business Bloomberg 210602 09h41m U.S. Stocks Rise as Traders Await New Catalysts: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities rose on Wednesday as the tussle between economic optimism and inflation concern continued to play out in markets.The S&P 500 gained, led by energy and technology shares, as traders awaited fresh catalysts in economic data, including the U.S. jobs report due later this week.The dollar pared back gains ahead of comments from Federal Reserve officials and the central bank’s Beige book release. WTI crude futures extended gains after closing at the highest since 2018. Mea Politics Bloomberg 210602 09h39m Schumer’s Infrastructure Path May Get Trickier After Ruling (Bloomberg) -- A new ruling by the Senate parliamentarian could complicate the Democrats’ ability to use a fast-track budget process to enact President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda without Republican support.The Senate rules official said last Friday that the fast-track budget process, known as reconciliation, can be used more than once in each fiscal year by revising a budget outline -- but also that there are limits on how that can be used, according to people familiar with the matt World Reuters 210602 09h33m Italy reports 62 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, 2,897 new cases Italy reported 62 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday against 93 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 2,897 from 2,483. Italy has registered 126,283 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 933 from a previous 989. Business Bloomberg 210602 09h26m AMC’s All-In Embrace of Retail Mob Good for Another Big Gain (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is really leaning into this whole meme-stock phenomenon.On Wednesday, the movie-theater chain announced that it would reward small-time investors, who have been instrumental in AMC’s wild, logic-defying 1,400% share rally this year, with goodies such as special screenings and free popcorn. It comes a day after AMC took advantage of those meteoric gains to raise $230 million directly from one of its main creditors, Mudrick Capital Management, and sho Howell date : 210602 09h24m35s Business Yahoo Finance Video 210602 09h16m AMC hits $21 billion market cap, tops GameStop On Wednesday, AMC's continued surge pushed the stock to hit a record intraday high. The movie theater company's market cap now sits above $20 billion, topping that of fellow 'meme stock' GameStop. Business Yahoo Finance 210602 09h16m Stock market news live updates: Stocks edge higher, oil prices extend gains Stock futures edged up Wednesday morning on the heels of a mixed session a day earlier, with the three major indexes struggling for direction at the start of June. World Reuters 210602 09h10m Twitter removes Nigerian president's 'abusive' civil war post The social media firm said Buhari's tweet, referring to the 1967-70 civil war in the southeastern Biafra region that killed 1 million people, violated its "abusive behaviour" policy leading to a 12-hour suspension of his account. Buhari, who served in the army against the secessionists and was Nigeria's military ruler in the 1980s, tweeted on Tuesday that many people misbehaving today were too young to remember the deaths and destruction from the civil war. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210602 09h10m Morning Brief: Demand is outstripping supply Myles Udland breaks down Wednesday’s Morning Brief, which details how the manufacturing sector continues to see growth despite the difficulty in meeting demand due to the lack of resources in the global supply chain. Business Reuters 210602 09h06m Dutch parliament fumes over Booking.com 2020 executive pay Dutch parliamentarians upset at the level of executive pay at U.S. travel firm Booking Holdings Inc on Wednesday asked the government to investigate whether the company could be forced to repay some $78 million in pandemic financial support. Nasdaq-listed Booking Holdings, which owns Priceline, Agoda and OpenTable, is based in Delaware. Dutch politicians took up the executive pay issue after newspaper NRC Handelsblad first reported on it last week, citing company filings in the United States. Howell date : 210602 08h53m58s Business Reuters 210602 08h44m European consumer group joins EU antitrust case against Apple The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) lobby group on Wednesday backed the European Union's antitrust case against Apple which alleges it distorts competition in the music streaming market. The European Commission filed its first antitrust charges against Apple in April following an initial complaint by the iPhone maker's rival Spotify. Apple has rejected the EU charges, saying that its App Store enabled Spotify to become the world's largest music subscription service. Business Bloomberg 210602 08h43m Oil Advances From Highest Since 2018 on Bullish Demand Outlook (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended gains amid signs of a recovery in demand in parts of the western world, and after OPEC+ provided an upbeat assessment of the market’s outlook.Futures in New York rose as much as 1.3% on Wednesday. U.S. gasoline demand was the highest since the pandemic began last week, according to Descartes Labs, while traffic on U.K. roads was higher than pre-pandemic levels for the first time.The market’s structure has rallied, with the spread between the nearest two December contr World Reuters 210602 08h38m UPDATE 1-Germany to build up reserve vaccine capacity to fight future pandemics Germany plans to pay vaccine manufacturers an annual reservation fee to build up reserve capacity of around 600-700 million doses per year to help it fight future pandemics, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday. The government plans to launch a call for tenders for so-called pandemic preparedness contracts with a five-year term so that vaccine doses "can be activated quickly if the worst comes to the worst," Spahn told a news conference. Manufacturing setbacks and an over-reliance on European Union approval for supplies slowed Germany's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Politics Bloomberg 210602 08h37m Schumer’s Infrastructure Path May Get Trickier on Senate Ruling (Bloomberg) -- A new ruling by the Senate parliamentarian could complicate the Democrats’ ability to use a fast-track budget process to enact President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda without Republican support.The Senate rules official said last Friday that the fast-track budget process, known as reconciliation, can be used more than once in each fiscal year by revising a budget outline -- but also that there are limits on how that can be used, according to people familiar with the matt Business Reuters 210602 08h36m EMERGING MARKETS-Most Latam currencies rise; Colombian peso at 5-week high The real was up 0.4% and the Bovespa stock index also extended gains to a sixth straight session and hit an all-time high of 128,620.25. The real had rallied 1.3% on Tuesday when data evidencing faster than expected growth in the first quarter saw Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Citi raise their 2021 growth forecasts above 5%. Meanwhile, industrial production in Brazil fell in April for a third consecutive month, figures showed, a surprise drop showing a deeper than expected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Business Reuters 210602 08h29m US STOCKS-Wall St rises ahead of key economic data this week; AMC soars A weekly unemployment report and May private payrolls data on Thursday will be followed by monthly jobs numbers on Friday. The blue-chip Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq are about 1.5% and 3.0% from their respective all-time highs. "The speed of the economic recovery has caused some dislocations and makes it hard for investors to get a proper hold on whether the inflationary patterns are transient or persistent," said Rob Sechan, managing partner and co-founder of NewEdge Wealth. World Bloomberg 210602 08h22m Pfizer Link to Heart Issue; EU on Track With Shots: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Israel has found a probable link between the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine and cases of heart inflammation in young men.The European Union passed 250 million vaccinations and is on track to reach its target of inoculating 70% of adults in July, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated that Britain remains on course to lift restrictions this month, but he urged caution.Germany is exploring ways to prevent a potential Howell date : 210602 08h23m22s Business Reuters 210602 08h10m SAP launches business network to help with supply chains Software group SAP said on Wednesday it was launching a social network for businesses, creating a forum around some of its key product lines that will help connect companies and boost visibility across complex supply chains. The SAP Business Network was the main 'reveal' as CEO Christian Klein kicked off Sapphire Now, its biggest customer conference that is being held online for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. “During this unprecedented year, the importance of the communities we’re part of has never been clearer,” Klein said in a keynote address. Business Yahoo Finance 210602 08h09m Texas earns top spot for small business jobs growth: report According to the May report of the Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch breaks down the top states and metros for small business jobs growth, and once again, Texas leads the way with Dallas ranking second among metros. Business Bloomberg 210602 08h05m Brookfield Seeks to Break Up $6.9 Billion Pembina-Inter Deal (Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP raised its hostile offer for Inter Pipeline Ltd. to C$8.4 billion ($6.9 billion) as it sought break up the company’s takeover by Pembina Pipeline Corp. announced a day earlier.Brookfield said Wednesday it will make a cash-and-stock offer valued at C$19.75 per share, representing a 4.4% premium to Pembina’s all-stock proposal, and take it directly to Inter’s investors.The move signals a full-blown takeover battle for Inter, which controls pipel Business Bloomberg 210602 08h00m U.S. Stocks Rise as Traders Await New Catalysts: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities rose on Wednesday as the tussle between economic optimism and inflation concern continued to play out in markets.The S&P 500 gained, led by technology shares, as traders awaited fresh catalysts in economic data, including U.S. jobs data due later this week. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. also extended gains as retail investors continued to pump the stock after Mudrick Capital Management called it overvalued.The dollar was stronger ahead of comments from Federal Rese Business Bloomberg 210602 07h57m Tyson Names Chicken Boss New CEO in Latest C-Suite Shakeup (Bloomberg) -- A revolving door in America’s biggest meat company has spun once again. Tyson Foods Inc. named Donnie King as chief executive officer to replace Dean Banks. King becomes Tyson’s fifth CEO in as many years.Banks, who had been in the top job for eight months, is leaving for “personal reasons,” the Springdale, Arkansas-based company said Wednesday in a statement. King, most recently chief operating officer and president of poultry, becomes CEO effective immediately.The abrupt change World Bloomberg 210602 07h56m Pfizer Link to Heart Issue; EU on Track With Shots: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Israel has found a probable link between the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine and cases of heart inflammation in young men.The European Union passed 250 million vaccinations and is on track to reach its target of inoculating 70% of adults in July, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated that Britain remains on course to lift restrictions this month, but he urged caution. Germany is exploring ways to prevent a potential Business Bloomberg 210602 07h53m Trump Turns to Lutnick’s Newmark to Sell Washington Hotel (Bloomberg) -- The Trump Organization is trying once more to sell the lease on its Washington hotel, a potential test of the lodging industry’s comeback and whether the stain of doing business with the former president has receded.Donald Trump’s family-run firm has turned to Newmark to market the lease on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The brokerage, part of billionaire Howard Lutnick’s financial-services empire, is looking to attra Business Bloomberg 210602 07h46m Canaccord Profit Surges on Equity Deals, Firm Drops RF Offer (Bloomberg) -- Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. posted record earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter as clients seeking to take advantage of soaring equity markets turned to the company to arrange a flood of share sales. The firm also announced that it’s abandoning the pursuit of wealth manager RF Capital Group Inc.Net income in the three months through March surged more than fivefold from a year earlier, to C$139.4 million ($115.6 million), or 93 cents a share, the company said Tuesday. The average Howell date : 210601 21h25m08s Business Reuters 210601 20h54m Malaysia's AirAsia X gets shareholder go-ahead for restructuring plan AirAsia X Bhd shareholders have approved the Malaysian budget airline's debt restructuring, it said on Tuesday, allowing it to pursue a scheme it viewed as key to survival. Shareholders of the long-haul affiliate of AirAsia Group Bhd approved all resolutions at an extraordinary general meeting, including a rights issue and a share subscription for new investors to raise 500 million ringgit. AirAsia X last October proposed restructuring its 64.15 billion ringgit ($15.6 billion) debt into a principal amount of 200 million ringgit and having the rest waived. Business Bloomberg 210601 20h50m Erdogan Timeline for Rate Cuts Pushes Turkish Lira to Record Low (Bloomberg) -- The lira fell to record lows against the U.S. dollar after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed calls for lower interest rates, making a vague reference to summer months as a target date.“I spoke with our central bank governor today. It’s an imperative that we lower interest rates. For that, we will reach July and August thereabouts so that rates can begin to fall,” the Turkish leader said in an interview with state broadcaster TRT late Tuesday.The lira weakened around Business Bloomberg 210601 20h50m Australia’s Econony Powers On, Recouping Pandemic Losses (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s economy expanded faster than economists forecast in the first three months of the year, driven by the private sector as firms boosted investment and households tapped their pandemic savings war chest.Gross domestic product advanced 1.8% from the final quarter of 2020, when it rose a revised 3.2%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney Wednesday. Economists had forecast a first-quarter gain of 1.5%. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 1.1 % vs an estim Business Reuters 210601 20h46m Oil prices rise on OPEC+ discipline, strong demand outlook Oil prices rose on Wednesday after OPEC and its allies stuck to their plan to cautiously return oil supply in June and July while expecting fuel demand to rebound strongly during the U.S. summer. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 32 cents, or 0.5%, to $68.05 at 0201 GMT, extending a 2.1% gain following the Memorial Day holiday in the United States on Monday. Brent crude futures climbed 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $70.62 a barrel, after jumping 1.3% overnight, when it hit its highest since March 8. Business Business Politics Business Business Howell date : 210601 19h24m31s Business Reuters 210601 19h13m FOREX-Dollar gets respite from pick up in U.S. manufacturing before jobs report The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rivals, hovered just below 90 after dipping to as low as 89.662 on Tuesday and approaching the lowest since Jan. 7 at 89.533. It was last at 6.3798 per dollar in offshore trading, after retreating from the three-year high of 6.3526 reached on Monday as policy makers took steps to cool its advance including raising banks' FX reserve requirements. "The direction of the dollar is definitely the focus," said Shinichiro Kadota, senior currency strategist at Barclays in Tokyo. Business Reuters 210601 19h00m RPT-COLUMN-Funds cut copper exposure as Chinese impetus fades: Andy Home Copper is currently a case in point, according to Goldman Sachs, which pronounced itself a commodities super-bull late last year. The investment bank maintains its view that "copper stands at the beginning of a multi-year bull market" with the current pause reflecting temporary "investor anxiety" and "liquidation bouts". The main source of "fundamental consternation", Goldman concedes, is China, which until now has been the driver of copper's pandemic recovery rally but which shows every sign of being glutted with metal after last year's record imports. World Bloomberg 210601 18h56m Hacking Outfit Linked to Russia Is Behind JBS Cyberattack (Bloomberg) -- A notorious Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS SA, according to four people familiar with the assault who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The cyber gang goes by the name REvil or Sodinokibi.While it’s unclear if all of REvil’s hackers operate in Russia, the group’s public face, a user on the dark web cyber-crime forum XSS who goes by the name “Unknown,” exclusively publishes in Russian. REvil typically uses a darkweb blog called Business Bloomberg 210601 18h49m AMC Gets $250 Million by Giving Mudrick’s Fund a Quick Cameo (Bloomberg) -- Even before Reddit day traders pushed AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s stock up 1,400% this year, Jason Mudrick had been telling the company it should take advantage of the wild rally by selling stock to stay in business.Now Mudrick has helped AMC do just that, effectively bankrolling one of the company’s biggest equity sales by purchasing $230 million of shares -- and then promptly dumping them in the open market for a tidy profit. Meanwhile, his firm was telling clients it was Business Bloomberg 210601 18h43m JBS Moves to Reopen ‘Vast Majority’ of Plants After Cyberattack (Bloomberg) -- JBS SA, the largest meat producer globally, has made “significant progress” to resolve the cyberattack that impacted its global operations and will have the “vast majority” of its plants operational on Wednesday.“Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat,” JBS USA Chief Executive Officer Andre Nogueira said in a statement late Tuesday.The cyberattack forced the shutdown of all of JBS’s U.S. beef plants -- facilities that account f Business Bloomberg 210601 18h37m Oil Extends Gain From 2018 High With Saudis Upbeat on Demand (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended gains after closing at the highest since October 2018 as OPEC+ provided an upbeat assessment of the demand outlook and the prospect of a speedy return of Iranian barrels to the market waned.Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said demand “has shown clear signs of improvement” as the alliance ratified an output boost for July. His Russian counterpart also spoke of the “gradual economic recovery,” with the comments driving West Texas Intermediate Business Reuters 210601 18h36m Amazon backs marijuana legalization, drops weed testing for some jobs The e-commerce company's public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act), which seeks to legalize marijuana at the federal level, its consumer boss Dave Clark said in a blog post. Amazon will also no longer screen its job applicants for marijuana use for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, Clark added. While many U.S. states have legalized marijuana use, employers have so far largely refused to work with the industry as cannabis is still a classified substance at the federal level. Howell date : 210601 18h23m54s Business Bloomberg 210601 18h05m Amazon Changes Peformance Metric Blamed for Warehouse Injuries (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is overhauling a controversial worker-productivity yardstick that has drawn the ire of warehouse employees who say it imposes an unsafe burden on them.The world’s largest online retailer uses sophisticated algorithms to monitor productivity at its facilities, and employees must explain why they’ve been away from their workstations -- what Amazon calls “time off task.” If they reach a certain threshold they’ll be issued warnings and even terminated.“Starting today, World Bloomberg 210601 17h56m WHO Backs Sinovac Vaccine; Thailand Adds Stimulus: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- China is rolling out Covid-19 vaccine doses at a furious pace -- more than 80% of people in Beijing have received at least one dose -- but the country is in no hurry to signal any intention of easing border curbs. The World Health Organization meanwhile validated the Chinese-made Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. For the first time, the U.K. reported zero daily deaths of people within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. New York City’s positivity rate dropped over th Business Bloomberg 210601 17h32m Korea Inflation Hits Highest Since 2012 As Economy Recovers (Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s inflation rose to its highest since 2012 in May as the economy’s rebound gathered pace and as last year’s drop in prices offered support.Inflation from a year earlier reached 2.6% from April’s 2.3%, data from the statistics office showed Wednesday. Economists had also expected consumer prices to rise 2.6%.Inflation is rising globally as surging commodity costs feed into higher consumer prices and trigger debates about when central banks might start to raise interest U.S. Reuters 210601 17h29m Judge dismisses charges against Apple security chief in gun-permit probe A court in California on Tuesday dismissed bribery charges against Apple Inc's security chief, writing that a key element of the case was "pure speculation" by prosecutors and unsupported by evidence. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in November had said a grand jury indicted Apple Chief Security Officer Thomas Moyer and two officers in the Sheriff’s Office. Prosecutors alleged that Moyer had offered to donate iPads to the Sheriff's Office after a 2019 meeting in exchange for help getting concealed-weapons permits for the company's executive protection team. Business Bloomberg 210601 17h26m China Is Digging Deep Into Its Currency Toolkit to Manage Yuan (Bloomberg) -- As China’s central bank pulls back from direct intervention in its currency market, officials are reverting to old tools to manage the yuan.The People’s Bank of China on Monday said the country’s lenders will need to hold more foreign currencies in reserve, a move that will reduce the supply of the dollar onshore. Officials have pulled on multiple levers to influence the yuan since October, when China cut the cost of shorting the currency to zero and removed a key factor used by b Politics U.S. Business Howell date : 210601 17h23m17s Business Bloomberg 210601 17h04m Amazon Changes Worker Tool, Supports U.S. Marijuana Law (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is changing a worker productivity tracking protocol that has drawn the ire of many frontline employees, saying the “Time off Task” metric will be adjusted to account for worker behavior over a longer time period.The largest online retailer seeks to precisely track the hundreds of thousands workers who pick, pack and ship items stored in its warehouses, using software to optimize the movement of goods around the facility, as well as to identify employees who are una Business Reuters 210601 16h58m Event streaming platform Confluent makes U.S. stock-listing plan public Confluent said it had 561 customers with $100,000 or greater in annual recurring revenue as of March 31, representing a 50% increase from a year earlier. Some of its high-profile customers include apparel chain Urban Outfitters Inc, tyre maker Michelin and Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley. Investors in Confluent include venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures. Business Bloomberg 210601 16h53m AMC Gets $250 Million by Giving Mudrick’s Fund a Quick Cameo (Bloomberg) -- Even before Reddit day traders pushed AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s stock up 1,400% this year, Jason Mudrick had been telling the company it should take advantage of the wild rally by selling stock to stay in business.Now Mudrick has helped AMC do just that, effectively bankrolling one of the company’s biggest equity sales by purchasing $230 million of shares -- and then promptly dumping them in the open market for a tidy profit. Meanwhile, his firm was telling clients it was Business Bloomberg 210601 16h49m All of JBS’s U.S. Beef Plants Were Forced Shut by Cyberattack (Bloomberg) -- A cyberattack on JBS SA, the largest meat producer globally, forced the shutdown of all its U.S. beef plants, wiping out output from facilities that supply almost a quarter of American supplies.All of the company’s fed-beef and regional beef plants were forced to shutter, and all other JBS meatpacking facilities in the country experienced some level of disruption to operations, according to an official with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. JBS didn’t imm Business Bloomberg 210601 16h44m Blackstone, Starwood Boost Extended Stay Bid Amid Opposition (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc. and Starwood Capital Group increased their offer to buy Extended Stay America Inc., but it wasn’t enough for two sizable shareholders.The private equity firms agreed to increase their offer by $1 to $20.50 a share, a 21% premium on where it shares closed the day prior to the original offer being announced, according to a statement Tuesday. That came after Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. came out in opposition to the deal last wee Business Bloomberg 210601 16h44m Asian Stocks Eye Steady Open After Mixed U.S. Data: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks look set for a steady open Wednesday after U.S. equities inched lower as the tussle between economic optimism and inflation concern continues to play out in markets. Treasury yields edged up.Futures rose modestly in Japan and Australia but dipped in Hong Kong. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closed with small losses after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates but also signaled supply shortages and labor constraints. U.S. equity contracts slipped.Oil rose to a more than Business Reuters 210601 16h41m U.S. meat giant Tyson Foods to launch plant-based food in Asia-Pacific Impossible Foods Inc, Nestle SA, Beyond Meat Inc have already entered Asia with their plant-based meat products, expecting rising demand for the protein from consumers conscious about health, animal welfare and the environment. Retail sales of meat substitutes in Asia-Pacific reached $16.3 billion in 2020 and are expected to exceed $20 billion by 2025, according to data provided by Euromonitor to Tyson Foods. Howell date : 210601 16h22m40s Business Reuters 210601 15h55m Banco do Brasil to replace CEO at insurance unit BB Seguridade - Valor New management at Brazil's state-controlled Banco do Brasil SA plans to replace the chief executive of insurance holding BB Seguridade Participacoes SA, Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported on Tuesday. Current CEO Marcio Hamilton is expected to be replaced by Amauri Aguiar de Vasconcelos, a former pension fund executive, the paper said, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Banco do Brasil's new CEO, Fausto Ribeiro, is replacing the heads of the bank's main units. World Reuters 210601 15h50m EU to step up digital push with digital identity wallet The European Commission will on Thursday announce plans for a digital identity wallet to allow Europeans to access public and private services, prompted in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen a massive surge in online services. The move also seeks to counter the growing popularity of digital wallets offered by Apple, Alphabet unit Google, Thales and financial institutions which critics say could pose privacy and data protection concerns. The digital identity wallet "can be used anywhere in the EU to identify and authenticate for access to services in the public and private sectors, allowing citizens to control what data is communicated and how it is used", according to a Commission document reviewed by Reuters. Business Bloomberg 210601 15h30m AMC, GameStop Rallies Deal Shorts Another $848 Million Blow (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp.’s stock rallies Tuesday hammered short sellers to the tune of $848 million, deepening bears’ horrific 2021 losses.The movie theater operator’s 23% surge handed shorts $536 million in mark-to-market losses, while the video-game retailer’s 12% rally dealt another $312 million blow, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. Their meteoric gains have squeezed short sellers with losses ballooning to about $9.25 billion in tota Business Bloomberg 210601 15h23m SoFi Jumps 12% in Nasdaq Debut After Palihapitiya SPAC Merger (Bloomberg) -- SoFi Technologies Inc., the student-loan operator and stocks-trading platform, jumped 12% in its Nasdaq debut after merging with investor Chamath Palihapitiya’s blank-check company earlier this year.The shares, which trade under the ticker SOFI, rose to $22.65 Tuesday from $20.15 Friday, when it still traded under the SPAC ticker IPOE. That compares with an all-time high of $25.78 in February.SoFi, which started as an online lender for students and homeowners, has expanded into pa Business Business Howell date : 210601 15h22m03s Business Yahoo Finance Video 210601 15h09m Supply-Demand gap is lifting prices in profound way: Economist Bank of America Global Economist Aditya Bhave joined Yahoo Finanace to discuss prodcut shortages and the supply-demand disparity. World Bloomberg 210601 15h06m Chile to Create Covid Fund; U.K. Deaths at Zero: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- For the first time, the U.K. reported zero daily deaths of people within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. In the U.S., New York City’s positivity rate dropped over the Memorial Day weekend to its lowest point since the pandemic began.Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said in his annual speech to Chile’s congress that the government will create a $2 billion fund to finance the fight against Covid. Moderna Inc. became the second drugmaker to seek full U.S. approval for its v World Reuters 210601 15h03m EU reaches deal on tax transparency for multinational firms European Union government and parliament negotiators reached a deal on Tuesday on rules that will force large multinational companies to disclose how much revenue and tax they pay in the 27-nation bloc and how much in countries considered tax havens by the EU. The new law, proposed by the European Commission in 2016, is part of the EU's efforts to fight tax avoidance by large international companies at a time when the EU badly needs cash to finance an economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the new law, multinational corporations with a turnover of more than 750 million euros ($916 million) annually in two consecutive years will have to declare profits, tax and number of employees in EU countries and in countries on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210601 14h48m Market Recap: Tuesday, June 1 U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday, paring earlier gains as technology stocks lost steam. Alicia Levine, BNY Mellon Chief Strategist and Loreen Gilbert, WealthWise Financial CEO joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss. U.S. Reuters 210601 14h46m Woman's lawsuit accuses Leon Black of defamation, violent behavior Leon Black, the billionaire who until recently had led private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc for more than three decades, was sued on Tuesday by a woman who accused him of defamation and subjecting her to sexual violence. Guzel Ganieva said Black lied by denying her March 17 accusations on Twitter that he had "sexually harassed and abused" her "for years," when he told news media in April he had "foolishly had a consensual affair" with her and that she extorted him. It referred twice to his alleged "sexual assaults and rapes" of her, and specifically described one alleged rape from 2014. Business Bloomberg 210601 14h45m Zoom Tops Sales, Profit Estimates on Large Customer Additions (Bloomberg) -- Zoom Video Communications Inc. gave a sales forecast for the current quarter that topped analysts’ estimates, signaling the company’s ability to retain and add large customers even as intense demand created by the pandemic eases.Revenue in the period ending in July will be as much as $990 million, the San Jose, California-based company said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts, on average, projected $942 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit, excluding certain items Business Reuters 210601 14h44m Moderna partners with Thermo Fisher to scale up COVID-19 vaccine production Moderna Inc said on Tuesday it had entered into an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific for manufacturing and packaging its COVID-19 vaccine, as the U.S. vaccine maker looks to scale up production. Under the terms, Moderna said Thermo Fisher's commercial manufacturing site in Greenville, North Carolina will be used to provide fill/finish manufacturing services and supply packaging for hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine. "The addition of Thermo Fisher to our network will support our efforts to scale up our manufacturing ability," Moderna's chief technical operations and quality officer, Juan Andres, said in a statement. Howell date : 210601 14h21m27s Business Reuters 210601 14h15m Dip in U.S. Fed funds rate not expected to spur action yet The interest rate banks charge each other for overnight loans eased closer to a record low as May wrapped up on Friday, but the move is unlikely to prompt U.S. Federal Reserve action unless it stays at the lower level. The Fed Funds effective rate (EFFR) fell from 0.06% to 0.05% on Friday, just above a record low of 0.04% last reached in April 2020. Gennadiy Goldberg, senior US rates strategist at TD Securities, said month-end effects drove the drop. World Bloomberg 210601 14h12m Trudeau’s Covid-19 Spending Was Tilted Toward High-Earning Canadians (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s highest-earning families were the biggest beneficiaries of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pandemic aid, opening his government to criticism that its programs were wasteful.The top 20% of income-earning families received an average of C$6,728 ($5,577) from emergency Covid-19 assistance programs, according to data provided to Bloomberg by Statistics Canada. The lowest-earning households got C$4,097 in aid, on average.All told, the bottom 20% of earners got just 14% of the Business Yahoo Finance 210601 14h05m Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mixed with technology shares under pressure U.S. stocks turned mixed intraday on Tuesday, paring earlier gains as technology stocks lost steam. World Bloomberg 210601 14h03m NYC Hits Positivity Rate Low; U.K. Deaths at Zero: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- For the first time, the U.K. reported zero daily deaths of people within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. In the U.S., New York City’s positivity rate dropped over the Memorial Day weekend to its lowest point since the pandemic began.Companies, meanwhile, are finding varying ways to envision the post-Covid workplace. Bank of America Corp. wants all of its Hong Kong staff back at their desks by the end of June, while Deutsche Bank AG unveiled its hybrid model for remote work Business Bloomberg 210601 14h03m Stocks Inch Lower as Manufacturing Data Weighs: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks inched lower as investors assessed the impact of another economic report on Federal Reserve monetary policy.The S&P 500 fluctuated between gains and losses after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates while also showing some weakness in employment figures. A measure of factory activity in May rose on stronger order growth. However, manufacturers are struggling because of supply shortages and labor constraints.Energy shares were among the best performing Tuesday as th Business Reuters 210601 14h01m TREASURIES-Yields end the day little moved by manufacturing data The U.S. Treasury yields were set to close the New York session on Tuesday mostly flat, ultimately little moved by manufacturing data released earlier which showed strong demand in the sector, even as industry faces labor and raw material shortages. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Tuesday its index of national factory activity increased in May as pent-up demand, driven by a reopening economy and fiscal stimulus, boosted orders. The two-year yield , which reflects expectations of interest-rate rises, was up less than half a basis point on the day at 0.147%. Howell date : 210601 13h50m50s Business Bloomberg 210601 13h43m Robinhood Turns to the ‘Podfather’ for Board Before Planned IPO (Bloomberg) -- Robinhood Markets Inc. prides itself on its anti-Wall Street origins, with its leaders frequently retelling how it emerged from the Occupy Wall Street protests to democratize finance.Now, as it prepares to go public, the trading app is bolstering its board with establishment figures from technology, business and politics.Jon Rubinstein, who helped create the iPod for Apple Inc. and is a director at Amazon.com Inc., is joining the board immediately, as is Robert Zoellick, the forme U.S. Reuters 210601 13h39m UPDATE 1-U.S. seizes two domains used in cyberattacks that mimicked USAID communications The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had seized two Internet domains that had been used in spear-phishing attacks that mimicked email communications from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Justice Department said that it seized two command-and-control (C2) and malware distribution domains on May 28 after winning a court order to do so. The seizure was done in hopes of identifying groups that had been victimized and stopping future victimization. Business Bloomberg 210601 13h37m Oil Hits Highest Since October 2018 With Saudis Upbeat on Demand (Bloomberg) -- Oil resumed its advance, reaching the highest settlement in over two years with the OPEC+ alliance forecasting a tightening global crude market and a nuclear deal with Iran still up in the air.West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1%, while global benchmark Brent settled above $70 a barrel for the first time since 2019. Prices rallied as members of the OPEC+ alliance sounded upbeat notes about the global consumption rebound. Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Business Bloomberg 210601 13h31m Gold Declines With Yields Rising After Manufacturing Reports (Bloomberg) -- Gold headed for the first decline in three sessions as bond yields rose after a string of positive economic readings helped spur optimism in the recovery from the pandemic.The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose two basis points, hurting demand for non-interest-bearing bullion.Gold gave up gains after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates, fueling concern the Federal Reserve might have to consider tighter policy sooner than anticipated. In May, bullion wiped out losses Howell date : 210601 13h20m14s Business Yahoo Finance 210601 13h13m Why SoFi's dealmaking CEO went the SPAC route for its IPO SoFi CEO Anthony Noto reveals to Yahoo Finance Live why he opted for a SPAC to bring the company public. U.S. Yahoo Finance 210601 13h12m Filipino nurses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic Filipinos make up about 4% of all registered nurses in the U.S., but accounted for 30% of COVID-19 related deaths among nurses in 2020, according to National Nurses United. Business Bloomberg 210601 13h09m Hedge Funds Keep Cutting Bullish Wagers on Commodities (Bloomberg) -- The latest sign that commodities prices may have reached a peak: Hedge funds have pulled their money out of the markets for three straight weeks.Investors are cutting their bullish bets on everything from crops to copper to natural gas. Hedge-fund holdings this week in 20 of the 23 commodities tracked in the Bloomberg Commodity Index fell by the most since November, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and ICE.Milder weather is raising the prospect Business Bloomberg 210601 12h46m Stocks Fluctuate as U.S. Manufacturing Data Weighs: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks pared back gains as investors assessed the impact of another economic report on Federal Reserve monetary policy.The S&P 500 fluctuated and the Nasdaq 100 was little changed after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates while also showing some weakness in employment figures. A measure of factory activity in May rose on stronger order growth. However, manufacturers are struggling because of supply shortages and labor constraints.Earlier, energy shares had been leading t Business Bloomberg 210601 12h42m Blackstone, Starwood Boost Extended Stay Bid Amid Opposition (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc. and Starwood Capital Group increased their offer to buy Extended Stay America Inc., but it wasn’t enough for two sizable shareholders.The private equity firms agreed to increase their offer by $1 to $20.50 a share, a 21% premium on where it shares closed the day prior to the original offer being announced, according to a statement Tuesday. That came after Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. came out in opposition to the deal last wee World Reuters 210601 12h41m Brazil vaccination pace slows as production issues halt second doses A decrease in local COVID-19 vaccine production has slowed the pace of Brazil's inoculation drive and contributed to a growing number of people not taking their second doses, according to the latest data from the Fiocruz biomedical institute. Brazil administered 21 million COVID-19 shots in May, down 14.2% from the 24.5 million vaccines injected in April, according to data compiled by the federally funded Fiocruz and state Health Departments. More than 10.5 million second doses were given in April, compared with 6.6 million last month, the data show. Politics Reuters 210601 12h38m U.S. senator expects U.S. to send more funds for Israel's 'Iron Dome' A senior U.S. senator said on Tuesday he expected Washington would quickly authorize as much as $1 billion for Israel to replenish its Iron Dome missile defense system after clashes in May with Hamas. "There will be a $1 billion request coming to the Pentagon this week from the (Israeli) defense minister to replenish the Iron Dome and a few other things, to upgrade the system," Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters in Jerusalem. A senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Graham met with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz during a trip to Israel. Business Bloomberg 210601 12h32m Chevron Keeps Venezuela Foothold With U.S. Sanctions Waiver (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. and top American oil-service companies won an extension to keep a limited presence in Venezuela despite U.S. sanctions intended to starve President Nicolas Maduro’s regime of petrodollars.In the first renewal granted under President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. Treasury Department extended until Dec. 1 its authorization for Chevron, Halliburton Co., Schlumberger Ltd., Baker Hughes Co. and Weatherford International Plc to conduct business that’s essential to p Business Reuters 210601 12h31m UPDATE 1-Air taxi maker Archer countersues rival over 'false statements' Archer Aviation, a flying-taxi developer whose investors include United Airlines, asked a California judge on Tuesday to dismiss a "baseless" lawsuit by competitor Wisk Aero and countersued over "false statements" regarding a criminal probe. Archer and Wisk compete in the competitive yet unproven market for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, that aim to revolutionize urban air mobility with vehicles that take off like helicopters and fly like planes. Politics Bloomberg 210601 12h27m Biden to Suspend Trump’s Eleventh-Hour Oil Leases in Arctic (Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration will suspend Arctic refuge drilling rights sold in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, a move that buys time for further environmental analysis, according to a person familiar with the decision.The Interior Department decision will temporarily halt action on 11 leases spanning about 553,000 acres (223,791 hectares) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, said the person, who asked not to be named before a formal announcement. Politico re Business Bloomberg 210601 12h22m No One Knows How Much U.S. Meat Costs After Cyberattack Jams Report (Bloomberg) -- The price of meat in the U.S. on Tuesday was a mystery.A cyberattack against JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat producer, not only succeeded in crippling slaughter plants across the U.S. It also prevented the U.S. Department of Agriculture from releasing wholesale prices for beef and pork that agriculture markets rely on daily.The agency is delaying the reports citing “packer submission issues,” since disclosures could potentially reveal proprietary information about JBS’s competito Howell date : 210601 12h49m38s World Reuters 210601 12h41m Brazil vaccination pace slows as production issues halt second doses A decrease in local COVID-19 vaccine production has slowed the pace of Brazil's inoculation drive and contributed to a growing number of people not taking their second doses, according to the latest data from the Fiocruz biomedical institute. Brazil administered 21 million COVID-19 shots in May, down 14.2% from the 24.5 million vaccines injected in April, according to data compiled by the federally funded Fiocruz and state Health Departments. More than 10.5 million second doses were given in April, compared with 6.6 million last month, the data show. Politics Reuters 210601 12h38m U.S. senator expects U.S. to send more funds for Israel's 'Iron Dome' A senior U.S. senator said on Tuesday he expected Washington would quickly authorize as much as $1 billion for Israel to replenish its Iron Dome missile defense system after clashes in May with Hamas. "There will be a $1 billion request coming to the Pentagon this week from the (Israeli) defense minister to replenish the Iron Dome and a few other things, to upgrade the system," Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters in Jerusalem. A senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Graham met with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz during a trip to Israel. Business Bloomberg 210601 12h32m Chevron Keeps Venezuela Foothold With U.S. Sanctions Waiver (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. and top American oil-service companies won an extension to keep a limited presence in Venezuela despite U.S. sanctions intended to starve President Nicolas Maduro’s regime of petrodollars.In the first renewal granted under President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. Treasury Department extended until Dec. 1 its authorization for Chevron, Halliburton Co., Schlumberger Ltd., Baker Hughes Co. and Weatherford International Plc to conduct business that’s essential to p Business Reuters 210601 12h30m UPDATE 1-Air taxi maker Archer countersues rival over 'false statements' Archer Aviation, a flying-taxi developer whose investors include United Airlines, asked a California judge on Tuesday to dismiss a "baseless" lawsuit by competitor Wisk Aero and countersued over "false statements" regarding a criminal probe. Archer and Wisk compete in the competitive yet unproven market for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, that aim to revolutionize urban air mobility with vehicles that take off like helicopters and fly like planes. Business Bloomberg 210601 12h21m No One Knows How Much U.S. Meat Costs After Cyberattack Jams Report (Bloomberg) -- The price of meat in the U.S. on Tuesday was a mystery.A cyberattack against JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat producer, not only succeeded in crippling slaughter plants across the U.S. It also prevented the U.S. Department of Agriculture from releasing wholesale prices for beef and pork that agriculture markets rely on daily.The agency is delaying the reports citing “packer submission issues,” since disclosures could potentially reveal proprietary information about JBS’s competito Howell date : 210601 12h19m01s Business Bloomberg 210601 12h06m Fed Rate Veering Closer to Zero Adds Fuel to Debate Over Tweaks (Bloomberg) -- The key benchmark that the Federal Reserve targets to control monetary policy slipped closer to zero, raising the possibility that the central bank might need to tinker with the tools it uses to control it.The shift also adds to the debate about policy more broadly, as the glut of cash that’s keeping downward pressure on short-end rates combines with longer-term inflation concerns to fuel talk about just how soon the Fed might need to take its foot off the accelerator.The effectiv Business Bloomberg 210601 12h05m Stocks Fluctuate as U.S. Manufacturing Data Weighs: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks pared back gains as investors assessed the impact of another economic report on Federal Reserve monetary policy.The S&P 500 was little changed and the Nasdaq 100 fell after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates while also showing some weakness in employment figures. A measure of factory activity in May rose on stronger order growth. However, manufacturers are struggling because of supply shortages and labor constraints.Earlier, energy shares had been leading the S&P Business Bloomberg 210601 12h04m One-Fifth of U.S. Beef Capacity Wiped Out by JBS Cyberattack (Bloomberg) -- A cyberattack on JBS SA, the largest meat producer globally, has forced the shutdown of some of world’s largest slaughterhouses, and there are signs that the closures are spreading.JBS’s five biggest beef plants in the U.S. -- which altogether handle 22,500 cattle a day -- have halted processing following a weekend attack on the company’s computer networks, according to JBS posts on Facebook, labor unions and employees. Those outages alone have wiped out nearly a fifth of America’ Business Reuters 210601 12h01m Brazil posts May trade surplus of $9.3 bln -economy ministry Brazil posted a $9.3 billion trade surplus in May, figures showed on Tuesday, almost exactly in line with the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for a $9.2 billion surplus and up from a $6.8 billion surplus registered in the same month last year. Exports in May totaled $26.95 billion and imports were $17.7 billion, the ministry said, adding that total trade flows of $44.6 billion in the month were up 50% from a year earlier. Business Reuters 210601 12h01m Fed's Brainard: Economy making 'welcome progress,' but still 'far' from goals The United States is making progress towards the Fed's maximum employment and 2% inflation goals, but the depth of the remaining problem still requires the central bank not jump the gun in starting to tighten monetary policy, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday. "We are seeing welcome progress, and I expect to see further progress in coming months," Brainard said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Economic Club of New York. Business Reuters 210601 12h00m Investment firm Engine No. 1 prepares to launch Transform 500 ETF after Exxon win Investment firm Engine No. 1, which last week won at least two seats on Exxon Mobil Corp's board, is planning to launch an exchange-traded fund that will focus on socially conscious investing, according to a regulatory filing. The portfolio will be called the Engine No. 1 Transform 500 ETF and will invest in the consumer, energy, financial services, healthcare, technologies and utilities sectors, among others, according to a May 28 regulatory filing. Engine No. 1 was founded late last year with roughly $250 million in assets and made an enormous splash when it announced a $40 million investment in Exxon and plans to force the oil giant to improve its financial performance and focus more on clean energy by adding new directors to the board. Business Bloomberg 210601 11h50m AMC, GameStop Rallies Deal Shorts Another $591 Million Blow (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp.’s stock rallies Tuesday hammered short sellers to the tune of $591 million, deepening bears’ horrific 2021 losses.The movie theater operator’s more than 18% surge handed shorts $373 million in mark-to-market losses, while the video-game retailer’s 9.3% rally dealt another $218 million blow at mid-day, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. Their meteoric gains have squeezed short sellers with losses ballooning to $9 bi Business Reuters 210601 11h48m Reuters Events - Bank of England's Bailey unconvinced by carbon capital rules Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday there was no case yet for making financial institutions set aside more capital for climate change risks, even though markets were underpricing the danger of disruption. Central banks around the world are increasingly focused on the costs of climate upheaval as they try to steer a path for their economies and the financial systems through the transition to net-zero carbon emissions as well as extreme weather events. This month the BoE launches its first environmental 'stress test' of how banks and insurers are exposed to risks such as greater flooding or large shifts in energy production. Howell date : 210601 11h48m24s Business Reuters 210601 11h32m EU tech rules should only target dominant companies, EU lawmaker says Draft rules aimed at reining in the power of Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc unit Google, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc should only target these U.S. tech giants, a leading EU lawmaker said, signalling a tougher stand than EU antitrust regulators. Proposed by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager last year, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) could force U.S. tech giants to change their lucrative business models and ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals. The DMA defines online gatekeepers as companies with more than 6.5 billion euros ($8 billion) in annual European turnover in the last three years or 65 billion euros in market value in the last financial year, and which provide a core platform service in at least three EU countries. Business Bloomberg 210601 11h30m Exxon-Beating Activist Engine No. 1 Plans ETF to Prod Boardrooms (Bloomberg) -- The tiny activist fund that recently won at least two seats on Exxon Mobil Corp.’s board is setting its sights on a new challenge -- the $6.3 trillion ETF industry.Engine No. 1, which shocked investors and analysts last week by taking the board positions at Exxon’s annual shareholder meeting, is now planning to launch its first exchange-traded fund. The Transform 500 ETF’s goal is to encourage changes at the companies it holds through proxy voting, according to a regulatory filing Business Reuters 210601 11h30m U.S. labor market worse than it appears, Fed paper suggests U.S. labor market signals are conflicting to an "unprecedented" degree, but those suggesting labor market slack should be given more weight than those pointing to tightness, according a paper published Monday by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. The paper looked at 26 labor market measures that typically move in tandem and found that during the current recovery they are giving wildly divergent signals about the health of the job market. The job openings rate, for instance, suggests the job market is much tighter than the unemployment rate; the labor force participation rate points to much more slack than detected in the unemployment rate. World Reuters 210601 11h22m BHP says operations at Escondida, Spence copper mines in Chile 'normal' despite strike BHP said on Tuesday operations at its sprawling Escondida copper mine, the world's largest, and at the smaller Spence mine in Chile continued as normal despite a continuing strike by a remote operations union of workers. The 200-member union, which runs BHP's Integrated Operations Center in Santiago, walked off the job on Thursday. Business Bloomberg 210601 11h20m Stocks Fluctuate as Tech Heads Lower; Bonds Slip: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks pared back gains as investors assessed the impact of another economic report on Federal Reserve monetary policy.The S&P 500 fell, lead by health and technology shares, after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates while also showing some weakness in employment figures. A measure of factory activity in May rose on stronger order growth. However, manufacturers are struggling because of supply shortages and labor constraints.Earlier, energy shares had been leading the S& World Bloomberg 210601 11h15m Trudeau’s Covid-19 Spending Was Tilted to High-Earning Canadians (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s highest-earning families were the biggest beneficiaries of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pandemic aid, potentially opening his government to criticism that its programs were wasteful.The top 20% of income-earning families received an average of C$6,728 ($5,577) from emergency Covid-19 assistance programs, according to data provided to Bloomberg by Statistics Canada. The lowest-earning households got C$4,097 in aid, on average.All told, the bottom 20% of earners got just World Bloomberg 210601 11h12m Iran Nuclear Talks Extended as World Powers Try to Bridge Rifts (Bloomberg) -- World powers and Iran are unlikely to reach a final agreement in the current round of talks to revive their 2015 nuclear deal, Iranian officials said, cooling speculation that U.S. sanctions on Tehran’s key oil exports might soon be lifted.Diplomats had hoped to fully restore the landmark deal before Iran’s June 18 presidential elections, after which the presidency of Hassan Rouhani will wind down. He’s widely expected to be succeeded by a hardliner who will be more hostile to the Howell date : 210601 11h17m47s World Reuters 210601 10h58m UPDATE 1-German economy to grow between 3.4% and 3.7% this year - minister The German economy, Europe's largest, should grow by between 3.4% and 3.7% this year, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday, offering a more upbeat outlook than when the government raised its forecast at the end of April. A Reuters forecast had pointed to a May reading of 2.5%. Business Reuters 210601 10h56m UPDATE 1-U.S. renews Chevron license for activities in Venezuela Chevron Corp, the last major U.S. oil company still operating in Venezuela, received a new U.S. government license allowing it to remain in Venezuela until Dec. 1, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday. The United States in 2019 imposed sanctions barring imports of Venezuelan oil and transactions made in U.S. dollars with Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA, a move designed to starve the country of oil dollars and oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Politics Yahoo Finance 210601 10h53m From nanny state to vaccine bribes The disquieting spectacle of vaccine bribes. Business Yahoo Finance 210601 10h50m Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mixed with technology shares under pressure U.S. stocks turned mixed intraday on Tuesday, paring earlier gains as technology stocks lost steam. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210601 10h45m Both parties are working on legalizing cannabis and federal legalization is coming: Canopy Growth CEO David Klein, Canopy Growth CEO joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the company’s recent earnings and when we'll see federal legalization in the space. Business Bloomberg 210601 10h41m Meat Plant Closures Are Spreading After a Cyberattack on JBS (Bloomberg) -- A cyberattack on JBS SA, the largest meat producer globally, has forced the shutdown of some of world’s largest slaughterhouses, and there are signs that the closures are spreading.JBS’s five biggest beef plants in the U.S. -- which altogether handle 22,500 cattle a day -- have halted processing following a weekend attack on the company’s computer networks, according to JBS posts on Facebook, labor unions and employees. Those outages alone have wiped out nearly a fifth of America’ Howell date : 210601 10h47m09s World Reuters 210601 10h34m German economy to grow between 3.4% and 3.7% this year - minister The German economy, Europe's largest, should grow by between 3.4% and 3.7% this year and regain its pre-pandemic strength by the end of the year, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday. If things go very well, maybe a tenth or two more. Business Bloomberg 210601 10h34m Oil Pares Gain With Equities Yet OPEC Demand Optimism Remains (Bloomberg) -- Oil pared gains alongside broader market weakness after hitting the highest in two-and-a-half years with the OPEC+ alliance forecasting a tightening global crude market.West Texas Intermediate crude futures dialed back a gain of as much as 3.8% from Friday’s close, while global benchmark Brent headed back toward $70 a barrel, a level it has failed to hold for a sustained period since 2019. The S&P 500 Index eased off session highs amid concerns the Federal Reserve may have to cons World Reuters 210601 10h28m UPDATE 1-OPEC, Russia seen gaining from climate activist wins Climate activists who scored big wins against Western majors last week had some unlikely cheerleaders in the oil capitals of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Russia. Defeats in the courtroom and boardroom mean Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron are all under pressure to cut carbon emissions faster. Business Yahoo Finance 210601 10h23m Zoom Q1 2022 earnings preview: It’s all about who’s still Zooming Zoom is set to report is Q1 2022 earnings after the bell on Tuesday, and investors and analysts are looking at who is sticking with the service as more people get vaccinated. U.S. Reuters 210601 10h17m U.S. prosecutors in plea talks with Oath Keepers on Capitol riot U.S. federal prosecutors have opened talks about plea deals with members of the far-right Oath Keepers group charged with joining the deadly attack on the Capitol, and hope to make offers in the next two months, a Justice Department lawyer said on Tuesday. Justice Department lawyer Kathryn Rakoczy said during a court hearing that prosecutors hoping "over next month or two" to make plea offers to members and associates of the group. Howell date : 210601 10h16m32s World Reuters 210601 10h07m Oman, S.Arabia discuss investment, days after Omanis protest over unemployment Senior Saudi and Omani officials on Tuesday discussed investment opportunities in both countries, state media reported, a few days after Oman was hit by protests over unemployment. The virtual meeting was held by Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih and Omani Commerce and Industry Minister Qais al-Yousef, Oman's state television channel reported. It was not immediately known if the meeting was planned before last week's street protests in Oman, which were not mentioned by state media reports on the talks. Politics Bloomberg 210601 10h06m Quarles Hints He May Stay on as Fed Governor, Defying Warren (Bloomberg) -- Randal Quarles left open the possibility that he might remain in his role as a Federal Reserve governor after his tenure as vice chair for supervision expires on Oct. 13 -- a move that would reduce the openings for the Biden administration to fill.“My term as a governor of the Fed as you know extends until 2032,” Quarles said Tuesday during a virtual Politico Live interview. “There’s a tradition in our family but people serve out their full terms on the Federal Reserve board of go Business Reuters 210601 10h03m Twitter testing ads on Fleets to catch up to Snap, Facebook Twitter Inc said Tuesday it will begin testing ads on its disappearing posts feature called Fleets, as it works to offer more options for advertisers. The social media company previously said it set a goal of doubling its annual revenue by 2023 from last year's levels, which it plans to achieve in part by selling ads on more parts of its site and mobile app. Fleet ads will be the first on Twitter that appear full screen on phones, the company said. World Bloomberg 210601 10h00m NYC Hits Positivity Rate Low; U.K. Deaths at Zero: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- For the first time, the U.K. reported zero daily deaths of people within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. In the U.S., New York City’s positivity rate dropped over the Memorial Day weekend to its lowest point since the pandemic began.Companies, meanwhile, are finding varying ways to envision the post-Covid workplace. Bank of America Corp. wants all of its Hong Kong staff back at their desks by the end of June, while Deutsche Bank AG unveiled its hybrid model for remote work U.S. Reuters 210601 09h57m U.S. says Zen-Noh Grain Corp must sell nine grain elevators -statement The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said Zen-Noh Grain Corp must divest nine grain elevators in five U.S. states to move forward with its proposed $300 million acquisition of other grain elevators from Bunge North America Inc, a unit of Bunge Ltd. Zen-Noh must sell the elevators to Viserion Grain LLC, which is owned by Viserion International Holdco LLC, the department's anti-trust division said in a statement, adding that a court would have to approve the settlement. Business Yahoo Finance Video 210601 09h52m Twitter $3 monthly subscription plan may be coming soon: RPT Monthly subscription service Twitter Blue could reportedly be coming soon. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley shares the details. Howell date : 210601 09h45m55s Business Yahoo Finance 210601 09h34m Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mixed with technology shares under pressure U.S. stocks turned mixed intraday on Tuesday, paring earlier gains as technology stocks lost steam. Business Bloomberg 210601 09h33m AMC Surges on Deal With Mudrick To Expand, ‘Go on Offense’ (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. gained Tuesday, extending last week’s rally, after raising $230.5 million with a stock sale to Mudrick Capital Management as the movie-theater operator pledged to “go on offense” with acquisitions.The agreement with New York-based Mudrick is for 8.5 million shares of common stock at $27.12 apiece, 3.8% more than Friday’s closing price, AMC said Tuesday in a statement. The company, now an icon among retail traders, jumped as much as 23% to $32 at the Business Bloomberg 210601 09h30m BofA, Goldman Boost Brazil Growth Bets After Solid First Quarter (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Analysts from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. see Brazil’s economy growing faster this year after a better-than-expected first quarter that was driven by investment and booming agriculture.Goldman increased its growth forecast for Latin America’s largest economy to 5.5% from 4.6%, while BofA raised its projections to 5.2% from 3.4% after Tuesday’s data release by the Business Bloomberg 210601 09h16m Gold Erases Gains With Yields Rising After Factory Reports (Bloomberg) -- Gold erased early gains as bond yields rose after a string of positive economic readings helped spur optimism in the recovery from the pandemic.The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose three basis points, hurting demand for non-interest-bearing bullion.Gold gave up gains after U.S. manufacturing data topped estimates, fueling concern the Federal Reserve might have to consider tighter policy sooner than anticipated. In May, bullion wiped out losses for the year with a 7.8% Business Bloomberg 210601 09h15m OPEC+ Boosts Output in July and Keeps Market Guessing Beyond (Bloomberg) -- OPEC+ stuck to its plan to hike oil output in July, but Saudi Arabia’s energy minister kept the market guessing as to whether the group will add more supply later this year to keep pace with the accelerating global recovery.“The demand picture has shown clear signs of improvement,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, in some of his most upbeat comments since the crash last year. But pressed on whether more supply increases will be needed, he said: “I will belie Business Reuters 210601 09h13m American Tower sees newly-bought Telxius masts earning $280 million in 2021 U.S.-based American Tower Corp said on Tuesday it expects the mobile phone masts it has just bought from Telefonica-owned unit Telxius to generate $280 million in property revenue across the rest of 2021. American Tower Corp - one of the world's largest tower companies - finalised on Tuesday its purchase of 6.2 billion euros' worth of European mobile masts from Telefonica as part of a wider deal to acquire over 30,000 towers, including some in Latin America, from the operator's Telxius division. American Towers will then lease the phone masts back to Telefonica, leaving the Spanish group only owning tower assets in Britain - but able to reduce its debt levels by around 3.4 billion euros, Telefonica said in a statement. Business Reuters 210601 09h08m FOREX-Dollar softens after manufacturing data shows backlogs rising The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity increased more than expected in May from April, but that shortages of raw materials, such as semiconductors, and a lack of workers, weighed on production. The soft employment segment of the ISM report, as well as a weaker-than-expected prices paid component, point to supply issues in the manufacturing sector having an impact on the economy as a whole, said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management. "The next quarter's worth of inflation data is completely riddled with base effects and other temporary factors, so it’s very hard for markets and policymakers to strip out the signal from that noise," said Simon Harvey, FX analyst at Monex Europe. Howell date : 210601 09h15m18s Business Reuters 210601 09h09m FOREX-Dollar softens after manufacturing data shows backlogs rising The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity increased more than expected in May from April, but that shortages of raw materials, such as semiconductors, and a lack of workers, weighed on production. The soft employment segment of the ISM report, as well as a weaker-than-expected prices paid component, point to supply issues in the manufacturing sector having an impact on the economy as a whole, said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management. "The next quarter's worth of inflation data is completely riddled with base effects and other temporary factors, so it’s very hard for markets and policymakers to strip out the signal from that noise," said Simon Harvey, FX analyst at Monex Europe. Business Bloomberg 210601 09h06m Stocks Erase Gains as Tech Heads Lower; Oil Jumps: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks pared back gains as investors assess the impact of another strong economic report on Federal Reserve monetary policy.The S&P 500 was little changed and the Nasdaq 100 fell after manufacturing data narrowly topped estimates, fueling concern the Fed might have to consider tighter policy sooner than anticipated.Earlier energy shares had been leading the S&P 500 higher as OPEC+ agreed to plans to hike output in July and gave a bullish forecast, sending WTI crude futures to Business Reuters 210601 09h05m American Tower sees newly-bought Telxius masts earning $280 mln in 2021 U.S.-based American Tower Corp said on Tuesday it expects the mobile phone masts it has just bought from Telefonica-owned unit Telxius to generate $280 million in property revenue across the rest of 2021. American Tower Corp - one of the world's largest tower companies - finalised on Tuesday its purchase of 6.2 billion euros' worth of European mobile masts from Telefonica as part of a wider deal to acquire over 30,000 towers, including some in Latin America, from the operator's Telxius division. American Towers will then lease the phone masts back to Telefonica, leaving the Spanish group only owning tower assets in Britain - but able to reduce its debt levels by around 3.4 billion euros, Telefonica said in a statement. World Bloomberg 210601 09h05m NYC Hits Positivity Rate Low; New Variant Names: Virus Update (Bloomberg) -- Companies are finding varying ways to envision the post-Covid workplace. Bank of America Corp. wants all of its Hong Kong staff back at their desks by the end of June, while Deutsche Bank AG unveiled its hybrid model for remote work.Moderna Inc. is seeking full approval for its vaccine, a move that could make the shot a stable source of revenue for years. The World Health Organization validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac for emergency use and announced a plan to name variants using the Business Bloomberg 210601 09h02m Gain in U.S. Factory Gauge Belies Labor, Supply Constraints (Bloomberg) -- A gauge of U.S. manufacturing quickened in May, propelled by stronger growth in orders -- which factories are having trouble satisfying because of supply shortages and labor constraints.A measure of factory activity rose to 61.2 from 60.7 a month earlier, according to data released Tuesday by the Institute for Supply Management. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, and the May figure was about in line with projections. The report also showed still-elevated input prices and a fres Business Reuters 210601 09h00m TREASURIES-Yield curve steepest in a week after manufacturing data The steeper yield curve on Tuesday reflected expectations that the Federal Reserve would hold interest rates low for now, even as the economy recovers. The two-year yield, which reflects expectations of interest-rate rises, was marginally higher, last up less than half a basis point on the day to 0.149%. The spread between the two- and 10-year yields , the most common measure of the yield curve, rose to 148.8 basis points, the highest since May 21, just prior to the release of the data, and then hit those levels again after the release. Howell date : 210601 08h44m42s Business Reuters 210601 08h35m UPDATE 3-U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs J&J appeal over $2 billion baby powder judgment The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear Johnson & Johnson's bid to overturn a $2.12 billion damages award to women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in the company's baby powder and other talc products. The justices turned away a J&J appeal and left in place a Missouri state court ruling in litigation brought by 22 women whose claims were heard together in one trial. The Missouri Court of Appeals, an intermediate state appellate court, last year ruled against J&J's bid to throw out the compensatory and punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs but reduced the total to $2.12 billion from the $4.69 billion originally decided by a jury. Business Bloomberg 210601 08h33m J&J to Pay $2.1 Billion Talc Award as Top Court Nixes Appeal (Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson must pay a $2.1 billion award to women who claimed its baby powder was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos, after the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the largest verdict in the almost decade-long litigation over the iconic product.The top U.S. court without comment on Tuesday refused to consider J&J’s objections to a St. Louis jury’s 2018 finding its talc-based powder helped cause ovarian cancer in 20 women.J&J prepared for the appeal’s denial by announcing in February it was setting aside almost $4 billion to cover the St. Louis verdict. The company still faces more than 26,000 lawsuits blaming baby powder for causing cancers. J&J pulled the product off U.S. and Canadian shelves last year.“The decision by the court to not review the case leaves unresolved significant legal questions that state and federal courts will continue to face” in future talc cases, Kim Montagnino, a J&J spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. “The Supreme Court has many times said its decision to deny hearing a case expresses no view on the merits.”“Today justice is served,” said Mark Lanier, the women’s lawyer. “Twenty families now get compensated for a horrible, unnecessary disease. And J&J, the trigger for that disease, is held accountable.” Shares of J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, fell 1.5% at 10:31 a.m.Jurors in the St. Louis case awarded each woman $25 million in compensatory damages. The panel then added more than $4 billion in punitive damages, making the award the sixth-largest in U.S. legal history. A state appeals court cut the award by more than half last year. The original verdict sparked a significant drop in J&J’s shares.J&J has lost other cases at trial, with juries across the U.S. ordering it to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. Judges slashed some of those awards while others have been thrown out or are on appeal. J&J has won cases as well.Asbestos, which is often found where talc is mined, is a recognized carcinogen.Constitutional ClaimJustices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh didn’t take part in the decision to reject the appeal. As is customary, neither gave an explanation, although Alito’s most recent financial disclosure report indicated either he or his wife owned J&J stock. Kavanaugh’s father was a cosmetic-industry lobbyist whose organization fought efforts to require warnings on talc products.J&J told the Supreme Court the sprawling nature of the St. Louis case -- which originally combined the claims of almost two dozen plaintiffs from 12 different states -- made the trial so unfair it violated the Constitution’s due process clause.The drugmaker said the trial judge needed five hours to instruct the jury, and the panel deliberated less than 20 minutes on average for each woman before awarding each identical awards regardless of the individual circumstances.“If the due process clause means anything, it means that a defendant cannot be deprived of billions of dollars without a fair trial,” J&J argued. Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed the appeal.Past DecisionsJ&J also argued the punitive award exceeded the actual damages by so much as to make it unconstitutional as well. J&J pointed to past Supreme Court decisions that have put limits on punitive damages.Lawyers for the women said J&J was asking the court to do something unprecedented and override state rules governing when lawsuits can be consolidated for trial.“Consolidation in tort cases is commonplace, an essential practice for preserving the resources of courts and parties when common issues -- such as the product’s safety and the defendant’s knowledge of its danger -- predominate, as they did here,” the group argued.The women also contended that J&J’s years of deceit about its product and disregard for the health of its customers warranted the punitive damage award.Rex Burlison, the judge in the St. Louis case, refused in 2018 to throw out the punitive award after finding J&J engaged in “particularly reprehensible conduct” in its marketing. He concluded J&J “knew of the presence of asbestos in products that they knowingly targeted for sale to mothers and babies, knew of the damage their products caused, and misrepresented the safety of these products for decades.”The case is Johnson & Johnson v. Ingham, 20-1223.(Updates with J&J’s comment in fourth paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210601 08h32m U.S. construction spending rises moderately in April U.S. construction spending increased less than expected in April as gains in private homebuilding were blunted by losses in outlays on nonresidential structures and public projects. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that construction spending rose 0.2% after surging 1.0% in March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending gaining 0.5%. Business Yahoo Finance 210601 08h26m Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise as S&P 500 nears record high U.S. stocks gained Tuesday morning, with equities looking to kick off the first session of June after a long holiday weekend on a high note. Business Bloomberg 210601 08h24m Housing Boom Helps Prop Up 5.6% Annualized Growth in Canada (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s economy continued its recovery from pandemic damage in the first quarter, driven by a surge in home construction.Gross domestic product expanded at a 5.6% annualized rate in the three-month period, after a revised 9.3% pace at the end of last year, according to a report Tuesday from Statistics Canada. That’s slightly below the 6.8% median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Housing investment grew at an annualized 43% pace, easily the biggest driver of growth.The data show housing is helping the country’s economy power through restrictions meant to curb the spread of Covid-19, providing some resiliency to the rebound. One reason for optimism is the economy has been recovering with little support from consumers and businesses, who have held off from spending over the winter months amid the curbs on activity.“There’s lots of spending power left,” Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said in a report to investors.In total, the gains bring the economy closer to a full recovery. Economic activity at the start of the year was 1.7% below what it was at the end of 2019.The Canadian dollar was little changed after the report, up 0.3% to 1.2032 per U.S. dollar. For the month of March alone, the economy expanded 1.1%, versus a 1% gain expected by economists.Property and SavingsThe boom in housing brought residential investment to 8.6% of GDP -- the highest in records to 1961. Low mortgage rates combined with more time spent at home during Covid-19 have spurred demand for houses and increased construction, renovations and resales.Consumption also picked up slightly from anemic levels at the end of last year, but still remains sluggish. Spending by households was up an annualized 2.7%, versus 0.9% at the end of the fourth quarter. The household savings rate actually increased to 13.1%, from 11.9% at the end of last year. That suggests pent-up demand could be building to drive outsize growth later in the year.Businesses pared back their capital spending and investments in inventories, which was the biggest drag on growth in the first quarter.Hiccup AheadThe recovery did stall in April amid a new wave of lockdowns, according to preliminary estimates also released on Tuesday. Output contracted 0.8% on the month, and economists expect another weak reading for May after the country’s largest provinces shut down parts of their economies to combat the virus.But economists are anticipating the pace of growth will return to above 6% in the second half of 2021 as restrictions are eased amid higher vaccination rates, leading to a return in services that have been closed for months.Adding to the tailwinds are rising commodity prices. Data released Tuesday show a rally in raw materials drove up incomes at the beginning of the year, which bodes well for future growth. Including inflation, GDP has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels.The potential for a sharp rebound is already prompting the Bank of Canada to start paring back its stimulus and warning of higher interest rates. Economists are anticipating a healthy 6.2% expansion for all of 2021, only slightly behind a U.S. recovery projected at 6.5%.(Updates with nominal GDP, Bank of Canada outlook in final two paragraphs.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210601 08h23m Some shifts canceled at U.S., Canada meat plants after JBS cyberattack JBS canceled some shifts at large U.S. and Canadian meat plants on Tuesday after the company was hit by a cyberattack over the weekend, according to unions and company social media posts. The attack caused JBS's Australian operations to shut down on Monday. "On Sunday, May 30, JBS USA determined that it was the target of an organised cybersecurity attack, affecting some of the servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems," it said in a statement released Monday. Business Bloomberg 210601 08h23m Stocks Pare Gains as Tech Heads Lower; Oil Jumps: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks pared gains, with tech shares turning negative, as investors assess the impact of another strong economic report on Federal Reserve monetary policy.The S&P 500 traded little changed and the Nasdaq 100 fell after manufacturing data topped estimates, fueling concern the Fed might have to consider tighter policy sooner than anticipated.Energy shares had been leading the S&P 500 higher as OPEC+ agreed to plans to hike output in July and gave a bullish forecast, sending WTI crude futures to their highest in more than two years.Treasuries slipped, the dollar was slightly weaker and Bitcoin was little changed as cryptocurrencies were relatively calm.Global stocks were on track to start the new month on a high note, underpinned by the recovery from the health crisis and ample liquidity. Still, the jump in commodities prices is stoking concerns that rising inflation could prompt central banks to withdraw support earlier than anticipated. Traders are also awaiting key American jobs data later in the week to help assess the path of the rebound.“What is currently missing is a reason to sell,” Paul Nolte, a portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management, wrote in a note Monday. “Until the Fed begins to discuss withdrawing from their purchase program, or we begin to see investors move out of risky portions of the markets, the momentum is still on the bull’s side and stocks can get pricier still.”Some corporate highlights:KKR and CD&R plan to take Cloudera private in a deal valued at about $5.3 billionJ&J must pay a $2.1 billion talc award after the Supreme Court rejected an appealAMC raised $230.5 million of equity as a part of a deal with Mudrick Capital ManagementZoom’s user turnover will be the focus of earnings when it reports after the close of tradingHere are key events to watch this week:Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 rose 0.4%, more than any closing gain since May 24 as of 9:47 a.m. New York timeThe Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%, more than any closing gain since May 24The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, more than any closing gain since May 24The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1% to a record highThe MSCI World index rose 0.6% to a record highCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1% to the lowest since May 25The euro was little changed at $1.2235The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.4184The Japanese yen was little changed at 109.56 per dollarBondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points, more than any closing gain since May 12Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.18%Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 0.82%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.5% to the highest on recordGold futures rose 0.2% to $1,909 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210601 08h14m05s Business Reuters 210601 08h09m Top Credit Suisse FIG banker in Europe to join Jefferies - sources Credit Suisse has lost a key dealmaker in Europe, two sources familiar with the move said, as a pay-driven exodus of top investment bankers which began in the United States spreads. Switzerland's second-largest bank is struggling to retain staff after trimming bonuses to tackle losses of more than $5 billion stemming from the collapse of U.S. investment firm Archegos and damage caused by Greensill Capital's insolvency. Armando Rubio-Alvarez, who heads the Swiss bank's financial institutions (FIG) franchise in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is moving to Jefferies, the sources said. Business Reuters 210601 08h07m U.S. manufacturing sector picks up in May; work backlogs rising - ISM U.S. manufacturing activity picked up in May as pent-up demand amid a reopening economy boosted orders, but unfinished work piled up because of shortages of raw materials and labor. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing, which accounts for 11.9% of the U.S. economy. A shift in demand to goods from services as the COVID-19 pandemic kept Americans at home, strained supply chains, with the virus also disrupting labor at manufacturers and their suppliers, leading to raw material shortages across industries. Business Bloomberg 210601 08h03m OPEC+ Signs Off on July Increase as Market Tightens (Bloomberg) -- OPEC+ stuck to its plan to hike oil output in July, as Saudi Arabia’s energy minister struck a bullish tone about the global recovery.The group will press ahead with an increase of 841,000 barrels a day in July, following hikes in May and June, according to delegates. As the market tightens, a more difficult decision looms for the group as it tackles the deficit that’s set to emerge later this year.“The demand picture has shown clear signs of improvement,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said as the meeting started. Russia’s Alexander Novak also spoke of the “gradual economic recovery.”OPEC and its allies have spent more than a year rescuing prices from historic lows and only cautiously adding supply. Now the story is shifting: oil prices above $71 are fueling inflation concerns and if OPEC doesn’t add more oil, there’s a risk the market becomes too tight, undermining the global recovery.But the cartel is also embracing caution. Prince Abdulaziz echoed the concerns of his fellow delegates when he said there are still “clouds” on the horizon.Iran’s potential return to international markets is one factor weighing on ministers’ decision-making. The impact of new variants of Covid-19 is another. And while there’s a wide deficit in the market to fill in the second half of the year, those two considerations could see some producers argue for a pause before further hikes.“Covid-19 is a persistent and unpredictable foe, and vicious mutations remain a threat,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said.After July, OPEC+ is scheduled to hold supply until April 2022, according to the deal signed a year ago to rescue producers from a bitter price war. While the agreement can be renegotiated -- and there’ll be pressure to do so as demand continues to recover -- it provides a fallback position for the group.Tuesday’s meeting didn’t tackle the period after July, according to two delegates.If the alliance doesn’t boost output later this year, prices will face further upward pressure, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told Bloomberg Television earlier on Tuesday.“One thing is clear: in the absence of changing the policies, with the strong growth coming from the U.S., China, Europe, we will see a widening gap” between demand and supply, Birol said.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210601 08h01m J&J to Pay $2.1 Billion Talc Award as Top Court Nixes Appeal (Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson must pay a $2.1 billion award to women who claimed its baby powder was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos, after the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the largest verdict in the almost decade-long litigation over the iconic product.The top U.S. court without comment on Tuesday refused to consider J&J’s objections to a St. Louis jury’s 2018 finding that its talc-based powder helped cause ovarian cancer in 20 women.J&J prepared for the appeal’s denial by announcing in February it was setting aside almost $4 billion to cover the St. Louis verdict. The company still faces more than 25,000 lawsuits blaming baby powder for causing cancers. J&J pulled the product off U.S. and Canadian shelves last year.Kim Montagnino, a J&J spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return an email Tuesday seeking comment on the Supreme Court’s decision not to take the appeal. Shares of J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, fell 1.1% at 9:59 a.m.“Today justice is served,” said Mark Lanier, the women’s lawyer. “Twenty families now get compensated for a horrible, unnecessary disease. And J&J, the trigger for that disease, is held accountable.”Jurors in the St. Louis case awarded each woman $25 million in compensatory damages. The panel then added more than $4 billion in punitive damages, making the award the sixth-largest in U.S. legal history. A state appeals court cut the award by more than half last year. The original verdict sparked a significant drop in J&J’s shares.J&J has lost other cases at trial, with juries across the U.S. ordering it to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. Judges slashed some of those awards while others have been thrown out or are on appeal. J&J has won cases as well.Asbestos, which is often found where talc is mined, is a recognized carcinogen.Constitutional ClaimJustices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh didn’t take part in the decision to reject the appeal. As is customary, neither gave an explanation, although Alito’s most recent financial disclosure report indicated either he or his wife owned J&J stock. Kavanaugh’s father was a cosmetic-industry lobbyist whose organization fought efforts to require warnings on talc products.J&J told the Supreme Court the sprawling nature of the St. Louis case -- which originally combined the claims of almost two dozen plaintiffs from 12 different states -- made the trial so unfair it violated the Constitution’s due process clause.The drugmaker said the trial judge needed five hours to instruct the jury, and the panel deliberated less than 20 minutes on average for each woman before awarding each identical awards regardless of the individual circumstances.“If the due process clause means anything, it means that a defendant cannot be deprived of billions of dollars without a fair trial,” J&J argued. Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed the appeal.Past DecisionsJ&J also argued that the punitive award exceeded the actual damages by so much as to make it unconstitutional as well. J&J pointed to past Supreme Court decisions that have put limits on punitive damages.Lawyers for the women said J&J was asking the court to do something unprecedented and override state rules governing when lawsuits can be consolidated for trial.“Consolidation in tort cases is commonplace, an essential practice for preserving the resources of courts and parties when common issues -- such as the product’s safety and the defendant’s knowledge of its danger -- predominate, as they did here,” the group argued.The women also contended that J&J’s years of deceit about its product and disregard for the health of its customers warranted the punitive damage award.The case is Johnson & Johnson v. Ingham, 20-1223.(Updates with two justices’ recusal)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210601 07h58m UPDATE 1-Top Credit Suisse FIG banker in Europe to join Jefferies -sources Credit Suisse has lost a key dealmaker in Europe, two sources familiar with the move said, as a pay-driven exodus of top investment bankers which began in the United States spreads. Switzerland's second-largest bank is struggling to retain staff after trimming bonuses to tackle losses of more than $5 billion stemming from the collapse of U.S. investment firm Archegos and damage caused by Greensill Capital's insolvency. Armando Rubio-Alvarez, who heads the Swiss bank's financial institutions (FIG) franchise in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is moving to Jefferies, the sources said. Business Bloomberg 210601 07h57m Pembina to Buy Canada Pipeline Rival Inter for $6.9 Billion (Bloomberg) -- Pembina Pipeline Corp. agreed to acquire Inter Pipeline Ltd. for about C$8.3 billion ($6.9 billion) in an all-stock deal that will create one of the largest energy companies in Canada.The proposal from Pembina trumps a hostile takeover offer for Inter made by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP earlier this year. Inter spurned that approach and began a review of its options, which included a sale.The Pembina-Inter combination is the largest Canadian energy transaction in four years. The sector has been battered by low oil prices and regulatory uncertainty. President Joe Biden’s cancellation of TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline in January added to doubts over the long-term prospects of Canada’s oil industry.Buying Inter will give Pembina additional pipeline infrastructure across Western Canada, connecting the region’s oil sands and natural gas producers with domestic and foreign customers. Pembina will also take on Inter’s Heartland Petrochemical Complex, which is under construction in Alberta. Inter has been looking for a partner to help fund the C$4 billion construction cost.The takeover will lead to annual cost savings of as much as C$200 million, the two Calgary-based companies said in a statement Tuesday. Pembina Chief Executive Officer Michael Dilger said his company has tried to buy Inter on two previous occasions.“Third time is lucky,” he said on a conference call. “This is just the right time.”Pembina said its offer values Inter at C$19.45 per share prior to the start of trading, while Brookfield’s offer was C$16.50. Inter shareholders will own 28% of the combined company, which will be run by Pembina’s senior executive team.Inter shares rose 5.9% to $18.58 while Pembina fell 2.9% to C$37.76 at 9:48 a.m. in Toronto.Scotia Capital is Pembina’s financial adviser, while TD Securities advised Inter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the financial adviser to the special committee of Inter’s board and gave a fairness opinion.(Updates with share prices in eighth paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210601 07h43m29s Business Bloomberg 210601 07h33m Dubai Left Behind as World’s Prime Property Hotspots Thrive (Bloomberg) -- A supply glut that’s held down Dubai’s property prices for over half a decade will likely keep it on the sidelines of a global upswing in values of prime residential real estate.Fast emerging from the pandemic slump, the construction industry will deliver an estimated 62,000 homes in the emirate this year and nearly 63,500 in 2022, which would be the most since 2009, according to consultancy firm Knight Frank LLP.The burst of supply will probably leave Dubai, alongside Buenos Aires, as the only two cities in Knight Frank’s selection of 25 prime locations to witness a decline in values for their top-end residential properties.“The supply-demand imbalance has been a defining feature of Dubai’s residential market ever since the Great Recession of 2008-09,” said Faisal Durrani, head of Middle East Research at Knight Frank. “Looking at the next few years, this looks set to persist.”The Rich Find Haven in Dubai, and Luxury Home-Sale Boom EnsuesWhile the wealthiest home buyers who fled virus lockdowns for Dubai have helped spur demand for luxury homes earlier this year, the improvement hasn’t been uniform. Much of the city’s real estate is still working through an oversupply that drove down values by over a third since 2014.The pandemic compounded the pressures from job losses and departures of foreign workers, chipping away at demand for rentals. The booming residential pipeline suggests that chronic oversupply will remain a key vulnerability for Dubai, one of seven sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates.Still, the outlook also means that Dubai will be a relative bargain for buyers with deep pockets. A million dollars can buy 165 square meters (1,776 square feet) of space in Dubai, around five times more than in London or New York, according to Knight Frank. Dubai has 42,356 homes valued at $1 million, second only to the U.K. capital.The values of prime homes, worth 3.6 million dirhams ($1 million) or more, are forecast to decline 2% in 2021 after dropping 6% in 2020, Knight Frank estimates.Home prices overall are set to fall 2% to 3% while single-family properties -- known locally as villas and making up about a third of the city’s residential supply -- are likely to climb 3% to 4%, Durrani said.While some completion delays are likely, “it does appear as though the market is being supplied with more homes than can be absorbed,” he added.Dubai’s Property Glut Means Two More Years of Price Declines Still, Knight Frank forecasts prices will decline at a slower pace thanks to easing travel restrictions and plans to stage the postponed Expo 2020 later this year.With “an improved economic outlook, business confidence is rising and that is filtering through to the property market in the form of heightened interest and rising deal volumes,” Durrani said.(Updates with comment on supply delays in 10th paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210601 07h33m Stocks Near Record on Economic Data; Oil Jumps: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks climbed toward a record and oil rallied as a string of positive economic readings helped spur optimism in the recovery from the pandemic.The S&P 500 opened higher ahead of key manufacturing data for May that is expected to show a continuing rebound from Covid lows. That would add to a raft of strong readings from Europe and Asia that boosted shares in those regions.The recovery is helping to push prices for raw materials higher, as a bullish forecast from the OPEC+ alliance sent WTI crude futures to their highest in more than two years. Commodities from iron ore to copper climbed. Treasuries slipped, the dollar was steady and Bitcoin was littled changed as cryptocurrencies were relatively calm.Global stocks are starting the new month on a high note, underpinned by the recovery from the health crisis and ample liquidity. Still, the jump in commodities prices is stoking concerns that rising inflation could prompt central banks to withdraw support earlier than anticipated. Traders are also awaiting key American jobs data later in the week to help assess the path of the rebound.“What is currently missing is a reason to sell,” Paul Nolte, a portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management, wrote in a note Monday. “Until the Fed begins to discuss withdrawing from their purchase program, or we begin to see investors move out of risky portions of the markets, the momentum is still on the bull’s side and stocks can get pricier still.”Some corporate highlights:KKR and CD&R plan to take Cloudera private in a deal valued at about $5.3 billionAMC raised $230.5 million of equity as a part of a deal with Mudrick Capital ManagementZoom’s user turnover will be the focus of earnings when it reports after the close of tradingHere are key events to watch this week:OPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 rose 0.7% at 9:31 a.m. New York time, the most since May 24 as of 9:31 a.m. New York timeThe Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%, more than any closing gain since May 24The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to a record highThe Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.2% to a record highThe MSCI World index rose 0.8% to a record highCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1% to the lowest since May 25The euro was little changed at $1.2228The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.4184The Japanese yen was little changed at 109.51 per dollarBondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 1.62%Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.18%Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 0.81%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.1% to the highest on recordGold futures rose 0.3% to $1,911 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Yahoo Finance 210601 07h32m Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise as S&P 500 nears record high U.S. stocks gained Tuesday morning, with equities looking to kick off the first session of June after a long holiday weekend on a high note. Business Yahoo Finance 210601 07h32m Stock market correction is likely in 12 to 36 months: CFA Institute It's clear sailing for the stock market the CFA Institute says in a new survey. Clear sailing for now. Business Reuters 210601 07h31m U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear J&J appeal over $2 billion baby powder judgment The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Johnson & Johnson's bid to overturn a $2.12 billion damages award to women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in the company's baby powder and other talc products. The justices turned away a J&J appeal and left in place a Missouri state court ruling in litigation brought by 22 women whose claims were heard together in one trial. The Missouri Court of Appeals last year ruled against J&J's bid to throw out the compensatory and punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs but reduced the total to $2.12 billion from the $4.69 billion originally decided by a jury. Politics Reuters 210601 07h22m UPDATE 1-Biden to host Republican Capito Wednesday for infrastructure talks -White House President Joe Biden will host Republican U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito on Wednesday, the White House said, in hopes of hammering out a bipartisan infrastructure deal to revitalize America's roads, bridges and broadband internet systems. The meeting will take place amid growing pressure from Democrats in Congress to move forward on Biden's sweeping $1.7 trillion proposal, which would not only address traditional infrastructure projects but also address climate change and seek to build up social programs such as eldercare. A group of Senate Republicans led by Capito have proposed a $928 billion eight-year plan, focused narrowly on physical infrastructure, in their latest attempt to broker an agreement with the administration. Howell date : 210601 06h42m51s Business Bloomberg 210601 06h31m Futures, Stocks Rise on Economic Data; Oil Jumps: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures rose with stocks, and commodities including oil jumped, as a string of positive economic readings helped spur optimism in the recovery from the pandemic.S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts climbed ahead of manufacturing data for May that is expected to show a continuing rebound from Covid lows. That would add to a raft of strong readings from Europe and Asia that boosted shares there. Euro-area factories are struggling to keep up with surging demand, while manufacturing grew in Asia in May despite Covid-19 flareups.The recovery is helping to push prices for raw materials higher, as a bullish forecast from the OPEC+ alliance sent WTI crude futures to their highest in more than two years. Commodities from iron ore to copper climbed. Treasuries slipped and the dollar was steady.Global stocks are starting the new month near record highs, underpinned by the recovery from the health crisis and ample liquidity. Still, the jump in commodities prices is stoking concerns that rising inflation could prompt central banks to withdraw support earlier than anticipated. In addition to the manufacturing figures, traders are awaiting key American jobs data later in the week to help assess the path of the rebound.“The inflation outlook is a risk because it is so unknown at the moment, and it will take a number of months to really get a true idea of whether we will see that inflation be persistently higher or not,” Kerry Craig, JPMorgan Asset Management global market strategist, said on Bloomberg TV.Here are key events to watch this week:OPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 Index advanced 0.5% as of 8:27 a.m. New York time.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.3%.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.3%.The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 0.7%.CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.The euro was little changed at $1.2222.The British pound decreased 0.3% to $1.4166.The onshore yuan weakened 0.2% to 6.384 per dollar.The Japanese yen weakened 0.1% to 109.66 per dollar.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries jumped three basis points to 1.62%.The yield on two-year Treasuries increased one basis point to 0.15%.Germany’s 10-year yield gained one basis point to -0.18%.Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 0.817%.Japan’s 10-year yield decreased less than one basis point to 0.083%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude advanced 3.4% to $68.58 a barrel.Brent crude advanced 2.6% to $71.09 a barrel.Gold strengthened 0.2% to $1,910.47 an ounce.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210601 06h27m OPEC+ Set to Sign off on July Hike as a Tenser Discussion Looms (Bloomberg) -- OPEC+ looked set to increase production in July as expected, as ministers prepare to tackle the thornier issue of how to handle a tightening oil market for the rest of the year.The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee recommended pushing ahead with the increase for July, when the group stands to add 841,000 barrels per day following hikes in May and June, according to delegates. There’s been no discussion yet on Tuesday of policy beyond that. A full ministerial meeting starts shortly.Oil demand is accelerating as vaccine programs expand and economies rebound -- and Brent soaring back above $71 is fueling inflation concerns. But the outlook for the cartel, which engineered the recovery in prices from the historic crash of last year, continues to be mired in uncertainty as the focus shifts to how it will manage an increasingly tight market for the rest of the year.Iran’s potential return to international markets is one factor weighing on ministers’ decision-making. The impact of new variants of Covid-19 is another. And while there’s a wide deficit in the market to fill in the second half of the year, those two considerations could see some producers argue for a pause before further hikes.After the July increase, OPEC+ is scheduled to keep supply at that level until April 2022, according to the deal signed a year ago to rescue producers from a bitter price war. While the agreement can be renegotiated -- and there’ll be pressure to do so as demand continues to recover -- it provides a fallback position for the group.If the alliance doesn’t boost output later this year, prices will face further upward pressure, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told Bloomberg Television earlier on Tuesday.“One thing is clear: in the absence of changing the policies, with the strong growth coming from the U.S., China, Europe, we will see a widening gap” between demand and supply, Birol said. This “in turn would put further upward pressure on the prices.”(adds details)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210601 06h22m AMC Raises $230.5 Million of Equity in Plan to ‘Go on Offense’ (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. rose in premarket trading, extending last week’s rally, after raising $230.5 million in new equity as it pledged to “go on offense” with acquisitions.The movie theater operator, which has become a poster child for retail traders, jumped 17% to $30.60 as of 8:15 a.m. in New York after entering a purchase agreement with New York-based Mudrick Capital Management to sell 8.5 million shares of common stock at $27.12 apiece. The stock closed at $26.12 before the holiday weekend.Read more: AMC Embrace of Day-Trader Crowd Fuels Dizzying Monthly GainAMC plans to use the cash proceeds from the sale for acquisitions of additional theater leases, as well as investments into AMC’s existing theaters, the company said in a statement. It is in discussions with multiple landlords of theaters formerly operated by Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres, Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron said.Mudrick Capital has made big bets on AMC in the past, helping the movie theater chain as it pushed through the pandemic. In January, the firm entered into an agreement to buy $100 million of new secured bonds in exchange for a commitment fee equal to about 8 million AMC shares. The deal also called for Mudrick to exchange $100 million of AMC bonds due 2026 for about 13.7 million shares.Read More: Mudrick Capital Gains $200 Million on AMC, GameStop BetsThe latest deal with Mudrick may help the company reduce rent and other operating expenses if it’s able to enter into new lease agreements. AMC has been negotiating with its landlords to amend terms of certain leases and avoid a potential cash crunch through the height of the pandemic.“With this agreement with Mudrick Capital, we have raised funds that will allow us to be aggressive in going after the most valuable theatre assets, as well as to make other strategic investments in our business and to pursue deleveraging opportunities,” Aron said in the statement.This sale is the latest of several equity financings conducted by AMC during its meteoric rise this year. It follows the completion of an at-the-market offering in May and a bankruptcy-avoiding financing in January. Tuesday’s deal represents just 1.7% of AMC’s public float as of May 13, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.(Updates share price move in the second paragraph and adds more details throughout.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210601 06h18m Software group SAP adopts flexible working, by popular demand Business software group SAP is adopting flexible working for its 100,000 employees around the world, after the experience of remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic drew overwhelmingly positive feedback. "It gives employees 100% flexibility," Julia White, SAP's recently appointed chief marketing and solutions officer, told Reuters in an interview. White, who was 'onboarded' remotely in the United States, only met Chief Executive Christian Klein and other top managers face to face last week on her first visit to Germany since joining from Microsoft in January. Business Reuters 210601 06h08m Brazil's economy grows 1.2% in first quarter, faster than expected Brazil's economy grew by 1.2% in the three months to March, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, the third consecutive quarter of expansion and slightly above consensus market expectations. The increase in Brazil's GDP from the prior quarter was more than the 1.0% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, while the 1.0% rise from a year earlier was also more than the 0.8% rise economists had expected. Business Bloomberg 210601 06h04m Gold’s Momentum is With the Bulls After Best Month Since July (Bloomberg) -- Gold held onto its biggest monthly gain since July as investors awaited fresh data on the U.S. economy to feed the debate about inflation.Bullion wiped out losses made earlier this year with a 7.8% advance over May amid signs of accelerating inflation. Patchy economic data has also lifted gold, boosting expectations central banks will put off rate hikes.Key data this week include U.S. jobs figures on Friday, following a surprisingly poor reading last month that highlighted potential headwinds to economic recovery. The Bloomberg Dollar Index is threatening to fall to its lowest since 2014 after a second monthly decline in May.“Momentum in the gold market remains strong, with investor inflows picking up sharply,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. wrote in an emailed note. “Thus a weak payrolls number on Friday could jolt prices even higher.”Rising prices are again drawing investors via exchange-traded funds -- a major driver of last year’s rally. Money managers have also increased their net bullish gold bets to a 20-week high, CFTC data on futures and options show.Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,909.35 an ounce by 1:03 p.m. in London. Bullion is up 0.5% this year, but still well short of the record $2,075.47 hit in August. Silver rose, while platinum fell and palladium was little changed.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210601 06h42m07s Howell date : 210531 19h15m49s Business Reuters 210531 18h58m S.Korea May exports at full throttle, set fastest pace in 32 years South Korea exports logged their sharpest expansion in 32 years in May, marking another robust month of shipments fuelled by stronger consumer demand globally as many economies start to reopen. Surging chip and car shipments helped power a 45.6% surge in South Korea's exports from a year earlier, government data showed on Tuesday, posting the fastest growth since August 1988 and extending their expansion to a seventh month in a row. Exports growth, however, slightly missed a consensus of a 48.5% gain in a Reuters poll. Business Reuters 210531 18h26m UPDATE 1-Japan's Q1 capex falls for 4th straight quarter Japanese companies cut spending on plant and equipment for the fourth consecutive quarter in January-March, as the economy struggles to shake off the drag from the coronavirus pandemic. A slow recovery of firms' propensity to spend is likely to worry policymakers hoping strong domestic demand can help make the country's economic recovery more sustainable. Ministry of Finance (MOF) data out on Tuesday showed capital expenditure in the first quarter fell 7.8% from the same period last year, pulled down by weaker investments in transportation equipment, electrical machinery and real estate. Business Bloomberg 210531 18h23m Asian Stocks Steady at Open; Yuan Trims Retreat: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks were steady early Tuesday as traders await gauges of manufacturing activity and key American jobs data later in the week to help assess the economic outlook.Shares fluctuated in Japan, South Korea and Australia. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures edged lower following a U.S. holiday. The offshore yuan trimmed a retreat sparked by China forcing banks to keep more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in over a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in a surging currency.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its current plan. Gold had its biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield ticked higher and the dollar inched downward.In Australia, the central bank is expected to keep loose policy settings unchanged. But it may be getting closer to a decision on whether the economy is strong enough to join Canada and New Zealand in signaling a move away from emergency stimulus.Global stocks are starting the new month near record highs, underpinned by the economic recovery from the pandemic and ample liquidity from sustained stimulus. Still, concerns linger that rising price pressures could prompt central banks to withdraw support earlier than anticipated.“We believe the market has been premature in scaling back the reflation trade simply because some commodities and U.S. Treasury yields have experienced a correction,” wrote Eric Robertsen, chief strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.Here are key events to watch this week:Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures slipped 0.1% as of 9:14 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge was little changed Friday.Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.1%. The index rose 0.2% Friday.Japan’s Topix index fell 0.1%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.4%South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 0.1%CurrenciesThe yen traded at 109.43 per dollar, up 0.1%The offshore yuan was at 6.3704 per dollarThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%The euro was at $1.2226BondsThe 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose about one basis point to 1.61%Australia’s 10-year bond yield dipped one basis point to 1.70%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $67 a barrelGold was at $1,907.18 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210531 18h22m Tesla's vehicle price increases due to supply chain pressure, Musk says He was responding to an unverified Twitter account called @Ryanth3nerd, which said, "I really don't like the direction @tesla is going raising prices of vehicles but removing features like lumbar for the Model Y..." In May, Tesla increased its Model 3 and Model Y prices, the automaker's fifth incremental price increase for its vehicles in just a few months, the Electrek website reported https://bit.ly/3c9PPVo. During an an earnings conference call in April, Musk said Tesla had experienced "some of the most difficult supply chain challenges," citing a chip shortage. Business Bloomberg 210531 18h19m Next Big Move in India Yields Will Be Higher, Bond Veteran Says (Bloomberg) -- India’s sovereign bond yields are likely to head sideways in coming months before starting to spike higher toward year-end, according to a 25-year bond-market veteran.Signs of quicker inflation and concern the Reserve Bank of India will pull back on policy support should eventually put yields on a rising path, said Radhavi Deshpande, chief investment officer at Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. in Mumbai. Consumer prices will start to rise as the virus wave subsides, and that will also convince policy makers to ease back on stimulus, she said.“We expect the benchmark 10-year yield to head toward 6.50% as inflation worries and policy normalization concerns begin to resurface along with reducing support from the RBI as we approach the year end,” she said in an interview. Yields may stretch toward the high, last seen in April 2020, by March, she added.The first steps toward policy normalization at the RBI can be expected in December with policy makers likely to raise the reverse repo rate and start draining liquidity through variable reverse repos of different tenors, Deshpande said. The benchmark yield was at 6% on Monday.India’s move toward higher bond yields and interest rates will be another milestone in the recovery of global financial markets from the ravages of the coronavirus. Progress toward normalization in the South Asian nation has seen a massive setback in recent months as the nation suffered one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the pandemic.While there have been signs in recent weeks that the current virus wave is easing, inflation is likely to stay in a range of 4% to 6% over the next nine-to-12 months, said Deshpande, who was previously head of proprietary trading at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. Still, demand should start to recover as the number of cases falls and that will help stoke inflationary pressures, she said.Debt PurchasesInflation data in recent months have been mixed. The consumer price index fell to 4.3% in April, the second-lowest level in more than a year, driven down by cooling food and beverage prices. In contrast, wholesale-price inflation jumped to the fastest pace in more than a decade in the same month amid climbing commodity prices and a low base from a year earlier.Concern about potential inflationary pressure has made the RBI unwilling to cut interest rates further. The central bank has instead chosen to pump extra liquidity into the financial system and buy bonds to cap yields. The central bank has said it will purchase 1 trillion rupees ($13.8 billion) of debt this quarter in addition to its existing Operation Twist programs and open-market debt purchases.The RBI will need to step in with about 4 trillion rupees of bond purchases in total to meet the demand-supply imbalance in government bonds, she said.At some point though, it will have to wind back its emergency pandemic measures, paving the way for yields to rise.“Once economic growth and hence credit picks up pace we should see a natural shift in demand away from sovereigns,” which will help push yields higher, Deshpande said.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210531 18h18m Korea Exports Post Biggest Gain Since 1988 as World Reopens (Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s exports surged the most since 1988 in May as a reopening of overseas economies boosted demand for products manufactured by the Asian nation.Overseas shipments increased 45.6% from a year earlier, the trade ministry said Tuesday, compared with economists’ forecasts for a 48.9% increase. Exports to China rose 22.7% while total semiconductor shipments increased 24.5%.While export growth was in part inflated by last year’s 24% plunge, the outsized gains reinforce the view that global commerce is recovering from the pandemic and fueling Korea’s economic expansion. Increased vaccinations in major economies like the U.S. have allowed business regulations to be further relaxed and bolstered consumer confidence.Key InsightSouth Korea’s exports are seen as a barometer of global demand as the country is home to world-renowned manufacturers for chips, cars and smartphones.Exports are key to achieving the Bank of Korea’s forecast of 4% economic growth this year as they help fuel investment and buoy confidence. Korea’s consumption is also rebounding, which would make the recovery more balanced.A global chip shortage has hurt production at major carmakers including Korea’s Hyundai Motor. Still, the crunch helps boost prices for certain types of Korean semiconductors, and the government has recently laid out a long-term plan to create a production cluster to prevent future shortages.The latest data from China showed the country’s manufacturing recovery may have peaked, with soaring input prices weighing on small factories. Korea’s export data will shed further light on Asia’s manufacturing momentum amid surging commodity prices.Get MoreTotal automobile shipments jumped 93.7% in May from a year earlier, while exports of oil products rose 164.1%.Overall exports to the U.S. rose 62.8%, while those to Japan increased 32.1% and to the European Union were up 62.8%.Overall imports rose 37.9% from a year earlier, leaving a trade surplus of $2.93 billion.(Updates with more detail.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business World Howell date : 210531 18h15m12s Business Reuters 210531 18h05m Australia's Nine Entertainment signs content deal with Facebook, Google The agreement, terms of which were not disclosed, comes after rival Seven West Media Ltd and News Corp signed similar deals following the enactment of tough laws to make U.S. tech giants pay for displaying news on their platforms. The multi-media firm said it would supply content for Google's News Showcase platform for five years and to a similar Facebook product for three. Google would also expand its marketing ventures across Nine's platforms, the publisher of the Australian Financial Review, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers added. Business Reuters 210531 17h54m Europe's bourse share trading claims inaccurate, says industry body The bulk of share trading in the European Union takes place on exchanges with relatively little inside banks, an industry body said on Tuesday in a bid to stop what it called bourses seeking to "perpetuate their dominance". The EU is reviewing its stock and bond trading rules, known as MiFID II, triggering a battle between exchanges and their top customers, the banks and large asset managers, over competition. The EU's securities watchdog ESMA has estimated that nearly half of trading is off an exchange, prompting bourses to call for this part of the market to face tougher curbs so that more trading goes onto 'lit' venues like the main exchanges. Business Bloomberg 210531 17h48m Oil Rises After OPEC+ Forecasts Tightening Market Before Meeting (Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed to near $67 a barrel after the OPEC+ alliance forecast a tightening global market ahead of a production policy meeting.Futures in New York advanced around 1% from Friday after not settling Monday due to a holiday in the U.S. An OPEC+ committee predicted that the oil glut built up during the Covid-19 pandemic has almost gone, and that stockpiles will diminish rapidly in the second half of the year. The alliance is expected to ratify a scheduled output increase in July when it meets later on Tuesday.A robust recovery in the U.S. and Europe has given OPEC+ the confidence that global markets can absorb any additional barrels, despite a Covid-19 comeback in parts of Asia and the prospect of more supply from Iran should a nuclear deal be revived. OPEC’s Joint Technical Committee forecast stockpiles will fall by at least 2 million barrels a day from September through December.The prompt timespread for Brent was 37 cents in backwardation -- a bullish structure where near-dated prices are more expensive than later-dated ones -- on Monday. That compares with 9 cents at the start of last week.Asian refiners, meanwhile, are grappling with what’s expected to be a brief period of weak profits amid the demand-sapping virus resurgence. Complex refining margins in Singapore, a proxy for the region, have slumped since the end of April, but accelerating vaccination rates are expected to aid demand.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 17h46m Cyber attack hits JBS meat works in Australia, North America Australian and North American units of the world's largest meat works were hit over the weekend by an organised cyber attack on its information systems, Brazil's JBS SA said in a statement. The attack caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday. "On Sunday, May 30, JBS USA determined that it was the target of an organised cybersecurity attack, affecting some of the servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems," it said in a statement released Monday afternoon, U.S. time. Business Bloomberg 210531 17h30m Singapore Bonds Turn Best Performer as Curbs Drive Haven Demand (Bloomberg) -- Singapore government bonds beat their biggest developed-market peers in May as a flare-up in virus infections in the city state fostered demand for haven assets.The securities gained 1% last month, a performance which trails only that of South African and Mexican notes among 30 of the world’s largest debt markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Fifteen- and 20-year bonds outperformed other tenors.Singapore was forced to reimpose a month of lockdown-like conditions from May 16 to quell a rising number of infections, its first return to tightening restrictions since last year. The city-state’s bonds also caught a bid from subdued inflation and a lack of supply pressures.“The implicit increase in household savings from restrained activity has been beneficial for longer-tenor bonds and supporting their relative outperformance,” said Philip McNicholas, ASEAN foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. “A general normalization in U.S. post-reopening economic activity could give a further tailwind to Singapore dollar bonds as Fed tightening gets pushed back.”Infections in the city state have since stabilized. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday restrictions may be eased in two weeks.The lack of price pressures is another boon for bonds. Economists estimate that Singapore’s consumer prices will rise just 1.3% this year, compared with an average gain of 2.3% for developed markets. This would make the city state the only AAA-rated market that offers positive inflation-adjusted yields.Singapore’s bonds may remain supported because of a lack of supply of long-dated debt in June, said Winson Phoon, head of fixed-income research at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte. in Singapore. An auction of new July 2031 notes on June 28, the last scheduled sale of 10-year debt this year, will be the market’s next point of focus.“Overwhelming U.S. dollar liquidity is prompting investors to look for better returns outside of the U.S.,” said Eugene Leow, a rates strategist at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “Singapore is doing well on the vaccination front even as the economy is still under more stringent Covid-19 restrictions.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 17h30m Polish trial begins in Huawei-linked China espionage case An espionage trial involving a former Polish secret services agent and an ex-employee of Huawei begins in a Warsaw court on Tuesday as some European states consider whether to exclude the Chinese group's equipment from their 5G telecom networks. Poland arrested the two men in January 2019 on suspicion of spying for China, in a move that has ramped up international debate over the potential security risks of using Huawei equipment in communications networks. Huawei has repeatedly denied its equipment can be used for espionage by authorities in Beijing, but the United States has been pressuring countries to ban it. Business Bloomberg 210531 16h15m Asian Stocks Look Set to Dip; Yuan Holds Retreat: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks looked set for a weaker open Tuesday and U.S. futures slipped as traders await key American jobs data later this week to help gauge the economic outlook.Equity contracts fell in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures edged down following a U.S. holiday. The offshore yuan held a retreat after China forced banks to keep more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in over a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in the surging currency.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its current plan. Gold had its biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.In Australia, the central bank is expected to keep loose policy settings unchanged. But it may be getting closer to a decision on whether the economy is strong enough to join Canada and New Zealand in signaling a move away from emergency stimulus.Global stocks are starting the new month near record highs, underpinned by the economic recovery from the pandemic and ample liquidity from sustained stimulus. Still, concerns linger that rising price pressures could prompt central banks to withdraw support earlier than anticipated.“We believe the market has been premature in scaling back the reflation trade simply because some commodities and U.S. Treasury yields have experienced a correction,” wrote Eric Robertsen, chief strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.Here are key events to watch this week:Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures fell 0.1% as of 7:10 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge was little changed Friday.Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.1%. The index rose 0.2% Friday.Nikkei 225 futures retreated 0.1%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures fell 0.4%Hang Seng Index futures slipped 0.1%CurrenciesThe yen traded at 109.54 per dollarThe offshore yuan was at 6.3730 per dollar, after falling 0.2%The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro was at $1.2229BondsU.S. 10-year bond futures were little changedCommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $67.01 a barrelGold was at $1,907.44 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210531 17h14m35s Business Reuters 210531 16h51m Resignation of Petrobras board member Gasparino now official The resignation of Petrobras board member Marcelo Gasparino has been formalized, the Brazilian state oil company said in a Monday securities filing. Gasparino, who represents market shareholders on the company's board, announced he was resigning in April. In the filing, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, said the board had the right to appoint a substitute until the next shareholders' meeting. Business Bloomberg 210531 16h24m Asian Stocks Look Set to Dip; Yuan Holds Retreat: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks looked set for a weaker open Tuesday and U.S. futures slipped as traders await key American jobs data later this week to help gauge the economic outlook.Equity contracts fell in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures edged down following a U.S. holiday. The offshore yuan held a retreat after China forced banks to keep more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in over a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in the surging currency.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its current plan. Gold had its biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.In Australia, the central bank is expected to keep loose policy settings unchanged. But it may be getting closer to a decision on whether the economy is strong enough to join Canada and New Zealand in signaling a move away from emergency stimulus.Global stocks are starting the new month near record highs, underpinned by the economic recovery from the pandemic and ample liquidity from sustained stimulus. Still, concerns linger that rising price pressures could prompt central banks to withdraw support earlier than anticipated.“We believe the market has been premature in scaling back the reflation trade simply because some commodities and U.S. Treasury yields have experienced a correction,” wrote Eric Robertsen, chief strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.Here are key events to watch this week:Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures fell 0.1% as of 7:10 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge was little changed Friday.Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.1%. The index rose 0.2% Friday.Nikkei 225 futures retreated 0.1%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures fell 0.4%Hang Seng Index futures slipped 0.1%CurrenciesThe yen traded at 109.54 per dollarThe offshore yuan was at 6.3730 per dollar, after falling 0.2%The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro was at $1.2229BondsU.S. 10-year bond futures were little changedCommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $67.01 a barrelGold was at $1,907.44 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World World Bloomberg 210531 15h14m Meat Is Latest Cyber Victim as Hackers Hit Top Supplier JBS (Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest meat supplier was the target of a cybersecurity attack Sunday in the latest threat to global food supply chains that have been rattled by the pandemic.JBS SA shut its North American and Australian computer networks after an organized assault on servers, the company said by email Monday. Without commenting on operations at its plants, JBS said the incident may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers.The attack sidelined two shifts and halted processing at one of Canada’s largest meatpacking plants, while the Australian Financial Review earlier reported that cattle and sheep slaughtering had been suspended at JBS’s operations in Australia, citing country manager Brent Eastwood. There were no immediate reports of plant disruptions in the U.S.Hackers have the commodities complex in their crosshairs with the JBS attack coming just three weeks after the operator of the biggest U.S. gasoline pipeline was targeted. It comes as the meat industry battles lingering Covid-19 absenteeism after recovering from mass outbreaks last year that saw plants shut and supplies disrupted.JBS’s incident affected a Canadian beef plant in Brooks, Alberta, about 190 kilometers (118 miles) east of Calgary, on Monday, according to Scott Payne, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union Local 401.“There are no unionized workers there,” Payne said in a phone interview. “That means effectively the plant’s operations have shut for the day.”JBS didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the Canadian closure.A JBS packaging facility in Belleville, Ontario, where beef, pork and salmon are prepared for grocery stores, was operating normally, said Tim Deelstra, a spokesman for UFCW Canada Local 175. Dakar Lanzino, an external UFCW representative, said he had no information on whether the attack had disrupted plants in the U.S. Monday, a public holiday.Sao Paulo-based JBS owns facilities in 20 countries. Australia and New Zealand account for 4% of the company’s revenue, while the U.S. represents 50% and Canada 3%, according to company fillings.A ransom-ware attack forced Colonial Pipeline Co. to stop the flow of fuel for several days earlier this month, causing severe gasoline shortages in some areas.(Updates with Ontario plant operating normally)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 15h14m Software Firm Dye & Durham Soars on $2.8 Billion Management Bid (Bloomberg) -- Canadian software provider Dye & Durham Ltd. surged almost 18% after a shareholder group led by management offered to buy the company for about C$3.4 billion ($2.8 billion), less than a year after it went public.The Toronto-based company said Monday it will form a committee of directors to evaluate its options following an approach by executives who want to take it over for C$50.50 a share. The shares closed at C$48.24 in Toronto, up 17.7%.The disclosure may bring financial buyers into the arena, according to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce analyst Stephanie Price. “We see private equity as the most likely alternative bidder,” Price wrote in a note. Dye & Durham could take on “much more leverage as a private company than the public markets would be comfortable with,” she said.Dye & Durham provides software for legal and business professionals, offering clients a platform for accessing legal registries and public records data. Its products help speed up document searches, document creation and electronic records filings.The offer is 23% higher than Friday’s close and more than six times the C$7.50 price of the initial public offering last July. The board committee will consider other bidders or merger partners and will also examine a sale of assets, the company said.Mawer OpposesOne large shareholder expressed opposition to the go-private transaction. “We think Dye & Durham is an excellent company and should remain public,” Jeff Mo, lead manager of Canadian small cap strategies at Mawer Investment Management Ltd., said in an interview. Mo said he would reconsider his view if the board process leads to a bidding war. Mawer holds about 9% of Dye & Durham, he said.The company has been led since 2014 by Chief Executive Officer Matthew Proud, who has expanded it through a number of acquisitions in Canada, the U.K. and Australia.One of Proud’s companies, Plantro Ltd., sold 2.2 million shares of Dye & Durham in January, according to insider trading records. Other executives, including Chief Operating Officer John Robinson and Chief Information Officer Eric Tong, also sold shares at that time.“The decision by management to purchase the business will raise eyebrows, given recent concern on insider selling and the need to raise significant capital,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Robert Young said in a note.Deal SpreeDye & Durham been busy making deals since going public. In December, it said it would buy DoProcess LP for C$530 million from the infrastructure arm of Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System. Since January, it’s announced four more deals, including a C$94 million acquisition of U.K. real estate software firm Future Climate Info Ltd.To help fund its acquisition spree, Dye & Durham has tapped equity markets on several occasions since the IPO. The most recent was a February issue of nearly 4 million shares at C$50.50 -- the same price as the proposed takeover offer.The company’s statement didn’t say which members of management are part of the group that wants to take the company private. The company said that, following recent acquisitions, it expects C$220 million in annualized pro forma adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.Last year, Matthew Proud and his brother, Avesdo Inc. Executive Chairman Tyler Proud, were part of a failed C$58 million offer for Torstar Corp., the publisher of the Toronto Star.(Updates share price, CIBC note and other changes)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210531 15h14m CANADA FX DEBT-Loonie extends monthly win streak as Canadian vaccinations climb With London and New York markets closed for holidays, the Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.2064 to the greenback, or 82.89 U.S. cents. The currency was helped this month by higher commodity prices and a broadly weaker U.S. dollar, as well as a jump in Canadian vaccination levels, said Michael Goshko, corporate risk manager at Western Union Business Solutions. Canada's current account balance in the first quarter swung to a surplus for the first time since 2008, mainly boosted this year by exports of oil and lumber, data showed on Monday. Business Bloomberg 210531 14h14m Futures, Stocks Decline With Jobs Data in View: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures slipped along with European stocks on Monday as traders await fresh catalysts, with the key American jobs data later this week set to provide further clues on the outlook for the world’s biggest economy amid lingering inflation concerns.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined, with trading hours curtailed due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. The dollar weakened against a basket of peers. The euro gained after data showed Germany’s inflation rate rose to the highest level since October 2018, while price pick-ups in May were also reported by Spain and Italy. There’s no Treasuries cash trading today, after the 10-year yield closed just below 1.6% on Friday.The utilities sector dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 index lower as Spain’s Endesa SA declined following reports the Spanish government is preparing to rein in windfall profits for power producers. Deutsche Bank AG dropped after the Federal Reserve warned that its compliance programs aren’t adequate. U.K. markets are closed for a holiday.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its plan. Gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”The offshore yuan weakened after China forced banks to hold more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in more than a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in the surging currency. Bitcoin rebounded from Friday’s slump to trade above $36,500.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4:31 p.m. New York timeFutures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.2%The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%The MSCI World index was little changedCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2227The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.4206The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 109.55 per dollarBondsGermany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.19%Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.79%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $67 a barrelGold futures rose 0.2% to $1,910 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210531 16h13m58s Business Reuters 210531 15h53m Mexican judge freezes price rule changes due to benefit Pemex A judge provisionally suspended modifications to Mexico's hydrocarbons law that were intended to eliminate asymmetric price regulations against state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), court documents showed on Monday. The modifications are part of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's efforts to roll back the previous government's liberalization of the energy market, which aimed to increase private investment in the industry and boost competition. The asymmetric regulation, which was contained in a transitory article in the hydrocarbons law, sought to offset Pemex's dominant power in the market for oil and gas products and fuels. World Bloomberg 210531 15h41m Meat Is Latest Cyber Victim as Hackers Hit Top Supplier JBS (Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest meat supplier was the target of a cybersecurity attack Sunday in the latest threat to global food supply chains that have been rattled by the pandemic.JBS SA shut its North American and Australian computer networks after an organized assault on servers, the company said by email Monday. Without commenting on operations at its plants, JBS said the incident may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers.The attack sidelined two shifts and halted processing at one of Canada’s largest meatpacking plants, while the Australian Financial Review earlier reported that cattle and sheep slaughtering had been suspended at JBS’s operations in Australia, citing country manager Brent Eastwood. There were no immediate reports of plant disruptions in the U.S.Hackers have the commodities complex in their crosshairs with the JBS attack coming just three weeks after the operator of the biggest U.S. gasoline pipeline was targeted. It comes as the meat industry battles lingering Covid-19 absenteeism after recovering from mass outbreaks last year that saw plants shut and supplies disrupted.JBS’s incident affected a Canadian beef plant in Brooks, Alberta, about 190 kilometers (118 miles) east of Calgary, on Monday, according to Scott Payne, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union Local 401.“There are no unionized workers there,” Payne said in a phone interview. “That means effectively the plant’s operations have shut for the day.”JBS didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the Canadian closure.A JBS packaging facility in Belleville, Ontario, where beef, pork and salmon are prepared for grocery stores, was operating normally, said Tim Deelstra, a spokesman for UFCW Canada Local 175. Dakar Lanzino, an external UFCW representative, said he had no information on whether the attack had disrupted plants in the U.S. Monday, a public holiday.Sao Paulo-based JBS owns facilities in 20 countries. Australia and New Zealand account for 4% of the company’s revenue, while the U.S. represents 50% and Canada 3%, according to company fillings.A ransom-ware attack forced Colonial Pipeline Co. to stop the flow of fuel for several days earlier this month, causing severe gasoline shortages in some areas.(Updates with Ontario plant operating normally)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 15h16m Software Firm Dye & Durham Soars on $2.8 Billion Management Bid (Bloomberg) -- Canadian software provider Dye & Durham Ltd. surged almost 18% after a shareholder group led by management offered to buy the company for about C$3.4 billion ($2.8 billion), less than a year after it went public.The Toronto-based company said Monday it will form a committee of directors to evaluate its options following an approach by executives who want to take it over for C$50.50 a share. The shares closed at C$48.24 in Toronto, up 17.7%.The disclosure may bring financial buyers into the arena, according to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce analyst Stephanie Price. “We see private equity as the most likely alternative bidder,” Price wrote in a note. Dye & Durham could take on “much more leverage as a private company than the public markets would be comfortable with,” she said.Dye & Durham provides software for legal and business professionals, offering clients a platform for accessing legal registries and public records data. Its products help speed up document searches, document creation and electronic records filings.The offer is 23% higher than Friday’s close and more than six times the C$7.50 price of the initial public offering last July. The board committee will consider other bidders or merger partners and will also examine a sale of assets, the company said.Mawer OpposesOne large shareholder expressed opposition to the go-private transaction. “We think Dye & Durham is an excellent company and should remain public,” Jeff Mo, lead manager of Canadian small cap strategies at Mawer Investment Management Ltd., said in an interview. Mo said he would reconsider his view if the board process leads to a bidding war. Mawer holds about 9% of Dye & Durham, he said.The company has been led since 2014 by Chief Executive Officer Matthew Proud, who has expanded it through a number of acquisitions in Canada, the U.K. and Australia.One of Proud’s companies, Plantro Ltd., sold 2.2 million shares of Dye & Durham in January, according to insider trading records. Other executives, including Chief Operating Officer John Robinson and Chief Information Officer Eric Tong, also sold shares at that time.“The decision by management to purchase the business will raise eyebrows, given recent concern on insider selling and the need to raise significant capital,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Robert Young said in a note.Deal SpreeDye & Durham been busy making deals since going public. In December, it said it would buy DoProcess LP for C$530 million from the infrastructure arm of Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System. Since January, it’s announced four more deals, including a C$94 million acquisition of U.K. real estate software firm Future Climate Info Ltd.To help fund its acquisition spree, Dye & Durham has tapped equity markets on several occasions since the IPO. The most recent was a February issue of nearly 4 million shares at C$50.50 -- the same price as the proposed takeover offer.The company’s statement didn’t say which members of management are part of the group that wants to take the company private. The company said that, following recent acquisitions, it expects C$220 million in annualized pro forma adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.Last year, Matthew Proud and his brother, Avesdo Inc. Executive Chairman Tyler Proud, were part of a failed C$58 million offer for Torstar Corp., the publisher of the Toronto Star.(Updates share price, CIBC note and other changes)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Business Bloomberg 210531 14h13m Futures, Stocks Decline With Jobs Data in View: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures slipped along with European stocks on Monday as traders await fresh catalysts, with the key American jobs data later this week set to provide further clues on the outlook for the world’s biggest economy amid lingering inflation concerns.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined, with trading hours curtailed due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. The dollar weakened against a basket of peers. The euro gained after data showed Germany’s inflation rate rose to the highest level since October 2018, while price pick-ups in May were also reported by Spain and Italy. There’s no Treasuries cash trading today, after the 10-year yield closed just below 1.6% on Friday.The utilities sector dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 index lower as Spain’s Endesa SA declined following reports the Spanish government is preparing to rein in windfall profits for power producers. Deutsche Bank AG dropped after the Federal Reserve warned that its compliance programs aren’t adequate. U.K. markets are closed for a holiday.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its plan. Gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”The offshore yuan weakened after China forced banks to hold more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in more than a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in the surging currency. Bitcoin rebounded from Friday’s slump to trade above $36,500.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4:31 p.m. New York timeFutures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.2%The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%The MSCI World index was little changedCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2227The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.4206The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 109.55 per dollarBondsGermany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.19%Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.79%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $67 a barrelGold futures rose 0.2% to $1,910 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210531 13h13m EMERGING MARKETS-Chile's peso outperforms; Peru's sol drops ahead of elections The Chilean peso rose 0.2% as a strike by a union of remote operations workers at BHP's Escondida and Spence copper mines in Chile disrupted supply. On the month, however, the currency in on track to mark losses of about 1.7% with a crackdown in China in the past few weeks after the government's vow to stabilize commodity prices hit copper prices. Peru's sol fell 0.7% to 3.8348 per dollar in low volumes owing to a market holiday in United States. Howell date : 210531 15h13m22s Business Reuters 210531 14h45m CANADA FX DEBT-Loonie extends monthly win streak as Canadian vaccinations climb With London and New York markets closed for holidays, the Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.2064 to the greenback, or 82.89 U.S. cents. The currency was helped this month by higher commodity prices and a broadly weaker U.S. dollar, as well as a jump in Canadian vaccination levels, said Michael Goshko, corporate risk manager at Western Union Business Solutions. Canada's current account balance in the first quarter swung to a surplus for the first time since 2008, mainly boosted this year by exports of oil and lumber, data showed on Monday. Business Bloomberg 210531 14h34m Futures, Stocks Decline With Jobs Data in View: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures slipped along with European stocks on Monday as traders await fresh catalysts, with the key American jobs data later this week set to provide further clues on the outlook for the world’s biggest economy amid lingering inflation concerns.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined, with trading hours curtailed due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. The dollar weakened against a basket of peers. The euro gained after data showed Germany’s inflation rate rose to the highest level since October 2018, while price pick-ups in May were also reported by Spain and Italy. There’s no Treasuries cash trading today, after the 10-year yield closed just below 1.6% on Friday.The utilities sector dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 index lower as Spain’s Endesa SA declined following reports the Spanish government is preparing to rein in windfall profits for power producers. Deutsche Bank AG dropped after the Federal Reserve warned that its compliance programs aren’t adequate. U.K. markets are closed for a holiday.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its plan. Gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”The offshore yuan weakened after China forced banks to hold more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in more than a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in the surging currency. Bitcoin rebounded from Friday’s slump to trade above $36,500.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4:31 p.m. New York timeFutures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.2%The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%The MSCI World index was little changedCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2227The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.4206The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 109.55 per dollarBondsGermany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.19%Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.79%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $67 a barrelGold futures rose 0.2% to $1,910 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210531 13h13m EMERGING MARKETS-Chile's peso outperforms; Peru's sol drops ahead of elections The Chilean peso rose 0.2% as a strike by a union of remote operations workers at BHP's Escondida and Spence copper mines in Chile disrupted supply. On the month, however, the currency in on track to mark losses of about 1.7% with a crackdown in China in the past few weeks after the government's vow to stabilize commodity prices hit copper prices. Peru's sol fell 0.7% to 3.8348 per dollar in low volumes owing to a market holiday in United States. Business Bloomberg 210531 13h13m Canada’s Desjardins Buys Hexavest, Adding $4.1 Billion in Assets (Bloomberg) -- Desjardins Group, North America’s largest financial services co-operative, agreed to acquire the assets of Canadian investment manager Hexavest Inc., adding C$5 billion ($4.1 billion) in institutional funds.The purchase is in line with a the co-operative’s growth goal of targeting C$100 billion in assets under management by 2024, Nicolas Richard, president and chief operating officer of Desjardins Global Asset Management, said Monday in a statement. The Quebec-based asset manager had C$83 billion in assets under management as of the end of March.In Hexavest, Desjardins gets a Montreal-based firm with about 50 clients, mostly institutional investors in Asia, Australia, the U.S. and Canada. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close around Sept. 1, weren’t disclosed.The deal comes three months after Hexavest said it ended an eight-year partnership with Eaton Vance Corp., the global money manager recently acquired by Morgan Stanley. Eaton Vance had owned 49% of Hexavest and helped it sell services outside Canada. A holding company controlled by Hexavest employees bought out the stake in February.Hexavest’s performance has lagged benchmarks after a couple of difficult years. An all-country equities strategy returned 7.1% annualized over the five years ended March 31, trailing the MSCI ACWI Index by more than five percentage points, according to documents on the firm’s website. A Hexavest emerging markets fund did better, returning 10.8% annualized in the same period, slightly behind the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.“This transaction also allows us to consolidate Montreal’s position as an asset management hub,” Desjardins Chief Executive Officer Guy Cormier said in the statement.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210531 13h13m Iran Enriched Record Uranium Stockpile Amid Vienna Talks (Bloomberg) -- Iran produced a record volume of highly-enriched uranium that could quickly be turned into fuel for a nuclear weapon, underscoring the urgency with which diplomats are moving to restore an agreement that would rein in the Persian Gulf nation’s program.International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors circulated a confidential assessment of Iran’s atomic program on Monday as envoys hunkered down for an eighth week of negotiations in Vienna. Diplomats are trying to orchestrate a U.S. return and Iranian compliance with a landmark nuclear agreement that curtailed Tehran’s production of nuclear fuel in exchange for sanctions relief.Iran managed to produce 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium in the six weeks since saboteurs struck the country’s primary enrichment facility in Natanz, according to a 13-page restricted IAEA report seen by Bloomberg. The April 11 attack prompted Iran to begin enriching uranium to levels of 60% purity, just below the threshold normally used in bombs. Iran blamed Israel for the sabotage, while Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.“The agency’s verification and monitoring activities have been affected as a result of Iran’s decision to stop implementation of its nuclear-related commitments,” read the report, which is the second to be published since Iran began to restrict some monitoring in February. Inspectors have lost access to key sites, including workshops where the machines are made that enrich uranium.Over the last three months, Iran’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium more than tripled to 63 kilograms, while its inventory of 5% material rose 6% to about 3,141 kilograms. That’s enough uranium to produce several bombs if Iran chose to enrich to weapons grade. The country says its program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.Negotiators in the Austrian capital are in what some say could be their final round of talks to revive the 2015 accord that former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned three years ago. A return to the deal would force Iran to cut production capacity and reduce its uranium stockpile to below 300 kilograms of material enriched to 3.67% until 2030. In return, Tehran’s government could resume oil exports and participate in the global economy.Diplomats seeking a return to the accord are racing to do this before Iran holds presidential elections on June 18.Iran has yet to provide clarification to IAEA investigators about the presence of decades-old uranium traces discovered at several sites, according to a second 6-page IAEA report. Iran invited agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to visit Tehran the week of June 21 to continue discussing the matter.“The Director General is concerned that the technical discussions between the agency and Iran have not yielded the expected results and of the consequent lack of progress in clarifying safeguards issues,” read the report.The IAEA’s 35-member board of governors convenes next week in the Austrian capital to discuss the reports(Adds meeting next week in the final paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 12h13m Cinven Nears Deal for German Software Maker think-cell (Bloomberg) -- Cinven Ltd., the U.K. buyout house, agreed to buy a controlling stake in German software company think-cell, the company said in a statement.As part of the transaction, think-cell’s founders Markus Hannebauer and Arno Schoedl will continue to be active members of the management team and will both remain minority investors in the business alongside Cinven.Founded in 2002, think-cell reported 88 million euros in revenue and 80 million euros in pretax profit in 2019, according to public filings. Publicly traded peers are usually valued at 10 times revenue and in some cases at more than 20 times pretax profit. That means think-cell could be valued at significantly more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), the people said.The software company creates tools to make charts and slides on Microsoft Corp.’s PowerPoint and has some 800,000 paying users, according to its website.The sale of a majority stake in think-cell to private equity is in line with a broader industry trend. Founders, including companies in Asia, have been fueling such deals to resolve succession issues, cash in on high valuations and manage the next phase of growth.Cinven has been involved in significant private-equity deals in recent years in German-speaking Europe, including the buyout of generic drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel AG and ThyssenKrupp AG’s elevator business.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210531 14h12m43s Business Business Business World Business Business Bloomberg 210531 12h12m Cinven Nears Deal for German Software Maker think-cell (Bloomberg) -- Cinven Ltd., the U.K. buyout house, agreed to buy a controlling stake in German software company think-cell, the company said in a statement.As part of the transaction, think-cell’s founders Markus Hannebauer and Arno Schoedl will continue to be active members of the management team and will both remain minority investors in the business alongside Cinven.Founded in 2002, think-cell reported 88 million euros in revenue and 80 million euros in pretax profit in 2019, according to public filings. Publicly traded peers are usually valued at 10 times revenue and in some cases at more than 20 times pretax profit. That means think-cell could be valued at significantly more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), the people said.The software company creates tools to make charts and slides on Microsoft Corp.’s PowerPoint and has some 800,000 paying users, according to its website.The sale of a majority stake in think-cell to private equity is in line with a broader industry trend. Founders, including companies in Asia, have been fueling such deals to resolve succession issues, cash in on high valuations and manage the next phase of growth.Cinven has been involved in significant private-equity deals in recent years in German-speaking Europe, including the buyout of generic drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel AG and ThyssenKrupp AG’s elevator business.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 12h12m Is it all Greek to you? Coronavirus variants get new names Coronavirus variants with clunky, alphanumeric names have now been assigned the letters of the Greek Alphabet in a bid to simplify discussion and pronunciation while avoiding stigma. The World Health Organization revealed the new names on Monday amid criticism that those given by scientists such as the so-called South African variant which goes by multiple names including B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2 were too complicated. As such, the four coronavirus variants considered of concern by the U.N. agency and known generally by the public as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants have now been given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta according to the order of their detection. Business Reuters 210531 12h12m Ex-VW boss to pay 10 million euros in dieselgate damages - Business Insider Former Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn has agreed to pay around 10 million euros ($12 million) in damages to the carmaker over the diesel emissions scandal, Business Insider reported on Monday. Volkswagen had said in March it would claim damages from Winterkorn over the scandal as it tries to draw a line under its biggest-ever crisis. Business Insider, citing a draft contract, reported that an agreement between the carmaker, Winterkorn and other former executives could be signed this week. Howell date : 210531 13h42m07s Business Reuters 210531 13h06m EMERGING MARKETS-Chile's peso outperforms; Peru's sol drops ahead of elections The Chilean peso rose 0.2% as a strike by a union of remote operations workers at BHP's Escondida and Spence copper mines in Chile disrupted supply. On the month, however, the currency in on track to mark losses of about 1.7% with a crackdown in China in the past few weeks after the government's vow to stabilize commodity prices hit copper prices. Peru's sol fell 0.7% to 3.8348 per dollar in low volumes owing to a market holiday in United States. Business Bloomberg 210531 12h58m Canada’s Desjardins Buys Hexavest, Adding $4.1 Billion in Assets (Bloomberg) -- Desjardins Group, North America’s largest financial services co-operative, agreed to acquire the assets of Canadian investment manager Hexavest Inc., adding C$5 billion ($4.1 billion) in institutional funds.The purchase is in line with a the co-operative’s growth goal of targeting C$100 billion in assets under management by 2024, Nicolas Richard, president and chief operating officer of Desjardins Global Asset Management, said Monday in a statement. The Quebec-based asset manager had C$83 billion in assets under management as of the end of March.In Hexavest, Desjardins gets a Montreal-based firm with about 50 clients, mostly institutional investors in Asia, Australia, the U.S. and Canada. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close around Sept. 1, weren’t disclosed.The deal comes three months after Hexavest said it ended an eight-year partnership with Eaton Vance Corp., the global money manager recently acquired by Morgan Stanley. Eaton Vance had owned 49% of Hexavest and helped it sell services outside Canada. A holding company controlled by Hexavest employees bought out the stake in February.Hexavest’s performance has lagged benchmarks after a couple of difficult years. An all-country equities strategy returned 7.1% annualized over the five years ended March 31, trailing the MSCI ACWI Index by more than five percentage points, according to documents on the firm’s website. A Hexavest emerging markets fund did better, returning 10.8% annualized in the same period, slightly behind the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.“This transaction also allows us to consolidate Montreal’s position as an asset management hub,” Desjardins Chief Executive Officer Guy Cormier said in the statement.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210531 12h53m Iran Enriched Record Uranium Stockpile Amid Vienna Talks (Bloomberg) -- Iran produced a record volume of highly-enriched uranium that could quickly be turned into fuel for a nuclear weapon, underscoring the urgency with which diplomats are moving to restore an agreement that would rein in the Persian Gulf nation’s program.International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors circulated a confidential assessment of Iran’s atomic program on Monday as envoys hunkered down for an eighth week of negotiations in Vienna. Diplomats are trying to orchestrate a U.S. return and Iranian compliance with a landmark nuclear agreement that curtailed Tehran’s production of nuclear fuel in exchange for sanctions relief.Iran managed to produce 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium in the six weeks since saboteurs struck the country’s primary enrichment facility in Natanz, according to a 13-page restricted IAEA report seen by Bloomberg. The April 11 attack prompted Iran to begin enriching uranium to levels of 60% purity, just below the threshold normally used in bombs. Iran blamed Israel for the sabotage, while Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.“The agency’s verification and monitoring activities have been affected as a result of Iran’s decision to stop implementation of its nuclear-related commitments,” read the report, which is the second to be published since Iran began to restrict some monitoring in February. Inspectors have lost access to key sites, including workshops where the machines are made that enrich uranium.Over the last three months, Iran’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium more than tripled to 63 kilograms, while its inventory of 5% material rose 6% to about 3,141 kilograms. That’s enough uranium to produce several bombs if Iran chose to enrich to weapons grade. The country says its program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.Negotiators in the Austrian capital are in what some say could be their final round of talks to revive the 2015 accord that former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned three years ago. A return to the deal would force Iran to cut production capacity and reduce its uranium stockpile to below 300 kilograms of material enriched to 3.67% until 2030. In return, Tehran’s government could resume oil exports and participate in the global economy.Diplomats seeking a return to the accord are racing to do this before Iran holds presidential elections on June 18.Iran has yet to provide clarification to IAEA investigators about the presence of decades-old uranium traces discovered at several sites, according to a second 6-page IAEA report. Iran invited agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to visit Tehran the week of June 21 to continue discussing the matter.“The Director General is concerned that the technical discussions between the agency and Iran have not yielded the expected results and of the consequent lack of progress in clarifying safeguards issues,” read the report.The IAEA’s 35-member board of governors convenes next week in the Austrian capital to discuss the reports(Adds meeting next week in the final paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business World World Business Reuters 210531 11h42m Ex-VW boss to pay 10 million euros in dieselgate damages - Business Insider Former Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn has agreed to pay around 10 million euros ($12 million) in damages to the carmaker over the diesel emissions scandal, Business Insider reported on Monday. Volkswagen had said in March it would claim damages from Winterkorn over the scandal as it tries to draw a line under its biggest-ever crisis. Business Insider, citing a draft contract, reported that an agreement between the carmaker, Winterkorn and other former executives could be signed this week. Business Bloomberg 210531 11h42m OPEC+ Sees Tight Oil Market as Ministers Set for Supply Talks (Bloomberg) -- A year after shuttering unprecedented volumes of crude, the OPEC+ alliance is expecting world oil markets to get acutely tight.The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Russia believes that the glut created during the pandemic has nearly gone, and that oil stockpiles will diminish rapidly in the second half of the year as lockdowns ease and travel gathers pace.That leaves the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners with a decision they will start pondering as soon as Tuesday: whether to pour more oil into the market in the second half when the outlook is still so mired in uncertainty.Holding output steady would support the market against the twin risks of renewed virus outbreaks and a potential export flood from fellow OPEC member Iran. But with Brent futures near $70 a barrel, it could also jeopardize the global economy and feed into the inflationary pressures fixating Wall Street.“There are many moving parts when it comes to factors affecting the global oil market, such as the pace of change during the pandemic,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said after preliminary consultations on Monday.At their meeting on Tuesday, ministers are expected to press ahead with a gradual increase already penciled in for July, completing the return of 2 million barrels since May. In theory, according to a historic deal struck in the depths of the oil crisis last year, the group has committed to hold at that level until early 2022. But a tight market may call for the agreement to be revised.Delegates said initial discussions would begin on Tuesday about the alliance’s moves after July. No decision will be made, they said. But any hints the ministers give will be closely scrutinized -- by inflation forecasters as much as oil traders.Stocks ShrinkOPEC’s Joint Technical Committee estimated on Monday that by the end of July stockpiles in developed nations will be below the average levels seen during 2015 to 2019 -- a key benchmark for the group. Between September and December, inventories will be depleted at a brisk clip of more than 2 million barrels a day.That encourages many observers to believe that OPEC+ will need to open the taps in the second half of the year.“The market is now facing the exact opposite dilemma of April 2020,” said Louise Dickson, an analyst at consultants Rystad Energy.“Producers now have just as delicate of a task to bring back enough supply to match the swiftly rising oil demand,” said Dickson. “If markets over-tighten, a flare-up in prices could jeopardize the global economic recovery.”But the demand outlook remains beset with uncertainties. Indian energy demand is taking a big hit as Covid-19 rages through the country. Japan and Malaysia, key consumers of OPEC’s crude, have recently announced tougher measures to deal with the latest infections.“The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some Asian and Latin American countries remains a source of concern, and could still dampen economic activities and an oil demand rebound,” the JTC said in its report. Iran TalksA critical factor in the group’s decision-making will be Iran.Tehran is in talks with world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear accord that limited its atomic activities in return for U.S. sanctions relief. Iran is keen to reach an agreement before it holds presidential elections on June 18. If that happens, and Washington lifts sanctions, Iran may be able to ramp up exports quickly. Iran’s oil minister said on Monday the country can increase its crude production rapidly, and analysts estimate output could rise to about 4 million barrels a day.OPEC’s Barkindo signaled at the JTC meeting that Iran’s comeback “will occur in an orderly and transparent fashion,” causing no upset to the stability that other OPEC+ nations have toiled to achieve.As ministers weigh the risks of bringing more oil back onto the market, the debate may well re-open old fault-lines in the leadership of the coalition.Riyadh and Moscow have often diverged on how quickly to bolster output, with the kingdom typically advocating restraint and Russia more impatient to expand sales volumes. The United Arab Emirates, another key player, has also shown eagerness to resume exports.“It remains a delicate balancing act,” said Bill Farren-Price, a director at research firm Enverus and veteran observer of the cartel.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210531 13h11m31s World Bloomberg 210531 12h52m Iran Enriched Record Uranium Stockpile Amid Vienna Talks (Bloomberg) -- Iran produced a record volume of highly-enriched uranium that could quickly be turned into fuel for a nuclear weapon, underscoring the urgency with which diplomats are moving to restore an agreement that would rein in the Persian Gulf nation’s program.International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors circulated a confidential assessment of Iran’s atomic program on Monday as envoys hunkered down for an eighth week of negotiations in Vienna. Diplomats are trying to orchestrate a U.S. return and Iranian compliance with a landmark nuclear agreement that curtailed Tehran’s production of nuclear fuel in exchange for sanctions relief.Iran managed to produce 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium in the six weeks since saboteurs struck the country’s primary enrichment facility in Natanz, according to a 13-page restricted IAEA report seen by Bloomberg. The April 11 attack prompted Iran to begin enriching uranium to levels of 60% purity, just below the threshold normally used in bombs. Iran blamed Israel for the sabotage, while Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.“The agency’s verification and monitoring activities have been affected as a result of Iran’s decision to stop implementation of its nuclear-related commitments,” read the report, which is the second to be published since Iran began to restrict some monitoring in February. Inspectors have lost access to key sites, including workshops where the machines are made that enrich uranium.Over the last three months, Iran’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium more than tripled to 63 kilograms, while its inventory of 5% material rose 6% to about 3,141 kilograms. That’s enough uranium to produce several bombs if Iran chose to enrich to weapons grade. The country says its program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.Negotiators in the Austrian capital are in what some say could be their final round of talks to revive the 2015 accord that former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned three years ago. A return to the deal would force Iran to cut production capacity and reduce its uranium stockpile to below 300 kilograms of material enriched to 3.67% until 2030. In return, Tehran’s government could resume oil exports and participate in the global economy.Diplomats seeking a return to the accord are racing to do this before Iran holds presidential elections on June 18.Iran has yet to provide clarification to IAEA investigators about the presence of decades-old uranium traces discovered at several sites, according to a second 6-page IAEA report. Iran invited agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to visit Tehran the week of June 21 to continue discussing the matter.“The Director General is concerned that the technical discussions between the agency and Iran have not yielded the expected results and of the consequent lack of progress in clarifying safeguards issues,” read the report.The IAEA’s 35-member board of governors convenes next week in the Austrian capital to discuss the reports(Adds meeting next week in the final paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 12h34m Cinven Nears Deal for German Software Maker think-cell (Bloomberg) -- Cinven Ltd., the U.K. buyout house, agreed to buy a controlling stake in German software company think-cell, the company said in a statement.As part of the transaction, think-cell’s founders Markus Hannebauer and Arno Schoedl will continue to be active members of the management team and will both remain minority investors in the business alongside Cinven.Founded in 2002, think-cell reported 88 million euros in revenue and 80 million euros in pretax profit in 2019, according to public filings. Publicly traded peers are usually valued at 10 times revenue and in some cases at more than 20 times pretax profit. That means think-cell could be valued at significantly more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), the people said.The software company creates tools to make charts and slides on Microsoft Corp.’s PowerPoint and has some 800,000 paying users, according to its website.The sale of a majority stake in think-cell to private equity is in line with a broader industry trend. Founders, including companies in Asia, have been fueling such deals to resolve succession issues, cash in on high valuations and manage the next phase of growth.Cinven has been involved in significant private-equity deals in recent years in German-speaking Europe, including the buyout of generic drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel AG and ThyssenKrupp AG’s elevator business.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 12h12m Is it all Greek to you? Coronavirus variants get new names Coronavirus variants with clunky, alphanumeric names have now been assigned the letters of the Greek Alphabet in a bid to simplify discussion and pronunciation while avoiding stigma. The World Health Organization revealed the new names on Monday amid criticism that those given by scientists such as the so-called South African variant which goes by multiple names including B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2 were too complicated. As such, the four coronavirus variants considered of concern by the U.N. agency and known generally by the public as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants have now been given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta according to the order of their detection. Business Business Business Bloomberg 210531 11h11m Oil Gains as OPEC+ Forecasts Crude Stockpiles Will Drop Sharply (Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed for a second month as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its plan.Futures rose 0.9% on Monday in New York, bringing their monthly gain to more than 5%, as the cartel said that a supply surplus will mostly be gone by the end of next month. Stockpiles are forecast to decline by at least 2 million barrels a day from September through December, the group said.“Demand is strong, it’s going to grow, and inventories aren’t going to go up,” Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said by phone.Oil has climbed more than 35% this year as the OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, cautiously restores supplies cut when the pandemic slashed demand for fuel. In a meeting of its ministers on Tuesday, the 23-nation group is expected to approve a production increase scheduled for July, completing the return of just over 2 million barrels a day of halted supply since April of last year.This Time Is Different: Outside OPEC+, Oil Growth StallsThe U.S., China and parts of Europe are driving robust demand recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, despite a virus comeback across Asia. American gasoline stockpiles have declined and consumption gained in the lead up to the Memorial Day weekend, which heralds the start of the summer driving season and peak fuel demand.Average retail prices for regular gasoline in the U.S. rose to $3.046 per gallon on Sunday, the highest since October 2014, according to auto club AAA.While rebounding demand is driving prices higher, the possibility of more barrels from Iran, should a nuclear deal be revived, is clouding the outlook.Iran and world powers have resumed discussions that Russia’s envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said “should be final” in determining a path for the U.S. easing sanctions on the country’s oil exports in return for limits on the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program. Iran will act swiftly to increase oil production and has no concern about finding buyers for its crude, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran Monday.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 13h09m Futures, Stocks Decline With Jobs Data in View: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures slipped along with European stocks on Monday as traders await fresh catalysts, with the key American jobs data later this week set to provide further clues on the outlook for the world’s biggest economy amid lingering inflation concerns.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined, with trading hours curtailed due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. The dollar weakened against a basket of peers. The euro gained after data showed Germany’s inflation rate rose to the highest level since October 2018, while price pick-ups in May were also reported by Spain and Italy. There’s no Treasuries cash trading today, after the 10-year yield closed just below 1.6% on Friday.The utilities sector dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 index lower as Spain’s Endesa SA declined following reports the Spanish government is preparing to rein in windfall profits for power producers. Deutsche Bank AG dropped after the Federal Reserve warned that its compliance programs aren’t adequate. U.K. markets are closed for a holiday.Oil climbed as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its plan. Gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”The offshore yuan weakened after China forced banks to hold more foreign currencies in reserve for the first time in more than a decade, its most substantial move yet to rein in the surging currency. Bitcoin rebounded from Friday’s slump to trade above $36,500.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 3:04 p.m. New York timeFutures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.2%The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%The MSCI World index was little changedCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2228The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.4204The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 109.51 per dollarBondsGermany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.19%Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.79%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $67 a barrelGold futures rose 0.2% to $1,910 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210531 12h40m54s World Reuters 210531 12h17m UPDATE 1-Even after U.S. shift, opponents resist COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver A deal on an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO) was no closer to acceptance on Monday despite Washington's backing, due to expected scepticism about a new draft, sources close to the talks told Reuters. Negotiations reopened at the WTO on Monday, focused on a highly anticipated revised draft submitted by India, South Africa and dozens of other developing countries last week. A surprise U.S. shift earlier this month to support a patent waiver heaped pressure on remaining opponents like the European Union and Switzerland that are home to numerous drugmakers. Business Reuters 210531 12h00m Ex-VW boss to pay 10 million euros in dieselgate damages - Business Insider Former Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn has agreed to pay around 10 million euros ($12 million) in damages to the carmaker over the diesel emissions scandal, Business Insider reported on Monday. Volkswagen had said in March it would claim damages from Winterkorn over the scandal as it tries to draw a line under its biggest-ever crisis. Business Insider, citing a draft contract, reported that an agreement between the carmaker, Winterkorn and other former executives could be signed this week. World Bloomberg 210531 11h58m Iran Enriched Record Uranium Stockpile Amid Vienna Talks (Bloomberg) -- Iran produced a record volume of highly-enriched uranium that could quickly be turned into fuel for a nuclear weapon, underscoring the urgency with which diplomats are moving to restore an agreement that would reign in the Persian Gulf nation’s program.International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors circulated a confidential assessment of Iran’s atomic program on Monday as envoys hunkered down for an eighth week of negotiations in Vienna. Diplomats are trying to orchestrate a U.S. return and Iranian compliance with a landmark nuclear agreement that curtailed Tehran’s production of nuclear fuel in exchange for sanctions relief.Iran managed to produce 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium in the six weeks since saboteurs struck the country’s primary enrichment facility in Natanz, according to a 13-page restricted IAEA report seen by Bloomberg. The April 11 attack prompted Iran to begin enriching uranium to levels of 60% purity, just below the threshold normally used in bombs. Iran blamed Israel for the sabotage, while Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.“The agency’s verification and monitoring activities have been affected as a result of Iran’s decision to stop implementation of its nuclear-related commitments,” read the report, which is the second to be published since Iran began to restrict some monitoring in February. Inspectors have lost access to key sites, including workshops where the machines are made that enrich uranium. Over the last three months, Iran’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium more than tripled to 63 kilograms, while its inventory of 5% material rose 6% to about 3,141 kilograms. That’s enough uranium to produce several bombs if Iran chose to enrich to weapons grade. The country says its program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.Negotiators in the Austrian capital are in what some say could be their final round of talks to revive the 2015 accord that former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned three years ago. A return to the deal would force Iran to cut production capacity and reduce its uranium stockpile to below 300 kilograms of material enriched to 3.67% until 2030. In return, Tehran’s government could resume oil exports and participate in the global economy.Diplomats seeking a return to the accord are racing to do this before Iran holds presidential elections on June 18.Iran has yet to provide clarification to IAEA investigators about the presence of decades-old uranium traces discovered at several sites, according to a second 6-page IAEA report. Iran invited agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to visit Tehran the week of June 21 to continue discussing the matter. “The Director General is concerned that the technical discussions between the agency and Iran have not yielded the expected results and of the consequent lack of progress in clarifying safeguards issues,” read the report. (Adds chart and details from the fifth paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 11h57m OPEC+ Sees Tight Oil Market as Ministers Set for Supply Talks (Bloomberg) -- A year after shuttering unprecedented volumes of crude, the OPEC+ alliance is expecting world oil markets to get acutely tight.The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Russia believes that the glut created during the pandemic has nearly gone, and that oil stockpiles will diminish rapidly in the second half of the year as lockdowns ease and travel gathers pace.That leaves the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners with a decision they will start pondering as soon as Tuesday: whether to pour more oil into the market in the second half when the outlook is still so mired in uncertainty.Holding output steady would support the market against the twin risks of renewed virus outbreaks and a potential export flood from fellow OPEC member Iran. But with Brent futures near $70 a barrel, it could also jeopardize the global economy and feed into the inflationary pressures fixating Wall Street.“There are many moving parts when it comes to factors affecting the global oil market, such as the pace of change during the pandemic,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said after preliminary consultations on Monday.At their meeting on Tuesday, ministers are expected to press ahead with a gradual increase already penciled in for July, completing the return of 2 million barrels since May. In theory, according to a historic deal struck in the depths of the oil crisis last year, the group has committed to hold at that level until early 2022. But a tight market may call for the agreement to be revised.Delegates said initial discussions would begin on Tuesday about the alliance’s moves after July. No decision will be made, they said. But any hints the ministers give will be closely scrutinized -- by inflation forecasters as much as oil traders.Stocks ShrinkOPEC’s Joint Technical Committee estimated on Monday that by the end of July stockpiles in developed nations will be below the average levels seen during 2015 to 2019 -- a key benchmark for the group. Between September and December, inventories will be depleted at a brisk clip of more than 2 million barrels a day.That encourages many observers to believe that OPEC+ will need to open the taps in the second half of the year.“The market is now facing the exact opposite dilemma of April 2020,” said Louise Dickson, an analyst at consultants Rystad Energy.“Producers now have just as delicate of a task to bring back enough supply to match the swiftly rising oil demand,” said Dickson. “If markets over-tighten, a flare-up in prices could jeopardize the global economic recovery.”But the demand outlook remains beset with uncertainties. Indian energy demand is taking a big hit as Covid-19 rages through the country. Japan and Malaysia, key consumers of OPEC’s crude, have recently announced tougher measures to deal with the latest infections.“The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some Asian and Latin American countries remains a source of concern, and could still dampen economic activities and an oil demand rebound,” the JTC said in its report. Iran TalksA critical factor in the group’s decision-making will be Iran.Tehran is in talks with world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear accord that limited its atomic activities in return for U.S. sanctions relief. Iran is keen to reach an agreement before it holds presidential elections on June 18. If that happens, and Washington lifts sanctions, Iran may be able to ramp up exports quickly. Iran’s oil minister said on Monday the country can increase its crude production rapidly, and analysts estimate output could rise to about 4 million barrels a day.OPEC’s Barkindo signaled at the JTC meeting that Iran’s comeback “will occur in an orderly and transparent fashion,” causing no upset to the stability that other OPEC+ nations have toiled to achieve.As ministers weigh the risks of bringing more oil back onto the market, the debate may well re-open old fault-lines in the leadership of the coalition.Riyadh and Moscow have often diverged on how quickly to bolster output, with the kingdom typically advocating restraint and Russia more impatient to expand sales volumes. The United Arab Emirates, another key player, has also shown eagerness to resume exports.“It remains a delicate balancing act,” said Bill Farren-Price, a director at research firm Enverus and veteran observer of the cartel.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Business Business World Howell date : 210531 12h10m18s Business Bloomberg 210531 11h57m OPEC+ Sees Tight Oil Market as Ministers Set for Supply Talks (Bloomberg) -- A year after shuttering unprecedented volumes of crude, the OPEC+ alliance is expecting world oil markets to get acutely tight.The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Russia believes that the glut created during the pandemic has nearly gone, and that oil stockpiles will diminish rapidly in the second half of the year as lockdowns ease and travel gathers pace.That leaves the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners with a decision they will start pondering as soon as Tuesday: whether to pour more oil into the market in the second half when the outlook is still so mired in uncertainty.Holding output steady would support the market against the twin risks of renewed virus outbreaks and a potential export flood from fellow OPEC member Iran. But with Brent futures near $70 a barrel, it could also jeopardize the global economy and feed into the inflationary pressures fixating Wall Street.“There are many moving parts when it comes to factors affecting the global oil market, such as the pace of change during the pandemic,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said after preliminary consultations on Monday.At their meeting on Tuesday, ministers are expected to press ahead with a gradual increase already penciled in for July, completing the return of 2 million barrels since May. In theory, according to a historic deal struck in the depths of the oil crisis last year, the group has committed to hold at that level until early 2022. But a tight market may call for the agreement to be revised.Delegates said initial discussions would begin on Tuesday about the alliance’s moves after July. No decision will be made, they said. But any hints the ministers give will be closely scrutinized -- by inflation forecasters as much as oil traders.Stocks ShrinkOPEC’s Joint Technical Committee estimated on Monday that by the end of July stockpiles in developed nations will be below the average levels seen during 2015 to 2019 -- a key benchmark for the group. Between September and December, inventories will be depleted at a brisk clip of more than 2 million barrels a day.That encourages many observers to believe that OPEC+ will need to open the taps in the second half of the year.“The market is now facing the exact opposite dilemma of April 2020,” said Louise Dickson, an analyst at consultants Rystad Energy.“Producers now have just as delicate of a task to bring back enough supply to match the swiftly rising oil demand,” said Dickson. “If markets over-tighten, a flare-up in prices could jeopardize the global economic recovery.”But the demand outlook remains beset with uncertainties. Indian energy demand is taking a big hit as Covid-19 rages through the country. Japan and Malaysia, key consumers of OPEC’s crude, have recently announced tougher measures to deal with the latest infections.“The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some Asian and Latin American countries remains a source of concern, and could still dampen economic activities and an oil demand rebound,” the JTC said in its report. Iran TalksA critical factor in the group’s decision-making will be Iran.Tehran is in talks with world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear accord that limited its atomic activities in return for U.S. sanctions relief. Iran is keen to reach an agreement before it holds presidential elections on June 18. If that happens, and Washington lifts sanctions, Iran may be able to ramp up exports quickly. Iran’s oil minister said on Monday the country can increase its crude production rapidly, and analysts estimate output could rise to about 4 million barrels a day.OPEC’s Barkindo signaled at the JTC meeting that Iran’s comeback “will occur in an orderly and transparent fashion,” causing no upset to the stability that other OPEC+ nations have toiled to achieve.As ministers weigh the risks of bringing more oil back onto the market, the debate may well re-open old fault-lines in the leadership of the coalition.Riyadh and Moscow have often diverged on how quickly to bolster output, with the kingdom typically advocating restraint and Russia more impatient to expand sales volumes. The United Arab Emirates, another key player, has also shown eagerness to resume exports.“It remains a delicate balancing act,” said Bill Farren-Price, a director at research firm Enverus and veteran observer of the cartel.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 11h36m Oil Gains as OPEC+ Forecasts Crude Stockpiles Will Drop Sharply (Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed for a second month as OPEC and its allies forecast that inventories will fall sharply this year if the group sticks to its plan.Futures rose 0.9% on Monday in New York, bringing their monthly gain to more than 5%, as the cartel said that a supply surplus will mostly be gone by the end of next month. Stockpiles are forecast to decline by at least 2 million barrels a day from September through December, the group said.“Demand is strong, it’s going to grow, and inventories aren’t going to go up,” Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said by phone.Oil has climbed more than 35% this year as the OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, cautiously restores supplies cut when the pandemic slashed demand for fuel. In a meeting of its ministers on Tuesday, the 23-nation group is expected to approve a production increase scheduled for July, completing the return of just over 2 million barrels a day of halted supply since April of last year.This Time Is Different: Outside OPEC+, Oil Growth StallsThe U.S., China and parts of Europe are driving robust demand recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, despite a virus comeback across Asia. American gasoline stockpiles have declined and consumption gained in the lead up to the Memorial Day weekend, which heralds the start of the summer driving season and peak fuel demand.Average retail prices for regular gasoline in the U.S. rose to $3.046 per gallon on Sunday, the highest since October 2014, according to auto club AAA.While rebounding demand is driving prices higher, the possibility of more barrels from Iran, should a nuclear deal be revived, is clouding the outlook.Iran and world powers have resumed discussions that Russia’s envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said “should be final” in determining a path for the U.S. easing sanctions on the country’s oil exports in return for limits on the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program. Iran will act swiftly to increase oil production and has no concern about finding buyers for its crude, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran Monday.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 11h32m Futures, Stocks Decline With Jobs Data in View: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures slipped along with European stocks on Monday as traders await fresh catalysts, with the key American jobs data later this week set to provide further clues on the outlook for the world’s biggest economy amid lingering inflation concerns.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined, with trading hours curtailed due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. The dollar weakened against a basket of peers. The euro gained after data showed Germany’s inflation rate rose to the highest level since October 2018, while price pick-ups in May were also reported by Spain and Italy. There’s no Treasuries cash trading today, after the 10-year yield closed just below 1.6% on Friday.The utilities sector dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 index lower as Spain’s Endesa SA declined following reports the Spanish government is preparing to rein in windfall profits for power producers. Deutsche Bank AG dropped after the Federal Reserve warned that its compliance programs aren’t adequate. U.K. markets are closed for a holiday.Crude oil climbed as the market focused on an OPEC+ supply policy meeting early this week, while gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”The offshore yuan stabilized in the wake of comments leaning against its climb. Two state-run newspapers flagged risks fueled by rapid gains in the currency. China also set its daily reference rate at a weaker-than-expected level. Bitcoin rebounded from Friday’sslump to trade above $37,000.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 1:29 p.m. New York timeFutures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.2%The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%The MSCI World index was little changedCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2228The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.4208The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 109.48 per dollarBondsGermany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.19%Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.79%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $67 a barrelGold futures rose 0.2% to $1,910 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 11h22m Gold Heads for Biggest Monthly Gain Since July on Inflation Bets (Bloomberg) -- Gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July, with inflation risks in focus ahead of key U.S. jobs data due later this week that will offer clues on the economic recovery.Some Federal Reserve officials have said that recent price pressures are to be expected as the economy reopens amid pent-up demand, and should prove temporary as supply glitches abate. The PCE price index -- which the Fed uses for its inflation target -- rose 3.6% from a year earlier, the biggest jump since 2008.Bullion erased its 2021 losses this month amid signs of accelerating inflation and a potentially uneven economic recovery due to the resurgence of Covid-19 in some countries. Investor interest has also returned, with hedge funds and other large speculators boosting their net-long position in gold to the highest since early January. Holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds climbed for the first time in four months in May but the gains remained far short of those seen during last year’s record rally.“Gold is heading for its biggest monthly gain since July as inflation remains the key focus,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, said in a note. “The recovery in ETF holdings backed by bullion and fund positions in futures remain subdued, a sign that many investors remain unconvinced about the short to medium-term direction.”Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,906.79 an ounce at 1:14 p.m. New York time, bringing this month’s gain to 7.8%. Prices climbed to $1,912.76 last week, the highest since Jan. 8. Silver, palladium and platinum also advanced. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for a second straight monthly drop.The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report scheduled for release on Friday augurs a pivotal moment for investors to assess whether surprisingly tepid job gains seen last month were a momentary blip or the start of something more persistent.“With gold breaking above the $1,900 level, there is a clear bullish momentum with precious metal demand right now,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “A weak nonfarm payrolls number this Friday may jolt gold prices toward the $1,975 level.”Copper futures in New York slid 0.2%, while the London Metal Exchange was closed for a public holiday.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210531 11h16m Merkel Ready to Give Up Special Lockdown Powers as Covid Ebbs (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel is ready to allow Germany’s controversial lockdown law to lapse, the latest sign that the pandemic is releasing its grip on Europe’s largest economy.In a move that effectively suspended states’ rights, Germany passed mandatory restrictions in hard-hit areas, including curfews in April. The powers were set to expire at the end of June, and Merkel confirmed that those “can run out now,” she said Monday in Berlin.“We don’t need to maintain them now,” she said, but noted the tool exists if needed. “We know if something should develop again, with mutations -- which we hope won’t happen -- then we can reactivate it very quickly.”The country has gradually been easing restrictions as infections fall and vaccinations accelerate. On Monday, Germany had 35.1 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, the lowest level since mid-October. As of Sunday, 43% of the population had received at least one inoculation against Covid-19.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210531 11h15m Peru Election Goes Down to the Wire in Last Days of Campaign (Bloomberg) -- Peru’s presidential race is tightening a week before the runoff between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori, according to two opinion polls published Sunday.In a vote simulation conducted by Ipsos and published in El Comercio newspaper, leftist front-runner Castillo would get 51.1% in the June 6 election compared with 48.9% for Fujimori, within the poll’s 2.5 percentage point margin of error. Some 20% of voters were still undecided. The poll of 1,517 people was conducted on May 28.A separate survey by Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) published in La Republica newspaper also showed a statistical tie between the candidates.Those who intend to vote for Castillo fell to 40.3% from 44.8% over the last week, while support for Fujimori grew to 38.3% from 34.4% compared to May 23. Only 6.3% of voters reported being undecided. IEP’s poll of 1,227 people was conducted by phone May 27 to May 28 and had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.Read More: Peru Tight Runoff Election Holds Risk of Radical DownturnThe candidates met face-to-face in a final debate Sunday evening in Arequipa. They discussed six topics including health, the response to the pandemic, the economy, education, and human rights.Castillo, a former school teacher running with a self-proclaimed Marxist party feared by many investors, denied expropriation plans, promised not to impose large mining projects Tia Maria and Conga on local communities, while reiterating the need to renegotiate contracts.“We are going to recover our riches with the renegotiation of contracts with large companies,” Castillo said.Fujimori, a former lawmaker who’s narrowly lost two previous runoffs and has been charged with graft, used the debate to promise higher public spending including a plan to pay 10,000 soles ($2,600) to the families of those who died from Covid-19.She also promised to channel 40% of the mining canon into payments to communities, and to raise the minimum wage.The sol lost 0.6% to 3.83 per dollar on Monday following the polls and debate while the benchmark stock index rose 1.1%.(Adds comments from the candidates from Sunday night’s debate starting in the sixth paragraph.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World World Business Bloomberg 210531 10h10m Dye & Durham Gets $2.8 Billion Offer From Management Group (Bloomberg) -- Canadian software provider Dye & Durham Ltd. will review its options after a shareholder group led by management offered to buy the company for about C$3.4 billion ($2.8 billion), less than a year after it went public.The Toronto-based company announced Monday it will form a committee of directors “to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives” because a management-led group is interested in taking it over for C$50.50 a share. The shares jumped 16.7% to C$47.84 as of 12:35 p.m. Monday in Toronto. One large shareholder expressed opposition to the bid. “We think Dye & Durham is an excellent company and should remain public,” Jeff Mo, lead manager of Canadian small cap strategies at Mawer Investment Management Ltd., said in an interview. “It’s in the best interest of the company.”Mo said he would reconsider his view if the strategic process leads to a bidding war. Mawer holds about 9% of Dye & Durham, he said.The management offer is 23% higher than Friday’s close and more than six times the C$7.50 price of the initial public offering last July. The company said the board will consider other bidders or merger partners and will also examine a sale of assets.Dye & Durham provides software for legal and business professionals, offering clients a platform for accessing legal registries and public records data. Its products help speed up document searches, document creation and electronic records filings.The company has been led since 2014 by Chief Executive Officer Matthew Proud, who has expanded it through a number of acquisitions in Canada, the U.K. and Australia during his tenure.It’s been busy making deals since going public. In December, it said it would buy DoProcess LP for C$530 million from the infrastructure arm of Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System. Since January, it’s announced four more deals, including a C$94 million acquisition of U.K. real estate software firm Future Climate Info Ltd.To help fund its acquisition spree, Dye & Durham has raised equity on five separate occasions since the IPO. The most recent was a February issue of nearly 4 million shares at C$50.50 -- the same price as the proposed takeover offer.The company’s statement didn’t say which members of management are part of the group that wants to take the company private. The company said that, following recent acquisitions, it expects C$220 million in annualized pro forma adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.Last year, Matthew Proud and his brother, Avesdo Inc. Executive Chairman Tyler Proud, were part of a failed C$58 million offer for Torstar Corp., the publisher of the Toronto Star.(Updates with shareholder opposition in third paragraph, updated share price.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210531 11h39m41s Business Bloomberg 210531 11h22m Gold Heads for Biggest Monthly Gain Since July on Inflation Bets (Bloomberg) -- Gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July, with inflation risks in focus ahead of key U.S. jobs data due later this week that will offer clues on the economic recovery.Some Federal Reserve officials have said that recent price pressures are to be expected as the economy reopens amid pent-up demand, and should prove temporary as supply glitches abate. The PCE price index -- which the Fed uses for its inflation target -- rose 3.6% from a year earlier, the biggest jump since 2008.Bullion erased its 2021 losses this month amid signs of accelerating inflation and a potentially uneven economic recovery due to the resurgence of Covid-19 in some countries. Investor interest has also returned, with hedge funds and other large speculators boosting their net-long position in gold to the highest since early January. Holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds climbed for the first time in four months in May but the gains remained far short of those seen during last year’s record rally.“Gold is heading for its biggest monthly gain since July as inflation remains the key focus,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, said in a note. “The recovery in ETF holdings backed by bullion and fund positions in futures remain subdued, a sign that many investors remain unconvinced about the short to medium-term direction.”Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,906.79 an ounce at 1:14 p.m. New York time, bringing this month’s gain to 7.8%. Prices climbed to $1,912.76 last week, the highest since Jan. 8. Silver, palladium and platinum also advanced. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for a second straight monthly drop.The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report scheduled for release on Friday augurs a pivotal moment for investors to assess whether surprisingly tepid job gains seen last month were a momentary blip or the start of something more persistent.“With gold breaking above the $1,900 level, there is a clear bullish momentum with precious metal demand right now,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “A weak nonfarm payrolls number this Friday may jolt gold prices toward the $1,975 level.”Copper futures in New York slid 0.2%, while the London Metal Exchange was closed for a public holiday.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210531 11h14m Peru Election Goes Down to the Wire in Last Days of Campaign (Bloomberg) -- Peru’s presidential race is tightening a week before the runoff between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori, according to two opinion polls published Sunday.In a vote simulation conducted by Ipsos and published in El Comercio newspaper, leftist front-runner Castillo would get 51.1% in the June 6 election compared with 48.9% for Fujimori, within the poll’s 2.5 percentage point margin of error. Some 20% of voters were still undecided. The poll of 1,517 people was conducted on May 28.A separate survey by Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) published in La Republica newspaper also showed a statistical tie between the candidates.Those who intend to vote for Castillo fell to 40.3% from 44.8% over the last week, while support for Fujimori grew to 38.3% from 34.4% compared to May 23. Only 6.3% of voters reported being undecided. IEP’s poll of 1,227 people was conducted by phone May 27 to May 28 and had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.Read More: Peru Tight Runoff Election Holds Risk of Radical DownturnThe candidates met face-to-face in a final debate Sunday evening in Arequipa. They discussed six topics including health, the response to the pandemic, the economy, education, and human rights.Castillo, a former school teacher running with a self-proclaimed Marxist party feared by many investors, denied expropriation plans, promised not to impose large mining projects Tia Maria and Conga on local communities, while reiterating the need to renegotiate contracts.“We are going to recover our riches with the renegotiation of contracts with large companies,” Castillo said.Fujimori, a former lawmaker who’s narrowly lost two previous runoffs and has been charged with graft, used the debate to promise higher public spending including a plan to pay 10,000 soles ($2,600) to the families of those who died from Covid-19.She also promised to channel 40% of the mining canon into payments to communities, and to raise the minimum wage.The sol lost 0.6% to 3.83 per dollar on Monday following the polls and debate while the benchmark stock index rose 1.1%.(Adds comments from the candidates from Sunday night’s debate starting in the sixth paragraph.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 11h03m Italy gives Vodafone 5G deal with Huawei conditional approval - sources Vodafone's Italian unit has secured conditional approval from Rome to use equipment made by China's Huawei in its 5G radio access network, two sources close to the matter said. Italy can block or impose tough conditions on deals involving non EU vendors under "golden powers", which have been used three times since 2012 to block foreign interest in industries deemed to be of strategic importance. The government of national unity led by Prime Minister Mario Draghi authorised the deal between Vodafone and Huawei on May 20, one of the two sources told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Business Business World Business Business Howell date : 210531 11h09m03s World Reuters 210531 10h46m Mozambique launches construction of $1 bln power plant, transmission line Mozambique on Monday began construction of gas-to-power plant and transmission line projects worth $1 billion in the southern province of Inhambane as the government aims to boost energy supply. The World Bank is one of the financing partners of the infrastructure projects, alongside the United States, Norway, African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Bank and The OPEC Fund for International Development, according statements from the World Bank and the U.S. embassy. Business Bloomberg 210531 10h38m Dye & Durham Gets $2.8 Billion Offer From Management Group (Bloomberg) -- Canadian software provider Dye & Durham Ltd. will review its options after a shareholder group led by management offered to buy the company for about C$3.4 billion ($2.8 billion), less than a year after it went public.The Toronto-based company announced Monday it will form a committee of directors “to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives” because a management-led group is interested in taking it over for C$50.50 a share. The shares jumped 16.7% to C$47.84 as of 12:35 p.m. Monday in Toronto. One large shareholder expressed opposition to the bid. “We think Dye & Durham is an excellent company and should remain public,” Jeff Mo, lead manager of Canadian small cap strategies at Mawer Investment Management Ltd., said in an interview. “It’s in the best interest of the company.”Mo said he would reconsider his view if the strategic process leads to a bidding war. Mawer holds about 9% of Dye & Durham, he said.The management offer is 23% higher than Friday’s close and more than six times the C$7.50 price of the initial public offering last July. The company said the board will consider other bidders or merger partners and will also examine a sale of assets.Dye & Durham provides software for legal and business professionals, offering clients a platform for accessing legal registries and public records data. Its products help speed up document searches, document creation and electronic records filings.The company has been led since 2014 by Chief Executive Officer Matthew Proud, who has expanded it through a number of acquisitions in Canada, the U.K. and Australia during his tenure.It’s been busy making deals since going public. In December, it said it would buy DoProcess LP for C$530 million from the infrastructure arm of Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System. Since January, it’s announced four more deals, including a C$94 million acquisition of U.K. real estate software firm Future Climate Info Ltd.To help fund its acquisition spree, Dye & Durham has raised equity on five separate occasions since the IPO. The most recent was a February issue of nearly 4 million shares at C$50.50 -- the same price as the proposed takeover offer.The company’s statement didn’t say which members of management are part of the group that wants to take the company private. The company said that, following recent acquisitions, it expects C$220 million in annualized pro forma adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.Last year, Matthew Proud and his brother, Avesdo Inc. Executive Chairman Tyler Proud, were part of a failed C$58 million offer for Torstar Corp., the publisher of the Toronto Star.(Updates with shareholder opposition in third paragraph, updated share price.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 10h32m UPDATE 1-Spain's telcos freed from network access obligation Telecom companies leasing radio frequencies crucial to deploying 5G mobile data services will no longer be required to grant rivals access to their networks, Spain's government said on Monday in newly-released terms for an upcoming spectrum auction. Spain boasts Europe's most advanced fibre network, but its telecom sector has suffered from market fragmentation and high overheads, with margins shrinking and debt rising year by year. "The obligation for majority concessionaries to grant access has been removed to incentivise the rollout (of 5G) data services," a spokeswoman for Spain's telecom and digital infrastructure department told Reuters. Business Reuters 210531 10h17m Dispute over A350 paint job threatens Airbus deliveries to Qatar -sources DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) -Qatar Airways has clashed with European planemaker Airbus over the painting of an A350 jetliner in a heated dispute that threatens to delay a resumption of European deliveries to the Gulf carrier, industry sources said. Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker has criticised Airbus without giving details of the dispute, but the sources said it involves the latest in a series of quality-control spats between the airline and Airbus. Qatar Airways and Airbus declined to comment. Business Reuters 210531 10h13m Sudanese bank launches first green sukuk for renewable energy A Sudanese bank on Monday launched an investment fund offering what it said was the country's first green sukuk -- or bonds compliant with Islamic banking principles -- aimed at financing renewable energy for commercial use. The 4.75 billion Sudanese pounds fund ($11.3 million) launched by Sanabel, a subsidiary of the Bank of Khartoum, aims to finance the production of 55 megawatt hours per day, according to its prospectus, for industries such as agriculture and mining. More than 60% of Sudan's population does not have access to electricity, and the country does not produce enough to cover current consumption, according to United Nations estimates. Business Business World Howell date : 210531 10h38m27s Business Reuters 210531 10h26m Germany readies subsidies for satellite internet providers such as Starlink Germany wants to help citizens in rural areas get better access to the world wide web by supporting the purchase of hardware for satellite internet services such as Elon Musk's Starlink, the transport ministry said on Monday. The planned subsidy scheme will be open to all providers who offer wireless internet connections in rural areas, for example through satellites or directional radio links, the ministry said. "The monthly costs for using the internet connection will not be covered by the grant," the ministry said. Business Reuters 210531 10h17m Dispute over A350 paint job threatens Airbus deliveries to Qatar -sources Qatar Airways has clashed with European planemaker Airbus over the painting of an A350 jetliner in a heated dispute that threatens to delay a resumption of European deliveries to the Gulf carrier, industry sources said. Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker has criticised Airbus without giving details of the dispute, but the sources said it involves the latest in a series of quality-control spats between the airline and Airbus. Qatar Airways could not be immediately reached by Reuters for comment outside normal business hours on Monday. Business Reuters 210531 10h08m CD Projekt Q1 net profit misses expectations "Cyberpunk 2077," featuring Hollywood star Keanu Reeves, was one of the most anticipated games last year. It was delayed three times, and after a bug-ridden premiere it has been delisted from Sony's PlayStation Store for more than five months. CD Projekt did not say how many units of "Cyberpunk 2077" it sold in the quarter. Business Bloomberg 210531 10h02m Futures, Stocks Decline With Jobs Data in View: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures slipped along with European stocks on Monday as traders await fresh catalysts, with the key American jobs data later this week set to provide further clues on the outlook for the biggest economy amid lingering inflation concerns.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined, with trading hours curtailed due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. The dollar weakened against a basket of peers. The euro gained after data showed Germany’s inflation rate rose to the highest level since October 2018, while price pick-ups in May were also reported by Spain and Italy. There’s no Treasuries cash trading today, after the 10-year yield closed just below 1.6% on Friday. The utilities sector dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 index lower as Spain’s Endesa SA declined following reports the Spanish government is preparing to rein in windfall profits for power producers. Deutsche Bank AG dropped after the Federal Reserve warned that its compliance programs aren’t adequate. U.K. markets are closed for a holiday.Crude oil climbed as the market focused on an OPEC+ supply policy meeting early this week, while gold headed for the biggest monthly advance since July and most industrial metals gained.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”The offshore yuan stabilized in the wake of comments leaning against its climb. Two state-run newspapers flagged risks fueled by rapid gains in the currency. China also set its daily reference rate at a weaker-than-expected level. Bitcoin rebounded from Friday’sslump to trade above $37,000.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 12 p.m. New York timeFutures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.1%The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%The MSCI World index was little changedCurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2230The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.4213The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 109.49 per dollarBondsGermany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.19%Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.79%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.8% to $67 a barrelGold futures rose 0.1% to $1,908 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210531 10h02m Argentina suspends 12 beef export operations as conflict over ban deepens Argentina said on Monday it had temporarily shut down 12 beef exporters over "irregular" operations and had seized over 220 tonnes of meat as tensions over the government's meat export ban deepen. Argentina, the world's No. 5 supplier of beef, has long been renowned for its high quality meat. Argentina is famed for its cattle ranches and cuts of steak, which are a central part of the local social fabric, with many gatherings of families and friends held around the "parrilla" barbecue grill at the weekend. World Reuters 210531 09h59m Russia begins production of high-end sedan promoted by Putin Russia on Monday has begun production of the Aurus Senat luxury sedan car promoted by President Vladimir Putin. Russia unveiled plans for the Aurus line of cars in 2013. Putin helped to promote its limousine model by driving it during his 2018 inauguration as president for a new six-year term. Howell date : 210531 10h07m50s World Reuters 210531 10h01m UPDATE 1-Brazil govt debt to fall this year, budget deficit below 3% -econ minister Brazil's government debt is on track to fall this year to 85% of gross domestic product and the government's primary budget deficit is heading below 3% of GDP, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Monday. Guedes was speaking in a keynote address to the 2021 Brazil Investment Forum, shortly after data showed that a surprisingly strong budget surplus in April helped fuel the biggest fall in public debt as a share of GDP in over a decade. "Tax revenues are breaking records ... showing the force and vigor of the economic recovery, and the deficit forecasts are being revised down from 3.5% of GDP to below 3%," Guedes said. World Reuters 210531 09h58m Russia begins production of high-end sedan promoted by Putin Russia on Monday has begun production of the Aurus Senat luxury sedan car promoted by President Vladimir Putin. Russia unveiled plans for the Aurus line of cars in 2013. Putin helped to promote its limousine model by driving it during his 2018 inauguration as president for a new six-year term. Business Reuters 210531 09h43m Saudi Arabia net foreign assets drop 1.9% to $436 bln in April The foreign assets were also lower than 1.665.6 billion riyals recorded in April 2020, the data showed. The central bank does not disclose the reasons for the change in foreign assets. An economist said it could be linked to the kingdom supporting the investment drive of its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Business Bloomberg 210531 09h38m Match, IAC Covered Up Sexual Misconduct, Legal Filing Says (Bloomberg) -- IAC/InterActiveCorp. and Match Group Inc. are being accused of covering up sexual misconduct allegations against a former chief executive officer as part of a broader scheme to manipulate the valuation of dating app Tinder in 2017, according to new motions filed in New York Supreme Court.Lawyers say Tinder’s parents, IAC and Match at the time, are concealing documents relevant to an ongoing $2 billion lawsuit regarding the company’s valuation. Sean Rad, the co-founder and former CEO of the popular dating app, and other early employees claim in the lawsuit that IAC cheated them by purposefully suppressing Tinder’s valuation. That meant their shares were worth less, they argued, and that IAC didn’t have to pay them as much when they decided to cash out. The three-year-old case is set to go to trial in November. Match, which owns Tinder, was spun out of IAC last year.As part of that case, lawyers for Rad and other plaintiffs are seeking to show that IAC and Match whitewashed an investigation of alleged misconduct against former Match Chairman and CEO Greg Blatt, in order to keep him in power long enough to complete the valuation process and avoid billions of dollars in stock option payments to Rad and other employees. Blatt, who had held various leadership roles at IAC for more than a decade by then, was appointed CEO of Tinder in December 2016, replacing Rad.Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued IAC and Match should turn over all “notes, summaries and memoranda” related to the investigation of Blatt’s alleged misconduct toward Tinder executive Rosette Pambakian at a 2016 holiday party. Court filings this week included newly unsealed emails and deposition testimony that, plaintiffs allege, show company executives including then-IAC CEO Joey Levin and Chairman Barry Diller protected Blatt with a “sham” inquiry into the harassment incident “so that he could corrupt the 2017 Tinder valuation of which he was in charge.”Attorneys for IAC and Match filed their own motion in response on Wednesday, reiterating their request to exclude evidence relating to the Tinder holiday party and the internal investigation into Blatt’s misconduct. “The ‘scheme’ theory advanced by plaintiffs is purely conjectural and wholly void of proof,” according to the filing states, adding that documents should remain sealed as it would “put irrelevant but highly prejudicial evidence before a jury.”In a statement to Bloomberg News, IAC said: “The company has nothing to hide. We did prepare for exactly what came to pass: Sean Rad making scurrilous accusations, completely unsupported by even the alleged victim, in an attempt to harm the company and improperly benefit himself.”According to a timeline described in the motions, Match’s board found out about Pambakian’s allegations in April 2017 and began an internal investigation. The valuation process for Tinder’s IPO began in May, and according to the filings and the previously disclosed lawsuit, Blatt intentionally withheld information from bankers to obtain a low valuation for the company.Two months later, when a journalist got wind of the harassment allegations and began asking questions for a potential news story, the board suggested Blatt promptly resign his position, according to an email from Blatt to his public relations adviser. “We say this is long-planned. And we go about our business,” Blatt writes.The suit claims that the board had debated disclosing his misconduct -- with Blatt even writing what appeared to be a draft resignation letter in an email acknowledging he “did a stupid thing” and “engaged in some snuggling and nuzzling.” Ultimately the board opted to make Blatt’s departure look like part of a planned transition the suit says, citing an email where IAC head of communications Valerie Combs writes to Levin “we need to get specific on the date of when the Board adopted a CEO transition plan, and it needs to pre-date the incident for the story to be credible should all of this come to light.” IAC and Match deny that Blatt was asked to resignIn a statement to Bloomberg, Blatt said he was “extremely confident” that he will be vindicated of the allegations against him. “As I made clear in my defamation lawsuit, Rad and Pambakian are attempting to extort an unjustified payout in their lawsuit against Match by making false allegations against me,” Blatt said. “Their claims have been repeatedly contradicted during discovery, both by sworn testimony from multiple third-party witnesses and contemporaneous documentary evidence.”A second motion filed by the plaintiffs on Wednesday revealed new claims that Diller had been advised by counsel that the company had an obligation to disclose Blatt’s misconduct upon his resignation, citing testimony from Diller’s October deposition which has yet to be unsealed.The motion also claims that other unreleased emails show that Diller notified Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. and adviser to IAC, that counsel had “changed his opinion,” saying “[N]ow we’re all right – protecting GB is the right thing to do but GB also makes it harder every day.”The flurry of court filings comes as both parties prepare to go to trial in less than six months after nearly three years of suits and countersuits that has cost Match Group millions of dollars in legal fees. Earlier this month, Match and IAC moved to seal a trove documents related to the sexual misconduct investigation.“Defendants know that if the jury sees the evidence that their investigation of Blatt was a sham and a whitewash— that the investigation was so egregiously deficient compared to how companies normally handle these situations—the jury will conclude that Defendants’ motive was to protect Blatt, to keep him in place, and to ensure that he remained at the controls to execute Defendants’ corrupt scheme by engineering a lowball valuation,” according to the suit.Pambakian, who previously served as vice president of marketing and communications at Tinder, was originally part of Rad’s suit but withdrew after finding she had signed an arbitration agreement. She filed a separate claim against Blatt and Match Group in 2019 alleging she was fired for reporting Blatt sexually assaulted her. Her suit claims that Blatt, Match and IAC asked Pambakian to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the incident “in exchange for increased compensation,” which she declined to sign. Pambakian was initially placed on administrative leave and then fired on August 15, 2018, after four years with the dating app, according to the lawsuit.Match acknowledged in a conference call last year that it expects its legal expenses to remain elevated. The Tinder litigation is “the most significant” lawsuit it faces and could result in legal headwinds and expenditures into 2021, according to Susquehanna litigation analyst Tom Claps. Match shares are up about 36% since last July when it was spun out of IAC. (Updates with shares in final paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected the headline to clarify suit is on behalf of former Tinder chief executive.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210531 09h34m Atlantia Backs Landmark Sale of Autostrade to Italy State Lender (Bloomberg) -- The battle to control Italy’s largest highway operator neared its end on Monday, almost three years after a deadly bridge collapse in the city of Genoa sparked rounds of acrimonious talks between the billionaire Benetton family and the government.At a meeting Monday, some 87% of investors at Atlantia SpA backed the sale of the company’s Autostrade SpA highway unit to an investor group led by Italy’s state-backed lender, an eleventh-hour victory for the Benettons, who control the infrastructure giant.Atlantia’s board, which in the absence of other options ultimately decided to back the sale to the state lender, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA, is expected to meet June 10 to give its final approval. Atlantia shares rose as much as 4.7% in Milan after Bloomberg first reported the approval.The vote marks a crucial step toward closing the book on the August 2018 Morandi Bridge disaster, when 43 people died in an accident that traumatized the nation and triggered billions of euros in legal claims.In addition to causing national outrage, sometimes fomented by politicians, the bridge collapse also led to the eventual resignation and arrest of Atlantia’s former Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Castellucci.Turning PointThe deal could mark a turning point for the Benettons while raising questions on the future of Atlantia, which controls airports in Italy and France and highways in Spain and South America.Since the 2018 accident the family, best known outside the country for its namesake clothing brand, has shaken up management at both its Edizione holding company and at Atlantia.The battle between Rome and Atlantia raged on under three straight administrations, featuring a series of often-heated negotiations between the government and Atlantia’s controlling shareholders and executives, but also including the bidding group led by Cassa Depositi and funds Macquarie Group Ltd. and Blackstone Group Inc.That group has been trying to buy Autostrade since last summer, with Atlantia’s board rejecting a string of offers. The final bid values Autostrade at 9.3 billion euros ($11.4 billion). Atlantia owns about 88% of the highway manager.A decision to sell would close the curtain on more than two decades of Benetton ownership of Autostrade and mark the culmination of years of political pressure on the family to yield their controlling stake in the company, mostly from Giuseppe Conte’s populist government, which was in place at the time of the bridge tragedy.The Conte government went as far as to threaten to revoke Autostrade’s toll contracts after a ministerial commission charged that the company had underestimated the deterioration of the structure.Even under the current government led by Mario Draghi, which takes a markedly different approach to corporate intervention than its predecessor, political pressure to sell the road network never ceased.The Benettons bought Autostrade during Italy’s privatization campaign in the late 1990s, spearheaded by the Draghi-led Treasury. Now, the company will come full circle, returning to state control with Draghi as premier.Signing off on the deal could also be one of the first acts for Cassa Depositi’s new CEO Dario Scannapieco, who worked with Draghi at the Treasury during the privatization campaign and was tapped by the premier last week to run the state lender.(Updates with Atlantia future from fourth paragraph.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business World Howell date : 210531 09h37m14s World Reuters 210531 09h07m Italy reports 82 coronavirus deaths on Monday, 1,820 new cases Italy reported 82 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday against 44 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 1,820 from 2,949. Italy has registered 126,128 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 1,033 from a previous 1,061. Business Reuters 210531 09h06m Norway's wealth fund unlikely to reproduce same high returns, says CEO Norway's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund is unlikely to offer the same high returns in coming decades as it has over the past 25 years, its chief executive Nicolai Tangen said. Set up to pool state's revenues from Norway's oil and gas production and prevent the economy from overheating, the fund was then turned into a sovereign wealth fund in 1998. It has since had a net return of 4.42%, above its long-term target of 4%, mostly due to strong returns in the past decade. World Reuters 210531 08h50m Retailers and unions agree on 3-month extension to Bangladesh workers' safety accord Retailers and unions negotiating over a legally binding workers' safety accord in Bangladesh due to expire on Monday reached a tentative deal to extend it by three months, unions involved in discussions said, provided the around 200 signatory retailers agree on the extension. The signatories - which include top apparel retailers like Zara-owner Inditex - have until June 10 to state whether they agree, a spokesperson for UNI Global Union, one of the unions involved, said. At least 10 have given their consent, according to UNI Global Union, including H&M, which confirmed it had agreed to the extension. World Reuters 210531 08h49m UPDATE 1-Denmark to reconsider exclusion of J&J shot - local media Denmark's government has asked the country's health authorities to reconsider a decision earlier this month to exclude Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 shots from its vaccination programme, local media reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources. The media reports by broadcaster TV2 and newspaper Ekstra Bladet also said Denmark's vaccination programme would be concluded in September, two weeks after the current timeline. Denmark was the first country to exclude the J&J vaccine over a potential link to a rare but serious form of blood clot. Business Reuters 210531 08h44m CANADA FX DEBT-C$ heads for monthly gain as current account swings to surplus * Canadian dollar dips 0.1% against the greenback * Canada posts first current account surplus since 2008 * Price of U.S. oil rises 1.4% * Canadian bond yields edge lower across the curve TORONTO, May 31 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, but was on track to notch its fourth straight monthly gain as oil prices rose and data showed Canada posting a current account surplus for the first time since 2008. Canada's current account balance was a surplus of C$1.2 billion in the first quarter, from a revised C$5.3 billion deficit in the fourth quarter of 2020, on a higher trade in goods and services, Statistics Canada said. Business Business Howell date : 210530 21h51m45s Business Reuters 210530 21h29m REFILE-Morning News Call - India, May 31 • 9:00 am: Nazara Technologies management at an analyst call post fourth-quarter earnings. • 11:00 am: Bank of Baroda management at an analyst call post fourth-quarter earnings. INDIA TOP NEWS • India's economy likely accelerated in Jan-Mar, before COVID-19 wave India's economic growth likely picked up in the January-March quarter from the previous three months, but economists have grown more pessimistic about this quarter after a harsh second wave of COVID-19 hit the country last month. Business Reuters 210530 21h21m Intel reiterates chip supply shortages could last several years Intel Corp's CEO said on Monday it could take several years for a global shortage of semiconductors to be resolved, a problem that has shuttered some auto production lines and is also being felt in other areas, including consumer electronics. Pat Gelsinger told a virtual session of the Computex trade show in Taipei that the work-and-study-from-home trend during the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a "cycle of explosive growth in semiconductors" that has placed huge strain on global supply chains. "But while the industry has taken steps to address near term constraints it could still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address shortages of foundry capacity, substrates and components." Business Bloomberg 210530 21h20m Asia Stocks Dip, U.S. Futures Steady; Dollar Slips: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- Most Asian stocks retreated Monday and U.S. equity futures were steady as investors continue to weigh inflation risks and the strength of the economic recovery.Equities slipped in Japan, Hong Kong and China, where a gauge of the manufacturing industry suggested the economy’s recovery momentum might have peaked. U.S. contracts ticked up after the S&P 500 notched its fourth-straight monthly advance. Treasury yields ticked back below 1.60% on Friday. There’s no Treasuries cash trading in Asia amid holidays in the U.S. and U.K.The offshore yuan stabilized in the wake of comments leaning against its climb. Two state-run newspapers flagged risks fueled by rapid gains in the currency. China also set its daily reference rate at a weaker-than-expected level.Bitcoin traded below $35,000 after a Friday slump as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned about the token’s volatility and speculative trading.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support.But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and this week’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength. A purchasing managers’ index report in China showed input costs for manufacturers jumped to the highest in about a decade.“Policy makers have committed to accepting a higher level of inflation, higher volatility in inflation and as that happens you will see inflation moving structurally higher,” Mixo Das, JPMorgan Asia equity strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is in the prices yet.”Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets will be closed for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 11:50 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% FridayNasdaq 100 contracts climbed 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%Topix index fell 0.6%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dipped 0.1%Kospi index was little changedHang Seng Index fell 0.3%Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3%Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1%CurrenciesThe yen was at 109.67 per dollar, up 0.2%The offshore yuan was at 6.3610 per dollarThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1%The euro traded at $1.2199BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 1.59% Friday. Futures were little changedAustralia’s 10-year bond yields edged up to 1.70%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $66.54 a barrelGold was at $1,908.60 an ounce, up 0.3%More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 21h17m China’s Supply Chain Frontliners Bear Brunt of Surging Costs (Bloomberg) -- China’s factories, power plants and farms are fielding the worst effects of a surge in commodity costs that’s yet to hurt the wallets of the nation’s citizens.Electronic goods makers are balking at the volatility in raw materials prices and are cutting orders for rods and pipes, said Henan Qixing Copper Co. That’s a double blow for the supplier of metal parts, which is already dealing with soaring refined copper prices.“It’s a big test of the company’s capital,” said Hai Jianxun, a sales executive at Qixing, a mid-sized copper fabricator in China’s industrial base. This situation “requires much more capital to keep the business running.”China’s government has intensified its efforts to rein in commodity prices to help these industries weather what it hopes will be a transitory bout of inflation. Rhetorical intervention by top politicians, state planners and exchanges have had some success in forcing prices lower from the all-time highs hit earlier this month. But for many in the supply chain, the money woes are mounting up.A gauge of China’s manufacturing industry softened slightly in May, suggesting growth may have peaked for now. Input costs rose to their highest since 2010, squeezing smaller enterprises in particular.At a recent visit by Premier Li Keqiang to the city of Ningbo on the east coast, one home electronics manufacturer complained that higher raw materials prices had put huge pressure on its operations. Another -- a copper valve producer -- lobbied the premier for more government support.While producer price inflation (PPI) has jumped, consumer prices -- which are what the central bank really cares about when calculating monetary policy -- have remained more subdued. Keeping it that way depends on the supply chain absorbing rising costs and not passing them on to consumers.“Household spending remains soft, so consumer-facing businesses that are exposed to higher PPI will find it difficult to pass on price rises,” said Shaun Roache, APAC Chief Economist at S&P Global Ratings. “For now, higher PPI inflation threatens to eat into profit margins.”Power StrainedFactories, and the power plants that supply them, are also particularly vulnerable to elevated coal prices. With China’s economic revival pushing power consumption to exceed pre-pandemic levels, and drought in the south of the country causing a drop in hydro-power, energy costs are a growing headache.The strain on electricity supplies has already forced some factories in the southern industrial heartland of Guangdong to shift their operations to off-peak hours, said Yu Zhai, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Others are only being allowed to operate three days a week, hurting their ability to fulfill orders, news website Jiemian reported. Such measures to stagger power consumption could last three months.Coal at the port of Qinhuangdao costs 865 yuan a ton, about 50% higher than average. When prices are above 800 yuan a ton, nearly all coal-fired power plants in China lose money, said Yu. “Some plants may try to reduce generation to avoid more losses,” he said.Farm FrustrationFarmers big and small are also suffering. Investors have punished the shares of the largest hog producers, which are facing a squeeze on margins from higher feed costs -- including corn, soybeans and wheat -- even as pork prices slump.Muyuan Foods Co., China’s biggest pig breeder, said costs are increasing due to higher raw material prices. The timing couldn’t be worse, with futures prices for live pigs in China falling to the lowest since the derivative launched earlier this year.And the spike in grain markets is hurting even the producers who should benefit from higher prices.Liu Chen, a corn farmer in Heilongjiang province in the northeast, said land rents and labor costs have jumped by about half, while fertilizer prices have risen 20%, amid the run-up in domestic corn prices, which peaked at the start of the year.“With current corn prices heading lower, it’s very likely that we will lose money by the time harvest comes around,” Liu said.(Updates with China’s May PMI in fifth paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210530 20h58m GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares try to extend rally ahead of U.S. jobs test Asian shares were trying to extend their recent rally to a third week on Monday in the hope U.S. jobs figures show the expected revival in hiring in May and keep the global recovery on track. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3%, having rallied 2.2% last week. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7%, while Australia touched a fresh all-time peak. Politics Reuters 210530 20h55m U.S. records show Iran crude oil cargo landed in March, month after ship seizure A cargo of 1.033 million barrels of Iranian crude oil was recorded as landing on U.S. shores in March, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, the first shipment of Iranian oil to the United States since 1991. The cargo was registered in EIA data, released late last week, covering the month following the seizure by U.S. authorities of the Liberian-flagged Achilleas tanker, which was transporting Iranian crude. The EIA didn't disclose further details of the Iranian cargo, and the agency could not be immediately reached for comment. Business Howell date : 210530 19h51m08s Business Bloomberg 210530 19h45m Oil Edges Higher With Market Set to Focus on OPEC+ Policy Meet (Bloomberg) -- Oil edged higher in Asian trading with the market focused on an OPEC+ supply policy meeting early this week and any commentary around the prospect for returning Iranian supply.Futures in New York rose toward $67 a barrel after falling 0.8% on Friday. OPEC and its allies are expected to stick with a decision to boost output in July when the group gathers Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg survey last week. While rebounding demand is driving prices higher, the possibility of more barrels from Iran should a nuclear deal be revived is clouding the outlook.Iran and world powers have resumed discussions, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said in a tweet, adding that there was an understanding among the countries involved that “the current round should be final.”Oil is poised for a second straight monthly gain as the U.S., China and parts of Europe lead a robust demand recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, despite a virus comeback across Asia. American gasoline stockpiles have declined and consumption gained in the lead up to the Memorial Day weekend, which heralds the start of the summer driving season and peak fuel demand.“The best course of action for the alliance tomorrow may be to stay on an even keel, maintaining the current pace of tapering,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil consultancy Vanda Insights. “The latest waves driven by virus variants and a slow pace of vaccinations suggests it will be a very gradual exit from the pandemic through the second half.”The prompt timespread for Brent was 38 cents a barrel in backwardation -- a bullish market structure where near-dated contracts are more expensive than later-dated ones. That compares with 9 cents a week earlier.See also: Last Week Was When the World Changed for Big Oil: Julian LeeWhen OPEC+ meets on Tuesday, investors will also be looking for any clues on the next stage of the group’s supply policy amid growing expectations for demand to accelerate through the end of the year. As for July, all but four of 24 analysts and traders surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the alliance would ratify a planned increase of 840,000 barrels a day.A gauge of China’s manufacturing industry slipped in May, meanwhile, adding to concerns that the recovery momentum in manufacturing might be peaking. The services and construction sectors strengthened. Indian data later Monday is forecast to show the nation’s gross domestic product during the first quarter posted a slight pickup in growth year-on-year.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 19h36m China’s Factory Outlook Steadies as Recovery Passes Its Peak (Bloomberg) -- A gauge of China’s manufacturing industry steadied in May, suggesting the economy’s recovery momentum might have peaked. The services and construction sectors strengthened.The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index slowed slightly to 51 in May from 51.1 in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday, lower than the median estimate of 51.1 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The non-manufacturing gauge, which measures activity in the construction and services sectors, climbed to 55.2, above the 55.1 projected by economists. Readings above 50 indicate an expansion in output.The official manufacturing reading pointed to a stabilization in output, with the fewer working days in the month compared to April possible affecting the results. External demand likely remained strong in May due to the reopening of some nations such as the U.S., but recent rapid increases in commodity prices are weighing on the profitability of companies, especially those that purchase raw materials like metal ores or coal.The data confirms that “the pace of the economic recovery in China has been slowing,” Qu Hongbin, co-head of economics research at HSBC Holdings Plc, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We are already past the peak of recovery momentum in China.”Input prices for manufacturers jumped to 72.8 in the month, the highest since 2010.A sub-index of new export orders for factories fell into contraction, down to 48.3 in May from 50.4 in the previous month, while new orders were at 51.3.What Bloomberg Economics Says...Growth momentum should continue into coming months. Still, the unevenness in the recovery is going to take time to work out and the emerging signs of weakness warrant some caution.Against this backdrop, the People’s Bank of China is unlikely to raise interest rates -- even as price pressures build.Chang Shu, chief Asia economistFor the full report, click here The service sector recovery has been recovering this year with further reductions in domestic travel restrictions releasing some pent-up demand such as a surge in Chinese travel over the May Labor Day holidays, which exceeded pre-pandemic levels. However, that pickup in domestic consumption is still lagging behind the pickup in the industrial sector.Click here for a breakdown of China’s PMI resultsThe construction sector strengthened, reversing its decline from a peak in March. A sub-index of manufacturing employment was at 48.9, the same as non-manufacturing employment.(Updates chart, and adds more details.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 19h35m China Huarong’s Journey From Safe Bet to Bad News: A Timeline (Bloomberg) -- It’s nearly two months since turbulence erupted around China Huarong Asset Management Co.At the end of March, its 4% perpetual dollar bond was trading at 102 cents on the dollar as investors figured the January execution of former chairman Lai Xiaomin for bribery put a line under past wayward behavior. But the failure of the company to release 2020 results by a March 31 deadline, and a subsequent report by mainland media Caixin that the firm will restructure, sparked weeks of turmoil. The same bond is now at 57 cents.The heart of the matter is whether the central government will rescue a state-owned company that’s integral to the smooth running of the financial system. While there are signs Beijing wants to ensure China Huarong can repay its debts on time, uncertainty prevails.Here’s a look at the key events for China Huarong:May 28The company has wired funds to repay $978 million of notes maturing within the following week, according to Bloomberg News, the biggest bond payment since the 2020 results delay.May 27Liang Qiang, who currently heads another bad-debt manager, is on track to become president of China Huarong, reports Bloomberg News.May 24China Huarong dollar bonds climb after the managing editor of Caixin Media wrote in an opinion piece that the asset manager is “nowhere near” defaulting on its more than $20 billion of offshore notes.May 21Some of China Huarong’s thinly traded onshore bonds slump after having held up better than the company’s dollar-denominated notes, signaling broadening concern about the firm’s financial health.May 18China Huarong has transferred funds to repay a $300 million note maturing May 20, Bloomberg News reports, the first dollar bond to come due since the delayed 2020 results. Prices for the firm’s dollar bonds slump earlier in the day after the New York Times reports China is planning an overhaul that would inflict “significant losses” on both domestic and foreign China Huarong bondholders.May 17The company has reached funding agreements with state-owned banks to ensure it can repay debt through at least the end of August, by which time China Huarong aims to have completed its 2020 financial statements, according to a Bloomberg News report. That as at least two of its onshore bonds see big price declines in recent days, worrying some investors.May 13The firm says it’s prepared to make future bond payments and has seen no change in the level of government support, seeking to ease investor concerns after a local media report that regulators balked at China Hurarong’s restructuring plan.May 6The company says it transferred funds to pay five offshore bond coupons due the following day, its latest move to meet debt obligations amid persistent doubts about its financial health.April 30China Huarong breaks its silence, with an executive telling media it is prepared to make its bond payments and state backing remains intact. The official also says the week’s rating downgrades “have no factual basis” and are “too pessimistic.”April 29Moody’s Investor Service downgrades China Huarong by one notch to Baa1, adding the firm remains on watch for further downgrade. The cut reflects the company’s weakened funding ability due to market volatility and increased uncertainty over its future, according to the statement.April 27China Huarong units repay bonds maturing that day. The S$600 million ($450 million) bond was repaid with funds provided by China’s biggest state-owned bank, according to a Bloomberg News report.April 26Fitch Ratings downgrades China Huarong by three notches to BBB while dropping the company’s perpetual bonds into junk territory. The lack of transparency over government support for the firm may hamper its ability to refinance debt in offshore markets, Fitch said.April 25China Huarong says it won’t meet an April 30 deadline to file its 2020 report with Hong Kong’s stock exchange because auditors needed more time to finalize a transaction the company first flagged on April 1. Securities and asset-management units said in the days before that they wouldn’t release 2020 results by month’s end.April 22The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission asks lenders to extend China Huarong’s upcoming loans by at least six months, according to REDD, citing two bankers from large Chinese commercial lenders.April 21China is considering a plan that would see its central bank assume more than 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) of China Huarong assets to help clean up the firm’s balance sheet, according to a Bloomberg News report. Peer China Cinda Asset Management Co. was said to be planning the sale of perpetual bonds in the second quarter.April 20China Huarong’s key offshore financing unit says it returned to profitability in the first quarter and laid a “solid” foundation for transformation. Reorg Research reports that regulators are considering options including a debt restructuring of the unit, China Huarong International Holdings Ltd.April 19Huarong Securities Co. says it wired funds to repay a 2.5 billion yuan local note.April 16The CBIRC says China Huarong’s operations are normal and that the firm has ample liquidity. These are the first official comments about the company’s troubles. Reuters reports Chinese banks have been asked not to withhold loans to Huarong.April 13Fitch and Moody’s both put the company on watch for downgrade. The finance ministry, which owns a majority of Huarong, is considering the transfer of its stake to a unit of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Bloomberg News reports. Chinese officials signal they want failing local government financing vehicles to restructure or go bust if debts can’t be repaid.April 9China Huarong says it has been making debt payments “on time” and its operations are “normal.” Bloomberg News reports the company intends to keep Huarong International as part of a potential overhaul that would avoid the need of a debt restructuring or government recapitalization. S&P Global Ratings puts China Huarong’s credit ratings on watch for possible downgrade.April 8China Huarong is preparing to offload non-core and loss-making units as part of a broad plan to revive profitability that would avoid the need for a debt restructuring or government recapitalization, Bloomberg News reports.April 6Selling gains steam in China Huarong’s dollar bonds, following a holiday in China. Huarong Securities says there has been no major change to its operations, in response to a price plunge for its 3 billion yuan local bond.April 1China Huarong announces a delay in releasing 2020 results, saying its auditor is unable to finalize a transaction. Stock trading is suspended and spreads jump on the firm’s dollar bonds while China Huarong tells investors its business is running as usual. Caixin reports the company submitted restructuring and other major reform plans to government officials and shareholders.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Reuters 210530 19h30m China's factory activity slows slightly in May as raw materials costs surge - official PMI China's factory activity slowed slightly in May as high raw materials costs and supply bottlenecks continued to weigh on industrial production, particularly for small and export-oriented firms. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) inched lower to 51.0 in May from 51.1 in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, but remained above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction. Officials warn the foundations for the economic recovery are not yet secure amid problems like higher raw material costs and the epidemic situation overseas. Business Bloomberg 210530 19h21m China Wrecks IPO Plans for High-Flying Education Startups (Bloomberg) -- China is escalating a crackdown on its online education sector, forcing once high-flying startups to mothball plans for multi-billion-dollar initial public offerings this year.Just months ago, edtech outfits were one of the hottest investments in China’s post-Covid internet industry, pulling in more than $10 billion of venture funding last year from powerhouses like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp. Then Beijing stepped in.President Xi Jinping suggested in March the surge in after-school tutoring was putting immense pressure on on China’s kids, signaling a personal interest in curbing excesses. That led to warnings in state-owned media and penalties aimed at predatory practices that play on a nation’s obsession with academic achievement. Now, the country’s education ministry plans to create a dedicated division to oversee all private education platforms for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter.The government campaign has brought several potential mega-IPOs to a screeching halt. Tencent-backed VIPKid and Huohua Siwei have put off U.S. listings despite working in concert with banks for months, the people said. Alibaba-invested Zuoyebang will likely miss its target of debuting as soon as this year, one of them said. And Tencent-backed rival Yuanfudao -- at $15.5 billion the most valuable of the lot -- isn’t going to kick off IPO preparations anytime soon, they said, asking to be identified talking about internal matters.Beijing is zeroing in on tutoring startups that thrived when schools sent students home, then launched a marketing free-for-all regulators say is funneling millions of kids into mind-numbing virtual classes with uncertain benefits. Their concern centers not just on reckless pricing or advertising but also on the widening divide between the haves and have-nots -- those who can afford to load up on extra lessons. To that end, officials laid out a plethora of restrictions this month including limiting the after-school tuition fees companies can charge, and fined Yuanfudao and Zuoyebang for false advertising claims.Chinese media have reported more in the offing, from bans on online courses for kids six years old or younger to restrictions on homework and mandatory licensing for all teachers. Reuters reported that new polices could include a moratorium on weekend classes, which account for more than a third of private tuition in the country according to Bloomberg Intelligence.“This could decimate revenue throughout the industry,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Catherine Lim said, referring to a blanket weekend ban.Yuanfudao declined to comment, while Zuoyebang and Huohua Siwei didn’t respond to requests for comment.A spokesman for VIPKid declined to comment on any IPO plans, but said the company is following updates in the education sector closely. Read more: Edtech Startup Zuoyebang Said to Weigh $500 Million U.S. IPOStay-at-home tutoring was growing in popularity around the world -- particularly in Asia -- even before Covid 19 scrapped in-person classes. But it’s in China that the industry has taken on a life of its own. On any given day, at least 50 million students -- the equivalent of the entire population of Spain -- could use Zuoyebang’s platform, the company has claimed.That sheer scale is why the country’s online education startups have become some of the world’s most valuable after attracting $10.5 billion of funding last year, more than was raised in total over the previous three years, according to research firm Preqin. China’s online learning market was expected to reach 315 billion yuan ($49.5 billion) in 2020, almost triple from five years ago, according to global market data tracker Statista.It also helps explain why Xi’s administration is taking unusually direct steps to influence the industry’s evolution in China. His government in general is keen to curtail the growing influence of internet giants like Tencent and Alibaba, among the industry’s biggest backers, through a series of regulatory probes and record fines.Officials are also concerned about hundreds of millions of parents plowing their savings into online classes, while subjecting children to increasingly onerous workloads. As with past booms built on shaky ground -- say, in peer-to-peer lending or improperly licensed wealth management products -- Beijing stepped in quickly to defuse what it perceived to be a potential ticking time bomb.The fallout was swift. GSX Techedu Inc., New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. and TAL Education Group -- which mainly operate physical schools but serve as barometers of industry sentiment -- have shed $55 billion of value since the start of March. Investors from SoftBank and Sequoia to Hillhouse Capital and Tiger Global, among the biggest proselytizers of past years, have been sideswiped by the ferocity of the regulatory clampdown and have in many cases been forced to pull back from lucrative exits.Others however remain unfazed for now. Zhangmen Education Inc., which filed for a U.S. IPO on May 19, plans to test investors’ confidence despite the regulatory uncertainties. The e-learning upstart backed by Warburg Pincus and SoftBank has yet to pull back on a listing plan, according to one person with knowledge of the matter. And on May 25, Jiayi, a Beijing firm operating both online and offline tutoring centers, also filed for an IPO in Hong Kong. Both however cite intensifying competition and new regulatory requirements among their risk factors.Zhangmen didn’t immediately provide comment.That fierce rivalry comes through in unexpected -- occasionally ominous -- ways.In January, a social media furor erupted after companies including Yuanfudao, Zuoyebang and ByteDance Ltd.’s education unit hired the same actress to pose as a teacher on their platforms, local media reported. The same bespectacled woman presented herself as English and math teachers in different promotion material.In one of the promo videos posted online, she took direct aim at parental paranoia -- precisely what regulators railed against. The actress, flogging a 33-hour live-streaming course package that cost just $8, warned that missing out has consequences.“It could be parents themselves who ruin their kids,” she said.Read more: Alibaba-Backed Edtech Startup Hires CFO Ahead of Likely U.S. IPO(Updates with comments from the ninth paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 19h20m Stocks, Ringgit Slide in Malaysia After Nationwide Lockdown (Bloomberg) -- Malaysian stocks tumbled and the ringgit weakened after the government imposed a two-week nationwide lockdown to curb a relentless surge in Covid-19 infections.The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index slumped as much as 1.6% on Monday, the most since March 31. The ringgit dropped 0.3% to 4.1455 per dollar, the biggest decline in Asia. Ten-year bond yield held steady at 3.23%. The government said on Friday that most businesses will be shut from June 1 except for essential economic and service sectors.Malaysia’s return to a hard lockdown comes in the wake of record daily infections that saw cases top 9,000 on Saturday. A resurgence in virus outbreaks in Asia has spurred some countries including Vietnam and Singapore to tighten restrictions. A similar lockdown in Malaysia last year cost the country an estimated 63 billion ringgit ($15 billion).“The government is finally biting the bullet,” said Alexander Chia, an analyst at RHB Investment Bank Bhd. “Clearly, there are downside risks to FY21 earnings growth, even if it is essentially a postponement of growth to FY22.”Vietnam tightened social distancing measures in Ho Chi Minh City for 15 days from May 31, while Singapore this month reissued some lockdown-like conditions that it put in place a year ago. They include banning dining-in, limiting social gatherings and urging a return to work-from-home.READ: ‘Covid Zero’ Havens Find Reopening Harder Than Taming VirusThe Malaysian stock benchmark is down 6.5% from a December high as investor concerns about the impact of stricter curbs on movement weigh on riskier assets.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 19h09m PropertyGuru to Acquire REA Group Malaysia, Thailand Units (Bloomberg) -- Singapore real estate startup PropertyGuru Pte has agreed to acquire all of the shares in REA Group Ltd.’s operating entities in Malaysia and Thailand, marking the biggest acquisition in its 14-year history.PropertyGuru will acquire iProperty.com.my and Brickz.my in Malaysia and thinkofliving.com and Prakard.com in Thailand from Australia’s REA Group, the Southeast Asian company said in a statement on Monday. As part of the deal, REA, which is majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. empire, will get an 18% equity interest in PropertyGuru and appoint a director to its board. No price has been disclosed for the deal.“This is our largest acquisition and transformative for PropertyGuru,” Chief Executive Officer Hari V. Krishnan said in an interview with Bloomberg News via Zoom. “This acquisition allows us to be much more synergistic and look for areas where we can invest.”The announcement comes after a flurry of deal-making by the most valuable startups in the region. Ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia announced earlier this month they will combine their businesses to create the largest internet company in Indonesia. Close Gojek rival Grab Holdings Inc. last month agreed to go public in the U.S. through a combination with Altimeter Growth Corp. in the largest-ever merger with a blank-check company.For PropertyGuru, the deal will likely reduce competition in Malaysia and Thailand where the company has been competing against REA’s affiliates. Krishnan said the firm will keep the existing brands and invest in their development for the foreseeable future.“iProperty Malaysia in particular is an excellent asset,” the CEO said. “Malaysia is going through a bit of correction, driven very much by Covid right now, but the mega macro trend still exists.”Shares in REA Group gained as much as 0.9% in Australia on Monday.Launched in 2007 to help Singapore residents search for real estate online, PropertyGuru has become a household name in the property-crazed city-state. Today, it’s the largest real estate marketplace in Southeast Asia with operations spanning countries including Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. It is backed by KKR & Co Inc. and TPG Capital LP.In October 2019, the company scrapped plans for an initial public offering on the Australian stock exchange over valuation concerns. About a year later, it announced S$300 million ($220 million) in new funding from existing backers.(Updates with CEO comments from third paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 19h03m China Moves to Cool Yuan Rally With Series of Verbal Warnings (Bloomberg) -- China signaled its tolerance for the yuan’s rally is fading, as two state-run newspapers flagged risks fueled by rapid gains in the currency.The rise in the yuan is a reflection of short-term speculation and it probably won’t last, Sheng Songcheng, former director of the central bank’s statistics department, said in an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency on Sunday. Separately, the People’s Bank of China-backed Financial News said in an editorial that the currency may depreciate in the future due to factors such as a U.S. tightening if inflation continues to beat expectations.The comments follow a subtle shift in policy makers’ stance at the end of last week after earlier messaging appeared to indicate a greater tolerance for a stronger currency. A rapidly rising yuan may draw increased scrutiny in global financial markets, especially at a time when the dollar is losing momentum.“PBOC seems comfortable with yuan’s direction, just not the pace of its gains that was spurred by speculations of the currency being used to curb imported inflation,” said Fiona Lim, senior currency analyst at Malayan Banking Berhad in Singapore. “The level of 6.20 is still possible over the next 12 months especially if broader dollar weakness takes the dollar-yuan pair to that level.”With China’s economy rebounding from the pandemic and foreign funds piling into the nation’s equity and bond markets, the yuan has rallied to a five-year high against a basket of trading partners’ currencies. It has climbed this year against all but six of the 31 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, and is Asia’s best performer.China should prevent huge short-term inflows, which could push up the yuan, hurt competitiveness of exporters and affect independent operations of the country’s financial market and monetary policy, Sheng said. Possible inflows to the U.S. from emerging markets and a strong global economic recovery will pose risks to China’s exports, potentially weakening the yuan, according to the editorial from Financial News.Yuan’s Rally Draws Subtle Signal From PBOC Over Pace of GainsA rapid appreciation in the currency would instead hurt exporters’ interests, especially smaller ones and China has “enough policy tools” to stabilize the yuan and balance cross-border inflows, Sheng said.The offshore yuan fell for the first time in four sessions on Monday, dropping 0.1% to 6.3694 per dollar. It has gained 1.6% in May to head for its biggest monthly advance since November. The currency starts trading in the onshore market at 9:30 a.m. local time.The PBOC will properly guide expectations on the yuan, and the exchange rate will continue to be decided by market supply and demand, as well as changes in global financial markets, Sheng was cited as saying.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210530 17h46m36s Business Bloomberg 210530 16h47m U.S. Futures Edge Up, Asia Stocks Eye Steady Start: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures edged up Monday and Asian stocks were set for a steady start as investors continue to weigh inflation risks and await key U.S. jobs data to gauge the strength of the economic recovery.Equity contracts were little changed in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong after U.S. stocks notched their fourth-straight monthly advance. Treasury yields ticked back below 1.60% on Friday. There is no cash trading in Asia amid holidays in the U.S. and U.K.The offshore yuan slipped in the wake of comments leaning against its climb. The currency’s rapid appreciation against the U.S. dollar probably won’t last, according to a former Chinese central bank official, while the People’s Bank of China-backed Financial News said in an editorial Sunday that the yuan may depreciate in future.Bitcoin fluctuated around $36,000, following a Friday slump as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned about the token’s volatility and speculative trading.Global stocks remain near a record, lifted by the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic and injections of stimulus. The rally has so far weathered concerns that price pressures could force an earlier-than-expected reduction in central bank support. But investors remain sensitive to the risk, and this week’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report could buffet markets if it changes perceptions of the rebound’s strength.“There is likely more upside to go on the inflation scare front in the months ahead as base effects, the lagged impact of commodity price hikes and bottlenecks continue to feed through, but there are now a few more signs that it will be transitory,” Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital, wrote in a note.Here are key events to watch this week:U.S. markets will be closed for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. markets will be closed for the Spring Bank holidayReserve Bank of Australia policy decision TuesdayOPEC+ meets to review oil production levels TuesdayPhiladelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speak WednesdayU.S. employment report for May on FridayThese are some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 7:35 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% FridayNasdaq 100 contracts climbed 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.1%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures added 0.1%Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures rose 0.3% earlierCurrenciesThe Japanese yen was at 109.85 per dollarThe offshore yuan was at 6.3679 per dollar, down 0.1%The euro was little changed at $1.2193BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 1.59% FridayAustralia’s 10-year bond yields was steady at 1.68%CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $66.62 a barrelGold was at $1,903.74 an ounceMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business World Reuters 210530 14h46m Mexico accuses Zara, Anthropologie & Patowl of cultural appropriation Mexico has accused international fashion brands Zara, Anthropologie, and Patowl of cultural appropriation, saying they used patterns from indigenous Mexican groups in their designs without any benefit to the communities. Mexico's Ministry of Culture said in a statement Friday that it had sent letters signed by Mexico's Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto to all three global companies, asking each for a "public explanation on what basis it could privatize collective property." World Reuters 210530 13h46m Renault-Nissan's south India plant staff to stay away on Monday Workers at the Renault-Nissan plant in southern India will not report for work on Monday over coronavirus-related safety concerns, according to a union letter to the company seen by Reuters, and two sources familiar with the matter. "It will not be secure for workers to report to work on Monday the 31st of May, 2021," the Renault-Nissan India workers union said in a letter sent late on Sunday. Hundreds of workers near Chennai have fallen ill with COVID-19 and dozens have died this year, labour unions say. Business Bloomberg 210530 12h46m Australia Central Bank Faces Taper Pressure as More Peers Shift (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s central bank is approaching a decision on whether the economy is strong enough for it to join Canada and New Zealand in signaling a move away from emergency mode.While no change in policy settings is expected at Tuesday’s meeting, the Reserve Bank will likely hold preliminary discussions on whether to extend the three-year yield target and undertake further quantitative easing. Governor Philip Lowe said the board will make a call on both in July.The strength of recent economic data suggests the central bank could opt against rolling its yield target maturity to November 2024 from April 2024 and taper purchases under its longer-dated bond buying program. Melbourne’s latest Covid-19 outbreak is a reminder that a sluggish vaccine roll-out has the potential to jeopardize the recovery.“Covid hasn’t gone away, so that’s still the risk that bubbles around in the background,” said Gareth Aird of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “But if you park that to one side, you couldn’t really ask for a better economic backdrop at the moment to try and meet the RBA’s objectives.”Central banks are beginning to edge away from their emergency monetary settings as vaccine roll-outs continue and economies reopen. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised markets last week in presenting an outlook with projections of its official cash rate rising in the second half of next year.The RBA slightly shifted its tone in this month’s quarterly update as it lifted the economic outlook to reflect strong hiring, investment intentions and sentiment, while maintaining that it doesn’t expect to hike rates until 2024. A commitment to this dovish stance is keeping a lid on any currency appreciation, especially as other central banks pivot.Risks RemainMeantime, Australia’s gross domestic product data for the first three months of the year is due Wednesday. Economists estimate the economy expanded 1.1% from the prior quarter. The economy has rapidly recovered, but covid remains an ever present risk for a country heading into the Southern Hemisphere winter.What Bloomberg Economics Says...“A snap lockdown in Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, is likely to dent the recovery. Uncertainty may dent business and consumer sentiment across unaffected regions, and could weigh on the recovery in business investment.”-- James McIntyre, economistFor the full report, click here.The RBA is currently running a three-year yield target at 0.1% -- the same level as the cash rate -- and will decide at its July 6 meeting whether to roll it over. A decision to let it lapse would signal greater confidence in the outlook. Similarly, the bank needs to decide if it will extend its QE program that is currently due to expire in September.Lowe says wages growth will need to rise at a pace faster than 3% -- more than double the current rate -- for inflation to return sustainably to the central bank’s 2-3% target before he raises rates.Anecdotal evidence of labor shortages are growing in Australia, in a signal that employers may need to offer higher wages to attract workers. The government is also trying to help the RBA push down unemployment and boost wages with targeted fiscal assistance.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210530 12h46m TIMELINE-Israel's political roller coaster since its last election Two rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a partnership on Sunday that could remove Israel's longest-serving leader. Here is a timeline of events that led to the emerging coalition deal between centrist Yair Lapid and the far-right Naftali Bennett, and what happens next. March 23, 2021 - Israel holds its fourth inconclusive election in two years. World Bloomberg 210530 11h46m U.S. Sanctions on Belarus Include Petrochemicals, Treasury Says (Bloomberg) -- Nine state-owned enterprises in Belarus cited on a White House sanctions list include industrial plants and an oil trading platform, a Treasury spokesperson said.President Joe Biden’s administration said Friday it was working on penalties to target Belarusian government officials over the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger jet and the arrest of a dissident journalist a week ago.The U.S. also is reinstating sanctions against companies including Belarusian Oil Trade House and the petrochemical conglomerate Belneftekhim and its U.S. unit,, the spokesperson said Sunday.Others based in Belarus include a tire maker, a fertilizer plant and a paint manufacturer, according to a Treasury list. The sanctions will be reimposed as of Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday without naming the companies, European Union officials have signaled that sanctions against Belarus would hit economic sectors close to President Alexander Lukashenko, including the country’s potash industry. U.S. trade with Belarus amounted to only about $112 million in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210530 15h45m59s World World Reuters 210530 13h45m Renault-Nissan's south India plant staff to stay away on Monday Workers at the Renault-Nissan plant in southern India will not report for work on Monday over coronavirus-related safety concerns, according to a union letter to the company seen by Reuters, and two sources familiar with the matter. "It will not be secure for workers to report to work on Monday the 31st of May, 2021," the Renault-Nissan India workers union said in a letter sent late on Sunday. Hundreds of workers near Chennai have fallen ill with COVID-19 and dozens have died this year, labour unions say. Business Bloomberg 210530 12h45m Australia Central Bank Faces Taper Pressure Beyond Anglosphere (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s central bank is approaching a decision on whether the economy is strong enough for it to join Canada and New Zealand in signaling a move away from emergency mode.While no change in policy settings is expected at Tuesday’s meeting, the Reserve Bank will likely hold preliminary discussions on whether to extend the three-year yield target and undertake further quantitative easing. Governor Philip Lowe said the board will make a call on both in July.The strength of recent economic data suggests the central bank could opt against rolling its yield target maturity to November 2024 from April 2024 and taper purchases under its longer-dated bond buying program. Melbourne’s latest Covid-19 outbreak is a reminder that a sluggish vaccine roll-out has the potential to jeopardize the recovery.“Covid hasn’t gone away, so that’s still the risk that bubbles around in the background,” said Gareth Aird of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “But if you park that to one side, you couldn’t really ask for a better economic backdrop at the moment to try and meet the RBA’s objectives.”Central banks are beginning to edge away from their emergency monetary settings as vaccine roll-outs continue and economies reopen. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised markets last week in presenting an outlook with projections of its official cash rate rising in the second half of next year.The RBA slightly shifted its tone in this month’s quarterly update as it lifted the economic outlook to reflect strong hiring, investment intentions and sentiment, while maintaining that it doesn’t expect to hike rates until 2024. A commitment to this dovish stance is keeping a lid on any currency appreciation, especially as other central banks pivot.Risks RemainMeantime, Australia’s gross domestic product data for the first three months of the year is due Wednesday. Economists estimate the economy expanded 1.1% from the prior quarter. The economy has rapidly recovered, but covid remains an ever present risk for a country heading into the Southern Hemisphere winter.What Bloomberg Economics Says...“A snap lockdown in Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, is likely to dent the recovery. Uncertainty may dent business and consumer sentiment across unaffected regions, and could weigh on the recovery in business investment.”-- James McIntyre, economistFor the full report, click here.The RBA is currently running a three-year yield target at 0.1% -- the same level as the cash rate -- and will decide at its July 6 meeting whether to roll it over. A decision to let it lapse would signal greater confidence in the outlook. Similarly, the bank needs to decide if it will extend its QE program that is currently due to expire in September.Lowe says wages growth will need to rise at a pace faster than 3% -- more than double the current rate -- for inflation to return sustainably to the central bank’s 2-3% target before he raises rates.Anecdotal evidence of labor shortages are growing in Australia, in a signal that employers may need to offer higher wages to attract workers. The government is also trying to help the RBA push down unemployment and boost wages with targeted fiscal assistance.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210530 11h45m UPDATE 1-South Africa extends nightly curfew as COVID cases surge South Africa has extended its nightly curfew and limited the number of people at gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19 as positive cases surge, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. The level two lockdown restrictions will start on Monday, forcing non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres to close by 2200 local time (2000 GMT) as the curfew will now start at 2300 from midnight and end at 0400, Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation. World Bloomberg 210530 11h45m U.S. Sanctions on Belarus Include Petrochemicals, Treasury Says (Bloomberg) -- Nine state-owned enterprises in Belarus cited on a White House sanctions list include industrial plants and an oil trading platform, a Treasury spokesperson said.President Joe Biden’s administration said Friday it was working on penalties to target Belarusian government officials over the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger jet and the arrest of a dissident journalist a week ago.The U.S. also is reinstating sanctions against companies including Belarusian Oil Trade House and the petrochemical conglomerate Belneftekhim and its U.S. unit,, the spokesperson said Sunday.Others based in Belarus include a tire maker, a fertilizer plant and a paint manufacturer, according to a Treasury list. The sanctions will be reimposed as of Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday without naming the companies, European Union officials have signaled that sanctions against Belarus would hit economic sectors close to President Alexander Lukashenko, including the country’s potash industry. U.S. trade with Belarus amounted to only about $112 million in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 10h45m Colombia Steps Up Troop Presence After 14 Die in Cali Violence (Bloomberg) -- Colombia President Ivan Duque deployed more troops to the city of Cali and the surrounding region after violent clashes that have left at least 14 dead since Friday.More than 1,100 soldiers arrived Saturday to ensure the security and mobility of the population, according to a presidential statement on May 29. The government added 25 military patrols in areas of the country’s third-largest city, the statement added.“All the security forces and all of the institutionalism are united here for the citizens’ welfare,” Duque said on Saturday in Popayan, a city in southwest Colombia, after visiting Cali.In addition to the fatalities, at least 98 people have been injured since Friday, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who called for a prompt and independent investigation.Videos published by local media appeared to show armed men in civilian dress opening fire while alongside police officers, who didn’t intervene. Jose Miguel Vivanco, the executive director for the Americas for Human Rights Watch, said the actions were “incompatible with being a government that abides by the rule of law.”One of the dead in recent days was an off-duty investigator for the Attorney General’s Office who was lynched after he opened fire on protesters in circumstances that are still unclear.The wave of demonstrations in the South American country began on April 28 to oppose a government plan to raise taxes, but has grown into a mass protest movement with a range of other grievances, including police brutality, corruption and inequality. The government estimates the cumulative damage at $2.8 billion over the last month.READ MORE: Losses Soar as Unrest Hits Colombian Ports, Mines and RefineriesSince nationwide street demonstrations began, the government took a step back, withdrawing the tax reform from Congress and changed the finance minister. The nation also lost its investment grade rating from S&P Global Ratings.With blockages also causing widespread shortages of goods including food, inflation is expected to jump to 3% this month from 1.95% in April, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The nation’s fiscal deficit will widen to 8.6% of gross domestic product this year, according to the government’s forecast, from 2.5% in 2019.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 10h45m Late Arrival of Monsoon Rains in India May Delay Sowing of Crops (Bloomberg) -- Sowing of major crops such as rice, corn and soybeans may be delayed in India as the southwest monsoon, which waters more than half of the country’s farmland, is expected to reach the mainland two days later than usual.The monsoon will likely arrive the southern state of Kerala on Thursday, according to a statement posted by the India Meteorological Department on its website. The national weather forecaster had earlier predicted an onset date of May 31 for the June-September rainy season, which typically starts on June 1.Timely arrival of the monsoon is critical for India’s crop output and economic growth at a time when the country is battling the world’s worst outbreak of Covid-19. The virus has spread to rural areas, where about 70% of the nation’s more than 1.3 billion people live. Agriculture accounts for 18% of its economy.Farmers generally wait for the monsoon to start before they begin planting food grains, cotton, soybeans, peanuts and sugarcane. Any deficit in rains during the early part of the season could delay sowing and reduce harvests, even if the monsoon gathers pace later.The meteorological department forecast in April that annual rainfall during the monsoon season would be 98% of the long-term average. Last year’s monsoon rain was 9% higher than normal, and it was 10% more than the long-term average in 2019. Bountiful rains helped crops and boosted India’s food grain output to a record in 2020-21.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210530 13h45m22s World Reuters 210530 11h45m UPDATE 1-South Africa extends nightly curfew as COVID cases surge South Africa has extended its nightly curfew and limited the number of people at gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19 as positive cases surge, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. The level two lockdown restrictions will start on Monday, forcing non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres to close by 2200 local time (2000 GMT) as the curfew will now start at 2300 from midnight and end at 0400, Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation. World Bloomberg 210530 11h45m Colombia Steps Up Troop Presence After 14 Die in Cali Violence (Bloomberg) -- Colombia President Ivan Duque deployed more troops to the city of Cali and the surrounding region after violent clashes that have left at least 14 dead since Friday.More than 1,100 soldiers arrived Saturday to ensure the security and mobility of the population, according to a presidential statement on May 29. The government added 25 military patrols in areas of the country’s third-largest city, the statement added.“All the security forces and all of the institutionalism are united here for the citizens’ welfare,” Duque said on Saturday in Popayan, a city in southwest Colombia, after visiting Cali.In addition to the fatalities, at least 98 people have been injured since Friday, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who called for a prompt and independent investigation.Videos published by local media appeared to show armed men in civilian dress opening fire while alongside police officers, who didn’t intervene. Jose Miguel Vivanco, the executive director for the Americas for Human Rights Watch, said the actions were “incompatible with being a government that abides by the rule of law.”One of the dead in recent days was an off-duty investigator for the Attorney General’s Office who was lynched after he opened fire on protesters in circumstances that are still unclear.The wave of demonstrations in the South American country began on April 28 to oppose a government plan to raise taxes, but has grown into a mass protest movement with a range of other grievances, including police brutality, corruption and inequality. The government estimates the cumulative damage at $2.8 billion over the last month.READ MORE: Losses Soar as Unrest Hits Colombian Ports, Mines and RefineriesSince nationwide street demonstrations began, the government took a step back, withdrawing the tax reform from Congress and changed the finance minister. The nation also lost its investment grade rating from S&P Global Ratings.With blockages also causing widespread shortages of goods including food, inflation is expected to jump to 3% this month from 1.95% in April, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The nation’s fiscal deficit will widen to 8.6% of gross domestic product this year, according to the government’s forecast, from 2.5% in 2019.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 10h45m Late Arrival of Monsoon Rains in India May Delay Sowing of Crops (Bloomberg) -- Sowing of major crops such as rice, corn and soybeans may be delayed in India as the southwest monsoon, which waters more than half of the country’s farmland, is expected to reach the mainland two days later than usual.The monsoon will likely arrive the southern state of Kerala on Thursday, according to a statement posted by the India Meteorological Department on its website. The national weather forecaster had earlier predicted an onset date of May 31 for the June-September rainy season, which typically starts on June 1.Timely arrival of the monsoon is critical for India’s crop output and economic growth at a time when the country is battling the world’s worst outbreak of Covid-19. The virus has spread to rural areas, where about 70% of the nation’s more than 1.3 billion people live. Agriculture accounts for 18% of its economy.Farmers generally wait for the monsoon to start before they begin planting food grains, cotton, soybeans, peanuts and sugarcane. Any deficit in rains during the early part of the season could delay sowing and reduce harvests, even if the monsoon gathers pace later.The meteorological department forecast in April that annual rainfall during the monsoon season would be 98% of the long-term average. Last year’s monsoon rain was 9% higher than normal, and it was 10% more than the long-term average in 2019. Bountiful rains helped crops and boosted India’s food grain output to a record in 2020-21.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Politics Reuters 210530 10h45m 'Real compromise' on U.S. infrastructure bill possible - Republican senator Negotiations with U.S. President Joe Biden over a potentially massive infrastructure investment package are inching forward even though disagreements remain over the size and scope of such legislation, Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said on Sunday. "I think we can get to real compromise, absolutely, because we're both still in the game," Capito said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." Capito leads a group of six Senate Republicans who have been in regular contact with Biden and White House aides over a bill the administration wants to move through Congress promptly. World Bloomberg 210530 09h45m Iran Transfers Oil From Pipeline Skirting Troubled Strait (Bloomberg) -- Iran started its first transfer of crude oil via its strategic Goreh-Jask pipeline, allowing the country to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.The oil passed through the pipeline’s second pump house and reached a facility near the port of Jask, IRNA said, without giving any details on the size or volume of the transfer.Earlier this month the state-run National Iranian Oil Co. said it had started injecting crude into the pipeline and that oil shipments from the Jask region on the Gulf of Oman coast will start next month, adding that the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) conduit will be officially opened by President Hassan Rouhani in the near future.Iran to Start Oil Exports From Port Skirting Troubled StraitMost of Iran’s energy exports currently pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel on the Persian Gulf that was plunged into crisis after former President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal and reinforced sanctions on Iran’s oil sector and wider economy.Oil markets are closely watching talks between Iran and world powers to revive that accord and remove a raft of U.S. sanctions from the Islamic Republic’s energy sector and wider economy, helping it reinstate millions of barrels of exports.Earlier this month Rouhani said negotiators had already accepted that sanctions on Iran’s oil, shipping, insurance and banking industries will be lifted, triggering a drop in oil prices.Iran Gears Up for Return to Oil Market as U.S. Talks Advance (1)(Updates with background and more context.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 08h45m Peru’s Latest Polls Show Tight Presidential Race Ahead of Debate (Bloomberg) -- Peru’s presidential race is tightening a week before the runoff between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori, according to two opinion polls published Sunday ahead of a key candidates’ debate.In a vote simulation conducted by Ipsos and published in El Comercio newspaper, leftist front-runner Castillo would get 51.1% in the June 6 election compared with 48.9% for Fujimori, within the poll’s 2.5-percentage5-percentage5-percentage-point margin of error. Some 20% of voters were still undecided. The poll of 1,517 people was conducted on May 28.A separate survey by Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) published in La Republica newspaper also showed a statistical tie between the candidates.Those who intend to vote for Castillo fell to 40.3% from 44.8% over the last week, while support for Fujimori grew to 38.3% from 34.4% compared to May 23. Only 6.3% of voters reported being undecided. IEP poll of 1,227 people was conducted by phone May 27-28 and had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.Read More: Peru Tight Runoff Election Holds Risk of Radical DownturnThe candidates are scheduled for a face-to-face debate Sunday evening in Arequipa at 7pm local time. They’ll discuss six topics including health and pandemic response, economy, education, and human rights.Castillo, a former school teacher running with a self-proclaimed Marxist party feared by many investors, is promising to seek more from multinational miners to spend on education and health.Peru’s stock market on Friday posted its largest gains in months and its bonds and currency also rallied as Castillo’s lead narrowed.Fujimori, a former lawmaker who’s narrowly lost two previous runoffs and has been charged with graft, is running on a law and order platform that often invokes her father Alberto Fujimori’s presidency that was marked by clashes with the left-wing rebel group Shining Path.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 08h45m Egypt Sounds Optimistic Tone About Ever Given Compensation Talks (Bloomberg) -- Discussions between Egypt and the owners of the giant container ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal are moving in a “positive direction,” a canal official said Sunday, as the two sides work to avoid a continued stand-off in court.Tokyo-based Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the owner of the 400-meter-long Ever Given, “showed good intentions and appreciation to the Egyptian role” in rescuing the ship, Khaled Abu Bakr, the Suez Canal Authority chairman’s adviser told reporters in the city of Ismailia.“I think that in the coming days or week, we might witness developments with regard to direct negotiations,” Abu Bakr said.The comments come a day after an Egyptian court postponed a scheduled hearing to give the two sides time to reach a settlement to a case in which the SCA had initially sought compensation of $916 million.Read also: Egypt Offers to Cut Compensation Claim for Blocking of CanalThe Panamanian-flagged vessel is currently being held in the Great Bitter Lake, and is barred from leaving by court order. The Ever Given was stuck in the vital waterway for nearly a week in March, forcing its closure and roiling shipping markets.The two sides have been haggling over the compensation since the Ever Given was re-floated. The SCA has lowered the amount it’s seeking to $550 million - a figure which the vessel’s insurers say is still too high.The authority will present a revised calculation for the cost of rescuing the ship during the next court session on June 20, Nabil Zidan, the attorney representing the SCA, told reporters Sunday.Other key points from the press conference:Recordings from the ship’s black box showed it was moving toward the canal’s right bank, and the captain sought to redirect it to the middle of the lane, Sayed Sheashaa, the SCA’s head of investigations said.The captain issued eight orders in the span of 12 minutes, but the ship was slow to respond because of its size.The captain then suddenly increased the speed in an effort to steer it to the middle of the lane; he lost control and the vessel got stuck, Sheashaa said.About 50 ships a day pass through the canal, which can cut a voyage between Europe and Asia by two weeks.(Recasts and updates with details)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210530 11h44m46s World Bloomberg 210530 11h14m Colombia Steps Up Troop Presence After 14 Die in Cali Violence (Bloomberg) -- Colombia President Ivan Duque deployed more troops to the city of Cali and the surrounding region after violent clashes that have left at least 14 dead since Friday.More than 1,100 soldiers arrived Saturday to ensure the security and mobility of the population, according to a presidential statement on May 29. The government added 25 military patrols in areas of the country’s third-largest city, the statement added.“All the security forces and all of the institutionalism are united here for the citizens’ welfare,” Duque said on Saturday in Popayan, a city in southwest Colombia, after visiting Cali.In addition to the fatalities, at least 98 people have been injured since Friday, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who called for a prompt and independent investigation.Videos published by local media appeared to show armed men in civilian dress opening fire while alongside police officers, who didn’t intervene. Jose Miguel Vivanco, the executive director for the Americas for Human Rights Watch, said the actions were “incompatible with being a government that abides by the rule of law.”One of the dead in recent days was an off-duty investigator for the Attorney General’s Office who was lynched after he opened fire on protesters in circumstances that are still unclear.The wave of demonstrations in the South American country began on April 28 to oppose a government plan to raise taxes, but has grown into a mass protest movement with a range of other grievances, including police brutality, corruption and inequality. The government estimates the cumulative damage at $2.8 billion over the last month.READ MORE: Losses Soar as Unrest Hits Colombian Ports, Mines and RefineriesSince nationwide street demonstrations began, the government took a step back, withdrawing the tax reform from Congress and changed the finance minister. The nation also lost its investment grade rating from S&P Global Ratings.With blockages also causing widespread shortages of goods including food, inflation is expected to jump to 3% this month from 1.95% in April, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The nation’s fiscal deficit will widen to 8.6% of gross domestic product this year, according to the government’s forecast, from 2.5% in 2019.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Politics World Bloomberg 210530 09h44m Iran Transfers Oil From Pipeline Skirting Troubled Strait (Bloomberg) -- Iran started its first transfer of crude oil via its strategic Goreh-Jask pipeline, allowing the country to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.The oil passed through the pipeline’s second pump house and reached a facility near the port of Jask, IRNA said, without giving any details on the size or volume of the transfer.Earlier this month the state-run National Iranian Oil Co. said it had started injecting crude into the pipeline and that oil shipments from the Jask region on the Gulf of Oman coast will start next month, adding that the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) conduit will be officially opened by President Hassan Rouhani in the near future.Iran to Start Oil Exports From Port Skirting Troubled StraitMost of Iran’s energy exports currently pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel on the Persian Gulf that was plunged into crisis after former President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal and reinforced sanctions on Iran’s oil sector and wider economy.Oil markets are closely watching talks between Iran and world powers to revive that accord and remove a raft of U.S. sanctions from the Islamic Republic’s energy sector and wider economy, helping it reinstate millions of barrels of exports.Earlier this month Rouhani said negotiators had already accepted that sanctions on Iran’s oil, shipping, insurance and banking industries will be lifted, triggering a drop in oil prices.Iran Gears Up for Return to Oil Market as U.S. Talks Advance (1)(Updates with background and more context.)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 08h44m Peru’s Latest Polls Show Tight Presidential Race Ahead of Debate (Bloomberg) -- Peru’s presidential race is tightening a week before the runoff between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori, according to two opinion polls published Sunday ahead of a key candidates’ debate.In a vote simulation conducted by Ipsos and published in El Comercio newspaper, leftist front-runner Castillo would get 51.1% in the June 6 election compared with 48.9% for Fujimori, within the poll’s 2.5-percentage5-percentage-point margin of error. Some 20% of voters were still undecided. The poll of 1,517 people was conducted on May 28.A separate survey by Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) published in La Republica newspaper also showed a statistical tie between the candidates.Those who intend to vote for Castillo fell to 40.3% from 44.8% over the last week, while support for Fujimori grew to 38.3% from 34.4% compared to May 23. Only 6.3% of voters reported being undecided. IEP poll of 1,227 people was conducted by phone May 27-28 and had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.The candidates are scheduled for a face-to-face debate Sunday evening in Arequipa at 7pm local time. They’ll discuss six topics including health and pandemic response, economy, education, and human rights.Castillo, a former school teacher running with a self-proclaimed Marxist party feared by many investors, is promising to seek more from multinational miners to spend on education and health.Peru’s stock market on Friday posted its largest gains in months and its bonds and currency also rallied as Castillo’s lead narrowed.Fujimori, a former lawmaker who’s narrowly lost two previous runoffs and has been charged with graft, is running on a law and order platform that often invokes her father Alberto Fujimori’s presidency that was marked by clashes with the left-wing rebel group Shining Path.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 08h44m Egypt Sounds Optimistic Tone About Ever Given Compensation Talks (Bloomberg) -- Discussions between Egypt and the owners of the giant container ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal are moving in a “positive direction,” a canal official said Sunday, as the two sides work to avoid a continued stand-off in court.Tokyo-based Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the owner of the 400-meter-long Ever Given, “showed good intentions and appreciation to the Egyptian role” in rescuing the ship, Khaled Abu Bakr, the Suez Canal Authority chairman’s adviser told reporters in the city of Ismailia.“I think that in the coming days or week, we might witness developments with regard to direct negotiations,” Abu Bakr said.The comments come a day after an Egyptian court postponed a scheduled hearing to give the two sides time to reach a settlement to a case in which the SCA had initially sought compensation of $916 million.Read also: Egypt Offers to Cut Compensation Claim for Blocking of CanalThe Panamanian-flagged vessel is currently being held in the Great Bitter Lake, and is barred from leaving by court order. The Ever Given was stuck in the vital waterway for nearly a week in March, forcing its closure and roiling shipping markets.The two sides have been haggling over the compensation since the Ever Given was re-floated. The SCA has lowered the amount it’s seeking to $550 million - a figure which the vessel’s insurers say is still too high.The authority will present a revised calculation for the cost of rescuing the ship during the next court session on June 20, Nabil Zidan, the attorney representing the SCA, told reporters Sunday.Other key points from the press conference:Recordings from the ship’s black box showed it was moving toward the canal’s right bank, and the captain sought to redirect it to the middle of the lane, Sayed Sheashaa, the SCA’s head of investigations said.The captain issued eight orders in the span of 12 minutes, but the ship was slow to respond because of its size.The captain then suddenly increased the speed in an effort to steer it to the middle of the lane; he lost control and the vessel got stuck, Sheashaa said.About 50 ships a day pass through the canal, which can cut a voyage between Europe and Asia by two weeks.(Recasts and updates with details)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210530 07h44m Canadian telecoms regulator's latest ruling spells 'dark period' for smaller operators Two recent decisions by Canada's telecom regulator are freezing out competition in the country's highly concentrated industry, critics argue, making it even harder to bring down prices for mobile and internet service. For years, Canadian consumers have complained about high cellular bills, which rank among the steepest in the world, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has threatened to take action if the providers failed to cut bills by 25%. On Thursday the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that it would not significantly lower the rates that small companies must pay to access the high-speed broadband networks of larger rivals, including BCE Inc, Telus Corp and Rogers Communications Inc, known as the Big Three. Business Bloomberg 210530 07h44m Credit Suisse’s RenTech Fund Holds Back Some Client Cash (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group is temporarily barring clients from withdrawing all their cash from a fund that invests with Renaissance Technologies.The bank has seen redemption requests prompted by the poor performance of the CS Renaissance Alternative Access Fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Assets under management slumped to about $250 million this month, from approximately $700 million at the start of 2020, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.Redemption demands at the fund trigger a hold back clause, which means clients will receive 95% of their funds after two months, with the remaining 5% expected to be paid out in January, after the fund’s year-end audit, the people said. The hold back mechanism was put in place at the fund’s inception in 2016.The fund lost about 32% last year, in line with the decline in the Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha Fund International fund that it invests into, the people said. Renaissance, regarded as one of the most successful quant investing firms in the world, was rocked by billion of dollars in redemptions earlier this year after unprecedented losses in 2020. Three of its funds open to external investors fell by double digits last year.Credit Suisse and Renaissance declined to comment.Credit Suisse is currently under broader scrutiny as new chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio reviews the risk and control functions after the implosion of the bank’s supply-chain finance funds linked to Greensill Capital and the collapse of family office Archegos Capital Management.The Credit Suisse feeder fund was sold as an investment option for rich clients at the bank’s wealth arm.The Renaissance fund, which allows investors to take out money every month, also has the ability to hold back but is not invoking the clause and hasn’t ever done so, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.The fund was up 9.4% this year through May 21 after last year’s losses, the person said. Hold back clauses are a standard part of offer documents at some U.S. based hedge funds.(Updates with details on hold back clause in third paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210530 09h44m08s Business Bloomberg 210530 07h44m Credit Suisse’s RenTech Fund Holds Back Some Client Cash (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group is temporarily barring clients from withdrawing all their cash from a fund that invests with Renaissance Technologies.The bank has seen redemption requests prompted by the poor performance of the CS Renaissance Alternative Access Fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Assets under management slumped to about $250 million this month, from approximately $700 million at the start of 2020, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.Redemption demands at the fund trigger a hold back clause, which means clients will receive 95% of their funds after two months, with the remaining 5% expected to be paid out in January, after the fund’s year-end audit, the people said. The hold back mechanism was put in place at the fund’s inception in 2016.The fund lost about 32% last year, in line with the decline in the Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha Fund International fund that it invests into, the people said. Renaissance, regarded as one of the most successful quant investing firms in the world, was rocked by billion of dollars in redemptions earlier this year after unprecedented losses in 2020. Three of its funds open to external investors fell by double digits last year.Credit Suisse and Renaissance declined to comment.Credit Suisse is currently under broader scrutiny as new chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio reviews the risk and control functions after the implosion of the bank’s supply-chain finance funds linked to Greensill Capital and the collapse of family office Archegos Capital Management.The Credit Suisse feeder fund was sold as an investment option for rich clients at the bank’s wealth arm.The Renaissance fund, which allows investors to take out money every month, also has the ability to hold back but is not invoking the clause and hasn’t ever done so, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.The fund was up 9.4% this year through May 21 after last year’s losses, the person said. Hold back clauses are a standard part of offer documents at some U.S. based hedge funds.(Updates with details on hold back clause in third paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 07h44m Emerging Markets Offer Litmus Test for Traders’ Bold Rate Bets (Bloomberg) -- When it comes to betting on higher borrowing costs in the developing world, some investors may be getting ahead of themselves.In markets from South Africa to Mexico and South Korea, traders are penciling in a faster pace of interest-rate hikes than what economists say is currently warranted based on the inflation outlook.“Almost all of them are overpricing tightening,” said Shamaila Khan, the head of emerging-market debt at AllianceBernstein in New York, whose $4.7 billion high-yield bond fund has topped 86% of peers in the past year.The positioning reflects a common motif in markets: After months of Covid-19 lockdowns there’s a risk that policy makers run their economies hot, only to backtrack with sharper-than-expected rate hikes down the line.But the debate carries extra weight in emerging markets, an asset class that’s particularly sensitive to the Federal Reserve’s stance. And it suggests how trades could quickly unwind on any signs of policy staying loose, potentially rewarding investors willing to look past the bearish outlook.In Mexico, for instance, the swap-market pricing suggests a hiking cycle could start as soon as August, even though the majority of economists say the central bank will refrain from tightening until at least February.It’s a similar story in South Africa, where forward-rate agreements are pricing in a 70% probability of a 50-basis-point jump in six months, whereas Bloomberg’s monthly survey shows the rate staying unchanged until year-end.Meantime, South Korea’s forward-rate agreements are pricing in close to a 25 basis-point rate increase in the next six months. In contrast, most economists predict no change.Against this backdrop, AllianceBernstein’s Khan said her fund favors the local debt of South Africa, Mexico and Russia, “where markets have priced in too much in terms of the policy rate path.”U.S. central bank officials may be able to begin discussing the appropriate timing of scaling back their bond-buying program at upcoming policy meetings, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said last week.Inflation OvershootAt the same time, the coronavirus continues to spread in large swathes of the developing world, underlying the need for more stimulus.In India, traders unwound their rate-hike wagers last month as policy makers turned to a bond-buying program to support the economy against another wave of infections. The Reserve Bank of India is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Friday and announce further bond purchases as the economy struggles with localized lockdowns implemented by most states.HSBC Holdings Plc says the prospect that central bank support gets scaled back later than what current market pricing implies suggest there’s value in the front-end of the rates curve, including in South Korea and Poland.It’s a view echoed by Edwin Gutierrez, the head of emerging-market sovereign debt at Aberdeen Asset Management in London.“We are long South Africa and Mexico as we do think that the curve prices in a rate hiking trajectory that is not likely,” he said.Market CorrectionThat’s not to say caution isn’t warranted. The Citi EM Inflation Surprise Index is at the highest since 2008, a reminder of how many investors were caught off guard by the resurgence of inflation.“Risks are likely skewed toward faster tightening, rather than slower,” said Duncan Tan, a strategist at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore.Inflation data from South Korea to Turkey and Poland this week may offer clues on the path for monetary policy. In Mexico, traders will monitor the central bank’s quarterly inflation report on Wednesday for signs that the monetary authority could adopt a less dovish outlook.“Unless near-term data releases provide a confirmation to what is being priced, the current market pricing is vulnerable to a correction,” said Eugenia Victorino, head of Asia strategy at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB in Singapore.“The market is already pricing in more hikes than what fundamentals are suggesting,” she said.Rate DecisionsThe Reserve Bank of India is likely to hold its benchmark interest rate at 4% to help support the economy after a surge of coronavirus infections weighed on growthInvestors will be looking for comments on debt purchases, which were set at 1 trillion rupees ($13.8 billion) this quarter. Bloomberg Economics expects bond purchases to be about 1 trillion rupees to 1.5 trillion rupees for the third quarter of the current fiscal year, and the introduction of more liquidity measures to support small and medium-sized businessesIndia’s government is scheduled to release quarterly economic growth data on Monday, which are expected to show a recovery was underway before the latest wave of virus infections. The rupee has strengthened 2.3% this month, Asia’s best performerIsrael’s central bank may keep its base rate at a record low 0.1% on Monday as it gives the reopened economy more room to recoverThe shekel has been steady this monthIn Ghana, policy makers will probably keep the benchmark rate at 14.5%, the lowest since 2012, as a slow rollout of vaccines leaves the economy vulnerable to a third wave of infections, according to Bloomberg EconomicsKey DataIndustrial-production numbers from South Korea and Taiwan this week should provide further clues on the pace of recovery across the region as investors assess whether market valuations are stretchedChina will report manufacturing PMI for May on Monday, with economists expecting further expansionThe yuan surged past key levels that have held for the past three years last weekInflation data for May is due from Indonesia and South Korea on Wednesday, while Thailand and the Philippines report theirs on FridaySouth Korea is predicted to say export numbers jumped again in May in its monthly trade figures due TuesdayUnderlying strength in external demand likely remained robust even after stripping out base effects, according to Bloomberg Economics. Exports were probably up about 13% compared with May 2019, it saidTurkey’s CPI data will be closely watched on Thursday after the lira slumped to a record low on Friday amid concern that monetary policy remains too loose to curb accelerating inflationConsumer prices probably rose 17.3% in May following a recent hike in fuel tax, from 17.1% the previous monthTurkey will also unveil data on Monday which will probably show the economy grew at a faster pace in the first quarter from a year earlierA reading of first-quarter Brazilian gross domestic product figures on Tuesday will be closely watched by investors weighing the scope of recovery against risks associated with the nation’s financing needs and ballooning debt loadIndustrial production data, to be released on Wednesday, is expected to provide the first aggregate reading for second-quarter growth, according to Bloomberg Economics. The real was the best-performer in Latin America in MayChilean data on unemployment, retail sales and copper production for April will all be released on Monday, giving investors a better sense of how the nation is coping with the pandemicA gauge of the country’s economic activity in April, scheduled for Tuesday, will probably rise from a year earlier as growth benefited from expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, according to Bloomberg EconomicsPeruvian inflation through May is expected to be relatively stable, according to Bloomberg Economics. Investors will watch the nation’s assets as a high-stakes presidential election gets closerDefault and RestructuringBelize’s bondholders have until Tuesday to give their consent to extend the grace period on an interest payment due last week until September. The nation’s dollar bonds have the worst return on average this year among emerging-market sovereign notes tracked in a Bloomberg Barclays indexSuriname will present elements and principles of its debt restructuring plans on WednesdayMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210530 06h44m Most Mideast Stock Markets Set for Gains in May: Inside EM (Bloomberg) -- Stocks in the Middle East are poised to end the month higher on prospects of an economic rebound.Benchmark indexes in the United Arab Emirates led gains through May. The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has one of the highest coronavirus vaccine inoculation rates globally.“There are multiple factors” for the gains across the region, including “vaccinations and ease in restrictions, recovery in oil price as well as growth in the private sector,” said Harshjit Oza, head of research at Abu Dhabi-based International Securities. However, geopolitics continue to weigh on Egyptian shares, he said.Brent crude, a key source of revenue for economies in the Gulf, climbed about 3.5% this month. The S&P 500 ended last week near a record, while the MSCI Inc.’s emerging markets index closed at the highest level in a month.Stocks in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Egypt rose on Sunday. Shares in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar fell, while those in Israel were little changed.MIDDLE EAST MARKETS:Kuwait’s Premier Market index rises as much as 0.6%National Bank of Kuwait +1.2%; Boubyan Bank +0.8%; Burgan Bank +2.2%In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share Index climbs for a fourth day, the longest winning streak in a monthThe Tadawul Media sub-index leads gainsRELATED: Saudi Unemployment Rate Fell from Pandemic HighsSaudi Central Bank Gets a New Name and GovernorAbu Dhabi’s ADX General Index falls for a third day, the longest losing streak in a monthAdnoc Distribution falls 8.1%, down for a second day after parent company Adnoc sold a stake in the company at a discountNOTE: Adnoc’s $1.6 Billion Stock, Bond Sale Triggers Drop in Fuel UnitThe Dubai Financial Market General Index falls for a second dayDubai Investments -2.3%; Dubai Islamic Bank -0.4%; Aramex -1.4%Egypt’s EGX 30 index climbs most in the region after falling for four days, led by gains in Commercial International BankThe lender rises as much as 2.3% after dropping about 10% the past two weeksMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210530 04h44m Iran and World Powers Resume ‘Final Round’ of Nuclear Deal Talks (Bloomberg) -- World powers resumed the latest round of talks to reach a final agreement between Iran and the United States over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said in a tweet.Mikhail Ulyanov said the fifth round of talks had resumed in the Austrian capital and there was an understanding among the countries involved that “the current round should be final”, according to his tweet.Iran Atomic Talks Enter Decisive Round as Oil Trade at Stake (1)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Yahoo Finance 210530 04h44m Business travel will return despite what Airbnb CEO says: Hilton CFO Business travel is coming back, according to Hilton's CFO. "We're not huge believers in a new normal," he told Yahoo Finance Live. Business Yahoo Finance 210530 04h44m ESG investment as important as divestment from fossil fuels: former Bank of England governor Since leaving the top post at the Bank of England last year, former Governor Mark Carney has arguably been the most vocal advocate, in urging financial institutions to align themselves with emissions goals of the Paris climate agreement. But as shareholders increasingly step up pressure, and lawmakers call for stricter regulations around climate disclosures, Carney says fossil fuel divestments shouldn’t be the sole focus of tackling the global crisis. Howell date : 210530 09h43m23s Howell date : 210529 15h39m01s Business Bloomberg 210529 13h39m Stock Splits Are Back. So Is the Debate Over Whether They Matter (Bloomberg) -- Stock splits are back in vogue among big U.S. companies, reviving a debate about whether the practice that had fallen out of favor for years is worth the fuss.Last week, Nvidia Corp. became the eighth company in the S&P 500 Index to announce a split in the past year, joining big names like Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc. That’s the most over a comparable period in six years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The surge in splits comes amid a rally that’s pushed share prices of almost 600 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index above $100. Yet that has done little to settle the age-old-argument among investors about whether such stock-price engineering has any bearing on performance. In fact, recent developments such as soaring retail trading and fractional share ownership have only heated things up.“Arithmetically, there’s no merit to the notion that stock splits work,” said Mark Lehmann, chief executive officer of JMP Securities LLC. “But there is an optical hesitancy for certain stocks at certain prices and there is a segment of the investing public where that will never change.”The primary motivation cited by companies doing splits is simple: to make each share cheaper to buy. Nvidia, whose share price has more than quadrupled since the start of 2019 to reach almost $650, said in a statement announcing its 4-for-1 stock-split plan that its aim was to “make stock ownership more accessible to investors and employees.” A representative for the chipmaker declined to comment further.Once a reliable hallmark of bull-market exuberance, the practice had until recently fallen out of favor. In 2006 and 2007, when stocks were again setting records, there were 47 splits in the S&P 500. Three companies -- Nvidia, Paccar Inc. and Cummins Inc. -- even split twice. In 2019, there were only two.For Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist at BTIG, it’s harder to make the case for splitting a stock these days because of the rise of commission-free trading and brokerages offering fractional shares. Those developments “have largely rendered irrelevant the dollar value of a company’s share price,” he said in an interview.Brokerages like Robinhood now let investors buy a slice of a share for as little as $1 rather than forking over, say, more than $2,300 for a single share of Google-parent Alphabet Inc.Limited Benefits A look at the data backs up the case against splits providing long-term benefits to stock performance. The shares of companies that have split outperformed the S&P 500 on average in four of the last five years in the year the split was announced, according to Bloomberg data. The calendar year following the move, however, those same shares underperformed four of the five years.The recent rash of stock splits has sparked speculation that other large technology companies like Amazon.com Inc. that boast four-digit share prices may be next. Amazon split its stock three times in 1998 and 1999 and hasn’t done one since. Shares of the e-commerce giant trade around $3,200 and have gained more than 5,000% since its last split.Regardless of what the historical-performance record shows, the surge in retail trading over the past year may be altering the calculus for companies when it comes to evaluating splits.U.S. retail investors are now second in share trading only to market makers and independent high-frequency traders, according to Larry Tabb, director of market structure research at Bloomberg Intelligence. The retail segment is now larger than quantitative investors, hedge funds and traditional long-only participants, said Tabb.“A lot of investing is driven by psychology,” said Kevin Walkush, a portfolio manager with Jensen Investment Management. “Now, rather than a retail investor facing the challenge of buying a fractional share, a stock split means they can buy it outright. It just opens up the market that much more for retail investors.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210529 13h39m Buyout Loans Set to Hit the Market After Memorial Day Holiday (Bloomberg) -- A busy period for high-yield debt sales shows no signs of stopping in June, with bank meetings set for two leveraged buyout loans following the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.Lender calls will be held Tuesday for cybersecurity software provider Proofpoint Inc.’s $2.6 billion term loan to finance its buyout by Thoma Bravo, and Protective Industrial Products Inc.’s $135 million term loan to help finance Odyssey Investment Partners’ buyout of the firm.Investors continue to pour money into U.S. loan funds, adding $862 million of cash in the week ended May 26, according to Refinitiv Lipper. That’s the 20th consecutive week of gains.The busiest May on record for junk bond sales wrapped up this week, with supply nearly hitting $47 billion. The junk bond calendar is so far quiet heading into June.A potential ratings upgrade to investment-grade status may be in the cards for Dell Technologies Inc., which reported strong first quarter results and boosted its debt reduction target this week. Dell credit default swaps tightened 17 basis points on Friday as investors digested the news.Within distressed debt, forbearance agreements expire for mall owner Washington Prime Group Inc. on June 2 -- pending another extension -- and for GTT Communications Inc. on Thursday, June 3. Trilogy International Partners also faces an expiration for its exchange of notes due 2022 June 3.Nine Energy Service Inc. and PBF Energy Inc. are among the energy companies that will present at the Wells Fargo Energy Virtual Conference next week.High-GradeSyndicate desks are calling for $110 billion of fresh investment-grade supply in June, a slowdown from the $136.5 billion that priced this month. May was the first month this year where primary market sales didn’t meet expectations, with equity volatility tempering volume, Bloomberg’s Michael Gambale wrote.Most syndicate desks expect between $20 billion to $25 billion in volume for the upcoming holiday-shortened week.Analysts are taking note of a “rapid decline” of inflows into high-grade bond funds. The amount added to investment-grade funds this week were the lowest since early November, according to Lipper data.Slowing inflows to bond mutual funds could “expose” the market to widening spreads if the pace of net supply remains steady or increases, Citigroup Inc. strategist Daniel Sorid wrote Friday. Citigroup expects high-grade bond spreads to be “biased wider” over the next 12 months, seeing “signs that valuations may be reaching slightly excessive levels.”--With assistance from Gowri Gurumurthy, Katherine Doherty, and Lara Wieczezynski.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210529 13h39m Bond Traders Look to Jobs for Taper Clues While Cash Glut Grows (Bloomberg) -- The glut of spare cash in dollar funding markets is combining with inflation concerns to stoke debate among investors about just how soon the Federal Reserve might have to take its foot off the accelerator.Bond traders are keenly attuned to the buildup of dollars in short-term interest-rate markets, an overabundance reflected in the amount of money sitting and earning absolutely nothing at the Fed’s reverse repo facility. For some, that’s yet another sign that the so-called quantitative easing program ought to be dialed back from its current pace of $120 billion a month, although others say that the central bank facility is acting like it should, as a safety valve, and also point to the other factors fueling the oversupply.Either way, the cash pile --and whether the usage of the Fed’s facility resumes its upward trajectory after slipping on Friday -- is set to be a key focus for traders in the coming week along with crucial U.S. jobs data, which may give clues about just how strong growth and inflation really are.“Progress toward achieving the dual mandate should be the biggest factor” driving decisions about policy tightening, said Credit Suisse Group AG strategist Jonathan Cohn, referring to the Fed’s twin goals on employment and consumer prices.The drumbeat of policy makers making noises about when the Fed should debate tempering its asset purchases has been quickening, although officials have been careful to say that their views are premised on the economy continuing to power forward and the prospects for sustained inflation. The strength of the upcoming labor market report is therefore set to be a major catalyst for bets about when both tapering and rate hikes might begin to take place, as will the evolution of funding markets.The next central bank policy meeting will take place June 15-16, while there is talk of possible tapering signals coming out of the Kansas City Fed’s annual gathering at Jackson Hole in August.Money-market traders are currently pricing in about 18 basis points worth of Fed rate hikes by the end of next year -- down around 3 basis points from levels late last month. That equates to around a 72% chance of a standard 25 basis-point increase in 2022. Before they even get to that point though, officials need to get through tapering, and most analysts expect there to be a lag before they embark on pushing interest rates higherAsymmetric RiskThe yield on 10-year notes has drifted slightly lower over the past couple of weeks, although it received some support in recent days from reports about government budget proposals and at around 1.59% is firmly entrenched in the range that it’s been in for a few months. Bond-market inflation expectations, as measured by so-called breakeven rates, have also eased back slightly, although they remain within sight of the decade highs they reached earlier in May.Some traders are wary that the upcoming report on May job creation could reignite the move higher in long-term yields. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg is for an increase in payrolls of around 671,000 people and a figure of that magnitude or higher could make the prior month’s unexpectedly weak reading seem like a one off. There is also the prospect of a revision to figures for April, which came in at around 266,000 despite earlier predictions for a gain of 1,000,000.“The risks in the market are asymmetric toward higher yields,” said John Briggs, global head of desk strategy at Natwest Markets. “After last month’s payroll figure, economists are being conservative this time, so there’s a chance the actual figure is above consensus. And after that, people will then start to worry about the next consumer price report,” set to be released on June 10.What to WatchThe Treasuries market will be closed Monday for a U.S. holiday. Below are the calendar highlights.The economic calendarJune 1: Markit U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers index; construction spending; Institute for Supply Management manufacturing gauge; Dallas Fed manufacturing indexJune 2: MBA mortgage applications; Fed Beige Book; vehicle salesJune 3: Challenger job cuts; ADP employment change; nonfarm productivity; weekly jobless claims; Langer consumer comfort; Markit U.S. services PMI; ISM services indicatorJune 4: Monthly jobs report; factory, durable goods and capital goods ordersThe Fed calendar:June 1: Fed Vice Chairman for supervision Randal Quarles; Fed Governor Lael BrainardJune 2: Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker; Chicago Fed President Charles Evans; Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic; Dallas Fed President Robert KaplanJune 3: Bostic; Kaplan; Harker; QuarlesJune 4: Fed Chair Jerome Powell takes part in a Bank for International Settlements panel on climate change with European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and other officialsThe auction calendar:June 1: 13-week bills, 26-week bills, 42-day cash management billJune 3: 4-week bills, 8-week billsMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210529 10h39m Putin Pushes Ahead With Belarus Loan as Tensions Grow With West (Bloomberg) -- Russia will release $500 million from a previously agreed loan to Belarus after talks between the country’s leaders, in a sign of support for its closest ally after the forced landing of a Ryanair Holdings Plc jetliner and the arrest of a dissident sparked a new wave of tensions between Minsk and the West.Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko discussed the plane incident in detail during “quite constructive” talks Friday and Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call. He dismissed the European Union’s reaction -- including a recommendation to airlines to stop flying over Belarus and plans for new sanctions on the country -- as “based on emotions.”Russia will look for ways to expand air service with Belarus to make up for some of the routes affected by the EU’s limits on Minsk’s state airline, Peskov said.READ MORE: How Belarus Targets Critics in the Streets and Skies: QuickTakeIn Signal to Biden, Putin Embraces Ally Europe Shuns (2)The $500 million -- to be released in the near future -- is part of $1.5 billion in loans that was agreed last year and had been expected by the end of next month. Lukashenko didn’t ask for further assistance, Peskov said, but the two leaders did discuss closer tax and customs cooperation.In their second day of talks, they went sailing on the Black Sea, Peskov said.The U.S. administration announced it would re-impose sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises late Friday, and is developing additional penalties to target government officials.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210529 10h39m Egyptian court delays hearing in Suez container ship compensation case An Egyptian court on Saturday postponed a hearing in a compensation case filed by the Suez Canal authority against the owners of a container ship that blocked the canal for six days in March, giving the sides more time to negotiate, legal sources said. The Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, became jammed across the canal in high winds on March 23, halting traffic in both directions and disrupting global trade. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) initially demanded $916 million in compensation from the Ever Given's Japanese owner Shoei Kisen for disruption caused by the blockage. World Reuters 210529 09h39m Carmakers in 'India's Detroit' allowed to operate as workers protest COVID risk CHENNAI (Reuters) -Carmakers in the Indian automobile hub of Chennai will be allowed to keep operating, the state government said on Saturday, amid protests by workers who fear catching COVID-19 in one of the country's hardest-hit states. Tamil Nadu's government on Friday extended a near-total lockdown as coronavirus infections and deaths rise in the southern state, where average cases are running at more than 30,000 a day, official figures show. But a government order issued on Saturday said so-called continuous process industries, which include auto factories, would be allowed to function in accordance with measures such as social distancing to stem the virus's spread. Howell date : 210529 13h38m25s World Bloomberg 210529 10h38m Putin Pushes Ahead With Belarus Loan as Tensions Grow With West (Bloomberg) -- Russia will release $500 million from a previously agreed loan to Belarus after talks between the country’s leaders, in a sign of support for its closest ally after the forced landing of a Ryanair Holdings Plc jetliner and the arrest of a dissident sparked a new wave of tensions between Minsk and the West.Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko discussed the plane incident in detail during “quite constructive” talks Friday and Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call. He dismissed the European Union’s reaction -- including a recommendation to airlines to stop flying over Belarus and plans for new sanctions on the country -- as “based on emotions.”Russia will look for ways to expand air service with Belarus to make up for some of the routes affected by the EU’s limits on Minsk’s state airline, Peskov said.READ MORE: How Belarus Targets Critics in the Streets and Skies: QuickTakeIn Signal to Biden, Putin Embraces Ally Europe Shuns (2)The $500 million -- to be released in the near future -- is part of $1.5 billion in loans that was agreed last year and had been expected by the end of next month. Lukashenko didn’t ask for further assistance, Peskov said, but the two leaders did discuss closer tax and customs cooperation.In their second day of talks, they went sailing on the Black Sea, Peskov said.The U.S. administration announced it would re-impose sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises late Friday, and is developing additional penalties to target government officials.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Reuters 210529 10h38m Egyptian court delays hearing in Suez container ship compensation case An Egyptian court on Saturday postponed a hearing in a compensation case filed by the Suez Canal authority against the owners of a container ship that blocked the canal for six days in March, giving the sides more time to negotiate, legal sources said. The Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, became jammed across the canal in high winds on March 23, halting traffic in both directions and disrupting global trade. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) initially demanded $916 million in compensation from the Ever Given's Japanese owner Shoei Kisen for disruption caused by the blockage. World Reuters 210529 09h38m Carmakers in 'India's Detroit' allowed to operate as workers protest COVID risk CHENNAI (Reuters) -Carmakers in the Indian automobile hub of Chennai will be allowed to keep operating, the state government said on Saturday, amid protests by workers who fear catching COVID-19 in one of the country's hardest-hit states. Tamil Nadu's government on Friday extended a near-total lockdown as coronavirus infections and deaths rise in the southern state, where average cases are running at more than 30,000 a day, official figures show. But a government order issued on Saturday said so-called continuous process industries, which include auto factories, would be allowed to function in accordance with measures such as social distancing to stem the virus's spread. Business Bloomberg 210529 07h38m Exxon Mobil’s Last-Ditch Attempt to Stave Off a Climate Coup (Bloomberg) -- It was a stunning moment for Exxon Mobil Corp. and the wider corporate world: a tiny activist fund had succeeded in changing the company’s board.But in the hours leading up to this week’s annual shareholders meeting, Exxon went to extraordinary lengths to head off the threat from a campaign about which it had been largely dismissive months earlier.Exxon telephoned investors the morning of the ballot -- and even during an unscheduled, hour-long pause during the virtual meeting -- asking them to reconsider their votes, according to several of those who received calls. Some said they found the last-ditch outreach and halt to the meeting unorthodox and troubling.“It was a very unusual annual general meeting,” said Aeisha Mastagni, a fund manager at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a major Exxon investor that backed the activist campaign from the beginning. “It didn’t feel good as an investor.”The May 26 meeting concluded with Exxon stating that two of the dissident’s four director nominees had been elected, a coup for Engine No. 1, a little-known investment firm calling for the company overhaul its strategy, cut costs and come up with a plan to address climate change. Its victory is widely seen as a warning to the rest of the industry that investors will now hold energy companies to account for environmental concerns.The full results of the vote still haven’t been disclosed; a third Engine No. 1 nominee is still in the running to fill one of the two remaining board seats. While there’s no suggestion Exxon broke any rules during Wednesday’s meeting, such tactics are unusual for a blue-chip company.In response to questions about the meeting, the company said it’s been “actively engaged” with investors and welcomes the newly elected directors.Net ZeroExxon opposed Engine No. 1 from the outset. The fund holds a stake in Exxon of just 0.02%, valued at about $54 million. The oil company described the fund’s four candidates as unqualified and said its proposals would imperil Exxon’s dividend.Still, the company made a concession in March to another investor, D.E. Shaw & Co., appointing two new directors, including activist investor Jeff Ubben. But Exxon still refused to meet with the Engine No. 1 candidates.A significant hurdle faced by the company was winning support of large institutions including its top three investors, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., which collectively hold a stake of more than 21%. BlackRock has been vocal about its voting guidelines on climate change.Discussions with many large investors in the run-up to the vote were primarily focused on Exxon’s strategy to get to net zero emissions by 2050, and not the company’s financial performance, according to people familiar with the talks. Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods got down in the trenches during the proxy fight and made commitments to keeping the dialog going after the meeting, the people said.But Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street ultimately supported a partial slate of nominees from Engine No. 1.An indication the fight might be tilting in Engine No. 1’s favor came mid-May with the partial backing from two leading proxy advisory firms. Two days before the vote, Exxon said it would appoint two new directors, one with “climate experience” and another with industry expertise.‘Banana-Republic Feel’On the morning of the meeting, Engine No. 1 issued a statement alerting shareholders that Exxon may try, “in a targeted manner,” to persuade them to change their vote.Sure enough, by the time the virtual meeting began at 9:30 a.m. Dallas time, Exxon representatives were ringing investors. In some cases, those calls entailed cajoling holders to at least reduce their support to one or two dissident nominees rather than all four, according to people familiar with the conversations, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.At about 10:15 a.m., investor relations head Stephen Littleton announced proceedings would be paused for 60 minutes, citing the volume of votes still coming in. As classical music played on the webcast, emails started flying between investors left bewildered by the halt.One executive at a major Exxon shareholder said they were contacted during this hiatus and pushed to change their vote. The person, who has decades of experience dealing with boardroom elections, said that while such appeals a day before a vote are commonplace, it was the first time they’d fielded such a request during a meeting.Meanwhile, Engine No.1 released another statement saying shareholders should “not be fooled by ExxonMobil’s last-ditch attempt to stave off much-needed board change.” Charlie Penner, head of active engagement at Engine No. 1, went on television to complain.“They’re doing a tactic called the whittle-down, where they tell a shareholder to draw down your votes for this person, they tell another shareholder they’ll draw down their votes for this person, and they gradually try to whittle people down,” he told CNBC. “It has a very banana-republic feel.”The pause was something that Anne Simpson -- the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s managing investment director for board governance and sustainability -- had never seen before in her three-decade career.Simpson didn’t get a call from Exxon about altering her votes. But the practice still disturbed her. “If the comments are true, this raises the question about the sanctity of the ballot box and whether companies should have privileged access,” she said.The meeting didn’t conclude until almost three hours after it first began, with Littleton reading out a summary of the preliminary tally of votes.“We welcome the new directors Gregory Goff and Kaisa Hietala to the board,” Woods said in his concluding remarks, “and look forward to working with them constructively and collectively on behalf of all shareholders.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210529 06h38m Egypt Court Adjourns Suez Ship Case for More Compensation Talks (Bloomberg) -- An Egypt court on Saturday adjourned a case on the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal to allow for more time to negotiate for a compensation.The court in Ismailia town postponed the hearing to June 20 after requests from lawyers representing the Suez Canal Authority and the owner of the 400-meter-long Ever Given.The authority was claiming more than more than $916 million in damages linked to the waterway’s six-day closure in March, which roiled shipping markets. But it lowered the figure in out-of-court negotiations to $550 million, saying it has miscalculated the value of the cargoes aboard of the ship. The vessel’s insurers said the demand is still too high.“There are endeavors to reach a settlement and because they are good clients, we are asking the court to postpone to negotiate and study the offer submitted by the owners,” Nabil Zidan, the lawyer for the Suez Canal Authority, said in the court.“Negotiations are on and there’s flexibility from both sides,” said Ahmed Abu Shanab, the ship owner’s lawyer.Ahead of the hearing on Sunday, Zidan said the Suez Canal Authority will recalculate its claim, without elaborating on what that means for the lawsuit or what the new figure will be.The Ever Given’s owner has previously offered to pay $150 million, according to the authority, which says that doesn’t cover losses of transit fees, damage to the waterway and costs of equipment and labor.The Ever Given is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and was freed on March 29 after a salvage operation and sailed to the Great Bitter Lake, about halfway along the canal, where it has been kept ever since.About 50 ships a day pass through the Suez canal, which can cut a voyage between Europe and Asia by two weeks. More than 400 vessels were held up by the blockage, though most were able to pass through the channel soon after it was reopened. Egypt in May started dredging to widen the southern end of the canal where the Ever Given got stuck.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210529 06h38m Bitcoin’s Volatility Spawns New Crypto Balance Sheet Alternative (Bloomberg) -- Corporate treasurers fed up with rock-bottom returns on their cash are about to get another pitch from the world of crypto.Circle Internet Financial Ltd., one of the digital-asset firms behind the so-called stablecoin dubbed USDC that is pegged 1-to-1 to the dollar, has cooked up an alternative for the legions too conservative to follow the likes of Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey into Bitcoin. Park your extra cash in USDC and earn as much as 7% annually through high-yield accounts, the marketing says -- more than 10 times the return on an ultra-safe 1-year Treasury bill.The idea may be appealing to some treasurers who were initially seduced by the big gains in crypto, especially following Bitcoin’s roughly 40% decline since mid-April. Stablecoins such as USDC are gaining increased attention because of their ability to maintain their pegs during the wild crypto price swings, suggesting they could actually serve as a store of value. Even so, not all long-term digital market observers are convinced.“If companies wish to put their corporate reserves into a stablecoin and that is fully audited, it is like putting their money in a bank account which is what they normally do,” John Griffin, professor of finance at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email. “However, if the account is paying out a higher yield than bank account yields, then it is not merely invested in some risk-free asset.”Here’s how Circle’s program will work: Treasurers would open a “digital-dollar account” where the company’s fiat money is converted into USDC and interest is paid out in USDC. The yield is generated by Circle lending the digital dollars to a network of institutional investors that are willing to pay an interest rate for access to additional capital.The companies would lock in their return when the account is opened, similar to a bank certificate of deposit. Circle plans to offer accounts with maturities ranging from one month to a year, with no early withdrawals allowed. Rates available will be updated on a weekly basis, depending on demand for USDC loans.That’s a bit tamer than the strategy first highlighted last year by MicroStrategy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Saylor, who advocated pouring company reserves into Bitcoin because he said the dollar is being debased by surging inflation. Musk’s February announcement that Tesla Inc. had added Bitcoin to its balance sheet helped fuel the rally that took the largest cryptocurrency to a record in April before it lost more than one-third of its value.“Corporate reserves are not for investing in stocks, going to Vegas, or something more volatile and more rigged against you like Bitcoin,” Griffin said.With few companies outside the crypto realm following MicroStrategy, Tesla and Dorsey’s Square Inc. into Bitcoin, Circle hopes that stablecoins may be the next logical step. The company is working with Genesis Global Capital, one of the largest crypto lenders.The service will be first made available in the U.S. and Switzerland, and will launch “imminently,” Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s CEO, said in an interview. Thousands of businesses are already on the waiting list, according to Circle.“We are seeing the opportunity for the treasury use-case grow a lot,” Allaire said.Other providers of stablecoins are rolling out similar offerings. On May 26, Gemini exchange -- the brainchild of the Winklevoss brothers -- said investors can earn up to 7.4% annually on Gemini dollars through a program called Gemini Earn. The Gemini token is also pegged to the dollar and its reserves are held with State Street Bank and Trust, the largest financial custodian in the world. Each month, the dollar deposit balance is examined by BPM LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm.USDC reserves are attested to monthly by accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP and published online.Various small crypto lenders already offer yield accounts for different coins, including less regulated stablecoins like Tether.For these products, “appropriate users would be people who invest in junk bonds or similar risky lending,” said Aaron Brown, a crypto investor and writer for Bloomberg Opinion. “It might offer a better risk-adjusted return than alternatives. . . or not. But whatever it is, it’s not a savings account in the way most people understand that term.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Politics Bloomberg 210529 05h38m Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Spielberg Give to NYC Mayor’s Race (Bloomberg) -- The race to run the biggest city in the U.S. is already the most expensive for taxpayers. It also has divided Hollywood donors including Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Douglas.Spielberg and his wife have donated to civil-rights activist Maya Wiley, while Paltrow is backing former Citigroup banker Ray McGuire. Johannsson has thrown her support behind city Comptroller Scott Stringer, while Douglas has given to former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.Public-matching funds awarded to many of the candidates make this year’s mayoral race one of the most expensive in city history, though it pales in comparison to when Michael Bloomberg, the owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, spent more than $100 million on his 2009 re-election campaign. Through May 21 — and with more than five months until this year’s general election — about $65 million has been doled out on the race, with about half from private donors, according to city campaign-finance data.A third of the more than $28 million in individual campaign donations has come from out-of-city residents, a decline of several percentage points from the prior two races. Hollywood’s elite is among those personally invested in the future of the financial, business and entertainment center. Prior to the pandemic, stumbling upon a film or television production set was common in Manhattan, with the industry generating $90 billion for the local economy and 200,000 jobs, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Then came the coronavirus shutdown that canceled film shoots and closed theaters. With Broadway slated to open in September and the mayor relaxing mask and social- distancing rules, there's a renewed hope that the city's entertainment business will roar back, too.“The city is a mess, it needs leadership, it needs a person who can bring it together,” said Michael Ovitz, the former president of Walt Disney Co., who lives in West Los Angeles and contributed $5,100 to McGuire’s campaign. Ovitz, who is a board trustee for the famed Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan, said New York is closely connected to Los Angeles and that he's "very interested in what happens there." He said he donated to McGuire because he thinks a businessman should run New York.With weeks until the June 22 Democratic primary, which is likely to decide the winner in the largely Democratic city, contenders are racing to win votes -- and dollars -- to keep momentum."We just want New York to get back on track and be a thriving city again,'' said Hannah Linkenhoker, senior political strategists at ICM Partners, a Los Angeles-based talent agency whose clients includes Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Regina King and Michael Keaton. "A lot of entertainment work does get done there. A lot of people have personal ties, there are a lot of New Yorkers working in Hollywood and there's a lot of prestige to the city."Excluding independent political action committees, mayoral candidates have raised $28.6 million so far this year, more than the $25.2 million raised during the same period of the 2013 race, when Mayor Bill de Blasio was first elected. About $1 million came from California, the largest source of out-of-state funds. The eight leading candidates for the Democratic primary took in a quarter million dollars from actors, producers, directors, writers and others in the television and film industry, according to data from the city Campaign Finance Board.Film and television production took a dive last year in New York, but is slowly making its way back: There were 285 projects on the ground in the first three months of the year, down 26% from a year earlier, according to the media and entertainment office. De Blasio has pledged to help revitalize the industry, but he is term limited. Recovery will largely fall to his successor, who takes office in January.“They want to continue to build the infrastructure for the industry here and make sure that there is a place for work to be done," Douglas Steiner, chairman of the 760,000-square-foot Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, said in an interview. “That’s part of how New York gets a leg up on other parts of the world and in other parts of the country in terms of making better content by having a more diversified workforce.”Campaign HaulAmong donors who identified themselves as producers, actors or members of the film and television industry, more than half donated to McGuire, who has pledged to boost film tax credits. McGuire is married to television and film producer Crystal McCrary McGuire, a former entertainment lawyer, and has raised the most private funds among the eight candidates — $11.7 million through May 21, according to the Campaign Finance Board. McGuire is the only one of the top candidates not accepting public matching funds. Chris Meledandri, producer of hit animated film “Despicable Me," said he donated to McGuire because the former banker's "interest in devoting himself to public service is an enormous opportunity for New York." Other bi-coastal backers of McGuire include actor and comedian Steve Martin, who lives in the same Upper West Side apartment building when he visits New York; and filmmaker Spike Lee, who created and narrated McGuire's campaign announcement video. Paltrow and Lee declined to comment.Still, McGuire has lagged in the polls. Only 4% of likely voters ranked McGuire as their first choice in a poll of 800 likely voters from May 15-19 conducted by Core Decision Analytics and Fontas Advisors. That compares to 18% for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, 13% for Yang, 11% for former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and 7% for Stringer. Roughly a quarter of those polled said they were “truly undecided.”Shaun Donovan, the former federal and city housing chief, received the second-highest money haul from Hollywood, including $5,100 from “Fight Club” star and filmmaker Edward Norton. Douglas, who starred in “An American President,” donated $2,000 to Yang, while Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw each donated $2,000 to Wiley. Douglas, Spielberg and Capshaw didn’t respond to requests for comment.Johansson, who lives in Los Angeles and is married to New York’s “Saturday Night Live” comedian Colin Jost, gave $2,000 to Stringer, who has pledged to diversify the jobs pipeline and invest in production assistant jobs within the industry. Johansson didn’t respond to a request for comment on her recent donation, but the native New Yorker has been a longtime supporter of Stringer's, stemming from a friendship the candidate had with Johansson’s politically-involved grandmother.Rebecca Damon, who leads the New York chapter of the the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents around 160,000 industry workers, said her members "take their votes very seriously when it comes to supporting the elected officials and policies that will protect and grow jobs." The union doesn’t endorse in political campaigns, said spokesperson Pamela Greenwalt."We have seen firsthand what policies that support the arts, entertainment and media industries can do for good union jobs and the economy,” Damon said in an emailed statement. "We hope that the next mayor commits to ensuring that these industries lead the way in building back a better and stronger New York City."More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210529 11h37m47s World World Reuters 210529 09h37m Carmakers in 'India's Detroit' allowed to operate as workers protest COVID risk CHENNAI (Reuters) -Carmakers in the Indian automobile hub of Chennai will be allowed to keep operating, the state government said on Saturday, amid protests by workers who fear catching COVID-19 in one of the country's hardest-hit states. Tamil Nadu's government on Friday extended a near-total lockdown as coronavirus infections and deaths rise in the southern state, where average cases are running at more than 30,000 a day, official figures show. But a government order issued on Saturday said so-called continuous process industries, which include auto factories, would be allowed to function in accordance with measures such as social distancing to stem the virus's spread. Business Bloomberg 210529 07h37m Exxon Mobil’s Last-Ditch Attempt to Stave Off a Climate Coup (Bloomberg) -- It was a stunning moment for Exxon Mobil Corp. and the wider corporate world: a tiny activist fund had succeeded in changing the company’s board.But in the hours leading up to this week’s annual shareholders meeting, Exxon went to extraordinary lengths to head off the threat from a campaign about which it had been largely dismissive months earlier.Exxon telephoned investors the morning of the ballot -- and even during an unscheduled, hour-long pause during the virtual meeting -- asking them to reconsider their votes, according to several of those who received calls. Some said they found the last-ditch outreach and halt to the meeting unorthodox and troubling.“It was a very unusual annual general meeting,” said Aeisha Mastagni, a fund manager at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a major Exxon investor that backed the activist campaign from the beginning. “It didn’t feel good as an investor.”The May 26 meeting concluded with Exxon stating that two of the dissident’s four director nominees had been elected, a coup for Engine No. 1, a little-known investment firm calling for the company overhaul its strategy, cut costs and come up with a plan to address climate change. Its victory is widely seen as a warning to the rest of the industry that investors will now hold energy companies to account for environmental concerns.The full results of the vote still haven’t been disclosed; a third Engine No. 1 nominee is still in the running to fill one of the two remaining board seats. While there’s no suggestion Exxon broke any rules during Wednesday’s meeting, such tactics are unusual for a blue-chip company.In response to questions about the meeting, the company said it’s been “actively engaged” with investors and welcomes the newly elected directors.Net ZeroExxon opposed Engine No. 1 from the outset. The fund holds a stake in Exxon of just 0.02%, valued at about $54 million. The oil company described the fund’s four candidates as unqualified and said its proposals would imperil Exxon’s dividend.Still, the company made a concession in March to another investor, D.E. Shaw & Co., appointing two new directors, including activist investor Jeff Ubben. But Exxon still refused to meet with the Engine No. 1 candidates.A significant hurdle faced by the company was winning support of large institutions including its top three investors, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., which collectively hold a stake of more than 21%. BlackRock has been vocal about its voting guidelines on climate change.Discussions with many large investors in the run-up to the vote were primarily focused on Exxon’s strategy to get to net zero emissions by 2050, and not the company’s financial performance, according to people familiar with the talks. Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods got down in the trenches during the proxy fight and made commitments to keeping the dialog going after the meeting, the people said.But Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street ultimately supported a partial slate of nominees from Engine No. 1.An indication the fight might be tilting in Engine No. 1’s favor came mid-May with the partial backing from two leading proxy advisory firms. Two days before the vote, Exxon said it would appoint two new directors, one with “climate experience” and another with industry expertise.‘Banana-Republic Feel’On the morning of the meeting, Engine No. 1 issued a statement alerting shareholders that Exxon may try, “in a targeted manner,” to persuade them to change their vote.Sure enough, by the time the virtual meeting began at 9:30 a.m. Dallas time, Exxon representatives were ringing investors. In some cases, those calls entailed cajoling holders to at least reduce their support to one or two dissident nominees rather than all four, according to people familiar with the conversations, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.At about 10:15 a.m., investor relations head Stephen Littleton announced proceedings would be paused for 60 minutes, citing the volume of votes still coming in. As classical music played on the webcast, emails started flying between investors left bewildered by the halt.One executive at a major Exxon shareholder said they were contacted during this hiatus and pushed to change their vote. The person, who has decades of experience dealing with boardroom elections, said that while such appeals a day before a vote are commonplace, it was the first time they’d fielded such a request during a meeting.Meanwhile, Engine No.1 released another statement saying shareholders should “not be fooled by ExxonMobil’s last-ditch attempt to stave off much-needed board change.” Charlie Penner, head of active engagement at Engine No. 1, went on television to complain.“They’re doing a tactic called the whittle-down, where they tell a shareholder to draw down your votes for this person, they tell another shareholder they’ll draw down their votes for this person, and they gradually try to whittle people down,” he told CNBC. “It has a very banana-republic feel.”The pause was something that Anne Simpson -- the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s managing investment director for board governance and sustainability -- had never seen before in her three-decade career.Simpson didn’t get a call from Exxon about altering her votes. But the practice still disturbed her. “If the comments are true, this raises the question about the sanctity of the ballot box and whether companies should have privileged access,” she said.The meeting didn’t conclude until almost three hours after it first began, with Littleton reading out a summary of the preliminary tally of votes.“We welcome the new directors Gregory Goff and Kaisa Hietala to the board,” Woods said in his concluding remarks, “and look forward to working with them constructively and collectively on behalf of all shareholders.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210529 06h37m Egypt Court Adjourns Suez Ship Case for More Compensation Talks (Bloomberg) -- An Egypt court on Saturday adjourned a case on the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal to allow for more time to negotiate for a compensation.The court in Ismailia town postponed the hearing to June 20 after requests from lawyers representing the Suez Canal Authority and the owner of the 400-meter-long Ever Given.The authority was claiming more than more than $916 million in damages linked to the waterway’s six-day closure in March, which roiled shipping markets. But it lowered the figure in out-of-court negotiations to $550 million, saying it has miscalculated the value of the cargoes aboard of the ship. The vessel’s insurers said the demand is still too high.“There are endeavors to reach a settlement and because they are good clients, we are asking the court to postpone to negotiate and study the offer submitted by the owners,” Nabil Zidan, the lawyer for the Suez Canal Authority, said in the court.“Negotiations are on and there’s flexibility from both sides,” said Ahmed Abu Shanab, the ship owner’s lawyer.Ahead of the hearing on Sunday, Zidan said the Suez Canal Authority will recalculate its claim, without elaborating on what that means for the lawsuit or what the new figure will be.The Ever Given’s owner has previously offered to pay $150 million, according to the authority, which says that doesn’t cover losses of transit fees, damage to the waterway and costs of equipment and labor.The Ever Given is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and was freed on March 29 after a salvage operation and sailed to the Great Bitter Lake, about halfway along the canal, where it has been kept ever since.About 50 ships a day pass through the Suez canal, which can cut a voyage between Europe and Asia by two weeks. More than 400 vessels were held up by the blockage, though most were able to pass through the channel soon after it was reopened. Egypt in May started dredging to widen the southern end of the canal where the Ever Given got stuck.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210529 06h37m Bitcoin’s Volatility Spawns New Crypto Balance Sheet Alternative (Bloomberg) -- Corporate treasurers fed up with rock-bottom returns on their cash are about to get another pitch from the world of crypto.Circle Internet Financial Ltd., one of the digital-asset firms behind the so-called stablecoin dubbed USDC that is pegged 1-to-1 to the dollar, has cooked up an alternative for the legions too conservative to follow the likes of Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey into Bitcoin. Park your extra cash in USDC and earn as much as 7% annually through high-yield accounts, the marketing says -- more than 10 times the return on an ultra-safe 1-year Treasury bill.The idea may be appealing to some treasurers who were initially seduced by the big gains in crypto, especially following Bitcoin’s roughly 40% decline since mid-April. Stablecoins such as USDC are gaining increased attention because of their ability to maintain their pegs during the wild crypto price swings, suggesting they could actually serve as a store of value. Even so, not all long-term digital market observers are convinced.“If companies wish to put their corporate reserves into a stablecoin and that is fully audited, it is like putting their money in a bank account which is what they normally do,” John Griffin, professor of finance at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email. “However, if the account is paying out a higher yield than bank account yields, then it is not merely invested in some risk-free asset.”Here’s how Circle’s program will work: Treasurers would open a “digital-dollar account” where the company’s fiat money is converted into USDC and interest is paid out in USDC. The yield is generated by Circle lending the digital dollars to a network of institutional investors that are willing to pay an interest rate for access to additional capital.The companies would lock in their return when the account is opened, similar to a bank certificate of deposit. Circle plans to offer accounts with maturities ranging from one month to a year, with no early withdrawals allowed. Rates available will be updated on a weekly basis, depending on demand for USDC loans.That’s a bit tamer than the strategy first highlighted last year by MicroStrategy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Saylor, who advocated pouring company reserves into Bitcoin because he said the dollar is being debased by surging inflation. Musk’s February announcement that Tesla Inc. had added Bitcoin to its balance sheet helped fuel the rally that took the largest cryptocurrency to a record in April before it lost more than one-third of its value.“Corporate reserves are not for investing in stocks, going to Vegas, or something more volatile and more rigged against you like Bitcoin,” Griffin said.With few companies outside the crypto realm following MicroStrategy, Tesla and Dorsey’s Square Inc. into Bitcoin, Circle hopes that stablecoins may be the next logical step. The company is working with Genesis Global Capital, one of the largest crypto lenders.The service will be first made available in the U.S. and Switzerland, and will launch “imminently,” Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s CEO, said in an interview. Thousands of businesses are already on the waiting list, according to Circle.“We are seeing the opportunity for the treasury use-case grow a lot,” Allaire said.Other providers of stablecoins are rolling out similar offerings. On May 26, Gemini exchange -- the brainchild of the Winklevoss brothers -- said investors can earn up to 7.4% annually on Gemini dollars through a program called Gemini Earn. The Gemini token is also pegged to the dollar and its reserves are held with State Street Bank and Trust, the largest financial custodian in the world. Each month, the dollar deposit balance is examined by BPM LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm.USDC reserves are attested to monthly by accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP and published online.Various small crypto lenders already offer yield accounts for different coins, including less regulated stablecoins like Tether.For these products, “appropriate users would be people who invest in junk bonds or similar risky lending,” said Aaron Brown, a crypto investor and writer for Bloomberg Opinion. “It might offer a better risk-adjusted return than alternatives. . . or not. But whatever it is, it’s not a savings account in the way most people understand that term.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Politics Bloomberg 210529 05h37m Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Spielberg Give to NYC Mayor’s Race (Bloomberg) -- The race to run the biggest city in the U.S. is already the most expensive for taxpayers. It also has divided Hollywood donors including Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Douglas.Spielberg and his wife have donated to civil-rights activist Maya Wiley, while Paltrow is backing former Citigroup banker Ray McGuire. Johannsson has thrown her support behind city Comptroller Scott Stringer, while Douglas has given to former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.Public-matching funds awarded to many of the candidates make this year’s mayoral race one of the most expensive in city history, though it pales in comparison to when Michael Bloomberg, the owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, spent more than $100 million on his 2009 re-election campaign. Through May 21 — and with more than five months until this year’s general election — about $65 million has been doled out on the race, with about half from private donors, according to city campaign-finance data.A third of the more than $28 million in individual campaign donations has come from out-of-city residents, a decline of several percentage points from the prior two races. Hollywood’s elite is among those personally invested in the future of the financial, business and entertainment center. Prior to the pandemic, stumbling upon a film or television production set was common in Manhattan, with the industry generating $90 billion for the local economy and 200,000 jobs, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Then came the coronavirus shutdown that canceled film shoots and closed theaters. With Broadway slated to open in September and the mayor relaxing mask and social- distancing rules, there's a renewed hope that the city's entertainment business will roar back, too.“The city is a mess, it needs leadership, it needs a person who can bring it together,” said Michael Ovitz, the former president of Walt Disney Co., who lives in West Los Angeles and contributed $5,100 to McGuire’s campaign. Ovitz, who is a board trustee for the famed Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan, said New York is closely connected to Los Angeles and that he's "very interested in what happens there." He said he donated to McGuire because he thinks a businessman should run New York.With weeks until the June 22 Democratic primary, which is likely to decide the winner in the largely Democratic city, contenders are racing to win votes -- and dollars -- to keep momentum."We just want New York to get back on track and be a thriving city again,'' said Hannah Linkenhoker, senior political strategists at ICM Partners, a Los Angeles-based talent agency whose clients includes Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Regina King and Michael Keaton. "A lot of entertainment work does get done there. A lot of people have personal ties, there are a lot of New Yorkers working in Hollywood and there's a lot of prestige to the city."Excluding independent political action committees, mayoral candidates have raised $28.6 million so far this year, more than the $25.2 million raised during the same period of the 2013 race, when Mayor Bill de Blasio was first elected. About $1 million came from California, the largest source of out-of-state funds. The eight leading candidates for the Democratic primary took in a quarter million dollars from actors, producers, directors, writers and others in the television and film industry, according to data from the city Campaign Finance Board.Film and television production took a dive last year in New York, but is slowly making its way back: There were 285 projects on the ground in the first three months of the year, down 26% from a year earlier, according to the media and entertainment office. De Blasio has pledged to help revitalize the industry, but he is term limited. Recovery will largely fall to his successor, who takes office in January.“They want to continue to build the infrastructure for the industry here and make sure that there is a place for work to be done," Douglas Steiner, chairman of the 760,000-square-foot Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, said in an interview. “That’s part of how New York gets a leg up on other parts of the world and in other parts of the country in terms of making better content by having a more diversified workforce.”Campaign HaulAmong donors who identified themselves as producers, actors or members of the film and television industry, more than half donated to McGuire, who has pledged to boost film tax credits. McGuire is married to television and film producer Crystal McCrary McGuire, a former entertainment lawyer, and has raised the most private funds among the eight candidates — $11.7 million through May 21, according to the Campaign Finance Board. McGuire is the only one of the top candidates not accepting public matching funds. Chris Meledandri, producer of hit animated film “Despicable Me," said he donated to McGuire because the former banker's "interest in devoting himself to public service is an enormous opportunity for New York." Other bi-coastal backers of McGuire include actor and comedian Steve Martin, who lives in the same Upper West Side apartment building when he visits New York; and filmmaker Spike Lee, who created and narrated McGuire's campaign announcement video. Paltrow and Lee declined to comment.Still, McGuire has lagged in the polls. Only 4% of likely voters ranked McGuire as their first choice in a poll of 800 likely voters from May 15-19 conducted by Core Decision Analytics and Fontas Advisors. That compares to 18% for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, 13% for Yang, 11% for former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and 7% for Stringer. Roughly a quarter of those polled said they were “truly undecided.”Shaun Donovan, the former federal and city housing chief, received the second-highest money haul from Hollywood, including $5,100 from “Fight Club” star and filmmaker Edward Norton. Douglas, who starred in “An American President,” donated $2,000 to Yang, while Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw each donated $2,000 to Wiley. Douglas, Spielberg and Capshaw didn’t respond to requests for comment.Johansson, who lives in Los Angeles and is married to New York’s “Saturday Night Live” comedian Colin Jost, gave $2,000 to Stringer, who has pledged to diversify the jobs pipeline and invest in production assistant jobs within the industry. Johansson didn’t respond to a request for comment on her recent donation, but the native New Yorker has been a longtime supporter of Stringer's, stemming from a friendship the candidate had with Johansson’s politically-involved grandmother.Rebecca Damon, who leads the New York chapter of the the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents around 160,000 industry workers, said her members "take their votes very seriously when it comes to supporting the elected officials and policies that will protect and grow jobs." The union doesn’t endorse in political campaigns, said spokesperson Pamela Greenwalt."We have seen firsthand what policies that support the arts, entertainment and media industries can do for good union jobs and the economy,” Damon said in an emailed statement. "We hope that the next mayor commits to ensuring that these industries lead the way in building back a better and stronger New York City."More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. U.S. Bloomberg 210529 05h37m Texas Shuns Radical Changes to Power Grid After Deadly Freeze (Bloomberg) -- After months of debate, Texas lawmakers are poised to pass a series of measures in response to February’s deadly blackouts. Yet those bills, critics say, do little to fix the fundamental issues that made the state’s power grid so vulnerable.While the pending legislation will take steps including forcing electric plants and some pipelines to prepare better for the cold, the bills will do nothing to guarantee the state has enough generating capacity on hand at all times. Nor would they force Texas’s grid to connect to neighboring states so they could provide backup.The result is that Texas will continue to have the most isolated and least regulated power grid in the U.S., relying largely on market forces to keep the lights on for its 29 million residents. Analysts and others warn that makes the state exposed to another catastrophe.“They are leaving a potential for another disaster in the future by not putting in a clear set of reliability requirements,” Toby Shea, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service, said in an interview. “It’s not clear that the market on its own would bother with ensuring that resources will be there.”Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature defend their approach.Aside from forcing power plants and other infrastructure to weatherize, the bills they’re sending to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, also a Republican, include measures that will require the grid operator’s board members to reside in the state, increase the number of seats on the state’s utility commission and mandate better coordination among agencies during emergencies. Abbott has already signed a bill to protect consumers from being expose to sky-high wholesale power prices.There was no need overhaul the entire electricity market, said Kelly Hancock, a Republican state senator who worked on much of the legislation.“We recognize we have a unique market,” Hancock said during a phone interview. “We have very affordable, low-cost energy. We just have to make sure we address the issues that occurred when every single county was freezing. I think we can do that in our current market structure.”The freeze cast millions of Texans into darkness for the better part of a week, shutting off water supplies and household furnaces. Texas authorities pegged the death toll at 151, but an analysis of excess-fatality data by Buzzfeed concluded it was more than four times higher.The Texas legislative session ends on Monday, and the state’s Senate and House of Representatives meets every other year. That means Texans will be exposed to two winter seasons before another chance arises to enact changes.Reserve PowerIn much of the U.S., grid operators ensure they have enough backup capacity by paying a certain number of power plants to sit idle, standing by to provide electricity in case it’s ever needed. That lowers the odds of blackouts. But it drives up costs for consumers.Texas has no such system. The idea there is that the market provides all the incentive needed for power plants to be at ready so they can capitalize on surging prices if supply runs tight. That typically happens in summer.The deep freeze, however, caught generators by surprise, hitting at a time when many were down for maintenance. As cold set in, people cranked up their heat. Electricity demand skyrocketed, and there weren’t enough generators to meet the need. Many of the power plants that were online froze up. So did natural gas wells and pipelines, leaving generators short of fuel.Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. offered an $8.3 billion proposal to lawmakers that called for building 10 gigawatts of gas plants and emergency gas storage as a way to ensure Texas had ample backups. Starwood Energy, a power plant developer, offered a similar plan.Read More: Buffett’s Berkshire Floats $8.3 Billion Fix for Texas GridLawmakers rejected both ideas, saying they’d disrupt the deregulated structure of the state’s power market. The proposals also drew opposition from the state’s big manufacturers and competitive power producers.Texas has long been the only state in the continental U.S. with a power grid that’s almost entirely separated from its neighbors. Adding connections to Louisiana, Oklahoma or other adjacent states would allow Texas to bring in extra power when needed -- but it would also bring increased federal oversight. Lawmakers never seriously debated the issue.In the end, none of the proposed legislation does anything to prevent another energy crisis like the one that struck Texas in February, said Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston.“These are short-term band-aids that don’t address the bigger problem of the Texas electricity market,” he said.Even the bills requiring power plants, pipelines and gas wells to weatherize didn’t go far enough, critics said. They contend the proposed fines ($5,000 a day for most violations) aren’t high enough to enforce changes and say there aren’t mandated deadlines for energy companies to comply.“This bill will lead some to invest in measures to protect against extreme temperatures,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “But loopholes and weak fines will likely lead many gas wells and power plants to do nothing.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Howell date : 210529 09h37m10s Business Bloomberg 210529 07h37m Exxon Mobil’s Last-Ditch Attempt to Stave Off a Climate Coup (Bloomberg) -- It was a stunning moment for Exxon Mobil Corp. and the wider corporate world: a tiny activist fund had succeeded in changing the company’s board.But in the hours leading up to this week’s annual shareholders meeting, Exxon went to extraordinary lengths to head off the threat from a campaign about which it had been largely dismissive months earlier.Exxon telephoned investors the morning of the ballot -- and even during an unscheduled, hour-long pause during the virtual meeting -- asking them to reconsider their votes, according to several of those who received calls. Some said they found the last-ditch outreach and halt to the meeting unorthodox and troubling.“It was a very unusual annual general meeting,” said Aeisha Mastagni, a fund manager at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a major Exxon investor that backed the activist campaign from the beginning. “It didn’t feel good as an investor.”The May 26 meeting concluded with Exxon stating that two of the dissident’s four director nominees had been elected, a coup for Engine No. 1, a little-known investment firm calling for the company overhaul its strategy, cut costs and come up with a plan to address climate change. Its victory is widely seen as a warning to the rest of the industry that investors will now hold energy companies to account for environmental concerns.The full results of the vote still haven’t been disclosed; a third Engine No. 1 nominee is still in the running to fill one of the two remaining board seats. While there’s no suggestion Exxon broke any rules during Wednesday’s meeting, such tactics are unusual for a blue-chip company.In response to questions about the meeting, the company said it’s been “actively engaged” with investors and welcomes the newly elected directors.Net ZeroExxon opposed Engine No. 1 from the outset. The fund holds a stake in Exxon of just 0.02%, valued at about $54 million. The oil company described the fund’s four candidates as unqualified and said its proposals would imperil Exxon’s dividend.Still, the company made a concession in March to another investor, D.E. Shaw & Co., appointing two new directors, including activist investor Jeff Ubben. But Exxon still refused to meet with the Engine No. 1 candidates.A significant hurdle faced by the company was winning support of large institutions including its top three investors, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., which collectively hold a stake of more than 21%. BlackRock has been vocal about its voting guidelines on climate change.Discussions with many large investors in the run-up to the vote were primarily focused on Exxon’s strategy to get to net zero emissions by 2050, and not the company’s financial performance, according to people familiar with the talks. Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods got down in the trenches during the proxy fight and made commitments to keeping the dialog going after the meeting, the people said.But Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street ultimately supported a partial slate of nominees from Engine No. 1.An indication the fight might be tilting in Engine No. 1’s favor came mid-May with the partial backing from two leading proxy advisory firms. Two days before the vote, Exxon said it would appoint two new directors, one with “climate experience” and another with industry expertise.‘Banana-Republic Feel’On the morning of the meeting, Engine No. 1 issued a statement alerting shareholders that Exxon may try, “in a targeted manner,” to persuade them to change their vote.Sure enough, by the time the virtual meeting began at 9:30 a.m. Dallas time, Exxon representatives were ringing investors. In some cases, those calls entailed cajoling holders to at least reduce their support to one or two dissident nominees rather than all four, according to people familiar with the conversations, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.At about 10:15 a.m., investor relations head Stephen Littleton announced proceedings would be paused for 60 minutes, citing the volume of votes still coming in. As classical music played on the webcast, emails started flying between investors left bewildered by the halt.One executive at a major Exxon shareholder said they were contacted during this hiatus and pushed to change their vote. The person, who has decades of experience dealing with boardroom elections, said that while such appeals a day before a vote are commonplace, it was the first time they’d fielded such a request during a meeting.Meanwhile, Engine No.1 released another statement saying shareholders should “not be fooled by ExxonMobil’s last-ditch attempt to stave off much-needed board change.” Charlie Penner, head of active engagement at Engine No. 1, went on television to complain.“They’re doing a tactic called the whittle-down, where they tell a shareholder to draw down your votes for this person, they tell another shareholder they’ll draw down their votes for this person, and they gradually try to whittle people down,” he told CNBC. “It has a very banana-republic feel.”The pause was something that Anne Simpson -- the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s managing investment director for board governance and sustainability -- had never seen before in her three-decade career.Simpson didn’t get a call from Exxon about altering her votes. But the practice still disturbed her. “If the comments are true, this raises the question about the sanctity of the ballot box and whether companies should have privileged access,” she said.The meeting didn’t conclude until almost three hours after it first began, with Littleton reading out a summary of the preliminary tally of votes.“We welcome the new directors Gregory Goff and Kaisa Hietala to the board,” Woods said in his concluding remarks, “and look forward to working with them constructively and collectively on behalf of all shareholders.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. World Bloomberg 210529 06h37m Egypt Court Adjourns Suez Ship Case for More Compensation Talks (Bloomberg) -- An Egypt court on Saturday adjourned a case on the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal to allow for more time to negotiate for a compensation.The court in Ismailia town postponed the hearing to June 20 after requests from lawyers representing the Suez Canal Authority and the owner of the 400-meter-long Ever Given.The authority was claiming more than more than $916 million in damages linked to the waterway’s six-day closure in March, which roiled shipping markets. But it lowered the figure in out-of-court negotiations to $550 million, saying it has miscalculated the value of the cargoes aboard of the ship. The vessel’s insurers said the demand is still too high.“There are endeavors to reach a settlement and because they are good clients, we are asking the court to postpone to negotiate and study the offer submitted by the owners,” Nabil Zidan, the lawyer for the Suez Canal Authority, said in the court.“Negotiations are on and there’s flexibility from both sides,” said Ahmed Abu Shanab, the ship owner’s lawyer.Ahead of the hearing on Sunday, Zidan said the Suez Canal Authority will recalculate its claim, without elaborating on what that means for the lawsuit or what the new figure will be.The Ever Given’s owner has previously offered to pay $150 million, according to the authority, which says that doesn’t cover losses of transit fees, damage to the waterway and costs of equipment and labor.The Ever Given is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and was freed on March 29 after a salvage operation and sailed to the Great Bitter Lake, about halfway along the canal, where it has been kept ever since.About 50 ships a day pass through the Suez canal, which can cut a voyage between Europe and Asia by two weeks. More than 400 vessels were held up by the blockage, though most were able to pass through the channel soon after it was reopened. Egypt in May started dredging to widen the southern end of the canal where the Ever Given got stuck.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Bloomberg 210529 06h37m Bitcoin’s Volatility Spawns New Crypto Balance Sheet Alternative (Bloomberg) -- Corporate treasurers fed up with rock-bottom returns on their cash are about to get another pitch from the world of crypto.Circle Internet Financial Ltd., one of the digital-asset firms behind the so-called stablecoin dubbed USDC that is pegged 1-to-1 to the dollar, has cooked up an alternative for the legions too conservative to follow the likes of Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey into Bitcoin. Park your extra cash in USDC and earn as much as 7% annually through high-yield accounts, the marketing says -- more than 10 times the return on an ultra-safe 1-year Treasury bill.The idea may be appealing to some treasurers who were initially seduced by the big gains in crypto, especially following Bitcoin’s roughly 40% decline since mid-April. Stablecoins such as USDC are gaining increased attention because of their ability to maintain their pegs during the wild crypto price swings, suggesting they could actually serve as a store of value. Even so, not all long-term digital market observers are convinced.“If companies wish to put their corporate reserves into a stablecoin and that is fully audited, it is like putting their money in a bank account which is what they normally do,” John Griffin, professor of finance at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email. “However, if the account is paying out a higher yield than bank account yields, then it is not merely invested in some risk-free asset.”Here’s how Circle’s program will work: Treasurers would open a “digital-dollar account” where the company’s fiat money is converted into USDC and interest is paid out in USDC. The yield is generated by Circle lending the digital dollars to a network of institutional investors that are willing to pay an interest rate for access to additional capital.The companies would lock in their return when the account is opened, similar to a bank certificate of deposit. Circle plans to offer accounts with maturities ranging from one month to a year, with no early withdrawals allowed. Rates available will be updated on a weekly basis, depending on demand for USDC loans.That’s a bit tamer than the strategy first highlighted last year by MicroStrategy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Saylor, who advocated pouring company reserves into Bitcoin because he said the dollar is being debased by surging inflation. Musk’s February announcement that Tesla Inc. had added Bitcoin to its balance sheet helped fuel the rally that took the largest cryptocurrency to a record in April before it lost more than one-third of its value.“Corporate reserves are not for investing in stocks, going to Vegas, or something more volatile and more rigged against you like Bitcoin,” Griffin said.With few companies outside the crypto realm following MicroStrategy, Tesla and Dorsey’s Square Inc. into Bitcoin, Circle hopes that stablecoins may be the next logical step. The company is working with Genesis Global Capital, one of the largest crypto lenders.The service will be first made available in the U.S. and Switzerland, and will launch “imminently,” Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s CEO, said in an interview. Thousands of businesses are already on the waiting list, according to Circle.“We are seeing the opportunity for the treasury use-case grow a lot,” Allaire said.Other providers of stablecoins are rolling out similar offerings. On May 26, Gemini exchange -- the brainchild of the Winklevoss brothers -- said investors can earn up to 7.4% annually on Gemini dollars through a program called Gemini Earn. The Gemini token is also pegged to the dollar and its reserves are held with State Street Bank and Trust, the largest financial custodian in the world. Each month, the dollar deposit balance is examined by BPM LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm.USDC reserves are attested to monthly by accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP and published online.Various small crypto lenders already offer yield accounts for different coins, including less regulated stablecoins like Tether.For these products, “appropriate users would be people who invest in junk bonds or similar risky lending,” said Aaron Brown, a crypto investor and writer for Bloomberg Opinion. “It might offer a better risk-adjusted return than alternatives. . . or not. But whatever it is, it’s not a savings account in the way most people understand that term.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Politics Bloomberg 210529 05h37m Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Spielberg Give to NYC Mayor’s Race (Bloomberg) -- The race to run the biggest city in the U.S. is already the most expensive for taxpayers. It also has divided Hollywood donors including Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Douglas.Spielberg and his wife have donated to civil-rights activist Maya Wiley, while Paltrow is backing former Citigroup banker Ray McGuire. Johannsson has thrown her support behind city Comptroller Scott Stringer, while Douglas has given to former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.Public-matching funds awarded to many of the candidates make this year’s mayoral race one of the most expensive in city history, though it pales in comparison to when Michael Bloomberg, the owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, spent more than $100 million on his 2009 re-election campaign. Through May 21 — and with more than five months until this year’s general election — about $65 million has been doled out on the race, with about half from private donors, according to city campaign-finance data.A third of the more than $28 million in individual campaign donations has come from out-of-city residents, a decline of several percentage points from the prior two races. Hollywood’s elite is among those personally invested in the future of the financial, business and entertainment center. Prior to the pandemic, stumbling upon a film or television production set was common in Manhattan, with the industry generating $90 billion for the local economy and 200,000 jobs, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Then came the coronavirus shutdown that canceled film shoots and closed theaters. With Broadway slated to open in September and the mayor relaxing mask and social- distancing rules, there's a renewed hope that the city's entertainment business will roar back, too.“The city is a mess, it needs leadership, it needs a person who can bring it together,” said Michael Ovitz, the former president of Walt Disney Co., who lives in West Los Angeles and contributed $5,100 to McGuire’s campaign. Ovitz, who is a board trustee for the famed Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan, said New York is closely connected to Los Angeles and that he's "very interested in what happens there." He said he donated to McGuire because he thinks a businessman should run New York.With weeks until the June 22 Democratic primary, which is likely to decide the winner in the largely Democratic city, contenders are racing to win votes -- and dollars -- to keep momentum."We just want New York to get back on track and be a thriving city again,'' said Hannah Linkenhoker, senior political strategists at ICM Partners, a Los Angeles-based talent agency whose clients includes Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Regina King and Michael Keaton. "A lot of entertainment work does get done there. A lot of people have personal ties, there are a lot of New Yorkers working in Hollywood and there's a lot of prestige to the city."Excluding independent political action committees, mayoral candidates have raised $28.6 million so far this year, more than the $25.2 million raised during the same period of the 2013 race, when Mayor Bill de Blasio was first elected. About $1 million came from California, the largest source of out-of-state funds. The eight leading candidates for the Democratic primary took in a quarter million dollars from actors, producers, directors, writers and others in the television and film industry, according to data from the city Campaign Finance Board.Film and television production took a dive last year in New York, but is slowly making its way back: There were 285 projects on the ground in the first three months of the year, down 26% from a year earlier, according to the media and entertainment office. De Blasio has pledged to help revitalize the industry, but he is term limited. Recovery will largely fall to his successor, who takes office in January.“They want to continue to build the infrastructure for the industry here and make sure that there is a place for work to be done," Douglas Steiner, chairman of the 760,000-square-foot Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, said in an interview. “That’s part of how New York gets a leg up on other parts of the world and in other parts of the country in terms of making better content by having a more diversified workforce.”Campaign HaulAmong donors who identified themselves as producers, actors or members of the film and television industry, more than half donated to McGuire, who has pledged to boost film tax credits. McGuire is married to television and film producer Crystal McCrary McGuire, a former entertainment lawyer, and has raised the most private funds among the eight candidates — $11.7 million through May 21, according to the Campaign Finance Board. McGuire is the only one of the top candidates not accepting public matching funds. Chris Meledandri, producer of hit animated film “Despicable Me," said he donated to McGuire because the former banker's "interest in devoting himself to public service is an enormous opportunity for New York." Other bi-coastal backers of McGuire include actor and comedian Steve Martin, who lives in the same Upper West Side apartment building when he visits New York; and filmmaker Spike Lee, who created and narrated McGuire's campaign announcement video. Paltrow and Lee declined to comment.Still, McGuire has lagged in the polls. Only 4% of likely voters ranked McGuire as their first choice in a poll of 800 likely voters from May 15-19 conducted by Core Decision Analytics and Fontas Advisors. That compares to 18% for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, 13% for Yang, 11% for former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and 7% for Stringer. Roughly a quarter of those polled said they were “truly undecided.”Shaun Donovan, the former federal and city housing chief, received the second-highest money haul from Hollywood, including $5,100 from “Fight Club” star and filmmaker Edward Norton. Douglas, who starred in “An American President,” donated $2,000 to Yang, while Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw each donated $2,000 to Wiley. Douglas, Spielberg and Capshaw didn’t respond to requests for comment.Johansson, who lives in Los Angeles and is married to New York’s “Saturday Night Live” comedian Colin Jost, gave $2,000 to Stringer, who has pledged to diversify the jobs pipeline and invest in production assistant jobs within the industry. Johansson didn’t respond to a request for comment on her recent donation, but the native New Yorker has been a longtime supporter of Stringer's, stemming from a friendship the candidate had with Johansson’s politically-involved grandmother.Rebecca Damon, who leads the New York chapter of the the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents around 160,000 industry workers, said her members "take their votes very seriously when it comes to supporting the elected officials and policies that will protect and grow jobs." The union doesn’t endorse in political campaigns, said spokesperson Pamela Greenwalt."We have seen firsthand what policies that support the arts, entertainment and media industries can do for good union jobs and the economy,” Damon said in an emailed statement. "We hope that the next mayor commits to ensuring that these industries lead the way in building back a better and stronger New York City."More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. U.S. Bloomberg 210529 05h37m Texas Shuns Radical Changes to Power Grid After Deadly Freeze (Bloomberg) -- After months of debate, Texas lawmakers are poised to pass a series of measures in response to February’s deadly blackouts. Yet those bills, critics say, do little to fix the fundamental issues that made the state’s power grid so vulnerable.While the pending legislation will take steps including forcing electric plants and some pipelines to prepare better for the cold, the bills will do nothing to guarantee the state has enough generating capacity on hand at all times. Nor would they force Texas’s grid to connect to neighboring states so they could provide backup.The result is that Texas will continue to have the most isolated and least regulated power grid in the U.S., relying largely on market forces to keep the lights on for its 29 million residents. Analysts and others warn that makes the state exposed to another catastrophe.“They are leaving a potential for another disaster in the future by not putting in a clear set of reliability requirements,” Toby Shea, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service, said in an interview. “It’s not clear that the market on its own would bother with ensuring that resources will be there.”Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature defend their approach.Aside from forcing power plants and other infrastructure to weatherize, the bills they’re sending to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, also a Republican, include measures that will require the grid operator’s board members to reside in the state, increase the number of seats on the state’s utility commission and mandate better coordination among agencies during emergencies. Abbott has already signed a bill to protect consumers from being expose to sky-high wholesale power prices.There was no need overhaul the entire electricity market, said Kelly Hancock, a Republican state senator who worked on much of the legislation.“We recognize we have a unique market,” Hancock said during a phone interview. “We have very affordable, low-cost energy. We just have to make sure we address the issues that occurred when every single county was freezing. I think we can do that in our current market structure.”The freeze cast millions of Texans into darkness for the better part of a week, shutting off water supplies and household furnaces. Texas authorities pegged the death toll at 151, but an analysis of excess-fatality data by Buzzfeed concluded it was more than four times higher.The Texas legislative session ends on Monday, and the state’s Senate and House of Representatives meets every other year. That means Texans will be exposed to two winter seasons before another chance arises to enact changes.Reserve PowerIn much of the U.S., grid operators ensure they have enough backup capacity by paying a certain number of power plants to sit idle, standing by to provide electricity in case it’s ever needed. That lowers the odds of blackouts. But it drives up costs for consumers.Texas has no such system. The idea there is that the market provides all the incentive needed for power plants to be at ready so they can capitalize on surging prices if supply runs tight. That typically happens in summer.The deep freeze, however, caught generators by surprise, hitting at a time when many were down for maintenance. As cold set in, people cranked up their heat. Electricity demand skyrocketed, and there weren’t enough generators to meet the need. Many of the power plants that were online froze up. So did natural gas wells and pipelines, leaving generators short of fuel.Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. offered an $8.3 billion proposal to lawmakers that called for building 10 gigawatts of gas plants and emergency gas storage as a way to ensure Texas had ample backups. Starwood Energy, a power plant developer, offered a similar plan.Read More: Buffett’s Berkshire Floats $8.3 Billion Fix for Texas GridLawmakers rejected both ideas, saying they’d disrupt the deregulated structure of the state’s power market. The proposals also drew opposition from the state’s big manufacturers and competitive power producers.Texas has long been the only state in the continental U.S. with a power grid that’s almost entirely separated from its neighbors. Adding connections to Louisiana, Oklahoma or other adjacent states would allow Texas to bring in extra power when needed -- but it would also bring increased federal oversight. Lawmakers never seriously debated the issue.In the end, none of the proposed legislation does anything to prevent another energy crisis like the one that struck Texas in February, said Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston.“These are short-term band-aids that don’t address the bigger problem of the Texas electricity market,” he said.Even the bills requiring power plants, pipelines and gas wells to weatherize didn’t go far enough, critics said. They contend the proposed fines ($5,000 a day for most violations) aren’t high enough to enforce changes and say there aren’t mandated deadlines for energy companies to comply.“This bill will lead some to invest in measures to protect against extreme temperatures,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “But loopholes and weak fines will likely lead many gas wells and power plants to do nothing.”More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Business Yahoo Finance 210529 05h37m The bull market in news is over. Now what? The bull market in news is over, finito, kaput. Not forever of course but for now. So what’s next for the news business? Business Yahoo Finance 210529 05h37m When is an economy overheating: Yahoo U How does inflation tie into concerns over economic "overheating?" Howell date : 210528 21h08m35s World Business Reuters 210528 19h08m U.S. agency says employers can mandate COVID-19 vaccination U.S. companies can mandate that employees in a workplace must be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said on Friday. The EEOC, in a statement posted on its website explaining its updated guidance, said employees can be required to be vaccinated as long as employers comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws. In addition, employers may offer incentives to workers to be vaccinated, as long as they are not coercive, it said. Politics Bloomberg 210528 17h08m Biden Tax Plan Forecast to Bring in $3.6 Trillion in Decade (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden’s proposed tax hikes are forecast to bring in $3.6 trillion over the next decade, the Treasury Department said Friday, a key funding source for the $4 trillion he hopes to spend remaking the American economy and social safety net.The figure, representing the sum of all tax increases if enacted by Congress, came as is part of the “Greenbook” report that accompanies the White House’s $6 trillion 2022 budget request, also released on Friday. It effectively serves as the revenue side of the ledger, against Biden’s spending priorities in the budget.After accounting for the $1.2 trillion in tax credits for clean energy, electric cars, low-income families and housing investment, the plan would net Biden about $2.4 trillion to invest in other economic priorities. The White House has said that the $4 trillion combination of its American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan would be fully paid for over 15 years.The Greenbook, which hasn’t been released since President Barack Obama’s final year in office in 2016, is the most comprehensive look at the tax and revenue proposals the administration endorses.The document spans the gamut of Biden proposals, including a global minimum corporate tax, an increase in the levy on capital gains at death and closing the carried interest tax break for fund managers, all of which Biden has already outlined in his funding proposals for his longer-term spending plans.The top income tax rate would increase to 39.6% from 37% starting in 2022, according to the proposal. Married couples earning $509,300, individuals earning $452,700 and heads of households earning $481,000 would be affected by the increases.The proposal was met with criticism from Republicans who said now is not the time to raise taxes. Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Biden’s pla