Category: United States

The numbers: The Philadelphia Fed said Thursday its gauge of regional business activity dropped to negative 12.3 in July from negative 3.3 in the prior month. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expected a 1.6 reading. Any reading below zero indicates deteriorating conditions in the manufacturing sector. This is the second straight…

A previous version was corrected for misstating the timing of Draghi’s resignation. Italian assets fell sharply on Thursday on news that Prime Minister Mario Draghi had tendered his resignation, after members of his governing coalition refused to back him in a no-confidence vote. Traders dumped Italian government bonds, pushing the yield on 10-year paper TMBMKIT-10Y, […]

By Keith Zhai and Liza Lin SINGAPORE–Chinese authorities fined ride-hailing company Didi Global Inc. the equivalent of about $ 1.2 billion, bringing an end to a year-long investigation into the company’s cybersecurity practices. The Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement Thursday that Didi was found to have flouted the country’s cybersecurity, data-security and […]

From GameStop to Meta to the NFL, NFTs seem to be all the rage. But there’s one place you won’t be seeing any anytime soon: Minecraft. Mojang Studios, developers of the hugely popular world-building videogame, said Wednesday that nonfungible tokens and blockchain technologies “are generally not something we will support or allow.” While the NFT […]

Dee Hock, the visionary founder of Visa Inc. who built a system for modern electronic payments infrastructure that transformed how money changes hands, died this weekend at 93. While Hock’s name may not be well-known, his impact is felt by anyone who has made or received a card payment. Modern shoppers take for granted the […]

Chip stocks rallied to finish higher Wednesday after the Senate moved closer to greenlighting more than $ 50 billion in funds for U.S.-based chip manufacturing, even as one chip-equipment maker gave an ominous forecast. Late Tuesday, senators passed a procedural vote of 64 to 34 to advance the $ 52 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition […]

U.S. stocks on Wednesday were attempting to build on a big and broad Tuesday bounce, but skeptics aren’t yet convinced the move is more than a bear-market rally. Tuesday’s rally was “undoubtedly impressive, especially following a sharp reversal lower the previous day,” said Kevin Dempter, a technical analyst at Renaissance Macro, in a Wednesday note. […]

Oil futures declined on Wednesday, pulling back following a three-session climb, after the U.S. government reported a modest weekly fall in domestic crude supplies, but said gasoline inventories climbed by more than three million barrels. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that natural-gas flows to Europe will resume via the Nord Stream pipeline but could […]

Color-coded maps in the 1930s designated predominantly Black and immigrant neighborhoods as too risky to receive New Deal-era government-backed home loans, a practice known as redlining.  Without any fresh investment, buildings in these neighborhoods often fell into disrepair, and housing discrimination played a major role in fueling the racial wealth gap. The typical white family […]

America will have to take more risks to accomplish its legitimate objectives in Ukraine. We should want the Ukrainian army to push back the Russians to its preinvasion borders. Retaking the Crimea as President Volodymyr Zelensky aspires, is a terribly remote prospect absent direct NATO military engagement. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said the United States hopes the […]

Welcome to the (hot) dog days of summer.  As July 20 marks National Hot Dog Day, many frankfurter purveyors and fast-food chains like Oscar Mayer, Nathan’s Famous, Frisch’s Big Boy and Dog Haus are slinging deals on the summer BBQ favorite.  So get your buns over to these restaurants today (or take advantage of their […]

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill subsidizing domestic semiconductor production cleared its first procedural hurdle on Tuesday in a 64-34 vote, even as the details of the legislation are still being worked out. The legislation would provide roughly $ 52 billion in subsidies to encourage chip companies to boost production in the U.S., seen by the White House […]

Truckers protesting a new California law that toughens the definition of nonemployee drivers shut down some operations at the Port of Oakland on Tuesday, adding new disruptions to already fragile U.S. supply chains. Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers, which handles about 70% of the cargo entering and leaving the Port of Oakland, said truckers blocked […]

Netflix Inc. lost half as many subscribers as feared in the second quarter and expects to add even more in the current quarter, helping the stock shoot higher in after-hours trading Tuesday. Netflix NFLX, +5.61% reported a net loss of 970,000 paid subscribers in the second quarter, while analysts on average were forecasting a reduction […]

High-yield debt of riskier companies is not as junky as investors believe. So these bonds have sold off too much. Consider finding a place for them in your investment portfolio: Junk bonds are now a source of decent dividend yield and potential capital appreciation – and a compelling contrarian play. “I’ve been doing this a […]

Netflix Inc. has vowed to clamp down on password sharing as it looks to improve its financial fortunes, and the company just shared more details about how it will do that. The company plans to make customers in several Latin American markets start paying extra if they want to add additional homes to their Netflix […]

Macquarie analyst Paul Golding likes the long-term outlook for Square-parent Block Inc., but he worries that a potential “valuation squeeze” could put pressure on its shares in the short run. Golding downgraded Block shares SQ to neutral from outperform Tuesday, writing of the possibility that consensus expectations for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization […]

When is it good for you to return to the office?  Some people may be tempted to quote that famous New Yorker cartoon and reply, “How about never —  is never good for you?” But what is acceptable in a smarty-pants magazine cartoon is hardly acceptable in real life. Few managers will take kindly to […]

By Cristina Roca The French government said Tuesday that it plans to pay about 9.7 billion euros ($ 9.84 billion) to take Electricite de France SA private. The French state plans to launch a public tender offer of EUR12 a share for all the shares it doesn’t already own in the energy company, representing about […]

International Business Machines Corp. had a better-than-expected second quarter, but shares were not rewarded Monday as an executive warned about the effects of the strengthening dollar. IBM  IBM, -1.28% reported second-quarter net income of $ 1.39 billion, or $ 1.54 a share, compared with $ 1.47 a share in the year-ago period, while adjusted earnings, […]