(Fixes day of the week in first paragraph) By Michael Erman (Reuters) -Merck & Co said on Thursday it expects its 2022 sales to increase as much as 18 percent over last year, mostly on sales of its new COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir. The drugmaker said sales of the COVID-19 drug were $952 million in the…
By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to approve a bill that would rein in app stores of companies they said exert too much market control, particularly Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google. The measure, sponsored by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar along with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn,…
By Andy Bruce and David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) -The Bank of England raised interest rates to 0.5% on Thursday and nearly half its policymakers wanted a bigger increase to contain rampant price pressures, which the British central bank warned would push inflation above 7%. In a surprise split decision, four of the nine Monetary Policy…
By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir (Reuters) – Containing inflation running at its highest in decades must be a top priority for the Federal Reserve with Americans “suffering” under the rapid pace of price increases, U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominees to the central bank’s Board of Governors said on Thursday. While the Fed has a…
By Aditi Sebastian and Ananya Mariam Rajesh (Reuters) -Estee Lauder Cos Inc raised its annual revenue and profit projections on Thursday as price hikes and a recovery in demand for its makeup products blunt the hit from surging costs. Sales of the cosmetics maker rose in every region in the last three months of 2021…
Meta is putting a lot of virtual eggs — and billions of dollars — into the metaverse basket, and Wall Street is pretty anxious about it. Shares of the company formerly known as Facebook saw a historic plunge Thursday after the social media giant reported a rare profit decline due to a sharp rise in…
By Uday Sampath Kumar (Reuters) -Ralph Lauren Corp raised its annual revenue forecast on Thursday and became the latest luxury goods retailer to top market estimates for holiday-quarter revenue as demand for high-end apparel soars. Shares in the New-York based designer, which also announced a new $1.5 billion stock buyback program, rose 4% in morning…
By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) – Shell again boosted its dividend and share repurchases on Thursday after fourth quarter profits hit their highest in eight years, fuelled by higher oil and gas prices and strong gas trading performance. The strong results cap a dramatic recovery in 2021 for Shell and the oil and gas sector…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last month, U.S. employers might have shed jobs for the first time in about a year, potentially raising alarms about the economy’s trajectory. Yet even if the January employment report coming Friday were to show a deep loss of jobs, there would be little mystery about the likely culprit: A wave of…
By Pete Schroeder WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve’s regulatory work, told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday that she believes banks need strict oversight, but that it is not her job to tell them how and where to lend. Raskin tried to make the case for her confirmation…
