LONDON (AP) — Consumer prices in the United Kingdom have risen at the fastest pace in almost 30 years as higher costs for energy, transportation, food and furniture squeezed household incomes. Inflation accelerated to 5.4% in the 12 months through December, up from November’s 5.1%, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. Last month’s annual…
By Abhijith Ganapavaram and Nathan Gomes (Reuters) – North American railroad operators are expected to reveal a dour picture when they report fourth-quarter results as lower freight volumes due to port congestion, labor shortages and adverse weather dampen gains from higher shipment prices. The COVID-19 pandemic knocked volumes shipped, but the companies were able to…
By Lewis Krauskopf, Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq edged higher in a choppy trading session on Wednesday after quarterly results from a diverse set of companies, while tech stocks stabilized and U.S. Treasury yields pulled back from milestones. The tech-heavy Nasdaq recovered after earlier in the session…
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday revived a racketeering lawsuit accusing the consulting firm McKinsey & Co of concealing potential conflicts when seeking permission from bankruptcy courts to perform lucrative work on corporate restructurings. The 3-0 decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was…
By Tim Hepher, Jamie Freed and David Shepardson (Reuters) – Two major Japanese airlines said Wednesday they will restore flights to the United States after the deployment of 5G mobile in the United States had prompted some foreign carriers to cancel numerous U.S. bound flights. A decision by AT&T and Verizon Communications to delay switching…
By Laura Sanicola (Reuters) – Oil prices rose for a fourth day on Wednesday after a fire on a pipeline from Iraq to Turkey briefly stopped flows, increasing concerns about an already tight short term supply outlook. Flows have resumed through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline that carries crude from northern Iraq, the second-largest producer in the…
By David Milliken and Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) -Inflation in Britain rose faster than expected to its highest in nearly 30 years in December, intensifying a squeeze on living standards and putting pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates again. The annual rate of consumer price inflation increased to 5.4% from November’s…
(Reuters) -Dove soap maker Unilever PLC said on Wednesday it would not increase its 50-billion-pound ($68 billion) proposal to buy GSK’s consumer healthcare business. GlaxoSmithKline confirmed over the weekend that it had rejected three bids from Unilever for its consumer arm, which is home to brands such as Sensodyne toothpaste, Emergen-C vitamin supplement and Panadol…
ZURICH (Reuters) -One of the largest shareholders of Credit Suisse hopes the bank’s new chairman, Axel Lehmann, can steer the embattled lender through a turnaround, David Herro of Harris Associates said on the investor’s website. Harris Associates, the bank’s third-biggest investor with a stake of 5%, according to Refinitiv data, remained hopeful for the bank…
(Reuters) -Procter & Gamble bumped up its annual sales forecast on Wednesday, as the consumer goods giant benefits from higher prices and resurgent cleaning products demand amid a spike in COVID-19 infections. The company’s shares rose nearly 2% in premarket trading as strong quarterly sales helped cushion the blow from a bigger-than-previously forecast increase in…
