(Reuters) – Videogame publisher Activision Blizzard on Wednesday reported first-quarter bookings of $1.86 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.79 billion, according to Refinitiv. Earlier in the day, Britain said it would block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of the “Call of Duty” maker over its concerns it would hinder competition in cloud gaming, dealing…
By Kantaro Komiya and Joey Roulette (Reuters) -Japan’s ispace inc said its attempt to make the first private moon landing had failed after losing contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander when it unexpectedly accelerated and probably crashed on the lunar surface. The startup said it was possible that as the lander approached the…
By Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey and Paul Vieira SLAVUTYCH, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine marked the 37th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster on Wednesday by urging the world not to bow to Russian “blackmail” over nuclear facilities it has seized during its invasion. Former workers at what was then known as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP)…
(Reuters) – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday filed a civil enforcement action against Fisher Capital and its owner, Alexander Spellane, alleging it perpetrated a precious metals investment fraud targeting older adults. The Los Angeles-based dealer of precious metals defrauded “hundreds of elderly persons into investing more than $30 million in gold and…
BEIJING (Reuters) – Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd saw a 48.9% rise in first-quarter net profit as its investment income improved, China’s largest insurer by market value reported on Wednesday. Profit rose to 38.4 billion yuan ($5.55 billion) for the January-March quarter, it said in a filing. “The domestic economy continued to…
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s cabinet on Wednesday unveiled plans to boost employment, including supporting financial institutions to offer loans to small firms and issuing subsidies to firms that hire college graduates or unemployed young people. The world’s second-largest economy reported better-than-expected growth in the first quarter after the lifting of stringent COVID-19 curbs, but the…
By Nivedita Balu and Aditya Soni (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp shares surged about 7% on Wednesday and lifted tech stocks after the company’s robust earnings eased fears of a slowdown in cloud computing and boosted confidence that artificial intelligence will become a major growth driver. The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant is set to add about…
By Jamie McGeever ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – For all the hullabaloo about the world weaning itself off the U.S. dollar, hard numbers show that both central banks and private sector institutions continue to increase their holdings of dollar-denominated bonds. Despite several recent reports of reserve diversification, “geo-economic” realignment and China’s move to lift usage…
By Mike Stone and Pratyush Thakur (Reuters) -General Dynamics Corp on Wednesday reported a 5.2% rise in quarterly revenue, boosted by strong demand for munitions amid geopolitical instability caused by Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. Shares were down 5.5% to $210.40 during early trading in New York after Chief Executive Officer Phebe Novakovic warned…
By Chris Taylor NEW YORK (Reuters) – Here is a good rule of thumb for entrepreneurs: Opportunity does not always look like what you expect. In fact, sometimes it looks like its exact opposite. It might come in the form of a phone call famed sportscaster Rich Eisen got while at the Los Angeles airport…
