SYDNEY, July 18 (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank decided to keep interest rates steady this month as policy was clearly restrictive and there was a risk a squeeze on household finances could lead to a sharp downturn and higher unemployment. However, the bank retained a warning that some tightening may still be required to bring…
By Anna Tong and Jeffrey Dastin Around a decade after virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa burst onto the scene, a new wave of AI helpers with greater autonomy is raising the stakes, powered by the latest version of the technology behind ChatGPT and its rivals. Experimental systems that run on GPT-4 or similar models…
A ‘financial whale’ has been sighted in the waters of the stock market, and it’s splashing around Freeport-McMoRan, signaling a storm of bullish activity might be brewing. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) isn’t your average company. It mines the depths of the earth, extracting copper, gold, and molybdenum. Think of copper as the lifeblood of the modern world,…
By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders met with young labor organizers from Starbucks and Minor League Baseball among others at the White House on Monday as a growing number of worker strikes grip the country. After decades of declining union membership, organized labor is witnessing a resurgence in the…
By Natalie Grover LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s top asset manager BlackRock has named Amin Nasser, the chief of the world’s largest oil company Saudi Aramco, as an independent director. Nasser joined Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant as a petroleum engineer in 1982, and decades later in 2019 led Aramco’s initial public offering. His expertise…
By Joseph Ax (Reuters) – Georgia’s top court on Monday rejected former President Donald Trump’s latest effort to block an investigation into whether he and his allies illegally sought to interfere with the state’s 2020 election, weeks before prosecutors are expected to seek formal charges. Court records showed the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the…
By Anirban Sen NEW YORK (Reuters) -Microsoft Corp is in talks about an extension of its acquisition contract with video game maker Activision Blizzard, which is set to expire on Tuesday, so the parties can overcome the remaining regulatory hurdles to their $69 billion deal, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday. The…
By Jamie McGeever (Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist. Another day, another whoosh higher on Wall Street, but the double whammy of gloomy news from China on Monday is spoiling the party in Asia, and regional markets could struggle again on Tuesday. Data on…
(Reuters) – Demand for power in Texas hit a record high on Monday as homes and businesses kept air conditioners cranked up to escape a heatwave. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid for more than 26 million customers representing about 90% of the state’s power load, has said it has…
By Michelle Nichols and Guy Faulconbridge UNITED NATIONS/MOSCOW (Reuters) -A deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine’s grain for the past year expired on Monday after Russia quit and warned it could not guarantee the safety of ships in a move the United Nations said would “strike a blow to people in need…
