OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada has agreed to provide up to C$13 billion ($9.7 billion) in subsidies and a C$700 million grant to lure Volkswagen AG into building its North American battery plant in the country, a government source said on Thursday. The total Canadian investment, which could also include funds from the Ontario government, will largely…
(Reuters) -Alphabet Inc is combining Google Brain and DeepMind, as it doubles down on artificial intelligence research in its race to compete with rival systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. The new division will be led by DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and its setting up will ensure “bold and responsible development of general AI”, Alphabet CEO…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Arms makers Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall will team up to develop a German rocket artillery system, they said on Thursday, a weapon in the same category as the HIMARS rocket launchers Lockheed has been supplying to Ukraine. HIMARS is a missile launcher mounted on a truck that can fire multiple guided missiles…
PARIS (Reuters) – French carmaker Renault has picked BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan among the investment banks slated to work on the planned listing of its electric car business, Ampere, a source close to the matter said on Thursday. The three banks will act as joint global coordinators on the initial public offering (IPO)…
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s finance minister said on Thursday the country would implement a “digital tax” on shipments from e-commerce giants, after backtracking earlier this week from a decision to tax individual-to-individual shipments of up to $50. “We will follow the example of developed nations, a digital tax,” Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters. “Consumers…
By Amna Karimi and Abhijith Ganapavaram (Reuters) -Union Pacific Corp’s chief executive officer said on Thursday the railroad operator was considering slowing down the pace of hiring in the second half of the year amid a cloudy economic outlook, becoming the latest U.S. company to evaluate its staffing plans. CEO Lance Fritz told Reuters in…
By Michael S. Derby NEW YORK (Reuters) -Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said on Thursday the U.S. central bank still has more interest rate increases ahead of it, while noting the aggressive move to boost the cost of borrowing over the last year to quash high inflation is nearing its end. “Demand is still…
By Walter Bianchi BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s peso currency sank in widely used parallel markets on Thursday, hitting a record low against the U.S. dollar as concerns grew about the Latin American country’s economy, with 104% inflation, reserves dwindling and drought hitting exports. The black market peso, one of several unofficial rates that have…
By Emilio Parodi and Mimosa Spencer MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) -Europe’s flourishing luxury goods industry was under scrutiny on Thursday after European Union antitrust regulators inspected Gucci’s Milan headquarters this week as part of an investigation spanning several countries and companies. The European Commission said on Tuesday that antitrust regulators had raided companies in the fashion sector…
(Reuters) – The unprecedented speed at which depositors pulled their money from Silicon Valley Bank outpaced the ability of the Federal Reserve to act as lender of last resort, underscoring the need for faster processing of emergency loans, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Thursday. Since the run on SVB that forced regulators to shut…
