Explainer-What next for Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision deal after UK ban?

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard over concerns it would hinder cloud gaming. The ruling was a shock after the regulator had already resolved its concerns about the consoles market, a sector dominated by Sony’s…

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Factbox: Highlights from US regulators’ reviews of SVB, Signature failures

(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp issued detailed reports on Friday on what went wrong and where their supervisors came up short in the run-up to the two biggest bank failures since the Great Financial Crisis. Below are key details from the government’s post-mortems, which underscore management failings at Silicon Valley…

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Pinterest, Snap tumble 18% as outlooks disappoint investors

By Noel Randewich (Reuters) -Shares of both Pinterest Inc and Snap Inc tumbled about 18% on Friday after the two social media companies’ quarterly reports spooked investors worried about weak digital ad spending. Their disappointing reports late on Thursday stood in contrast to strong results earlier this week from digital advertising heavyweights Alphabet Inc and…

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U.S. officials lead urgent rescue talks for First Republic -sources

By Nupur Anand, Andrea Shalal and Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. officials are coordinating urgent talks to rescue First Republic Bank as private-sector efforts led by the bank’s advisers have yet to reach a deal, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Treasury Department and…

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Time for daily talks between Biden, Republicans on debt, moderate Democrat says

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prominent moderate U.S. House of Representatives Democrat said Friday that it is time for President Joe Biden to begin daily talks with Republicans on government spending and debt, to avoid a calamitous default. Representative Josh Gottheimer rejected Republican demands to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling only in…

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Signature Bank failure due to ‘poor management,’ US FDIC report says

(Reuters) – Last month’s failure of New York-based Signature Bank was caused by “poor management” and a pursuit of “rapid, unrestrained growth” with little regard for risk management, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said on Friday in a report detailing its supervision and regulation of the regional bank. Bank management and its board chased growth…

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Russian Finance Minister: Hitting budget deficit of 2% of GDP depends on oil and gas – agencies

(Reuters) – Russia’s forecast of a 2023 budget deficit of no more than 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) remains in force but much depends on oil and gas revenues, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quoted as saying on Friday. “So far, these benchmarks are unchanged, but to say that it will be exactly 2%,…

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Putin: Russia must act quickly in face of West’s ‘economic aggression’

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia needed to act quickly to counter what he called the West’s “economic aggression”, adding Moscow would expand ties with countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America. Russia’s economy has faced multiple challenges this year, including a weaker rouble, lower energy revenues and further isolation as…

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