By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish banking group BBVA reported a 39% rise in first-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating forecasts on the back of a solid performance in Mexico, its main market, and keeping a lid on deposits costs. BBVA’s profit of 1.85 billion euros ($2.04 billion) for the January to March period was…
By Nicolás Misculin BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s three most recent presidents have bowed out of the October general election campaign, throwing the race wide open and the outcome in the balance, with the only sure candidate a far-right libertarian who wants to dismantle the central bank. Political uncertainty has roiled Argentina’s already creaky financial…
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone economic sentiment was broadly unchanged overall in April, as a pick-up among consumers and retail and services sectors offset a more gloomy view among manufacturers, while price expectations continued to fall. The European Commission’s monthly survey showed on Thursday that economic sentiment in the 20 countries sharing the euro rose…
By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) – For all the thunder about Xbox versus PlayStation, it was the nascent cloud market that led to Britain’s surprise decision to block Microsoft’s record Activision Blizzard takeover. Microsoft has been working for months to satisfy concerns about the $69 billion deal raised by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA),…
LONDON (Reuters) – The boss of Britain’s antitrust regulator said blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard was the right decision for the UK after both companies said it sent the wrong message to the global tech industry. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal on Wednesday, saying it could…
By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics Co Ltd flagged a gradual recovery for chips in the second half of the year after its semiconductor business reported a record $3.4 billion loss on Thursday, driven by a chip glut from weak demand for tech devices. A global downturn in semiconductor purchases amid…
By Andy Sullivan and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Solar and EV companies are warning that a Republican plan to slash federal spending in exchange for a hike in the U.S. debt ceiling could hobble the tax incentives that unleashed billions of dollars in green investment and created tens of thousands of jobs in Republican…
By Chen Lin and Xinghui Kok SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Vera Liu, a Singapore property agent, was panicking in the wee hours of Thursday morning after new property taxes saw two of her deals fall through. Singapore raised levies on private property purchases in a surprise move late on Wednesday night to cool the market, including…
A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan The Big Tech earnings season is going some way to justifying the striking outperformance of its mega cap shares this year, with Meta Platforms the latest to impress overnight and Amazon advancing ahead of its readout on Thursday. Perhaps even more…
By Matteo Allievi and Natalia Siniawski (Reuters) – Spanish steelmaker Acerinox beat first quarter net profit expectations on Thursday, driven by growth in its U.S. operations, and forecast slightly better earnings in the second quarter. Net profit was 136 million euros ($150 million), well above analysts’ average forecast of 83 million euros, according to Refinitiv…
