By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s Santander said on Wednesday a release of 750 million euros ($845 million) in pandemic-related provisions and a strong performance in the United States and Britain drove an eight-fold rise in fourth-quarter net profit compared to a year earlier. The coronavirus crisis forced banks in Europe to set aside costly…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Self-charging hybrid cars, which operate on both an internal combustion engine and a battery, outsold diesel cars in Europe for the first time in 2021, albeit by just 48 vehicles, data showed on Wednesday. One in 11 cars sold were battery-electric, the data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association showed, totalling just…
TOKYO (Reuters) – Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG), Japan’s second-largest lender by assets, reported on Wednesday a net profit of 624.8 billion yen ($5.45 billion) in the nine months through December, up 44% from the same period a year earlier. SMFG kept its full-year profit view through March at 670 billion yen, which compared…
By David Shepardson, Hyunjoo Jin and Joseph White WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Self-driving vehicle companies from Tesla Inc to General Motors Co’s Cruise are racing to start making money with their technology, outrunning efforts by regulators and Congress to write rules of the road for robot-driven vehicles. On Tuesday, Cruise said that SoftBank Group Corp…
By Chris Taylor NEW YORK (Reuters) – Low inflation had spoiled U.S. investors for so long that last year’s sudden surge came as a shock. As those who lived through the late 1970s and early 1980s can attest, inflation can be a “portfolio killer” because it erodes purchasing power. Inflation revved up to 7% in…
By Yuka Obayashi TOKYO (Reuters) -Oil prices climbed on Wednesday toward last week’s seven-year highs as a draw in U.S. crude stocks confirmed strong demand and a lack of supply, but investors remained cautious ahead of an OPEC+ meeting later in the day. Brent crude rose 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $89.33 a barrel by…
By Joseph White and Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) -General Motors Co on Tuesday said it will spend more than the $35 billion previously planned through 2025 to speed up launches of new electric vehicles, and noted that investments in technology will take priority over richer profits next year. GM said it expects 2022 operating profit…
By Erwin Seba HOUSTON (Reuters) -Union and energy company negotiators met on Tuesday without reaching agreement on a new labor contract covering 30,000 U.S. workers at oil refineries, chemical plants and pipelines. Marathon Petroleum and the United Steelworkers union (USW) on Monday averted a potential strike by agreeing to a 24-hour rolling extension of the…
By Paresh Dave and Nivedita Balu (Reuters) -Google parent Alphabet Inc reported record quarterly sales that topped expectations on Tuesday, as its internet advertising business surged on consumers using Google search as they shopped online and advertisers upping their marketing budgets. Alphabet’s shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading, also rising on the company’s…
By Siddharth Cavale and Arriana McLymore (Reuters) -United Parcel Service Inc projected 2022 revenue above market expectations and doled out its biggest dividend boost on Tuesday, as the logistics giant posted record annual earnings on the back of a pandemic-driven surge in online shopping and labor shortages. UPS stock jumped 16% to a record high…