By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) -Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, returned to underlying profit in its first half and stuck to its guidance, saying its retail operation won more customers and its robotics business progressed, sending its shares soaring. The group swung to a profit for the six months to May 28,…
LONDON (Reuters) – From Britain to Sweden and France, debt-laden firms are starting to feel the strain from high inflation and interest rates. Here’s a snapshot of some European companies whose financial woes are now in the spotlight. 1/ Thames Water Significance: Britain’s biggest water supplier. Size of debt: 14 billion pounds ($18.33 billion). What’s…
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee Markets are still reeling from China’s raft of unimpressive data and with the economic calendar now light, worries over a stuttering post COVID-19 recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy are likely to linger as Europe wakes up. The anaemic Chinese recovery…
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 Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering its options after stinging losses last week in its bid to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy Activision, a source told Reuters on Monday amid expectations the agency’s fight is nearing the end. After two court losses last week, the agency’s…
By John Kruzel WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of individual plaintiffs on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily halt Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the largest in the history of the videogame industry. The bid by the plaintiffs was separate from a request by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to pause…
LONDON (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council will hold its first formal discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) this week in New York, with Britain to call for an international dialogue about its impact on global peace and security. Governments around the world are considering how to mitigate the dangers of emerging AI technology, which…
By Karen Brettell NEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar dipped against a basket of currencies on Monday after last week suffering its largest weekly decline this year as Treasury yields tumbled, but held above more than one-year lows reached on Friday with no major catalysts to drive market direction. This week is likely to see…
By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil dropped by more than 1.5% on Monday after weaker than expected Chinese economic growth raised doubts over the strength of demand in the world’s second biggest oil consumer, and a partial restart of halted Libyan output also pressured prices. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.3% year-on-year in the…
By Sam Tobin and Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -Microsoft’s appeal against Britain’s block on its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard was formally paused by a London tribunal on Monday, to give the parties more time to resolve the dispute. Microsoft, Activision and Britain’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), had all asked…