By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell froze up for about 21 seconds while speaking to reporters on Wednesday, walking away only to return 12 minutes later to say he was “fine.” The 81-year-old Kentucky lawmaker began a regular scheduled press conference on Wednesday by talking about bipartisan cooperation on a…
By Niket Nishant and Manya Saini (Reuters) -PacWest Bancorp’s shares jumped nearly 29% on Wednesday, as investors cheered Banc of California’s $1.1 billion deal for the lender that has been under pressure since the banking crisis earlier this year. Shares of Banc of California, smaller and younger compared to 24-year old PacWest, also rose about…
By Chibuike Oguh NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global shares were mostly flat while U.S. yields fell on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve delivered its 11th consecutive hike in interest rates aimed at reining in rising consumer prices. The rate hike, which was in line market expectations, took the benchmark overnight interest rate to between 5.25%…
By Abigail Summerville (Reuters) – The private equity owners of popular emergency contraception pill Plan B, Foundation Consumer Healthcare, have hired advisors to explore options including a potential sale of the company, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. A sale could value the company at more than $4 billion, the source said, adding…
(Reuters) – Raymond James missed quarterly profit estimates on Wednesday as Wall Street’s prolonged dealmaking slump impacted its investment banking business, sending its shares down 2% in extended trading. Investment banking revenue in the third-quarter ended June 30 fell 35% to $141 million, compared to a year earlier. M&A activity came to a near standstill…
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered his administration to begin sharing evidence of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), a U.S official said on Wednesday. The Pentagon had been resistant to the move and privately argued that any cooperation with…
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell in June after three straight monthly increases, but the trend remained strong as an acute shortage of previously owned homes underpins demand. New home sales dropped 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 697,000 units last month, the Commerce Department said…
By David Morgan and Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives began debating the first of 12 fiscal 2024 spending bills on Wednesday, as lawmakers edged toward a looming showdown with the Democratic-led Senate that could trigger a government shutdown this autumn. The House voted 217-206, roughly along party lines, to…
By Jeffrey Dastin (Reuters) – Amazon.com’s cloud division has drawn thousands of customers to try out its service vying with Microsoft and Google in a key area of artificial intelligence, an executive told Reuters. The company also announced new AI tools on Wednesday, including a program for building more conversational customer-service agents, technology access from…
By Milana Vinn and Anirban Sen NEW YORK (Reuters) -Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), the music rights company representing top songwriters such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Rihanna, is once again exploring options including a sale after it ditched its non-profit model, people familiar with the matter said. BMI has turned to Goldman Sachs Group,…
