By Devik Jain and Bansari Mayur Kamdar (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes climbed on Wednesday after two turbulent sessions and ahead of the outcome of a Federal Reserve policy meeting, with a stellar outlook from Microsoft boosting technology stocks. The Fed policy decision is due at 2 p.m. ET (1900 GMT), with the U.S….
By Manojna Maddipatla (Reuters) -U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc on Wednesday issued a conservative annual profit forecast and warned that the highly contagious Omicron variant was likely to drive up treatment, vaccination and testing costs in the first quarter. Since the start of the pandemic, profits of health insurers have come under pressure as huge…
By Praveen Paramasivam and Uday Sampath Kumar (Reuters) -Mattel Inc on Wednesday won the rights to produce dolls based on Disney royalty like Elsa and Jasmine, snatching back a highly lucrative license from archrival Hasbro Inc. The reunion sent Mattel’s shares surging 11% and is part of Chief Executive Ynon Kreiz’s plan to turn the…
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Sales of new single family homes in December rose to their highest level in 10 months as buyers snapped up cheaper homes in anticipation of higher interest rates. The increase put the seasonally adjusted annual sales pace to 811,000 for the month, according to the Commerce Department, an 11.9% increase…
(Reuters) – U.S. auto retail sales are expected to dip in January as reduced manufacturing due to the Omicron variant, supply chain constraints and global inflation caused prices to soar amid high demand, consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said. Retail sales of new vehicles could fall 8.3% to 828,900 units from a year earlier,…
By Sujata Rao and Lewis Krauskopf LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock markets, after enjoying their best three-year run in more than two decades, may soon have to cede the top spot. With the Fed preparing to raise interest rates https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/inflation-fighting-fed-likely-flag-march-interest-rate-hike-2022-01-26 for the first time in almost four years, capital is starting to fan out…
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. trade deficit in goods widened to a record high in December amid a continued rise in imports, suggesting that trade likely remained a drag on economic growth in the fourth quarter. But the report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday also showed an acceleration in the pace of…
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk Southern railroad delivered 13% greater profit in the fourth quarter even though the amount of cargo it transported declined because it was able to raise rates. The Atlanta-based company said it earned $760 million, or $3.12 per share, in the quarter. That’s up from $671 million, or $2.64 per share,…
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday it will add four members to its board of trustees, a first for the Seattle-based philanthropic giant whose decision making has been guided by very few hands since its incorporation in 2000. The foundation, one of the world’s largest with its $50 billion endowment, said it would…
(Reuters) -Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday beat quarterly profit and sales estimates, aided by robust sales of COVID-19 test kits due to the spread of the Omicron variant and strong demand for its diagnostics products. Abbott said it expects $2.5 billion in sales of COVID-19 test kits in the early part of this year. The company…
