JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Labour unions rejected a 3.75% pay rise offer from South Africa’s power utility Eskom as it is below the rate of inflation, union representatives said on Friday. Unions are demanding a 15% increase in wages at Eskom, which is implementing rolling blackouts of about 10 hours a day as it struggles to…
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian retail sales dipped by 0.2% in February from January, and are expected to drop another 1.4% in March, according to data from Statistics Canada on Friday, indicating high interest rates may be starting to dent consumer spending. February’s decline, smaller than analysts’ forecast of a 0.6% fall, was led by lower sales…
By Lucila Sigal BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentine President Alberto Fernandez will not run in the country’s October general election, the center-left leader announced on Friday, throwing open a race to lead the Peronist coalition at the ballot amid swirling economic crisis. In a video message, Fernandez, who came into office in late 2019, said he…
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Friday it will update Bard, its generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, to help people write code to develop software, as the tech giant plays catch-up in a fast-moving race on AI technology. Last month, the company started the public release of Bard to gain ground on Microsoft Corp. The…
(Reuters) -U.S. Federal Reserve is considering ending an exemption that has allowed certain midsize banks to conceal losses on securities they hold, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, signaling a retightening of bank oversight is in the cards following last month’s failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. If approved, the move spearheaded…
By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK (Reuters) – Doing laundry is a drag. But after two years of price hikes on detergent, U.S. consumers may finally get some relief as Procter & Gamble Co deepens discounts on Tide, one of its biggest brands, according to a Reuters analysis of NielsenIQ data. Makers of consumer products like…
By Lucia Mutikani and Jonathan Cable WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. and Euro zone business activity gathered pace in April, according to surveys released on Friday, despite central bankers signaling they are nearing the peak of their interest rate hiking cycles designed to cool demand enough among consumers to bring high inflation down. S&P Global said…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google asked a court late Thursday to toss out several allegations made by Epic, Match and U.S. state attorneys general about how the search and advertising giant runs its app store for Android phones. Google’s motion is the company’s latest bid to end costly and time-consuming antitrust lawsuits. It has…
By Melanie Burton and Scott Murdoch MELBOURNE (Reuters) – As automakers and chemicals suppliers scramble to secure raw materials, resource-rich Australia has become a rare global bright spot with $37 billion worth of M&A deals in the first quarter, with the trend expected to continue in the near term. The increased dealmaking activity is forecast…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen significantly increased deliveries in the first quarter despite weaker business in China, its most important single market, the German carmaker said on Friday. The group delivered 2.04 million vehicles to customers worldwide, up 7.5% compared with the same quarter last year, while in China, sales fell 14.5% to 644,500 vehicles. Sales…
