With a view to avoiding a U.S. government ban for TikTok, its Chinese owner ByteDance Ltd. signed binding agreements, backed by President Donald Trump, with three managing investors to form a joint venture to operate the U.S. operations of the video-sharing app, media reported citing a memo. With the deal, the social video platform, which is used regularly by more than 170 million Americans...
Professional services company Accenture plc (ACN) reported Thursday weak profit in its first quarter, while adjusted earnings and top line beat market estimates. Further, the firm issued second-quarter revenue view, and trimmed fiscal 2026 earnings view on a reported basis. However, the firm maintained annual forecast for adjusted earnings and revenue growth.
The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark rate by a quarter-point to the highest level in three decades as inflation continued to remain above the target and hinted at further hikes. The policy board, headed by Ueda Kazuo decided, by a unanimous vote, to hike the uncollateralized overnight call rate to "around 0.75 percent" from "around 0.5 percent."
UK retail sales dropped unexpectedly in November as the Black Friday effect was slightly weaker than usual, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday. Retail sales dropped marginally by 0.1 percent in November from a month ago. The decline confounded expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent but this was slower than October's 0.9 percent decrease.
German consumer confidence is set to drop at the start of the year 2026 as rising inflation fears weigh on income expectations and purchase decisions, monthly survey data published jointly by NIQ/GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions showed Friday. The forward-looking consumer confidence index fell to -26.9 in January from revised -23.4 in December.
The UK has committed to provide 600 million pounds worth of air-defense capabilities, including cutting edge turrets that can shoot down Russian drones to support Ukraine through the winter. The air defense package for Ukraine comes as Russia's aerial strikes plunges homes, hospitals, and power stations into darkness. The announcement came as UK Defense Secretary John Healey and his German coun
G7 Foreign Ministers have called on China to release Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon and politician Jimmy Lai, who was found guilty under the controversial national security law. The Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and the High...
President Donald Trump has announced that he is ordering "a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela." In a lengthy statement he posted on Truth Social Tuesday, Trump said he is designating the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela a foreign terrorist organization "For the theft of our assets, and many other reasons, including terrorism, drug smuggl
Oil prices inched lower on Friday and were on track for a second weekly loss as investors weighed the risk of a global surplus against concerns over Venezuelan supply disruptions. Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.2 percent to $59.73 a barrel while WTI crude futures were down 0.2 percent at...
European stocks were little changed on Friday, a day after the European Central Bank and Bank of England issued hawkish signals on the outlook for their rate paths. After November's U.S. inflation report showed an unexpected decline in price growth, the core PCE price index, widely regarded as the...
Asian stocks advanced on Friday as concerns over artificial intelligence spending and valuations eased, and signs of cooling U.S. inflation bolstered expectations of looser U.S. monetary policy next year. The Japanese yen extended losses for a second day running, helping ease fears of a sharp yen...
Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly down on Friday. Asian shares finished positive, while European shares are trading higher. In the Asian trading session, the U.S. dollar held steady, while gold trending up. Oil prices rose on the day. As of...
Following the mixed performance seen in the previous session, the major U.S. stock indexes may once again move in opposite directions in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a mixed open for the markets, with the Nasdaq 100 futures down by 0.5 percent but the...
Stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Friday, with the major averages all moving to the downside following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has led the way lower.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering adding a "black box" warning, its strongest type of safety alert, to COVID-19 vaccines, according to a CNN report. It further noted that the idea is being pushed by Vinay Prasad, the FDA's top vaccine official. Notably, a black box warning...
December 12, 2025 15:14 ET Central bank decisions dominated the economic news flow this week led by the Federal Reserve. Trade data from the U.S. also gained attention. The Canadian and Swiss central banks also announced their interest rate decisions. Inflation data from China was in focus as the country released the latest consumer price and producer price data.
Sentiment in global markets remains diverse as markets digest the cooling in U.S.CPI, the widely expected rate hike by Bank of Japan, as well as rising prospects of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
President Donald Trump has signed a Proclamation expanding full restrictions and entry limitations of nationals from 39 countries "to protect U.S. national security and public safety interests." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had said earlier this month that the U.S. Government was planning to widen the travel ban that Trump announced on 19 countries to more than 30. In a proclamation h
As we enter the final month of the year, it is a good time to review the biotech and pharmaceutical companies with drug candidates pending FDA decisions and see what's ahead on the regulatory front this December.
The European Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged for the fourth policy session in a row and raised the growth forecasts for the euro area citing support from domestic demand, but the bank also lifted the inflation projection for next year as policymakers expect services inflation to ease more slowly than expected earlier.
A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Thursday unexpectedly showed a notable decrease by its reading on regional manufacturing activity in the month of December. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity slumped to a negative 10.2 in December from a negative 1.7 in November, with a negative reading indicating contraction.
The annual rate of growth by consumer prices has unexpectedly slowed, according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The Labor Department said consumer prices in November were up by 2.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago. The year-over-year price growth in November reflects a notable slowdown from the 3.0 percent surge in September.
A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits declined roughly in line with economist estimates in the week ended December 13th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 224,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 237,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 225,000.
The World Health Organization has warned that amid an early start to the Northern Hemisphere influenza season, a new variant of the virus is rapidly gaining ground. Influenza and other respiratory viruses are surging, Dr Wenqing Zhang, Unit Head for Global Respiratory Threats at the Department of...
New analysis from the World Health Organization's global expert committee on vaccine safety has found that, based on available evidence, there is no link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders, or ASD. The conclusion reaffirms WHO's position that childhood vaccines do not cause autism. The...
A new EU-funded report confirms that urgent bloc-level action is needed to tackle cardiovascular diseases, which is the European Union's number one killer. The 'State of Cardiovascular Health in the EU' report reveals that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in the EU, accounting for one-third of all annual deaths and affecting over 60 million people. These fi
The European Commission and the World Health Organization have signed a 3.5 million EURO agreement under the EU4Health program to strengthen the global response to antimicrobial resistance. This partnership will support the WHO in monitoring the development of antimicrobials and medical countermeasures,...
Menards, the home improvement retailer, is set to pay $750,000 to Wisconsin as part of a consumer protection settlement involving multiple states, as announced by Attorney General Josh Kaul on Wednesday.
Facebook is rolling out a new limit on how many links some users can share in their posts unless they sign up for a paid plan.
Oracle has come out suggesting that their talks with Blue Owl Capital about funding a big data center project in Michigan had hit a snag.
UK's FTSE 100 was flat a little past noon on Friday with investors largely refraining from making big moves. A report showing an improvement in consumer sentiment supported the market, while data showing an unexpected drop in retail sales appeared to render the mood cautious.