Latest News
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Wall Street Journal, July 8,
These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. Ruoming Pan, Apple's executive who is in charge of AI models, has left the company to join Meta Platforms. Tech giants are aggressively chasing top talent as they race to be the leaders of the next AI wave. Royal Gold announced that it would acquire Sandstorm Gold, a Canadian rival company, for approximately $3.5 billion. This will help the royal firm to strengthen its position within North America during a period when gold prices have reached record highs. CoreWeave is buying crypto mining company Core Scientific for $9 billion in a deal that involves only stock. AI infrastructure companies are racing to secure energy and data centers to meet the demand. The Transportation Security Administration has introduced new procedures that allow passengers to wear their shoes through airport screening checkpoints. Andrew Hider has been named as the new CEO of Baxter International, replacing long-time CEO Jose Almeida. A group of independent companies and trade associations has called on the European Union (EU) to launch a thorough investigation into the acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings by Universal Music Group. They claim that the deal is a threat to competition if the antitrust officials allow it to proceed.
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The rupee is a little higher, but the US tariffs are keeping traders cautious.
The Indian rupee rose slightly during early trading on February 2, in line with a rise in other Asian currencies. However, traders were cautious, waiting for clarity regarding the ongoing trade talks between India and the United States. The rupee was up 0.16 percent on the day to 85.71 dollars at 10:25 am IST. Most regional counterparts gained when U.S. president Donald Trump delayed the imposition steep reciprocal levies until August 1, giving countries more time to negotiate trade deals. The White House sent letters to 14 countries stating the duties that would be applied on their exports in just over three weeks. Trump claimed that he was nearing a deal with India. Market participants were comforted by the fact that they still had time to negotiate with the largest economy in the world. MUFG stated in a report that "this modest reaction may be a function either of market pricing for the ability to negotiate tariffs down, or possibly a continuation in the TACO trade (Trump Always Chickens Out)." The traders say that despite the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the trade negotiations, aggressive bets on the rupee are unlikely to occur, due to the potential for news-driven movements. A trader from a private banking firm said that the sharp drop in the rupee during the previous session had many traders on their wrong side. This has led to a level of caution moving forward. On Monday, the local currency fell by up to 0.7% after Trump threatened to levy a tariff of 10% on BRICS nations. Separately, another source with knowledge of the issue said that the tariffs would only be imposed if the countries took so-called anti-American policy actions.
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French and Benelux stocks: Factors to watch
Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. ARAMIS GROUP - French used car company Aramis updated their full-year guidance on Monday. They forecast that its adjusted EBITDA will be around 65 million euro ($76.12million) in 2025. ALSTOM: French rail manufacturer Alstom signed on Monday a contract in Chile with EFE to ensure the high reliability of Santiago-Nos service. It also signed a 2-billion-euro deal with New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to supply 316 railcars. BRITAIN/FRANCE: The first European state visit since Brexit will be made by the French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday at Windsor Castle. This trip is meant to celebrate the re-establishment of stronger political ties between Britain and France. CARREFOUR - French retail distribution company Carrefour announced Concordis, an alliance for European buying with Cooperative U. Ipsos, a French market research firm, announced on Monday that it had acquired Inmoment’s German health division. PEUGEOT Invest: French investment holding Peugeot Invest announced on Monday that it will sell its remaining stake in SPIE through an accelerated placing. SHURGARD Self Storage, a Guernsey based self-storage facility provider, signed a purchase contract in the Netherlands on Monday. TITAN: The building and infrastructure materials company Titan announced on Monday that it will invest in a sustainable construction materials platform located at the former Fiddler's Ferry Power Station. Pan-European market data: European Equities speed guide................... FTSE Eurotop 300 index.............................. DJ STOXX index...................................... Top 10 STOXX sectors........................... Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors...................... Top 10 Eurotop 300 sectors..................... Top 25 European pct gainers....................... Top 25 European pct losers........................ Main stock markets: Dow Jones ............... Wall Street Report ..... Nikkei 225............. Tokyo report............ London report ........... Xetra DAX............. Frankfurt items......... CAC-40................. Paris items............ World Indices..................................... Survey of global bourse outlook ......... European Asset Allocation........................ News in a glance Top News ............. Equities.............. Main Oil Report ........... Main currency report .....
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Qantas Australia says it has made cyber criminal contacts a week after a data breach.
Qantas' spokesperson said on Tuesday that a cyber criminal had contacted the airline following a data leak last week which exposed personal details of six million passengers. Hacker targeted call centre, gained access to third-party platform of customer service, which contained names, emails, phone numbers and birth dates, as well as frequent flyer numbers. The spokesperson stated that "this is a criminal case and we will not be commenting further on the details of the contact" as it was a criminal matter. She added that there were no signs stolen data was released, but the company continues to monitor with cyber security experts. The breach is Australia's highest-profile cyberattack since 2022 when telecommunications giant Optus was attacked, and the health insurer Medibank. These incidents led to mandatory cyber resilience legislation. This latest incident has brought unwanted scrutiny on the flag carrier of the country as it seeks public trust following its COVID-19 actions that saw it fall in airline and brand reputation ratings. Reporting by Roushni Nai in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Jasmeen Islam Shaikh, editing by Shilpi Mahumdar and Shakesh Kuber
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A man was killed in Texas after a shooting at a US Border Patrol station
Local police reported that a 27-year old Michigan man died after police shot him dead Monday morning in McAllen, Texas. The Michigan man had opened fire with an assault weapon on a U.S. Border Patrol post. McAllen police chief Victor Rodriguez said that Ryan Louis Mosqueda had fired dozens at the facility's entrance shortly before 6 am. U.S. Border Patrol agents responded with fire. Rodriguez reported that a McAllen officer was wounded in the leg during an exchange of gunfire and taken to the hospital. A Border Patrol agent was also injured, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The police found more assault weapons and ammunition in Mosqueda’s Chevrolet car that was parked near, Rodriguez said. He said that the suspect fired dozens and dozens of shots at the building, as well as the agents inside. The vehicle was covered in writing, which Rodriguez thought was Latin. He did not say what the writing said or if it indicated the motive of the attack. According to a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection employee, the Border Patrol special operations teams are housed in the facility where this shooting occurred. Mosqueda, who was reported missing from Weslaco at 4 am, is believed to be a local. He lived about 18 miles (30 kilometers) east of McAllen. Rodriguez stated that the FBI was leading the investigation, as there had been an attack against federal officers and on a federal building. Law enforcement securing the area caused several hours of delays at McAllen International airport. Former CBP officials who requested anonymity in order to discuss the details of the incident said that a member of Border Patrol’s tactical unit known as BORTAC helped stop the alleged gunman. Donald Trump, Republican President, has made fighting illegal immigration his top priority. He sent troops to secure the U.S.Mexico border, and launched aggressive raids on U.S. cities. Americans are concerned that the actions, supported by Trump's hardline Republican supporters, have led to arrests of noncriminals and enforcement techniques which include officers wearing masks in order to conceal their identities. Under Trump, the number of illegal migrants crossing the border has dropped to new lows. A new monthly low was reached of 6,100 in late June. Trump sent BORTAC agents in 2020, his first term to Portland, Oregon, to protect federal buildings following attacks on a federal building during protests against police brutality and racism. (Reporting and editing by Ted Hesson, Jasper Ward and Kevin Liffey; Reporting by Ted Hesson, Jasper Ward and Bill Berkrot)
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Canada Post strikes cause private delivery firms to gain market share
UPS, FedEx, and other private parcel delivery companies are battling to gain a larger share of Canada's nearly $17 billion delivery market while Canada Post, owned by the government, struggles with its labor problems. Canada Post, Canada's main postal service, has suffered from labor disruptions for the past year. This included during the holiday season when workers went on strike to protest pay. After contract negotiations broke down, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which represents delivery personnel at Canada Post initiated a ban on all overtime in May. Small businesses have been forced to use private carriers and rivals to ensure timely delivery, even though they may be more expensive. Michael Ashley Schulman is the chief investment officer of wealth management company Running Point Capital. FedEx, the parcel giant, said it expected "the circumstances at Canada Post to trigger an increased demand for FedEx service." To meet the increased demand, the company can offer special rates, increase delivery vehicles, change routes, reallocate resource and open temporary sorting centres. UPS refused to reveal its plans to increase capacity. Lisa Graham from Calgary, who runs a small ecommerce based company called YYC Beeswax said that her business heavily relied on Canada Post for its affordable rates for small packages. Graham's business lost some money during the holiday strikes last year. To keep her deliveries going, she turned to UPS and FedEx. She also enlisted local services to supply domestic clients, who account for 70% of sales. "Anything going to take more than two days we will be spending extra to ship them (private courier service)." The Canadian Federation of Independent Business reported that the strikes last year cost small and mid-sized businesses more than $1 billion in lost revenue. Michael Cox imports Irish sweaters and textiles from the UK, along with jewelry, to his Ottawa shop. However, Canada Post, its only logistics provider, caused him to stop business during last year’s strikes. According to Mordor Intelligence, the Canadian courier, express and parcel market could reach $21.55 billion in 2030. Canada Post's spokesperson stated that the impact of ongoing uncertainty and last year's strike on their business was significant. Since the union began their strike action again in May 2025, once the collective agreements expired we have lost nearly 60% of our business. Canada Post's share of the market fell to 26,7% in 2024, from 62% in 2019 according to its annual report. This is despite an e-commerce boom following the pandemic. The 32-day strike last year cost the company $208 million. Schulman said that if CUPW's contract battle drags on, Canada Post could see its share drop to the teens by December 2026.
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Ambrey reports two crew members injured and two missing after a vessel was attacked near Hodeidah in Yemen.
Ambrey, a British maritime security company, reported on Monday that two crew members were injured and another two went missing after a Liberian bulk carrier was attacked by skiffs or drones at 49 nautical miles south of Yemen's Red Sea Port of Hodeidah. Ambrey stated that the vessel had been reported to have had its engines disabled, and had begun to drift. The ship was not identified. A maritime security source told us that a ship near Hodeidah had been attacked by drones and issued a Mayday call. The Houthis, who are Iran-aligned, claimed earlier in the day that the Magic Seas cargo ship, which they had attacked with rockets, gunfire and explosive-laden remote controlled boats, was sunk by the Red Sea. This is their first attack known on the high seas in this year. (Reporting and editing by Mark Heinrich, Kevin Liffey and Yannis Souliotis. Additional reporting by Jana Choukeir).
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Two Kenya protesters die from gunshot wounds, hospital director says
Aaron Shikuku, director of Eagle Nursing Home, said that two Kenyans died on Monday from gunshot injuries in a Nairobi suburb, following a wave of anti-government protests across the country. A reporter who was on the ground said that earlier in the day police fired to disperse an advancing crowd of protesters in Kangemi as demonstrators attempted to mark the 35th Anniversary of pro-democracy rally. In the wake of the recent demonstrations in Kenya, a man was seen motionless and bleeding on the road. This is the first time that the public has been unrest since the death in police custody of blogger Albert Ojwang last month. A request for comment from the police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga on the deaths of two people was not responded to immediately. Since youth-led demonstrations in Nairobi in June 2024, which initially focused on tax increases but expanded to include issues such as graft and police brutality, and unexplained disappeared of government critics. (Reporting and writing by Humphrey Malalo, editing by Mark Heinrich).
Asia's yawning renewables lead may just grow from here: Maguire
Asia has widened its renewable energy capacity lead over all other areas, adding a record 450,000 megawatts (MW) of brand-new eco-friendly capacity in 2024, according to data compiled by LSEG.
That capability addition overshadows the approximately 109,000 MW included in Europe and the 93,000 MW added in North America last year, and seals Asia's position as the main worldwide center for eco-friendly energy generation.
Asia's overall set up renewables generation footprint is now approximately 2,500,000 MW, compared to around 1,000,000 MW in Europe and 700,000 MW in North America, and implies Asia is now home to just over half of all eco-friendly generation capacity.
And Asia's capacity lead looks set to widen going forward as decreased political cohesion in Europe and a swing to a. climate-sceptic administration in the United States possibly. slows the rate of renewables development in those markets.
Trade spats between China - the world's top manufacturer of. renewable power production elements - and Europe and the. United States may likewise accelerate Asia's renewables build-out,. by requiring China to focus more on regional markets for development.
POWER RATE IMPACT
Continual renewables capacity development in Asia simply as. capability expansions sluggish in Europe and The United States and Canada might trigger. a divergence in power cost trends in between those regions.
If Asian power systems steadily increase the share of. renewables within generation mixes, local power costs might be. driven lower by the resulting boosts in output from solar and. wind farms that can produce power more inexpensively than fossil fuel. power plants.
At the exact same time, continued high reliance on gas for. power generation in Europe and The United States and Canada might keep power. expenses in those markets on a possibly rising trajectory.
This is especially likely in Europe, where gas plants that. formerly worked on pipelined supplies from Russia should now be fed. by imported liquefied gas (LNG), which can cost sharply. more than pipelined gas.
Gas prices in North America might likewise trend higher,. specifically if the United States increases gas exports in the kind. of LNG to feed the gas need in other regions, and tightens up. domestic gas supplies as a result.
The legacy networks of gas pipelines, power plants and. secondary industries that utilize gas as a feedstock are likewise. effective forces within Europe and The United States And Canada, and are. reliable at warding off policies that may undermine their status.
These markets are also significant local employers and so could. spur broad societal disruption if they come under danger.
In contrast, a number of major economies throughout Asia are. intent on lowering their dependence on imported nonrenewable fuel sources for. energy production, and are dedicated to expanding home-grown. power production that is made it possible for by renewable sources.
CHINA'S SKEW
China accounts for roughly two-thirds of Asia's renewables. capability footprint and looks set to remain the world's fastest. developer of sustainable power generation.
China's massive manufacturing base likewise looks set to remain. the biggest producer of solar parts and other crucial parts. connected to renewables generation, which China plans to export. throughout the world.
Local Asian markets are likely to be willing purchasers of those. China-made parts and products, as a number of economies in Asia are. experiencing quick development in energy consumption that can be. provided relatively inexpensively and quickly by renewables sources. In contrast, Europe and the United States are accountable to slow. their uptake of China-made energy products due to continuous trade. disputes, even if those products are among the most affordable expense. available and are effective in raising power supplies.
That disparity in cravings for China-made renewable resource. parts and systems might even more accelerate the divergence in tidy. power capacity patterns between Asia and other regions, and. amplify the resulting power cost patterns.
The re-routing of global manufacturing supply chains away. from China - in action to ongoing trade conflicts with Beijing. - might also serve to accelerate Asia's renewables adoption.
Much of the alternative factory locations are most likely to be. in inexpensive Asian nations that have big labor forces, while lots of. of the items and parts they put together will stay connected to the. energy shift due to the widespread appeal of tidy energy. production systems.
Emerging economies across Asia are also keen to wean their. energy systems off high-cost and high-polluting nonrenewable fuel sources,. and so are anticipated to undertake major financial investments in structure. out clean energy generation that helps to develop tasks and spur. economic development.
In sum, these trends might serve to speed up Asia's cumulative. adoption of renewable energy production over the coming years,. just as Europe and The United States and Canada are poised to potentially. lower the speed of renewables adoption due to their own. political and industrial top priorities.
The viewpoints revealed here are those of the author, a market. expert .
(source: Reuters)