British Prime Minister Theresa May’s position in the Conservative party would be “difficult” if she agreed in Brexit negotiations to anything that resembled a customs union with the European Union (EU), a former U.K. trade minister said Wednesday. Francis Maude, senior adviser at Covington and once a Tory lawmaker, said that a customs union with […]
Read moreAmazon has made a formal offer to buy a majority stake in Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, CNBC affiliate CNBC TV-18 reported Wednesday, citing sources. The U.S. e-commerce giant has offered to purchase a 60 percent stake in Flipkart. As part of the proposal, Amazon is seeking a non-compete agreement from Flipkart’s founders, TV-18 said. Amazon’s […]
Read moreXerox said its CEO and most of its board will step down to settle a suit by activist shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, handing over to new management which will reconsider a contentious deal with Fujifilm. The move is a triumph for Icahn and Deason, who together hold 15 percent of Xerox. They had […]
Read moreSaudi Arabia’s economy is unfazed by geopolitical turmoil in the region, its finance minister said Wednesday when asked about intensifying conflicts with its neighbors. “There has been a lot of turbulence around the world. If the economy is going be crippled just because a terrorist group is in access of one or two hundred missiles, […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Standard Chartered is still under US supervision after Iran scandal, finance chief says
Standard Chartered remains under U.S. supervision six years after accusations that the lender had breached Iran sanctions. The New York State Department said the British bank hid $250 billion worth of transactions with the Iranian government for nearly 10 years. Following an agreement in 2012, it has been under the care of an independent monitor […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Drugmaker Novo Nordisk beats first-quarter profit expectations, nudges up 2018 outlook
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, the world’s biggest maker of diabetes drugs, reported first-quarter operating profit above expectations on Wednesday and raised the lower end of its 2018 sales and profit forecast. Operating profit fell 8 percent to 12.4 billion Danish crowns ($2.00 billion) in the January to March quarter compared with a year ago, hit by […]
Read moreHeightened geopolitical tensions remain a risk for Saudi Arabia even though there is a low probability of revenues getting hit, a Fitch Ratings expert said Wednesday. “Clearly the escalation of tensions with Iran is a big issue, no question about it,” Jan Friederich, head of Middle East and Africa sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings, told […]
Read morePeppa Pig — the anthropomorphic pink pig from the eponymous British animated series — is the latest cultural product that’s been given the axe on a Chinese platform. Some 30,000 video clips featuring the children’s cartoon character have disappeared from social media platform Douyin, according to Chinese state-owned tabloid Global Times. The videos had previously […]
Read moreThe U.S. dollar has gained strength in recent weeks, but that may change in the second half of the year, according to a portfolio manager from Conning Asia Pacific. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, climbed 3.43 percent in the last two weeks as U.S. economic data has been better […]
Read moreEuropean markets are expected to open higher Wednesday as investors keep their focus on earnings and monitor an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting. The FTSE 100 is seen up by 23 points at 7,541; the DAX is set to start higher by 50 points at 12,577; and the CAC 40 in Paris is seen up by […]
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