Democrats are calling for harsh new punishments on companies that outsource jobs and a crackdown on currency manipulation, embracing a more populist economic agenda as they seek to win back control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is slated to announce the plan Wednesday morning with […]
Read moreBoth homeowners and homebuyers are taking a step back from the mortgage market, as stagnant interest rates give them no particular reason to act quickly. Total mortgage application volume fell 2.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Volume was 22 percent lower […]
Read moreStandard Chartered reported its underlying pretax profit for the six months to end-June rose 93 percent to $1.8 billion, as the bank’s revenues continued to stabilize following two years of hefty restructuring and losses. The bank reported underlying loan impairments of $583 million for the first half, down from $1.1 billion in the same period […]
Read morePrince Philip, the 96-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, will make his final solo appearance at an official engagement on Wednesday before he retires from active public life. Philip will attend a parade of Royal Marines at Buckingham Palace after more than 22,000 solo appearances over the last 65 years. He is the Captain General […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
NASA is looking for someone to protect Earth from aliens – and the job pays a six-figure salary
Ever fancied yourself as a bit of a hero? How about the protector of mankind? Well now NASA is looking for just that – and it’ll pay a six-figure salary for the honor. The U.S. space agency is currently in search not of life on other planets but of a “Planetary Protection Officer”, who can […]
Read moreGlobal miner Rio Tinto on Wednesday reported its first-half profit more than doubled from a year earlier following a rebound in iron ore prices and announced an additional $1 billion share buyback. Underlying earnings for the six months to June 30 rose to $3.94 billion from $1.56 billion a year earlier, missing Thomson Reuters analysts’ […]
Read moreCommerzbank swung to a net loss in the second quarter amid weak markets and after booking job-related restructuring charges of about 807 million euros. The 637 million euro net loss at Germany’s second-largest lender after Deutsche Bank was greater than analysts’ expectations for a loss of 584 million euros, according to a Reuters poll of […]
Read moreContinued pain at Societe Generale‘s domestic retail division and a decline in the profitability of its global banking arm during the second quarter was partially mitigated by strong growth in the French lender’s overseas retail banking operations. Here are the highlights from the earnings release: Net income down to 1.06 billion euros ($1.25 billion), slumping […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Brexit backers think leaving EU worth 'significant damage' to economy, poll finds
Voters who supported the United Kingdom‘s exit from the European Union seem adamant that they made the right decision last year. A recent YouGov poll found that 61 percent of people who voted to leave the EU said Brexit would be worth “significant damage to the British economy.” The poll comes as Prime Minister Theresa […]
Read moreTHE airlines are not doing it. Congress could not either. Nor could a petition with tens of thousands of signatures. The Federal Aviation Administration declined to do it, too. But now, a federal judge may finally do what the others failed to, or would not: stop seat rows on aeroplanes inching closer and closer together. […]
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