WORLDWIDE : HEADLINES
Walmart joins Microsoft bid for TikTok as CEO of social media app quits
Walmart Inc said it was joining Microsoft in a bid for social media company TikTok’s U.S. assets, revealing its plans hours after the video company’s chief executive said he would step down.
CEO Kevin Mayer, a high-profile former Disney executive, is leaving three months after joining TikTok, in the middle of negotiations to sell the Chinese-owned short-form video app’s U.S. operations to Microsoft Corp or Oracle Corp.
TikTok owner ByteDance aims to enter exclusive talks with a bidder in the next 24 to 48 hours and ink a deal by Sept. 15, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
ByteDance declined to comment.
Full coverage: REUTERS
U.S. labor market recovery slowing; economists urge more fiscal stimulus
WASHINGTON – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits hovered around 1 million last week, suggesting the labor market recovery was stalling as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on and financial aid from the government dries up.
The government also confirmed on Thursday that the economy suffered its sharpest contraction in at least 73 years in the second quarter because of the disruptions from the coronavirus, with corporate profits sinking deeper.
Though new COVID-19 infections have subsided after a broad resurgence through the summer, many hot spots remain, especially at college campuses that have reopened for in-person learning. With the fiscal stimulus ebbing, signs are growing that the economy’s recovery is slowing. Economists still expect a sharp rebound in growth this quarter, but they are dialing back estimates for the fourth quarter.
Full coverage: REUTERS
WORLDWIDE : FINANCE / ECONOMY / STOCK MARKET
Oil drifts down as U.S. producers, refiners avoid worst of storm
MELBOURNE – Oil prices fell on Friday as a massive storm raced inland past the heart of the U.S. oil industry in Louisiana and Texas without causing any widespread damage to refineries.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $42.98 a barrel as of 0202 GMT, adding to overnight losses.
However WTI is on track to rise 1.5% rise this week, for a fourth straight week of gains.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures for October, set to expire on Friday, fell 2 cents to $45.07 a barrel, heading for a weekly gain of 1.6%. The more active November contract LCOc2 rose 1 cent to $45.61.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Dollar buoyed by yields surge jump after Fed’s inflation shift
TOKYO – The dollar held gains against major currencies on Friday, after the Federal Reserve’s aggressive new strategy to lift employment and increased tolerance for higher inflation pushed U.S. bond yields up.
The dollar’s index rose against six major currencies =USD and was last trading at 93.061, turning around a sharp decline seen on Thursday.
Speaking at the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium, which was held virtually this year, Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will seek to achieve 2% inflation on average, so that periods of super-low inflation would likely be followed by an effort to lift inflation “moderately above 2% for some time,” and to ensure economic recovery and job creation.
Following Powell’s comments, the dollar initially fell sharply against the yen and the euro, but reversed as longer-term U.S. Treasury yields bounced back to their highest levels in months.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Asian stocks may be choppy despite U.S. Fed inflation shift, COVID outlook
WASHINGTON – Asian equities are likely to have a bumpy ride on Friday after U.S. stocks scaled new peaks for a third straight day and bond yields surged on the Federal Reserve’s average-inflation strategy, as well as a promising development in curbing the coronavirus pandemic.
Markets swirled after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell laid out a policy that aims for 2% inflation on average so that too low a pace would be followed by an effort to lift inflation “moderately above 2% for some time.
As investors tried to digest its ramifications, gold rose, and then fell. Yields gained on longer-dated government bonds fell, and then rose.
The dollar rebounded after an initial drop and gold prices flipped in choppy trade, retreating from early gains on Powell’s comments, which investors had widely expected.
Full coverage: REUTERS
S&P, Dow close higher on new Fed inflation stance, COVID test hopes
NEW YORK – The S&P 500 and the Dow advanced but the Nasdaq closed lower on Thursday as investors digested the U.S. Federal Reserve’s new strategy to adopt an average inflation target and restore the United States to full employment, as well as a promising development in the fight to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The Fed’s new strategy sent Treasury yields higher, which gave a lift to interest rate-sensitive financials.
“The steepening of the yield curve is a welcome addition, particularly on a day where the market is rising,” said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts.
The financial sector provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Dow, pushing the former to its fifth straight record closing high and the latter within a hair’s breadth of reclaiming positive territory for the year so far.
Full coverage: REUTERS
