Tesla wins China security clearance

Tesla received a key security clearance from China during owner Elon Musk's whistlestop visit to the world's biggest electric car market, which wrapped up on Monday.

The tech billionaire arrived on Sunday for his second trip to China in less than a year, meeting top officials including Premier Li Qiang as he worked to boost his electric car company's fortunes in the face of intense competition from local challengers such as BYD.

On the same day, Tesla's locally produced models were listed among the EVs that meet China's data security requirements for smart cars, clearing a key regulatory hurdle.

Musk boarded his private jet at Beijing Capital Airport just before 1:00 pm (0500 GMT), with a Chinese flight tracking app saying it was bound for Anchorage, Alaska.

Despite the growing market share of domestic automakers, Teslas remain among the best-selling EVs in China.

The firm has been working to boost sales through its "Full Self Driving" (FSD) features, which need to be compliant with strict data and privacy laws.

It appeared to inch closer to that approval by teaming up with Chinese tech titan Baidu for maps and navigation, Bloomberg reported Monday.

These advanced assisted driving features do not make its cars fully autonomous, and Tesla says its autopilot and FSD capabilities are meant to be used under driver supervision.

It sells FSD to Tesla owners for $8,000 in the United States, or for a $99 monthly subscription.

Tesla did not immediately respond to AFP queries about FSD in China and the reported partnership with Baidu.

Earlier this month, in response to a question on his social media platform X, Musk said FSD availability in China "may be possible very soon".

That report came a day after the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y were compliant with data security laws.

CAAM, which tested vehicles with a national computer security regulator, said in a statement that the approved models satisfied rules on the collection and processing of personal data, including the recordings of faces outside the car.

- FSD 'no guarantee' -

FSD could help Tesla cars stand out in a Chinese market awash with models that offer customers a wide variety of connected and smart features, analysts said.

Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y "have become uncompetitive", said Tu Le, the founder and managing director of Sino Auto Insights.

"There's still no guarantee of additional sales but without FSD, Tesla has nothing new to offer consumers who are now used to seeing refreshes on EVs every 6-9 months."

In a note on Monday, Wedbush Securities analysts said the "long term valuation story at Tesla hinges on FSD and autonomous".

"If Musk is able to obtain approval from Beijing to transfer data collected in China abroad this would be pivotal around the acceleration of training its algorithms for its autonomous technology globally," they added.

Tesla's stock was up more than 10 percent during morning trading in New York on Monday.

However, the cost of FSD on top of Tesla cars' retail price may prove to be a hurdle for Chinese consumers.

"Tesla's FSD is not free... There doesn't seem to be much willingness among current Chinese Tesla owners to pay for and use it," Zhong Shi, an analyst with the China Automobile Dealers Association, told AFP.

"Many Chinese car companies offer similar features for free or at discounted prices, so users are willing to try it because it doesn't add to their financial burden."

China has led the electric car revolution.

"Based on today's policy settings, almost 1 in 3 cars on the roads in China by 2030 is set to be electric," the International Energy Agency said last week in its annual Global EV Outlook.

Musk and Tesla's China efforts reflect the importance of this hugely lucrative market for foreign automakers.

Two Japanese car giants last week said they would team up with Chinese tech firms to enhance their artificial intelligence capabilities.

Toyota said it would join hands with gaming giant Tencent on AI to try and capitalise on Chinese consumers' growing appetite for advanced smart features in the cars it sells in China.

Like other foreign manufacturers, Toyota has struggled to keep up in the ultra-competitive Chinese market, especially as it shifts to electric.

Toyota competitor Nissan also said it would work with Baidu in the same field, cooperating on AI research and to use the Chinese search engine giant's AI tech in cars for the local market.

Agence France-Presse

Vietnam court jails soft drinks tycoon in $40 million scam case

Vietnam's top soft drinks tycoon was jailed for eight years on Thursday in a $40 million fraud case -- the latest high-profile business figure snared in the country's sweeping crackdown on corruption.

The communist nation's wide-ranging campaign to wipe out endemic graft has seen more than 4,400 people charged with criminal offences, including officials and senior business figures.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City found Tran Qui Thanh and his two daughters guilty of scamming investors over loans issued in 2019 and 2020.

Thanh, the 71-year-old chairman of beverage group Tan Hiep Phat, was ruled to have masterminded scams to appropriate assets put up as collateral against loans, state media reported.

Even when the borrowers paid back the money with interest, Thanh would refuse to give back the assets on various pretexts, including claiming they had forfeited their repurchase rights due to contract breaches.

The court sentenced Thanh's 43-year-old daughter Tran Uyen Phuong, the company's deputy CEO, to four years in jail.

Younger daughter Tran Ngoc Bich, 40, was given a suspended three-year jail sentence.

Tan Hiep Phat is one of Vietnam's biggest beverage companies, known for its range of bottled tea and energy drinks.

In his final words before court, Thanh said he regretted what happened and was ready to take responsibility.

"I would like to be given leniency, handing me the chance to come back to society soon for my continued work and devotion," Thanh was quoted as saying.

Some of Vietnam's most successful business leaders have been snared in the graft purge.

In one of the biggest fraud cases in history, property tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death earlier this month for masterminding a swindle that has caused losses estimated at $27 billion.

Facing justice with Lan were 85 others, including senior banking officials, being sentenced on charges ranging from bribery and power abuse to appropriation and violations of banking law.

In March, a Hanoi court gave luxury property tycoon Do Anh Dung eight years in prison for cheating thousands of investors in a $355 million bond scam.

State media reported that Dung and his son, who was jailed for three years, have already repaid the $355 million.

Vietnam tycoon sentenced to death in $12.5-B fraud case

Agence France-Presse

Big E3 videogame expo calls it quits

The main organizer of E3, a long-running videogame trade show, on Tuesday said the event will no longer take place, ending a 20-year run.

"After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the US and global video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3," said Stanley Pierre-Louis, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association.

"ESA’s focus and priority remain advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce who fuel positive cultural and economic impact every day," he added.

The Washington-based ESA had sponsored the big gathering annually since 1995, usually in Los Angeles, but canceled the event in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and held a virtual version in 2021.

At its height, the show was a major launchpad for new releases from the biggest video gaming players.

According to the Washington Post, the Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles were each showcased at a 2005 show, for example.

More recently, major gaming players announce their own digital gatherings and gaming titans such as Xbox, Nintendo and Sony had declined to attend last year's attempt to revive the event.

Agence France-Presse

US stocks mostly up as holiday shopping season begins

NEW YORK -- Wall Street stocks mostly climbed to end a shortened trading day on Friday, with investors keeping close watch on consumer spending at the unofficial start of the year-end shopping season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent to 35,390.15.

The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent to 4,559.34, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index ticked down 0.1 percent to 14,250.85.

Markets closed early on "Black Friday," the Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday when retailers often offer major discounts.

The annual sales day, which is followed by the newer "Cyber Monday," marks the start of the holiday shopping season.

"Today's lack of movement can be ascribed to a general lack of trading interest befitting the day after Thanksgiving," said Briefing.com in a note.

Consumers are expected to be increasingly price-conscious this year, still jaded by stubborn inflation and lingering effects from the upheaval of the pandemic.

But "how that ends up impacting retailers' profits remains to be seen" for now, Briefing.com added.

Among major retailers, Walmart shares advanced 0.7 percent while Target was up 0.5 percent.

Amazon shares were flat after it was hit by strikes in Europe, as workers demand better wages and working conditions.

UNI Global Union warned Amazon would face strikes and protests in more than 30 countries around the world, including the United States.

Agence France-Presse

Source: Facebook, Instagram to charge EU users for ad-free service

WASHINGTON, United States - Meta is proposing to offer European users a subscription-based version of Instagram and Facebook if they would rather not be tracked for ads, a source said on Tuesday.

The idea, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes as the social media giant seeks to comply with a growing list of EU regulations designed to curb the power of US big tech.

The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg makes its billions of dollars in profit by offering advertisers highly individualized data on users, but new European regulations and EU court decisions have made that harder.

The proposal has been put to EU regulators and is another example of big tech companies having to adapt long-held practices to meet oncoming EU rules.

The source close to the matter said subscribers in Europe could pay 10 euros ($10.50) a month for a desktop version of Instagram or Facebook, or 13 euros a month for Instagram on their phones.

Social media platforms have increasingly floated the idea of charging users for access to their sites, whether to comply with data privacy regulations or better guarantee the identity of users.

But the practice would be a major shift for the social media industry that grew exponentially over the past decade on an advertising model that made the site free for users in return for being tracked and ads seen highly personalized.

The proposal could help meet several regulations including the Digital Markets Act that imposes a list of do's and don'ts on big tech companies in Europe, including a ban on tracking users when they surf other sites if their consent hasn't been clearly granted.

It also follows the recommendation of the EU's highest court, which in a July decision said that Meta platform users who declined to be tracked should be offered an ad free alternative "for an appropriate fee."

That ruling echoed many previous rulings against Meta and other big tech firms in which the court ruled that the US company must ask for permission to collect large amounts of personal data, striking down various workarounds that Meta had offered.

Meta declined to comment directly on the Wall Street Journal report, but said in a statement that it still "believes in the value of free services which are supported by personalized ads."

"However, we continue to explore options to ensure we comply with evolving regulatory requirements."

Meta reported second-quarter revenues of $32 billion, of which $31.5 billion came from advertising. Some $7.2bn of that came from Europe.

Agence France-Presse

Fraud trial of disgraced crypto star Sam Bankman-Fried begins

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of one of the cryptocurrency industry's biggest exchanges, begins on Tuesday to determine whether he committed massive fraud against more than a million clients.

The 31-year-old -- once one of the most respected figures in crypto -- now faces decades in prison and could see his name alongside Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes as one of the era's most prominent fraudsters.

The first day of the trial will be devoted to jury selection for a case that is set to last about six weeks.

In just a few years, the curly-haired Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate turned his FTX platform into the world's second biggest crypto exchange, making him the tech world's latest billionaire wunderkind feted from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

FTX had become a near-household name through a frenzied marketing campaign that included celebrity partnerships with stars such as supermodel Gisele Bundchen and basketball star Stephen Curry, and buying the naming rights for the Miami Heat's home arena.

Bankman-Fried also stepped in as a kind of savior of the industry when other crypto companies started facing difficulties, with FTX swooping in to offer them a financial lifeline.

At the height of his career, Bankman-Fried was thought to be worth $26 billion.

But his steep rise was only matched by his ignominious downfall, which saw him escorted last year by police from his luxury apartment in the Bahamas and extradited to face charges in the United States.

His empire began to crumble last November when a news report pointed to unhealthy ties between the FTX platform and Alameda Research, the company's crypto-focused investment arm.

The revelations kept growing and major investors pulled their money out of FTX, sinking it swiftly into bankruptcy and casting Bankman-Fried as a financial pariah.

Once the dust had settled, some $8.7 billion was still unaccounted for, according to the receiver appointed to manage the liquidation.

Federal prosecutor Damian Williams has accused Bankman-Fried and his associates of systematically diverting funds from FTX clients to prop up Alameda Research, but also wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud, and money laundering.

Danielle Sassoon, an assistant US attorney in Williams' office, told a hearing that the number of victims of Bankman-Fried's alleged actions could be "in excess of a million."

- Pointing fingers -

SBF -- as Bankman-Fried is known -- was extradited at the end of December from the Bahamas, where FTX was headquartered, and released on a $250 million bail upon his arrival in New York.

Pending the trial, Bankman-Fried was placed under house arrest at the Silicon Valley home of his parents, both professors at Stanford University.

But US District Judge Lewis Kaplan rescinded that decision, ordering Bankman-Fried behind bars over alleged attempts at witness intimidation.

According to prosecutors, while holed up at his parents' home, Bankman-Fried spoke regularly to journalists and passed documents to The New York Times in an effort to alter the testimony of Caroline Ellison, his ex-girlfriend and a former Alameda executive.

Ellison has also been indicted in the case: she and three other former executives have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with US authorities, which may prove Bankman-Fried's undoing in front of the jury.

His former colleagues are expected to take the stand in the courtroom -- where Bankman-Fried will likely admit egregious management errors but no wrongdoing, and point the finger at Ellison.

"I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone. I was shocked by what happened this month," a contrite Bankman-Fried told an interviewer days after his company's collapse.

Agence France-Presse

Amazon empowers Alexa with generative AI

ARLINGTON, United States — Amazon’s popular Alexa digital assistant is about to be supercharged with the powers of generative artificial intelligence, the company said on Wednesday, as the tech giant steps into the AI race dominated by ChatGPT, Google and Microsoft.

Voice assistants like Alexa or Apple's Siri are often designated as perfect candidates to have their sometimes-glitchy and robot-like technology streamlined with capabilities of generative AI.

Generative AI, such as used in the ChatGPT chatbot, delivers content as complex as a poem or scholarly essay in just seconds, and Amazon's goal is that Alexa could do that and even more with verbal commands from a user's living room or kitchen.

At an event at the company's offices near Washington, the company said that an English-language version of Alexa AI would be made available as an opt-in on all its devices in the United States in the coming months.

"It's going to take some time to integrate these technologies into the surface area that is Alexa. But I am super optimistic that we are off to a wonderful an excellent start," said Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services.

With the change, Alexa will be able to converse with a more personable style and drop its robotic tone, the company said.

Alexa would also tap into real-time information and create the semblance of a personal rapport with users that would include an awareness of their habits or favorite sports teams.

"For example, you could say 'Alexa every morning at 8 am turn on the coffee machine, open the blinds, dim the lights in the study and play my morning news,' and boom -- it creates the routine," Limp said.

While widely plugged as the next stage of consumer technology, in the past decade Alexa and its connected smart home devices have yet to become big money spinners for Amazon, with Google and Apple also struggling to make traction in the space.

Daniel Rausch, the executive in charge of Alexa, told reporters that the AI would put an extra emphasis on accuracy and that its efforts in AI were not comparable with chatbots that have been shown to output inaccuracies or go off the rails.

"Accuracy in smart home means yes, we did turn on the right light, we did lock the right door, we are sure about the state of the security system," he said.

At the launch event, Amazon also introduced its latest Echo 8 smart home hub as well as a soundbar for televisions and new AI-fueled search capabilities on its FireTV service.

Limp, Amazon's longtime device chief, is retiring after more than a decade in the role amid reports he will be replaced by a senior executive from Microsoft.

Agence France-Presse 

TikTok fined $370 million over handling of children’s data in Europe

DUBLIN — TikTok has been fined 345 million euros ($370 million) for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children’s personal data in the European Union, its lead regulator in the bloc said on Friday.

The Chinese-owned short-video platform, which has grown rapidly among teenagers around the world in recent years, breached a number of EU privacy laws between July 31, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said in a statement.

It is the first time ByteDance-owned TikTok has been reprimanded by the DPC, the lead regulator in the European Union for many of the world’s top tech firms due to the location of their regional headquarters in Ireland.

A spokesperson for TikTok said it disagreed with the decision, particularly the size of the fine, and that most of the criticisms are no longer relevant as a result of measures it introduced before the DPC’s probe began in September 2021.

3 months to comply

The DPC said TikTok’s breaches included how in 2020 accounts for users under the age of 16 were set to “public” by default and that TikTok did not verify whether a user was actually a child user’s parent or guardian when linked through the “family pairing” feature.

TikTok added tougher parental controls to family pairing in November 2020 and changed the default setting for all registered users under the age of 16 to “private” in January 2021.

TikTok said on Friday it plans to further update its privacy materials to make the differences between public and private accounts clearer and that a private account will be preselected for new 16 to 17-year-old users when they register for the app from later this month.

The DPC gave TikTok three months to bring all its processing into compliance where infringements were found.

It has a second probe open into the transferring by TikTok of personal data to China and whether it complies with EU data law when moving personal data to countries outside the bloc. In March, the DPC said it was preparing a preliminary draft decision into that investigation.

Two-year inquiry

Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018, the lead regulator for any given company can impose fines of up to 4 percent of the company’s global revenue.

The DPC has hit other tech giants with big fines, including a combined 2.5 billion euros levied on Meta. It had 22 inquiries open into multinationals based in Ireland at the end of 2022.

The fine is the culmination of a two-year inquiry by the Irish watchdog, which plays a key role in policing the bloc’s strict GDPR.The regulator highlighted in its ruling Friday how children signing up had TikTok accounts set to public by default, meaning anyone could view or comment on their content.

It also criticized TikTok’s “family pairing” mode, which is designed to link parents’ accounts to those of their teenage offspring, but the DPC found the company did not verify parent or guardian status.

17M accounts deleted

TikTok is extremely popular among young people, with 150 million users in the United States and 134 million in the European Union.

In response to the fine, TikTok said it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and was “evaluating” how to proceed.

“The DPC’s criticisms are focused on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and that we made changes to well before the investigation even began, such as setting all under 16 accounts to private by default,” a TikTok spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The platform insists that it closely monitors the age of its users and takes action when needed.

TikTok says it deleted almost 17 million accounts worldwide in the first three months of this year due to suspicions that they belonged to people under 13 years old.

Friday’s fine comes after the Europen Union last week unveiled a list of digital giants—including Apple, Facebook owner Meta and ByteDance—that will face tough new curbs on how they do business.

Agence France-Presse

US auto workers' strike: What are the implications?

NEW YORK — Unionized auto workers in the United States have launched a strike at three factories in a historic walkout after failing to reach a deal with Detroit's "Big Three" automakers.

With the automotive sector being a major part of the world's biggest economy, here is a summary of the implications.

Millions of jobs

The automotive ecosystem drives some $1 trillion into the US economy each year, nearly five percent of gross domestic product, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

The group, which represents the auto industry, said in a 2022 report that the sector supports 9.6 million jobs.

In its industry report, the alliance noted that "more than $220 billion in federal and state revenue is generated annually by the manufacture, sale and maintenance of autos."

And the sector is benefiting from the rapid growth of electric carmaker Tesla, which delivered 1.3 million EVs in 2022.

'The Big Three'

General Motors, Ford and Stellantis are dubbed the "Big Three" in US carmakers and have production facilities in the Detroit, Michigan, area.

They operate 60% of the country's assembly plants, according to the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents the three companies.

The United Auto Workers strike involves only 12,700 of 150,000 members represented by the union, but the action could broaden in the coming days.

A major risk in the event of a prolonged strike is "degradation of the supply chain and the financial health of the parts and equipment suppliers," said CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson.

Michael Pearce of Oxford Economics added in a note that "a total walkout would reduce motor vehicle output by over 30%."

Scale of operations

GM employs over 92,000 people in the United States according to its website, and delivered 2.3 million vehicles in the country last year under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands.

In 2022, its revenue rose by 23% to $157 billion, while its net income came in at $9.9 billion.

Ford — founded 120 years ago — hires some 177,000 people including about 86,000 in the United States.

It manufactures the Ford brand including the F-150 pickup truck, which the company calls "America's truck" because it is assembled entirely in the United States and has been the country's most popular vehicle for more than four decades.

Meanwhile US-European auto giant Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep, Chrysler and Peugeot, has 264,000 staff globally.

In 2022, it posted profits of 16.8 billion euros.

Foreign automakers

Apart from US carmakers, international automakers produced 4.4 million vehicles in the United States last year, according to Autos Drive America.

Their production volume has ballooned by over 85% in more than two decades.

And this has brought their share of US production from one percent in 1979 to 45% in 2022.

Among global brands that have plants in America are BMW, Kia, Honda, Lexus, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

In 2022, international automakers directly employed 156,000 US employees.

Agence France-Presse

Apple’s new iPhones get faster chips, better cameras, new charging ports

CUPERTINO, California — Apple on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of iPhones – a line-up that will boast better cameras, faster processors, a new charging system, and a price hike for the fanciest model.

The showcase at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, comes as the company tries to reverse a mild slump that has seen its sales drop from last year in three consecutive quarters. The malaise is a key reason Apple’s stock price has dipped by about 10% since mid-July, dropping the company’s market value below the $3 trillion threshold it reached for the first time earlier this summer.

Investors apparently weren’t impressed with what Apple rolled out Tuesday. The company’s shares fell nearly 2% Tuesday, a steeper decline than the major market indexes.

As has been the case with Apple and other smartphone makers, the four types of iPhone 15 models aren’t making any major leaps in technology. But Apple added enough new bells and whistles to the top-of-the-line model – the iPhone 15 Pro Max – to boost its starting price by $100, or 9%, from last year’s version to $1,200. As part of the higher base price, the cheapest iPhone 15 Pro Max will provide 256 megabytes of storage, up from 128 megabytes for the least expensive version of the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple is holding the line on prices for rest of the line-up, with the basic iPhone 15 selling for $800, the iPhone 15 Plus for $900 and the iPhone 15 Pro for $1,000.

Although maintaining those prices are bound to squeeze Apple’s profit margins and put further pressure on the company’s stock price, Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro believes it’s a prudent move with still-high inflation and spiking interest rates pinching household budgets. “The reality was that Apple found itself in a challenging position leading up to this event,” Monteiro said.

And the price hike for the iPhone 15 Pro Max could help Apple boost sales if consumers continue to gravitate toward the company’s premium models. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives expects the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to account for about 75% of the device’s total sales in the upcoming year.

All the new models will be available in stores September 22, with pre-orders beginning this Friday.

One of the biggest changes that Apple announced is a new way to charge the iPhone 15 models and future generations. The company is switching to the USB-C standard that is already widely used on many devices, including its Mac computers and many of its iPads.

Apple is being forced to phase out the Lightning port cables it rolled out in 2012 because of a mandate that European regulators plan to impose in 2024.

Although consumers often don’t like change, the transition to USB-C ports may not be that inconvenient. That’s because the standard is already widely used on a range of computers, smartphones and other devices people already own. The shift to USB-C may even be a popular move since that standard typically charges devices more quickly and also offers faster data transfer speeds.

The basic iPhone 15 models have been redesigned to include a shape-shifting cutout on the display screen that Apple calls its “Dynamic Island” for app notifications – a look that was introduced with last year’s Pro and Pro Max devices. The basic models are also getting a faster chip used in last year’s Pro and Pro Max models, while the next generation of the premium iPhone 15s will run on an even more advanced processor that will enable the devices to accommodate the same kind of video games that typically require a console.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max also will be equipped with what Apple maintains is the equivalent of seven camera lenses. They will include periscope-style telephoto lens that will improve the quality of photos taken from far distances. The telephoto lens boasts a 5x optical zoom, which lags the 10x optical zoom on Samsung’s premium Galaxy S22 Ultra, but represents an upgrade from the 3x optical zoom on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.

In anticipation of next year’s release of Apple’s mixed reality headset, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will also have a spatial video option designed for viewing on that headset.

Apple is encasing the premium models in titanium that the company says is the same alloy used on some space ships.

Besides its new iPhones, Apple also announced its next generation of smartwatches – a product that made its debut nearly a decade ago. The Series 9 Apple Watch, available in stores September 22, will include a new gesture control that will enable users to control alarms and answer phone calls by double snapping their thumbs with a finger.

- Associated Press -

Stock markets rise as US inflation data, ECB rate loom

NEW YORK -- Global markets rose on Monday at the start of a busy week that includes the release of key US inflation data and a European Central Bank decision on interest rates.

Wall Street pushed higher, with traders already focused on Wednesday's consumer price index (CPI) report, which could determine the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates.

"Today's generally quiet session means that attention is focusing squarely on the US CPI data and ECB decision due this week," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.

"With the risk that both could deliver nasty surprises, risk appetite has been limited," he added.

Investors have worried that the Fed's rate-hike campaign to combat high inflation could tip the world's biggest economy into a severe recession.

But US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday she was optimistic that the economy was on course for a soft landing.

"I am feeling very good about that prediction," she said. "I think you'd have to say we're on a path that looks exactly like that."

She added: "Every measure of inflation is on the road down."

The Paris and Frankfurt stock exchanges closed higher even though the European Commission cut its 2023 growth outlook for the eurozone, from 1.1 percent to 0.8 percent.

The data will give the ECB more food for thought when it meets Thursday to decide whether to continue or pause its own rate hikes.

The commission said the higher borrowing costs had an impact on the eurozone economy.

"The new forecasts won't come as a major surprise and may even prove overly optimistic over time but they do come days ahead of the next ECB meeting and could tempt some policymakers into voting to pause the tightening cycle," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at the OANDA trading platform.

"Weaker economic readings will probably drive a lively debate and they obviously won't suggest, if they do hike, that it's job done," he added.

Elsewhere, London also rose while Tokyo and Hong Kong finished lower.

After a slow start, Asian traders turned more positive through the day and tracked last week's gains on Wall Street, with data showing a pick-up in Chinese inflation lifting sentiment.

Traders took heart from news that China's consumer price index rebounded in August, having contracted the month before.

While the 0.1 percent rise was less than expected, it gave traders some hope that the economy is slowly on the mend after a painful 2023 so far.

On currency markets, the yen picked up after sinking last week to a 10-month low against the dollar, with support coming from comments seen as hawkish by Bank of Japan boss Kazuo Ueda.

He told the Yomiuri newspaper that policymakers would have a better idea later in the year about wage rises, a key data point for rate decisions.

The yen has tumbled around 10 percent owing to the BoJ's refusal to move away from its ultra-loose monetary policy while the Fed pushed borrowing costs to a two-decade high.

The yuan also bounced back from a 16-year low against the dollar after the People's Bank of China said it would crack down on speculation that distorts the value of the currency after months of volatility.

In energy markets, gas prices rallied as strikes continued at Chevron plants in Australia.

Agence France-Presse

European stocks dip, oil prices rise

LONDON — European stocks slid Monday as a positive lead from Asia on Chinese stimulus measures petered out, while oil prices continued their march higher.

Equities trading in the United States was closed for a public holiday.

"European markets have struggled for gains today in the absence of the US, as the initial boost of a China stimulus inspired rally from Asia markets has started to fade, even though basic resources have outperformed," said market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.

Data showing a jump in new home sales in China brightened sentiment in Asian trading as a sign that recent government measures to boost the struggling property sector were helping.

Investors are hoping for still more measures to stimulate the world's second largest economy after a number of announcements last week, including reducing mortgage down payments and tax incentives.

"While these individual easing measures may not appear substantial, their collective implementation clearly signals policymakers' intentions to stabilize the property market, spur economic growth, and boost overall sentiment," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes.

"Further targeted measures are anticipated to be incrementally introduced until policymakers are content with the achieved results."

However, observers say that traders are yearning for the government to unveil a big-bang stimulus similar to the $550 billion seen in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

News that battered developer Country Garden had won approval from creditors to extend a deadline for a key bond repayment, narrowly avoiding a potential default, provided some much-needed relief from worries over China's property sector.

Meanwhile, oil prices pushed to or near to their highest levels this year on the prospect that Saudi Arabia and Russia will extend their production caps.

"The continued risk of a tighter market is helping to drive markets higher, raising the prospect that if Chinese demand does pick up in the second half of the year, prices could jump through $90 a barrel thus posing further upside risk to sticky inflation," said Hewson.

The main international contract, Brent crude, briefly hit $89 per barrel.

"That there is still plenty of momentum so close to $90 a barrel may suggest we could see a strong push to break above which would represent a big shift in the market dynamic in quite a short period of time," said Craig Erlam at OANDA trading platform.

Agence France-Presse

Global stocks finish mixed to cap lackluster August

NEW YORK -- Global indexes mostly dipped on Thursday, capping off a lackluster month of growth for markets around the world.

European stocks mostly slipped, as did major Asian markets with the exception of Japan's Nikkei 225 index, which rose on renewed confidence in manufacturing stocks after auto giant Toyota posted strong earnings results.

Wall Street stumbled to end Thursday's session, with the Dow and S&P 500 both falling as traders digested the latest inflation numbers and looked ahead to jobs data that could prove crucial to future interest rate decisions.

A small rally on Thursday failed to save the Nasdaq from seeing its worst month of the year, while the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 also saw a disappointing month overall.

Both the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have adopted a more data-dependent approach on whether to increase interest rates further.

That made the latest inflation data all the more important ahead of the next monetary policy meetings due in September.

The Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, rose to a 3.3 percent annual increase in July, up from 3.0 percent in June.

Thursday's data was "probably widely viewed as just fine," Craig Erlam of the OANDA trading platform told AFP.

"It's good enough for now but there's still a lot of improvement needed over the coming months," he added, before the Fed can begin relaxing monetary policy.

Sticky inflation

Across the Atlantic, stocks in Frankfurt rose while those in Paris fell after data showed the annual rate of inflation in the eurozone remained unchanged in August at 5.3 percent. This came as a smaller drop in energy prices balanced out a rise in food and drinks costs.

Analysts said the data increased the chance of the European Central Bank deciding against a further interest rate hike next month. That in turn weighed on the euro.

"With unemployment starting to show signs of increasing across the bloc, markets are starting to price an increased probability of a pause in the ECB's rate hiking cycle when the governing council next meets on September 14th," said analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.

In Asia, China revealed that factory activity shrank again this month while services weakened, which will likely pile further pressure on authorities to press ahead with measures to kickstart the sputtering economy.

Officials have announced a series of pledges to help various sectors -- particularly the property industry -- and there is an expectation that more is on the way.

In the latest measure, local reports Thursday said the central bank is drawing up policies that will make it easier for private firms, including developers, to access funding.

But analysts say more wide-ranging government spending will be required to appease nervous investors.

Fresh data showing the country's manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth straight month in August only added to the arguments for more help.

On the corporate front, shares in UBS jumped six percent after the bank giant said it would fully absorb the Swiss unit of its recently-swallowed rival Credit Suisse.

Agence France-Presse

Global stock markets mixed as rally fades

NEW YORK -- Stock markets diverged Wednesday as a global rally faded, despite more data that soothed fears of a further rise in US interest rates.

Wall Street closed higher as private sector hiring data came in softer than expected, while second quarter GDP growth was revised down to 2.1 percent on an annual measure.

The latest figures and other weaker numbers revealed on Tuesday "appear to be adding weight" to the idea of a pause in rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve next month, said CMC Markets UK analyst Michael Hewson.

This adds to "further downward pressure on yields," he said. Lower yields on bonds tend to boost stocks as they signify lower borrowing costs for companies.

Fed chief Jerome Powell said last week the US central bank stands ready to hike interest rates further, having already pushed them to a 22-year high to tame prices, if data shows the US economy continues to grow strongly and price pressures persist.

But the Fed's data-dependent approach is also seen as keeping the possibility open that interest rates may not go any higher if the world's largest economy cools.

That set off strong gains at the beginning of the week, particularly after Tuesday's report on US job openings, which was softer than anticipated. Analysts said it would give monetary policymakers room to hold off on lifting borrowing costs again.

"Signs of America's cooling economy have raised hopes that the pause button will be pushed on punishing interest rate hikes," noted Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

But with stocks having posted solid gains in recent days, the rally may be running out of steam.

"We suspect traders might be showing some hesitation, thinking that this heady action can't persist or, at least, opting to wait and see if it does," said analyst Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

On Wednesday, the Dow closed 0.1 percent higher while the S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent.

Investors may also be showing caution as more data is due later this week, including the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation -- the personal consumption expenditures price index -- as well as US government payrolls data.

"Today's data was never likely to be overly impactful with tomorrow's inflation, income, and spending figures, prior to Friday's payrolls, always the primary focus," said analyst Craig Erlam of OANDA.

"That could well set the tone for September ahead of some major central bank meetings," he added in a note.

In Europe, London stocks rose while Frankfurt and Paris fell. Tokyo closed higher, but Shanghai and Hong Kong flattened.

Focus was also on China after a report said its biggest state-backed banks would slash rates on mortgages and deposits as part of a drive to support the country's beleaguered property sector.

And after Asian markets closed, China's embattled real estate giant Country Garden reported losses of approximately $6.7 billion for the first half of this year while warning of possible default.

The company's cash flow problems have ignited fears that it could collapse and spread turbulence through China's economy and financial system.

Agence France-Presse

Global dividends hit record $568 bn in second quarter

PARIS, France -- Dividends paid by the world's biggest listed companies soared to a record $568.1 billion in the second quarter, with payouts to shareholders expected to grow further despite economic uncertainty, a study showed Wednesday.

Payments by the 1,200 biggest public companies rose more than expected, increasing by 4.9 percent compared to the same April-to-June period last year, according to the report by asset management firm Janus Henderson.

Banks accounted for half of the world's dividend growth as their margins were boosted by interest rate hikes, the report said.

Automakers represented one-seventh of the increase.

Firms in Europe, excluding Britain, led the pack with payouts rising by 9.7 percent to $184.5 billion. North American companies paid out $165.3 billion, a 4.2 percent increase.

Swiss food giant Nestle was the world's biggest dividend payer, followed by British bank HSBC and German automaker Mercedes-Benz.

Ben Lofthouse, head of global equity income at Janus Henderson, said global economic growth is "moderating" as interest rates increase.

"Markets now expect global profits to be flat this year, after soaring to record highs in 2022, and when we speak to companies around the world, they are now more cautious about the outlook," Lofthouse said.

Central banks have hiked rates as they battle high inflation. Lenders have responded by increasing their own rates, boosting their profits.

While a weaker economy is usually bad for banks, their rising margins are driving dividend payouts, Lofthouse said.

However, he added, "we do expect dividend growth to continue."

Agence France-Presse

Stocks advance on fall in bond yields as Nvidia optimism boosts Nasdaq

NEW YORK -- Global stocks mostly rose Wednesday following lackluster economic reports that mitigated worries about further central bank tightening.

The tech-rich Nasdaq enjoyed outsized gains in anticipation of earnings from artificial intelligence player Nvidia.

Analysts said stocks were supported by a drop in yields of the 10-year US Treasury note, which had hit multi-year peaks in recent sessions.

The retreat in yields followed meager purchase managing index data from the United States and Europe, suggesting a slowing economy.

The drop in yields "created a little bit of an opportunity to buy on some of the weakness," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

All three major US indices climbed, with the Nasdaq jumping 1.6 percent.

European markets closed higher following data showing Britain's economic activity contracting for the first time in six months while the downturn in the eurozone deepened.

Sentiment has taken a hit in recent weeks owing to a spike in US Treasury yields to around 15-year highs, fueled by expectations that a strong economy will force the Federal Reserve to stick to its campaign of monetary tightening.

That has forced investors to push back their expectations as to when borrowing costs will eventually come down -- just a few months ago, they were betting on a cut by the end of the year.

All eyes are on a planned speech Friday by Fed chief Jerome Powell, with dealers hoping for some clarity on its plans to keep inflation on a downward path and confirmation of the central bank's two percent target.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell as the data showing weak economic activity doesn't bode well for demand.

"Today’s disappointing economic numbers on both sides of the Atlantic have cut the rug out from underneath crude oil prices, falling to one-month lows, and down over four percent from their peaks of earlier this month," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK.

Nvidia

Tech shares were also buoyed by hopes that a strong Nvidia report would "get the market back on track," said O'Hare.

The firm's shares have rocketed this year, helping boost many other tech firms, even as traders fret over the impact of higher borrowing costs on their bottom lines.

In results released after Wednesday's closing bell, Nvidia crushed expectations.

The Silicon Valley-based chip company said sales doubled year-on-year to $13.5 billion in the latest completed quarter, leaving a net profit of $6.2 billion -- an eye-watering 843 percent higher than a year before.

Signaling that the boom in AI is still going strong, Nvidia said revenue in its current quarter would ramp up further to $16 billion.

Shares of Nvidia surged more than eight percent in after-hours trading.

Agence France-Presse

US stocks mostly fall as tech rally peters out

NEW YORK -- A rally in tech shares ran out of steam Tuesday, as US stocks mostly retreated amid worries over higher Treasury bond yields that offset investor appetite to keep buying equities.

European and Asian stocks pushed higher, following up on Monday's session in New York, which saw the tech-focused Nasdaq surge.

The Nasdaq eked out a 0.1 percent gain on Tuesday, but both the Dow and S&P 500 retreated.

"Today it's a sober mindset," said Interactive Brokers strategist Steve Sosnick.

He added that Monday's rally in tech shares was probably "overenthusiastic" in light of rising bond yields.

Stocks have been under pressure in August, most recently due to a spike in Treasury bond yields to multi-year peaks, on expectations that interest rates will stay higher for longer.

Markets are looking ahead to an address on Friday by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for clues on future monetary policy.

Powell "likely will continue to emphasize the Fed's laser-focus on taming inflation, even with the central bank's benchmark funds rate already at the highest level in 22 years," said a note from Charles Schwab.

There is also still unease among traders about the Chinese economy, with another small cut in interest rates doing little to allay fears of a painful slowdown.

While authorities have pledged a series of measures to get the post-Covid recovery back on track, there has been little detail and they are facing growing calls to unveil more wide-ranging stimulus.

Adding to the problems are fears about the country's property sector. A number of major developers, including Country Garden and Evergrande, are on the ropes with vast debts and struggling to meet interest obligations.

"Policy easing announcements intended to invigorate market confidence have fallen short of their desired impact," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes.

Agence France-Presse

Norway's wealth fund earns 131 billion euros in first half

OSLO, Norway - Oil producer Norway's sovereign wealth fund earned 131 billion euros in the first half of the year, the country's central bank said on Tuesday.

The performance, lifted by the financial markets, represented a return of 10 percent and helped boost the fund's value to 15,299 billion kroner (1,332 billion euros) at the end of June.

In six months, the fund has almost wiped out the huge 1,637 billion kroner loss incurred last year as a result of the war in Ukraine and the global economic downturn.

Norway's wealth fund is the world's biggest, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, just ahead of two Chinese funds.

Fuelled by revenues from Norway's state-owned oil and gas companies, the fund is aimed at financing future spending in the generous welfare state.

Since the start of the year, the vast fund has also benefited from the weakening of the krone, which has increased the value of assets held in dollars, euros and other foreign currencies.

In total, the fund's value increased by 2,870 billion kroner over the first six months of the year.

Norges Bank had been set to publish the half-year results on Wednesday, but they were mistakenly sent to the media late Tuesday.

Agence France-Presse

WeWork warns it might go out of business

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Embattled office-sharing firm WeWork on Tuesday warned US regulators that it is worried about its survival.

Citing financial losses, cash needs, and a drop in memberships, WeWork said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that "substantial doubt exists about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

The fate of the New York-based company depends on the "successful execution of management's plan to improve the company's liquidity and profitability," it said in the filing.

WeWork's plan for the year ahead includes restructuring, negotiating more favorable terms on leases, beefing up membership and possibly even issuing debt or selling off assets, the SEC filing said.

WeWork has lost billions of dollars during the first six months of this year, with macroeconomic conditions weakening demand for its shared office spaces, the company told regulators.

WeWork's share price has been below a dollar for months and fell to 16 cents in after-market trading on Tuesday.

WeWork has been trying to turn the page on Adam Neumann, its co-founder and former leader whose antics tired investors.

The company has been in trouble since Neumann's forced departure in late 2019 following WeWork's failed IPO, in which the company's valuation fell from $47 billion to less than $10 billion.

WeWork had been a celebrated star in the sharing economy that put a mammoth footprint in the commercial real estate of major cities around the globe.

Its collapse led to Neumann's departure and cost the main shareholder, Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, billions of dollars.

Agence France-Presse

Global stock markets slump after US ratings downgrade

NEW YORK — Global stock markets slumped Wednesday after Fitch stripped the United States of its top credit rating, citing a growing federal debt burden and an "erosion of governance."

Fitch's decision Tuesday night to downgrade the United States from AAA to AA+ sparked a fiery rebuttal from the Biden administration.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen characterized Fitch's move as "entirely unwarranted," calling it "puzzling in light of the economic strength we see in the United States."

Wall Street's main indices moved lower, with the S&P 500 finishing down 1.4 percent.

Europe's main markets closed with losses of more than one percent.

"Market participants were already contending with the nagging notion that the stock market was overbought on a short-term basis and due for a pullback," said market analyst Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

"It didn't necessarily need another excuse to continue with a consolidation trade, yet Fitch Ratings provided one after Tuesday's close when it downgraded its US credit rating to AA+ from AAA."

Ratings downgrades often mean it becomes more expensive for a government to borrow, but the status of US government bonds, or Treasuries, as a highly liquid safe-haven asset actually saw their yield dip immediately after the announcement.

The yield on 10-year bonds later rose in trading on Wednesday, which traders said was more due to expectations of higher volumes of US borrowing than the Fitch downgrade.

DOWNGRADE 'CHANGES LITTLE' 

Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said the downgrade will be "unlikely" to "cause a significant Treasuries sell-off or prompt a major shift in investor behavior mainly because investors experienced a similar downgrade from S&P in 2011 and came away unscathed."

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, agreed the impact would be minimal.

"The loss of the AAA rating is damaging from a political point of view, but it changes little in the wider scheme of things when it comes to the investability of the US relative to its peers," he said.

"It’s not as if China, or any other country in Europe is any safer when it comes to investability, as well as political stability."

The downgrade follows a long, drawn-out row between Republicans and Democrats earlier this year over raising the US borrowing ceiling, which had fueled fears of a devastating default by the world's top economy.

While a deal was eventually struck, the saga rattled markets and reinforced the sense of long-running deadlock on Capitol Hill that has seen the gears of government jammed up.

In an interview with CNBC, Fitch Ratings senior director Richard Francis pointed to a "pretty steady deterioration in governance over the last couple of decades" in the United States.

Among the elements he highlighted was January 6, referring to the date in 2021 when supporters of Donald Trump stormed Congress in a bid to prevent certification of his rival Joe Biden's election victory.

Other factors, he added, included "constant brinksmanship surrounding the debt ceiling" along with Republicans and Democrats' inability to generate "meaningful, long-term solutions" on fiscal issues surrounding programs like social security and Medicare.

Agence France-Presse