The United States will maintain a steady drumbeat of airstrikes in Afghanistan as foreign forces exit the country amid rapid battlefield advances by the Taliban. “The United States has increased airstrikes in the support of Afghan forces over the last several days, and we’re prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming […] Read more
The U.S. economy is expected to post another roaring growth spurt in the second quarter, before a slow and steady dose of reality starts to sink in. Gross domestic product is projected to accelerate 9.2% for the April-to-June period, according to a FactSet survey. The Commerce Department will release its first estimate for second-quarter GDP […] Read more
The Biden administration expressed concern Monday after sweeping anti-government protests in Cuba were forcibly dissolved at the direction of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez. Sunday’s protests, the largest the communist island has seen since the 1990s, come amid widespread frustration over a crippled economy and severe food shortages. The coronavirus pandemic is pushing the nation’s health-care […] Read more
LONDON — A thorny issue for many years, France’s pension system is back in the spotlight as President Emmanuel Macron prepares his final grand act before new elections in April. Macron had plans to change France’s pension system, where workers can retire at 62, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. However, he was forced to put his plans on hold […] Read more
The Department of Defense announced Tuesday it’s calling off the $10 billion cloud contract that was the subject of a legal battle involving Amazon and Microsoft. But it’s also announcing a new contract and soliciting proposals from both cloud service providers where both will likely clinch a reward. The JEDI, or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, […] Read more
Shares of Didi Chuxing closed up a modest 1% Wednesday afternoon after spiking as much as 28.6% in the Chinese ride-hailing giant’s market debut. The company’s stock began trading at $16.65 per share, up about 19% from the company’s offering price of $14 per share, bringing its market cap to nearly $80 billion. It closed at $14.14 […] Read more
It’s Europe’s fourth big investigation into Google, and this time video-sharing site YouTube seems to be getting some special attention. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced last week that it had concerns that Google is favoring its own online display ad technology services, therefore potentially breaching antitrust rules in the EU. As part of the […] Read more
The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that the biggest U.S. banks could easily withstand a severe recession, a milestone for the once-beleaguered industry. The Fed, in releasing the results of its annual stress test, said all 23 institutions in the 2021 exam remained “well above” minimum required capital levels during a hypothetical economic downturn. Bank shares popped after […] Read more
The quickly tightening labor market could present a problem for financial markets in the medium term, according to Longview Economics CEO Chris Watling. Recent JOLTs data put U.S. job openings in April at a record 9.3 million, but this is running alongside persistent unemployment and subdued hiring rates. The most recent jobless claims data showed a surprise […] Read more
The Biden administration slapped a slew of sanctions against Belarus on Monday amid Western fury over the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to arrest an opposition journalist. Last month, a passenger plane flying from Greece to Lithuania was suddenly diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The Ryanair flight was escorted to Minsk by […] Read more
