Author: theparknews

(Reuters) – Starbucks Corp (SBUX) reiterated on Thursday that it is exploring strategic alliances for its China operations, following media reports that the company was considering selling a stake in the business to a local partner. The Seattle-based company is facing declining demand for beverages in major markets such as the United States and China, and is looking to revamp its U.S. stores and gain a better understanding of its China operations, the company said in a new statement. CEO Brian Nicol told investors last month. “All signs point to the competitive environment (in China) being extreme… and we need…

Written by Ron Busso LONDON (Reuters) – About five years ago, BP embarked on an ambitious quest to transform itself from an oil company to a business focused on low-carbon electricity. The British company is now trying to return to its roots as an oil and gas giant with a growth story that rivals its rivals, restoring its share price and allaying investor concerns about future profits. Rivals Shell and Norwegian state-owned Equinor are also scaling back energy transition plans they set out earlier this year. Their reorientation is due to two major developments: the energy shock caused by Russia’s…

Written by Sinead Carew and Lisa Pauline Matakkal (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Tuesday as investors took profits from the post-election rally and grew cautious ahead of U.S. economic data due out this week. The three major indexes had risen to their highest since the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election as investors bet that President-elect Donald Trump’s tax cuts and prospects for deregulation would boost stocks. However, investor enthusiasm cooled on Tuesday. European stocks fell 2% as European Central Bank policymakers warned that President Trump’s tariff hikes would hurt global growth. Some stocks expected to do…

Written by David Shepherdson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expressed concern about social media posts suggesting Tesla’s fully self-driving software could be used as robotaxis and do not require driver attention. In October, NHTSA announced that 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD software would be subject to four crashes in 2023, including a fatal crash, in conditions such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust. An investigation has begun. In a May 14 email published Friday, NHTSA told Tesla that the company’s social media posts had warned people that FSD “requires sustained attention and…

Written by Lei Wee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – After a cautious start to the week in financial markets, currency trends were in the spotlight on Monday ahead of a busy week ahead of the decisive U.S. presidential election. This week will also provide investors with a global monetary policy catalyst with interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve, Bank of England (BoE), Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Riksbank and Norges Bank. The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) will convene from November 4 to November 8, and will focus on further details of a number of recently announced economic…

Andrei Shchev (Reuters) – German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz on Friday reported a 64% drop in third-quarter profit at its core auto division, as Chinese consumers continued to hold back on luxury purchases amid the economic downturn, and analysts reported a 64% decline in third-quarter profit. The list was announced to be significantly lower than expected. “The results for the third quarter did not meet our targets,” Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm said in a statement, adding that the group would step up its cost-cutting efforts. Mercedes added that revenue in the July-September period was hit by model refresh costs as…

Written by Hakan Elsen FRANKFURT (Reuters) – SAP shares rose 5% to 221 euros ($239.21) at market open on Tuesday after the German software company raised its full-year target for its strong cloud business in the third quarter. ) reached an all-time high. . Third-quarter cloud revenue rose 27% to €4.35 billion ($4.71 billion), adjusted for currency effects. This was driven by a 36% increase in sales of Cloud ERP Suite resource planning software. According to CEO Christian Klein, artificial intelligence was a key growth driver. “About 30% of cloud contracts in the third quarter included AI usage scenarios,” he…

Written by Casey HallSHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s second-hand and gray market for luxury goods is booming, with soaring prices for luxury brands due to the economic downturn as some shoppers look for ways to buy cheaper, and LVMH There are growing concerns about this.LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods group, reported a 3% drop in quarterly sales last week, the first quarterly sales decline since the pandemic that was weaker than expected as demand fell in China and Japan.Italy’s Salvatore Ferragamo also reported a drop in quarterly sales due to slowing demand from China.”The problem is that as long as…

(Reuters) – IBM on Monday released the latest version of its artificial intelligence model for enterprises, aiming to take advantage of the surge in companies adopting generative AI technology.The Granite 3.0 model, like other versions of IBM’s Granite family of AI models, will be open source. This approach differs from competitors such as Microsoft, which charges customers for access to their models.On the other hand, IBM offers a paid tool called Watsonx that helps you run your models within your data center after customization.Some variants of the new Granite model will be commercially available on the Watsonx platform starting Monday.…

Written by Andres Gonzalez and Ron BussoLONDON (Reuters) – BP is considering selling a minority stake in its offshore wind farm business, four people familiar with the matter said. It is the latest effort by CEO Murray Auchincloss to scale back the energy company’s focus on renewable energy.The company is facing pressure from shareholders over its energy transition strategy, first launched in 2020, as profits from renewables have declined while margins from oil and gas have increased.The London-listed oil company has contacted Bank of America to find a partner for the venture, the people said, asking not to be identified…