Economy

Cars are parked in the parking lot of a Chevrolet dealership in Chicago, Illinois, on June 20, 2024. A cyberattack on CDK Global, a software provider that helps dealers manage sales and service, disrupted operations at approximately 15,000 dealerships in the United States and Canada. DETROIT – U.S. auto sales are expected to rise 2.9% in the first half of this year from a year earlier. However, there are concerns that the auto industry may struggle to maintain its momentum in the final six months of the year. Cox Automotive reports that vehicle inventory levels are increasing, incentives are increasing,…

General view of the Bank of England building in London. LONDON – The Bank of England announced its decision to keep interest rates steady at its June meeting, but described the move as “finely balanced” following the UK’s achievement of its 2% inflation target. Money market prices had been pointing to a roughly 50% chance of a rate cut in August, as investors had interpreted a subtly dovish message. The central bank's key interest rate stands at 5.25%, its highest level in 16 years, held since August. Seven members of the monetary policy committee voted to keep the rate unchanged,…

A recent survey by a Chinese business group in the United States shows that Chinese companies are still interested in doing business in the United States, despite the difficult times. Most of the companies surveyed (nearly 60%) want to continue investing the same amount of money in the United States, and some (30%) even want to invest more. The survey also found that many Chinese companies are concerned about the relationship between the United States and China and the overall health of the U.S. economy. More than 60 percent of respondents believe the economic environment in the United States is…

General view of the Bank of England building in London. LONDON – The Bank of England announced its decision to keep interest rates stable at its June meeting, but described the choice as “finely balanced” after the UK reached its 2% inflation target. Money market prices pointed to a near 50% chance of a rate cut in August as investors interpreted a subtly dovish message. The central bank's reference rate is 5.25%, the highest level in the last 16 years, maintained since August. Seven members of the monetary policy committee voted in favor of maintaining the rate, while two favored…

Related media - Associated media The European Union (EU) is accusing Microsoft of foul play after regulators charged the tech giant with unfairly bundling its popular Teams video conferencing software with its Office suite. This practice, the EU says, gives Teams an unfair advantage over competitors like Zoom and Slack. The issue centers on how Microsoft packages Teams within its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions, which include programs like Word, Excel, and Outlook. Regulators believe this bundling essentially forces companies to adopt Teams if they want those other widely used Microsoft programs. This, they argue, hurts competition by limiting…

Linked media - Connected media Anthony J.F. O’Reilly, a charming, ambitious, Irish-born former president of the H.J. Heinz Company, who also owned newspapers, luxury brands, and trophy houses in France and the Bahamas, only to lose nearly everything in his eighth decade, died on 18 May in Dublin. He was 88 years old. The Irish Times and other Irish newspapers, citing a family spokesperson, said he died in hospital. No cause was given. From his earliest days, Mr. O’Reilly, known as Tony, showed an embarrassment about gifts. He was a top-flight rugby player while still a teenager: the “red-haired pin-up…

Related media - Associated media That has changed significantly in recent years, as the three national credit reporting agencies – TransUnion, Equifax and Experian – have eliminated much of that debt from credit reports. Over the past two years, they have stopped reporting debts under $500 and debts less than a year in collections. According to a recent study by the Urban Institute, these changes have erased medical debt from the credit reports of millions of Americans. The percentage of Americans with unpaid healthcare bills on their credit reports dropped from 12% in August 2022 to 5% in August 2023.…

Connected media - Associated media In the Shek Tong Tsui area, where Return Home Hunan opened in May, many of the brightly colored restaurants – once mainstays of the neighborhood – had recently closed their doors. A restaurant that served cheap noodles and milk tea was gone, as was a restaurant where retirees gathered to eat dim sum and catch up on the day’s news. “The restaurant business is hard work,” said Roy Tse, the owner of a local restaurant that sold lunch rice dishes once popular among office workers in Hong Kong’s Taikoo Shing business district. There are fewer…

Related media - Linked media At the center of the federal criminal trial is an incident in 2021 in which Mr. Watson’s deputy deceived Goldman Sachs employees on a fundraising call by posing as a YouTube executive. The revelation of the call precipitated Ozy’s downfall. Defense lawyers for Mr. Watson and Ozy blamed his deputy, Samir Rao, for the fake phone call and for misrepresenting Ozy’s financial data to potential investors. Ms. Frison said in her opening statement in May that Mr. Rao was “incompetent for the role he was filling.” Mr. Rao and Suzee Han, Ozy’s former chief of…