Newsletter Feb 10, 2023

US stocks fall again as British pound advances

UK inflation slowed to 10.5 percent in December -- still around 40-year highs and more than five times the BoE's official target level of two percent.

Zelensky's triumphant European trip ruffles diplomatic feathers

European leaders jostled for the opportunity to host the Ukrainian leader during his trip.

After the silence, body bags: Turkish town counts its dead

The international brigade of rescuers expects to be in southern Turkey for two weeks.

Bank of England officials split over future path for rates

Bank of England policymakers disagreed on Thursday about where interest rates need to go to tame inflation, with Governor Andrew Bailey stressing the uncertainty of the outlook, a week after the BoE suggested its run of rate hikes might be peaking.

US, UK jointly sanction Russian Trickbot hackers

The United States and Britain announced sanctions Thursday on the Russian intelligence-linked Trickbot group known for hacking hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic and stealing financial data.

Fighter planes for Ukraine, a complex challenge for Kyiv's allies

Since the start of the war, Western governments have stalled on Zelensky's appeals for aircraft.

UK says aware of 'escalatory risks' in arming Ukraine

The UK said Thursday it was aware of "potential escalatory risks" in equipping Ukraine with more Western weaponry, while playing down the prospective delivery of older Typhoon fighter jets.

Twitter gets EU yellow card for disinformation reporting effort

Elon Musk's Twitter was hit with a yellow card from the European Commission on Thursday as its reported efforts to tackle disinformation fell short of those by Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and TikTok.

Oil prices fall in U.S. trading as stockpiles swell

Oil prices dipped in U.S. trading hours on Thursday after the country's oil inventories hit their highest in months and on signs that the Federal Reserve could keep raising interest rates.

Wall St rises on robust earnings, Disney hits five-month high

U.S. main stock indexes rose on Thursday with Disney and Salesforce boosting the blue-chip Dow index, while data showing a rise in weekly jobless claims helped ease concerns about the Federal Reserve's rate-hike path.

Investors call on five European banks to end new oil and gas finance

European banks risk jeopardising the path to net-zero carbon emissions and the growth of renewable energy unless they stop directly financing new oil and gas fields this year, investors managing assets worth more than $1.5 trillion said on Friday.

Volvo braces for challenges in 2023 after quarterly profit falls

Volvo Cars said on Thursday 2023 was likely to be another challenging year, despite healthy demand for its vehicles, as the Swedish carmaker reported a fall in quarterly profit.

Peltz' Trian ends Disney board challenge after CEO Iger lays out changes

Activist investor Nelson Peltz on Thursday ended his quest for a board seat at Walt Disney Co after Chief Executive Bob Iger laid out plans to fix the home of Mickey Mouse that inspired Wall Street to push the stock price higher.

Hilton misses 2022 room growth view on China COVID curbs

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc on Thursday missed its room growth expectations for 2022, pressured by a volatile COVID-19 environment in China, a key tourism market where hotel operators have struggled to expand last year.

UN chief pushes for more aid access to Syria from Turkey

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday pushed for more humanitarian aid access to northwestern Syria from Turkey, saying he would be "very happy" if the United Nations could use more than one border crossing to deliver help after a deadly earthquake struck the region this week.

Mercedez-Benz faces over 300,000 UK claims over diesel emissions

Mercedes-Benz faces more than 300,000 claims at London's High Court from the owners of diesel vehicles that were allegedly equipped with "defeat devices" to cheat emissions tests.

Expedia profit misses as severe weather weighs on holiday quarter

Online travel booking company Expedia Group Inc missed Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, hit by a spike in cancellations and bad weather near the end of the quarter.

FEMA to end all COVID-19 disaster declarations on May 11

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Thursday it will close all COVID-19 disaster declaration incident periods on May 11 when the U.S.

Layoffs strip away tech worker visas along with jobs

According to Eshoo and Lofgren, foreign-born workers make up nearly a quarter of the US science and tech workforce.

Church of England backs blessings for same-sex couples

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, hailed the Synod backing.