AFP
19879 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
19879 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday that its operating profits soared 277 percent on-year to $6.6 billion but missed expectations as it struggled to leverage demand for chips used in artificial intelligence servers. The world's largest memory chip maker posted an operating profit of 9.18 trillion won ($6.6 billion) "largely due to one-off costs".
Asian stocks got off to an uneven start on Thursday following a weak lead from Wall Street, though better-than-expected manufacturing data from China provided a glimmer of good news for Beijing. Tokyo followed that lead on Thursday, dragged down by a drop in stocks linked to the semiconductor industry, which also saw a drop on Wall Street.
China's manufacturing output expanded this month for the first time since April, official data showed Thursday, rare good news for leaders struggling to boost activity in the world's second-largest activity. The NBS said Thursday's data release showed the "business climate of the manufacturing industry has rebounded".
Some 33,000 Boeing workers have been on strike for seven weeks after twice voting down labor contracts, with the latest rejected offer featuring a 35 percent wage hike. Under the latest contract offer, which workers rejected on October 23, Boeing included a provision increasing the employer match.
Facebook owner Meta saw net income and revenues top expectations on Wednesday as the company said it would expand investments into artificial intelligence, drawing nervousness from investors. Like its Big Tech peers, Meta is rushing into artificial intelligence as it tries to build revenue streams away from its social media core business.
Microsoft delivered solid quarterly results on Wednesday, beating analyst expectations with revenue jumping 16 percent to $65.6 billion, but questions were raised about the company's big spending on the AI boom. During the quarter, Microsoft also returned $9.0 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, helping pump up share value.
Planes, trains, trucks and taxis ground to a halt in Argentina on Wednesday in a major one-day strike over President Javier Milei's austerity policies. The unions called the protest over Milei's plans to privatize national flag carrier Aerolineas Argentinas and to denounce spiraling poverty levels since he took office late last year.
Saudi Arabia's new national airline, Riyadh Air, announced on Wednesday it has ordered 60 narrow-body aircraft from Airbus, as it prepares for takeoff next year. The deal announced on Wednesday is Riyadh Air's second major purchase after it agreed last year to buy 39 wide-body Boeing Dreamliners, with options for 33 more jets.
The eurozone economy grew more than expected in the third quarter, official data showed Wednesday, thanks to Germany which defied expectations and dodged a recession. The figures will offer some relief, coming a month after Eurostat revised its data to show the eurozone grew by only 0.2 percent in the second quarter of this year.
AFP
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