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Berkshire’s cash hits $277 billion as Buffett slashes Apple stake; operating profit sets record

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Warren Buffett appears to have soured on stocks, letting cash at Berkshire Hathaway soar to nearly $277 billion and selling a large chunk of its stake in Apple, even as the conglomerate posted a record quarterly operating profit. Berkshire sold about 390 million Apple shares in the second quarter, on top of 115 million shares from January to March, as Apple’s stock price rose 23%. It still owned about 400 … Read more…

Equities sell off, Nasdaq on track for correction, bond yields sink

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global equities sold off on Friday and U.S. Treasury yields were at multi-month lows on concerns about the economy and downbeat forecasts from Amazon and Intel, which hit richly-valued technology firms. The Nasdaq Composite index was recently down 2.3%, putting it on track to confirm it is in a correction following worries about pricey Big Tech valuations and as weak employment numbers aggravated worries of a slowdown. ART HOGAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, B. … Read more…

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Exclusive-Citgo auction pits Icahn-backed oil refiner, creditor group

By Marianna Parraga, Gary McWilliams and David French HOUSTON (Reuters) – An oil refiner backed by activist investor Carl Icahn and a group of creditors holding claims against Venezuela are competing in the last mile of a U.S. court auction for Citgo Petroleum, according to three people familiar with the matter. A total of 18 creditors holding rulings for debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela totaling $21.3 billion are pursuing proceeds from the auction of … Read more…

U.S. sues TikTok over ‘massive-scale’ privacy violations of kids under 13

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against TikTok and parent company ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app. The government said TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that requires services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13. The lawsuit is the latest U.S. action against TikTok and its Chinese parent over … Read more…

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Coinbase expects US to be crypto-friendly irrespective of election outcome

By Niket Nishant and Manya Saini (Reuters) – The next U.S. administration will be “constructive” on crypto regardless of which party wins, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said late on Thursday, underscoring the industry’s growing political influence ahead of the November election. The highly volatile crypto sector is seen as a risky fringe industry and has drawn intense scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has accused it of flouting securities laws. But support … Read more…

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The Fed Fuels Stocks and Bonds – by Justin Vaughn

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) Gross Domestic Product {GDP} pushed the economy at a faster clip in the second quarter, doubling the pace of the first quarter of 1.4% to 2.8% according to the Commerce Department. A good barometer and pulse of the trending economy. The GDP monitors all U.S. produced products and all services performed. Economists had predicted a rate of 2.1%. The economy shows great strength as the Labor Market continues to … Read more…

Apple revenue returns to growth as iPhone sales top expectations

By Max A. Cherney and Aditya Soni (Reuters) -Apple on Thursday reported a return to sales growth in its fiscal third quarter as iPhone revenue topped Wall Street targets, helping cushion a bigger-than-expected sales decline in major market China. Shares of the company rose 1% in extended trading. Apple said revenue rose 4.9% to $85.78 billion in the three months ended June 29, beating the average analyst estimate of $84.53 billion, according to LSEG data. … Read more…

Tech giants faced major market cap drop in July on earnings worries

(Reuters) – Global mega tech companies’ market capitalisation dropped sharply in July, in response to disappointing quarterly results and concerns over high valuations, prompting investors to shift their focus away from the AI sector. In the first half of 2024, investors pushed tech stocks higher on expectations that AI advancements would boost earnings. But the second-quarter earnings reports from tech companies have raised concerns that investment in AI infrastructure has led to ballooning costs with … Read more…

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Chip index collapses 8% as Arm punctures AI optimism

(Reuters) – U.S. chip stocks plummeted on Thursday, on track for their worst day since 2020, after a conservative forecast from Arm Holdings dampened investor optimism about artificial intelligence and data signaled a cooling economy. Shares of Arm sank 16% after the British chip designer’s forecast sparked worries that returns from a spending frenzy on AI computing by Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and other megacaps would be slower to materialize than previously expected. “For … Read more…

Amazon projects quarterly revenue below estimates, shares slide

By Deborah Mary Sophia and Greg Bensinger (Reuters) -Amazon.com forecast current quarter sales below estimates, and shares fell sharply after hours even though second-quarter profit beat Wall Street estimates. Amazon’s focus on successes in its AWS cloud computing did not cheer investors who sent shares of the Seattle-based company down more than 6% in extended trading. “We’re continuing to make progress on a number of dimensions, but perhaps none more so than the continued re-acceleration … Read more…