Editor 
(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) Jobs data released on Friday was just what the market needed, 206,000 jobs, more than the 195,000 economists had expected. With the jobs market running hot and wages holding firm, even a slight edge up in unemployment to 4.1% was good news. Both hot indexes, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were again higher, closing the week up 2% and 3.5% respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced … Read more…
(Reuters) -Private equity firm Bain Capital will buy Envestnet in a $4.5 billion deal, with backing from a cohort of investors, including BlackRock and Fidelity Investments, the financial software vendor said on Thursday. Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based Envestnet offers software for wealth managers and data for financial institutions and investment research firms. Its clients include 16 of the 20 biggest U.S. banks and 48 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms. Reuters exclusively reported earlier … Read more…
(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission plans to delay its decision whether to block Chevron’s $53 billion takeover of Hess until after an arbitration case with Exxon Mobil is settled, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The signal from the U.S. regulator is another hurdle for Chevron’s proposed acquisition of Hess. The deal, which was initially planned to close in the first half of the year, stalled after Exxon in March filed for arbitration, claiming … Read more…
By Jeff Mason and Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Thursday announced a new security package for Ukraine worth $225 million, which includes a Patriot missile battery, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems and missiles, among other items. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Washington, Ukraine’s biggest supporter, has provided more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022 when the Russian invasion began. But U.S. military aid was delayed in Congress for months over … Read more…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government recorded a $66 billion budget deficit for June that was reduced sharply by a shift of benefit payments into May that ballooned that month’s deficit to $347 billion, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. The Treasury said that the $66 billion June deficit nominally fell 71% from the $228 billion deficit recorded in June 2023. Without the June calendar adjustments in both years, the Treasury said the June 2024 … Read more…
By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest foldable smartphones on Wednesday, making its priciest flagship model lighter and slimmer and bolstering AI functions as it challenges Apple’s dominance in the premium market. Samsung is also offering more sophisticated health monitoring functions to drive new demand for accessories such as its smartwatch, as well as a new ring for easy health monitoring and screen control. The world’s largest smartphone maker pioneered the … Read more…
(Reuters) -Google-parent Alphabet has abandoned its plans to buy online marketing software company HubSpot, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. HubSpot shares fell nearly 12% in afternoon trading while Alphabet shares were up 1.2%. In April, Reuters had reported, citing sources, that Alphabet was in talks with advisers about making an offer for HubSpot. Alphabet had communicated its interest in a potential deal with HubSpot earlier this year, but the … Read more…
(Reuters) -Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-chip company, is working on a new device that it believes will require half the number of electrodes to be implanted in the brain to make it more efficient and powerful, the company’s executives said. The company is also taking risk mitigation measures such as skull sculpting and reduce the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood to normal level in patients, the executives said in a live stream on social media … Read more…
By Daina Beth Solomon and Ernest Scheyder SALAR CENTENARIO, Argentina (Reuters) – In a dusty plain in northern Argentina’s mountains, black tubes stretching two stories high fill a massive tank with salty brine sucked from deep below ground. The brine contains lithium, a silvery white metal essential for making electric vehicle batteries and in high demand as the world shifts to green energy. French miner Eramet is attempting to use an innovative technique, known as … Read more…
(Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI and tech giant Oracle have ended talks on a potential $10 billion server deal, The Information reported on Tuesday. The startup and Oracle have ended talks to expand an existing arrangement under which xAI has been renting Nvidia’s AI chips from the cloud provider, the report said, citing several people involved in the talks. The AI startup is building a system using Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing units … Read more…