White House seeks $4 billion more in funding from Congress for disaster needs

(Reuters) – The White House is seeking an additional $4 billion in funding from Congress for disaster needs, including to help rebuild the Baltimore bridge after its collapse and in response to last year’s fires in Maui, the Office of Management and Budget said on Friday. Funds would also help survivors of tornadoes in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and elsewhere, White House budget director Shalanda Young said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, also … Read more…

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Confident Investors – by Justin Vaughn

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The S&P 500 kept the Bull charging higher for the third straight week, up 0.6% while its year to date has been blazing, up 15%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.5% for the week, has lagged all year, struggling to build the index. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have set records for several weeks. “It’s been a really aggressive bull market, and every bull market is … Read more…

Rivian says lower-cost second generation EVs to help in push for profitability

By Akash Sriram and Abhirup Roy (Reuters) -Rivian will be able to slash a fifth of its material costs from electric SUVs and pickups by the end of 2024, CEO RJ Scaringe said on Thursday, after a recent factory overhaul and a vehicle redesign to aid its push to profitability. Shares of Rivian fell 2% after the company stuck to its largely flat annual production growth forecast yet again. The stock had risen 23% after … Read more…

US charges 193 people in $2.75 billion health care fraud bust

(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has charged 193 people, including 76 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, with participating in health care fraud schemes worth $2.75 billion, the agency said on Thursday. The government seized more than $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold and other assets in the law enforcement action that spanned 32 federal districts. Cases include unlawful distribution of millions of pills of Adderall and $146 million in fraudulent drug addiction … Read more…

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Meta must face lawsuit claiming it prefers foreign workers over US citizens

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Thursday revived a software engineer’s proposed class action claiming Meta Platforms refused to hire him because it preferred to give jobs to foreign workers who are paid lower wages. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling said that a Civil War-era law barring discrimination in contracts based on “alienage” extends to bias against U.S. citizens. The decision reverses a California … Read more…

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Elon Musk won $56 billion payday because of vote, Tesla argues in court

By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) – Tesla is claiming Elon Musk won his legal battle over his $56 billion pay package because shareholders voted for the compensation, despite a judge rescinding it earlier this year, according to court filing made public on Friday. The company’s filing comes two weeks after Tesla shareholders voted to ratify the 2018 package of stock options. Tesla held the vote following a January ruling by a Delaware judge to … Read more…

Crypto firm Abra reaches settlement with US states for operating without licenses

By Hannah Lang (Reuters) – Financial regulators in 25 U.S. states announced on Wednesday a settlement with cryptocurrency investment platform Abra and its CEO for operating without required state licensing. As part of the settlement, Abra agreed to stop making cryptocurrencies available for buying and trading to U.S. Abra Trade customers as of June 15, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) said in a release. Abra had said last year that it was winding … Read more…

Biden awards up to $75 million in CHIPS Act grant to Entegris

(Reuters) – American Chip manufacturing supplier Entegris said on Wednesday that it has inked a preliminary deal with the Biden administration for funding of up to $75 million to aid the development of a new facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “We’re not just bringing leading-edge chip technology and (factories) to the United States, we’re also bolstering the suppliers that make leading-edge manufacturing possible,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement. The announcement … Read more…

Amazon hits $2 trillion in valuation on AI fervor, rate cut bets

(Reuters) -Amazon.com Inc hit $2 trillion in market value for the first time on Wednesday, becoming the fifth U.S. company to surpass that level as optimism around artificial intelligence and potential interest rate cuts this year drove demand for technology-related stocks. The stock rose 3.4% to $192.70, giving the e-commerce giant a market value of over $2 trillion and putting it in the same club as technology heavyweights Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and … Read more…

US value stocks offer opportunities for bargain-hunters, BofA’s Subramanian says

By Suzanne McGee (Reuters) – Value stocks offer some of the most compelling valuations in the U.S. equity market after badly lagging their growth-focused counterparts this year, Bank of America Global Research equity and quant strategist Savita Subramanian said on Wednesday. “These companies are neglected and trading at very low multiples” at present, but offer opportunities to purchase high-quality stocks at a discount, Subramanian told attendees at Morningstar’s annual investment conference. In a keynote speech, … Read more…

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