Business

Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty ImagesLONDON — The U.K. economy grew 0.2% in August on a month-on-month basis, flash figures published by the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.Gross domestic product (GDP) came in line with the expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who had forecast growth of 0.2%.Britain's economic growth was up 0.2% in the three months to August, compared with the 0.5% recorded in the three months to July.The U.K.'s dominant services sector showed slight growth of 0.1% in the month to August, while production and construction output rose by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.The country's economy flatlined in June and July, after previously recording modest but steady expansion in almost every month this year. Britain emerged from a shallow recession at the ...

Tesla unveils its "Cybercab" on October 10, 2024 in Burbank, California.After a decade of unfulfilled promises about driverless vehicles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk hyped the company's Cybercab concept on Thursday night, showing off a low, silver two-seater with no steering wheels or pedals.Rolling up to the stage in a Cybercab almost an hour after the company's "We, Robot" event was supposed to begin, Musk said the company had 21 of these vehicles, and a total of 50 "autonomous" cars on-location at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, California where Tesla hosted its invitation-only event.Musk offered no details about exactly where Tesla plans to produce the cars, but said consumers would be able to buy a Tesla Cybercab for below $30,000. He said the company hopes to be producing the Cybercab be...

Multi-strategy hedge fund D.E. Shaw revealed on Thursday it had amassed a roughly $1 billion stake in industrial gas giant Air Products and Chemicals, the second activist stake at the $71 billion company.D.E. Shaw, one of the largest hedge funds in the world by assets, said in letters made public Thursday that its efforts to engage privately with the company had been largely rebuffed and marked by "an apparent lack of urgency."The investor plans to nominate three directors to the company's board, people familiar with the matter told said. The potential challenge would come alongside another activist fund, Paul Hilal's Mantle Ridge. Mantle Ridge has a similarly sized stake and, like D.E. Shaw, is seeking a clear succession plan for Air Product's CEO, 80-year-old Seifi Ghasemi.Scott Sutton, ...

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesInflation fell in September as lower gasoline prices combined with other waning price pressures in areas such as housing to bring relief to consumers' wallets, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, was up 2.4% last month from September 2023, the bureau said.That figure is a decline from 2.5% in August, meaning price growth slowed. It's also the smallest annual reading since February 2021.The September CPI figure was slightly higher than economists predicted, however.There were some trouble spots, such as an uptick in categories including clothing, car insurance and groceries. Most appear to be "one-off" increases, though, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's."The trend on inflati...

Microsoft on Thursday announced new health-care data and artificial intelligence tools, including a collection of medical imaging models, a health-care agent service and an automated documentation solution for nurses. The tools aim to help health-care organizations build AI applications quicker and save clinicians time on administrative tasks, a major cause of industry burnout. Nurses spend as much as 41% of their time on documentation, according to a report from the Office of the Surgeon General. "By integrating AI into health care, our goal is to reduce the strain on medical staff, foster the collective health team collaboration, enhance the overall efficiency of healthcare systems across the country," Mary Varghese Presti, vice president of portfolio evolution and incubation at Microsof...

Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesShares of Trump Media shot up more than 17% Thursday, keeping up the momentum of a rally that has recovered some of the Truth Social operator's steep losses from a recent weekslong sell-off.DJT stock closed at $24.12 per share, more than double the $11.75 price it fetched in an intraday trading low just over two weeks ago.Stock Chart IconStock chart iconTrump Media (DJT) Stock PriceThe surge came amid little positive news about the company, but coincided with some recent presidential election polls and other indicators that allies of former President Donald Trump, its majority shareholder, took as positive signs.Many analysts have described Trump Media as a meme stock that is being bought and sold in large part by fans of Trump, who view investing i...

Warren Buffett walks the floor ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2024. David A. Grogen | CNBCWarren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its stake in Bank of America to below 10% amid a selling spree that started in mid-July.In a Thursday night filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Buffett disclosed the sale of more than 9.5 million shares, split between three transactions made from Tuesday to Thursday. The move brings his holdings down to 775 million shares, or a stake of about 9.987%.Since the holding is now under the key 10% threshold, Berkshire is no longer required to report its related transactions in a timely manner. The SEC requires shareholders who own more than 10% of a company's equity securities to re...

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X looks on during the Milken Conference 2024 Global Conference Sessions at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 6, 2024. David Swanson | ReutersWith Tesla's hotly anticipated robotaxi event hours away, investors will soon get a glance at what CEO Elon Musk has called the CyberCab.After a decade of unfulfilled promises to deliver autonomous vehicles, capable of traveling reasonable distances safely without a human at the wheel, there's a hefty dose of skepticism about what Tesla can do technologically, and when its robotaxi might actually hit the market.The robotaxi day, or "We, Robot," event is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. Pacific time at a Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, California and will be liv...

A woman uses an umbrella to protect herself from the sun as she passes past the Colosseum during an intensely hot day in Rome, Italy, on July 11, 2024. Riccardo De Luca | Anadolu | Getty ImagesSummer trips to Europe are getting too hot for thousands of tourists.Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein said travelers are opting out of flying to Europe during the traditional summer peak travel season. Instead, they are shifting trips to cooler months, a trend that airline officials have been noticing over the past couple of years as consumers look to escape crowds and record heat of popular destinations."The weather in Europe in August is really hot, and that people who have choices when they can take their vacations are moving into let's call it more temperate months," Hauenstein said Thur...

Interest rates are coming down, but investors can still find some solid opportunities for yield in the preferred securities market, according to UBS Financial Services. Preferred securities combine attributes of bonds and stocks. They trade publicly on exchanges but they also pay a quarterly stream of income. Issuing companies are often banks and utilities. Yields for these instruments can top 5%, and this income may be tax advantaged for investors. Generally, the coupons are taxed at the same rate as qualified dividends — that is, 0%, 15% or 20%, based on an investor's taxable income. Meanwhile, interest income from bonds is taxed as ordinary income, meaning it is subject to rates as high as 37%. Retail investors and preferreds The preferred securities sold to retail investors come at a f...