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REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoJan 30 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for U.S. companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter. Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) in 2020 received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei. Licenses for 4G chips that could not be used for 5g, which might have been approved earlier, were being denied, the person said. American officials placed Huawei on a trade blacklist in 2019 restricting most U.S. suppliers from shipping goods and technology to the company unless they were granted licenses. But U.S. officials granted licenses that allowed Huawei to receive some products.

☆ Dollar General CFO Garratt to retire
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Discount store chain Dollar General Corp (DG.N) said on Monday its chief financial officer, John Garratt, would retire from his position effective June 2. The company will "evaluate options" for its next CFO and is not currently conducting an external search, it said in a statement. Garratt was named CFO in December 2015, a year after he joined the Tennessee-based company. "While I look forward to spending more time with family, this was a difficult personal decision," Garratt said. Last week, rival Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O) said Executive Chairman Richard Dreiling will replace Chief Executive Officer Mike Witynski, nearly a year after its settlement with an activist investor.

☆ Dollar General CFO to retire
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Dollar General Corp (DG.N) said on Monday its Chief Financial Officer John Garratt would retire from his position effective June 2. Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ United Airlines technicians vote to ratify new contract
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL.O) technicians ratified a two-year contract with the carrier that includes 16% to 23% wage increases, their union said on Monday. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing around 8,200 United Airlines technicians said the two-year contract would provide for improved job security by adding five heavy maintenance lines in-house. It includes a one-year early opener that allows for bargaining on a successor agreement to begin in December 2023. United Airlines did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Twitter working on payments feature - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc is working to introduce payments on the social media platform and has begun applying for regulatory licenses, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. New boss Elon Musk is pushing Twitter to create new streams of revenue as it faces a drop in advertising income, following his $44-billion takeover of the company in October. The development on the payments feature is being led Esther Crawford, a director of product management at Twitter, according to the report, which added that the executive was emerging to be a key lieutenant to Musk. Musk had previously said that the Twitter acquisition would be part of a master plan to create "the everything app", a service that would offer social networking, peer-to-peer payments and e-commerce shopping. Prior to Musk's takeover, Twitter in early 2021 was exploring allowing its users to receive tips, or digital payments, from their followers.

☆ U.S. stops provision of licences for export to China's Huawei - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has stopped providing U.S. companies with licences to export to Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. commerce department had notified some companies that it would no longer grant the licences, the report said. This potentially implies a move towards total ban on the sale of American technology to Huawei. The commerce department, Huawei and chip equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT.O) did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. In 2019, the Trump administration imposed a trade ban on Huawei, citing national security concerns, which barred the company from using Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Android for its new smartphones, among other critical U.S.-origin technologies.

☆ Visa, Mastercard pin hopes on China reopening as travel boom fades
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Niket Nishant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Mastercard Inc (MA.N) and Visa Inc (V.N) will rely on China reopening to give travel spending a boost, Wall Street analysts said, as the pace of growth in other parts of the world eases from a post-pandemic boom. Executives at the payments companies on Thursday pointed to further room for travel recovery in China, which earlier this month reopened its borders after dropping its stringent COVID-19 control measures. "However, the reopening of China should act as a modest boost." Shares of Visa climbed nearly 3% on Friday, while Mastercard was up nearly 1% in choppy trading. "Consumer spending has remained surprisingly resilient, but reopening has not been worked through in earnest – especially in Asia where there is pent-up travel demand post China reopening," said Macquarie Group analyst Paul Golding.

☆ Home Depot Canada found sharing customer personal data with Meta - privacy regulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Home Depot Inc's (HD.N) Canadian arm was found to be sharing details from e-receipts related to in-store purchases with Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) without the knowledge or consent of its customers, according to Canada's privacy regulator. An investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) found that by participating in Meta's offline conversions program Home Depot shared the e-receipts that included encoded email addresses and purchase information. The regulator added that the home goods chain stopped sharing customer information with Meta in October 2022, which was among the recommendations made by OPC, until the company is able to implement measures to ensure valid consent. Home Depot and Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Southwest, which also reported a loss in the fourth quarter, estimates a revenue hit of between $300 million and $350 million in the first quarter. A Southwest Airlines jetliner departs from Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., December 27, 2022. He said while a recessionary economic environment tends to make companies de-prioritize spending on technology, Southwest cannot afford to do that. The meltdown led to an adjusted loss of $226 million, or 38 cents a share, in the quarter through December, robbing it of the gains from booming holiday travel demand. Rival carriers United Airlines (UAL.O) and Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) American Airlines (AAL.O) have all reported higher-than-expected earnings for the quarter.

Southwest, which also reported a loss in the fourth quarter, said it expects a revenue hit of between $300 million and $350 million in the first quarter. "Thus far in January 2023, the company has experienced an increase in flight cancellations and a deceleration in bookings, primarily for January and February 2023," Southwest said. The meltdown led to an adjusted loss of $226 million, or 38 cents a share, in the quarter through December, robbing it of the gains from booming holiday travel demand. Rival carriers United Airlines (UAL.O) and Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) American Airlines (AAL.O) have all reported higher-than-expected earnings for the quarter. For 2023, Southwest has forecast "solid profits" with year-over-year margin expansion.

☆ Southwest Airlines forecasts first-quarter loss on cancellations impact
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kannaki Deka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Southwest, which also reported a loss in the fourth quarter, said it expects a revenue hit of between $300 million and $350 million in the first quarter. "Thus far in January 2023, the company has experienced an increase in flight cancellations and a deceleration in bookings, primarily for January and February 2023," Southwest said. Operating revenue for the March quarter, when travel demand tends to slow, is expected to rise 20% to 24% year-over-year. On the other hand, expenses surged nearly 30% to $6.56 billion, in part due to the impact from cancellations. For 2023, Southwest has forecast "solid profits" with year-over-year margin expansion.

☆ Twitter, ad verification firms team up to give advertisers tweet-level analysis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc will team up with digital ad verification companies Integral Ad Science (IAS.O) and DoubleVerify Holdings Inc (DV.N) to provide advertisers tweet-level analysis on content appearing next to their ads, the companies said on Wednesday. IAS and DoubleVerify, who have both previously partnered with Twitter, use technology to independently verify that digital ads are viewed by real people. Advertisers use the services to ensure the ads they pay for are seen by potential customers and not automated bots. Musk has been fighting to retain clients as many companies, including General Motors (GM.N) and United Airlines (UAL.O), had paused or pulled back from advertising on the platform. Many advertisers including Dyson, Mazda, Forbes and PBS Kids suspended their marketing campaigns or removed their ads from parts of Twitter because their promotions appeared alongside tweets soliciting child pornography.

☆ Rockwell raises FY profit outlook on industrial automation strength
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Rockwell Automation Inc (ROK.N) on Thursday raised its 2023 profit outlook on high demand for industrial automation machines amid a tight labor market. Demand in red-hot automation stayed resilient, as companies invested more to offset labor shortages. Sales in the reported quarter at Rockwell's intelligent devices segment, which deals with industrial components rose about 4% to $936.2 million. Overall quarterly sales for Rockwell rose to $1.98 billion from $1.86 billion a year earlier. Reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NextEra shares tumble as revenue misses, head of key unit leaves
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - NextEra Energy Inc (NEE.N) on Wednesday posted mixed quarterly results, sending its shares sliding as the renewable power company announced the retirement of the head of its key Florida utility unit. NextEra's shares dropped 6% on Wednesday, making the company one of the day's biggest losers in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The company is the third-largest U.S. energy company by market value, trailing only oil and gas giants Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N). NextEra is banking on increased use of renewable energy like solar and wind for power generation amid a global push to shift to cleaner fuel sources. Natural gas prices averaged $6.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the October-December quarter, about 26% higher than the previous year.

☆ Twitter, ad verification company partner to give advertisers tweet-level analysis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc and Integral Ad Science (IAS.O), a digital ad verification company, will team up to provide advertisers tweet-level analysis on content appearing next to their ads, the companies said on Wednesday. "Marketers are looking for confidence to continue to invest in Twitter and eventually grow their investment in Twitter... and that is what this is all about," said Craig Ziegler, senior vice president, Product Management of Integral Ad Science. IAS will also give advertisers measurement for brand safety, an industry term to protect its online reputation and evaluate content that is next to an ad at the tweet level. Musk has been fighting to retain clients as many companies, including General Motors (GM.N) and United Airlines (UAL.O), had paused or pulled back from advertising on the platform. Many advertisers including Dyson, Mazda, Forbes and PBS Kids suspended their marketing campaigns or removed their ads from parts of Twitter because their promotions appeared alongside tweets soliciting child pornography.

Companies Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co FollowJan 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT.O) for its handling of a recalled tire that has been linked to eight deaths and dozens of injuries, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter and documents reviewed by the newspaper. "We cooperated fully with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) review of the G159 275/70R22.5 tire, which concluded in June, 2022," the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters. In June last year, Goodyear said it would recall 173,000 G159 tires used on recreational vehicles because of the potential of catastrophic tread separations. However, the company said in October that it did not believe its tires were defective. Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Priyamvada C; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Insurer Travelers profit falls on winter storm costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Property and casualty insurer Travelers Companies Inc (TRV.N) reported a 37% fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by losses related to a winter storm that swept across the United States and Canada in the last week of 2022. The winter storm pushed up the insurer's catastrophe losses net of reinsurance to $459 million from $36 million last year. A dangerously frigid Arctic air mass gripped a vast expanse of the United States in late December, bringing floods, power outages, mudslides, evacuations and road closures. Travelers' profit was also hit by a fall in net investment income to $625 million from $743 million a year earlier. A ratio below 100% means the insurer earned more in premiums than it paid out in claims.

☆ India tests domestic operating system days after Google's antitrust setback
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Commuters watch videos on their mobile phones as they travel in a suburban train in Mumbai, India, April 2, 2016. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File Photo/File PhotoNEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - India's government on Tuesday tested locally developed mobile operating system BharOS, a move seen as challenging the dominance of Google's Android just days after the U.S. giant suffered a major antitrust setback in the country. The government endorsement of the operating system comes after Google lost its fight in India's Supreme Court to block an antitrust order that will force the company to change how it markets its Android operating system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for self-reliance to boost and promote everything from local manufacturing to domestic startups. The operating system has been developed by a startup incubated at an Indian Institute of Technology in southern India.

☆ Canada's Ritchie Bros raises cash payout under revised offer for IAA
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Canada's Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO) on Monday sweetened the cash component of its buyout offer for IAA Inc (IAA.N) by 28%, valuing the U.S. auto retailer at $5.94 billion, and also secured the backing of a key IAA shareholder which had questioned the initial offer. IAA shares rose 4.9% in morning trade, while Ritchie Bros's Toronto-listed shares were up 3%. The improved offer comes at a time when many companies are reducing costs and initiating layoffs in face of a potential economic downturn. Under the revised offer, IAA stockholders would receive $12.80 in cash, up from $10 earlier, and 0.5252 Ritchie Bros. share for each IAA share, down from 0.5804. Ritchie made the initial offer in November, valuing the company at about $7.3 billion, including debt.

☆ Spotify to trim 6% of workforce in latest tech layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) said on Monday it plans to cut 6% of its workforce and would take a related charge of up to nearly $50 million, adding to the massive layoffs in the technology sector in preparation for a possible recession. The tech industry is facing a demand downturn after two years of pandemic-powered growth during which it had hired aggressively. "I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth," he added, echoing a sentiment voiced by other tech bosses in recent months. Reuters GraphicsSmall figurines are seen in front of displayed Spotify logo in this illustration taken February 11, 2022. Ostroff helped shape Spotify's podcast business and guided it through backlash around Joe Rogan's show for allegedly spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

☆ Spotify to cut 6% of jobs, content head to depart
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

That has led firms from Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to shed thousands of jobs. "I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth," he added, echoing a sentiment voiced by other tech bosses in recent months. It said Dawn Ostroff, the head of content and advertising, was leaving after an over four-year stint at the company. Ostroff helped shape Spotify's podcast business and guided it through backlash around Joe Rogan's show for allegedly spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The company said it is appointing Alex Norström, head of the freemium business, and research and development boss Gustav Söderström as co-presidents.

☆ Spotify to trim 6% of workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Music streaming firm Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) plans to cut 6% of its workforce, the company said on Monday, a move that will add to a glut of layoffs in the technology sector as companies prepare for a possible recession. Tech companies are facing a demand downturn after two years of pandemic-driven growth during which they had hired aggressively. Spotify said it will incur about 35 million euros ($38.06 million) to 45 million euros in severance-related charges. Spotify had about 9,800 full-time employees, as of Sept. 30. ($1 = 0.9196 euros)Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. FDA proposes shift to annual COVID vaccine shots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It has also asked the panel to consider the usage of two COVID vaccine shots a year for some young children, and in older adults and persons with compromised immunity. The regulator also sought its advisers' views on the need for routine selection of variants for updating the vaccine, similar to the way strains for flu vaccines are changed annually. The agency expects that simplifying the COVID vaccine composition and annual immunization schedules may contribute to less complicated vaccine deployment, fewer vaccine administration errors and less complex communication, which could potentially lead to improved vaccine coverage rates. Currently, most people in the United States need to first get two doses of the original COVID vaccine spaced 3-4 weeks apart, depending on the vaccine, followed by a booster a few months later. The FDA's proposal follows the European regulator's backing last month for the use of bivalent COVID shots for primary vaccination.

☆ Eli Lilly Alzheimer's drug setback extends rival Biogen's lead - analysts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. health regulator's rejection of accelerated approval for Eli Lilly and Co's Alzheimer's disease drug extends the market lead for rivals Eisai and Biogen's treatment by months, analysts said. "This is a modest positive for Biogen" because it delays donanemab's launch, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said, adding that Eli Lilly could file for traditional approval by mid-2023. The setback for Lilly comes just weeks after the FDA granted Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) and Japanese drugmaker Eisai Co Ltd's (4523.T) accelerated approval for their Alzheimer's drug Leqembi. read moreAnalysts are waiting for the traditional approval of Biogen's drug and for wider health insurance coverage before they expect sales of the drug to pick up. "But if there is anything wrong with the (Eli Lilly) data set, it is easier to reject an unapproved drug than remove an approved drug from market," said Skorney.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) climbed 0.3% at 0936 GMT, boosted by gains in banks (.SX7P) and industrials (.SXNP). European shares were on track to snap a two-week winning streak, thanks to the worst single-day selloff so far this month on Thursday following disappointing earnings reports, weak U.S. economic data and hawkish comments from central bankers. Energy stocks (.SXEP) gained 0.8%, tracking firm crude prices on hopes of demand recovery in the world's second-biggest economy. "Europe has more exposure to China reopening and luxury is a big part of the European market," said Jamie Mills O'Brien, investment manager at Abrdn. "Some of the big players are pure China reopening bets."

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