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☆ The Republican candidates running for U.S. president
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Ten Republican candidates are seeking their party's nomination to take on Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election. DeSantis, 44, is Trump's top rival, but remains some 40 percentage points behind the former president in opinion polls. He is a fervent supporter of the former president and says he would pardon Trump should he win the White House. Haley has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative who has the ability to address issues of gender and race in a more credible fashion than many of her peers. CHRIS CHRISTIEChristie, 61, advised Trump's White House campaign, but became a vocal critic of the former president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Persons: Joe Biden, DONALD TRUMP Donald Trump, Trump, RON DESANTIS, DeSantis, MIKE, Jan, Pence, VIVEK RAMASWAMY, Ramaswamy, NIKKI HALEY, Haley, TIM SCOTT, Scott, ASA HUTCHINSON, Hutchinson, CHRIS CHRISTIE Christie, Trump's, Christie, DOUG BURGUM Burgum, HURD, Hurd, Susan Heavey Organizations: Republican, Democratic U.S, Justice Department, Twitter, Trump, U.S, Capitol, Christian, White, United Nations, Biden, Republican Party, TIM, Black Republican U.S, Reuters, ASA, White House, New, Republicans, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: U.S, China, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Jersey, Texas

A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. "North Korean threat actors may be capitalizing on the opportunity to conduct intelligence collection on Russian entities due to the country's focus on its war in Ukraine," the report said. North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment. North Korea has repeatedly been accused of deploying hackers against defense and diplomacy-related targets in South Korea, the United States and elsewhere. But allegations that Pyongyang is spying on its Russian allies are potentially more awkward as the countries draw closer amid the war in Ukraine.

Persons: Raphael Satter, Stephen Coates Organizations: U.S . National Security Agency, Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, United Nations, Reuters, SentinelOne Inc, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, Ukraine, Russian, Washington, North Korea, South Korea, United States, Pyongyang, East Asia, Beijing

Its shares had lost almost half their value in the last 12 months prior to news of its exploring a sale. The Irvine, California-based company is being advised by investment bank Qatalyst Partners on its discussions with potential acquirers, which include private equity firms, the sources said. Alteryx shares ended trading on Wednesday up 14% on the news at $34.58. In recent years, Alteryx has transitioned to a subscription-focused business model as part of a strategy to tap into growing demand for data analytics services. In its most recent quarter, Alteryx posted a net loss of $120 million due to higher sales and marketing expenses.

Persons: Alteryx, Dean Stoecker, Qatalyst, Milana Vinn, Nick Zieminski, Stephen Coates Organizations: Alteryx, Microsoft Corp, Oracle Corp, Qatalyst Partners, Insight Partners, Cola, Vodafone Plc, Walmart Inc, Ford Motor Company, North America, Thomson Locations: Irvine , California, Alteryx, New York

REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The recently disclosed Chinese hack of senior officials at the U.S. State and Commerce departments stemmed from the compromise of a Microsoft engineer's corporate account, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said in a blog post on Wednesday. Microsoft said the engineer's account had been penetrated by a hacking group it dubs Storm-0558, which is alleged to have stolen hundreds of thousands of emails from top American officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, U.S. Microsoft said it had fixed the flaws that led to the key being accessible from the unidentified engineer's account which gave the hackers such wide latitude to steal emails. A Microsoft representative said the engineer's account had been hit using "token-stealing malware" but did not provide further detail about the incident or its timing. Beijing has previously described the allegation that it stole emails from top U.S. officials as "groundless narratives."

Persons: Kacper, Gina Raimondo, China Nicholas Burns, East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink, Raphael Satter, Jonathan Oatis, Sandra Maler, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S . State, Commerce, Microsoft, Microsoft Corp, State, East Asia, Embassy, Thomson Locations: China, Washington, Beijing

☆ Exclusive: AI chip startup d-Matrix raises $110 mln with backing from Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Max A. Cherney | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia's (NVDA.O) dominant position in the AI chip market due to a powerful combination of hardware and software has scared off potential investors in some startups, according to sources Reuters interviewed. "This is capital that understands what it takes to build a semiconductor business," CEO Sid Sheth told Reuters. The company designs the chips with digital "in-memory compute" that enables AI computer code to run more efficiently. The company's chip technology uses less energy to crunch data required to spit out generative AI responses, and is optimized for such tasks. Microsoft has committed to evaluating the chip for its own use when it launches next year, Sheth told Reuters.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Sid Sheth, Santa Clara, Sheth, Sasha Ostojic, Max A, Stephen Coates Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft Corp, Reuters, Nvidia, Temasek, Palo, Playground Global, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: Singapore, Palo Alto , California, Santa, San Francisco

☆ Nvidia's market cap climbs amid tech turbulence in August
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Nvidia's shares surged last month, boosted by its quarterly revenue forecast, which exceeded analyst expectations as the artificial intelligence boom fuels demand for its chips. The market capitalization of Apple (AAPL.O) and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) shares declined 4.4% and 2.4%, respectively, while Meta Platforms Inc's shares fell 7.1%. Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKa.N) market cap rose over 2% last month, as its shares touched a record high after the company's quarterly operating profit topped $10 billion for the first time. Reuters GraphicsIn China, Tencent Holdings'(0700.HK) market cap declined about 9% last month, as its core gaming business experienced weaker-than-expected growth in the quarter through June.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, behemoths, Apple, Johnson, Patturaja Murugaboopathy, Gaurav Dogra Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Nvidia, Reuters, Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway's, Reuters Graphics, Tencent Holdings, HK, Thomson Locations: Berkshire, China, U.S, Bengaluru

Companies Microsoft Corp FollowSalesforce Inc FollowBRUSSELS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) will unbundle its chat and video app Teams from its Office product and make it easier for rival products to work with its software, the U.S. company said on Thursday in a move aimed at staving off a possible EU antitrust fine. The proposed changes came after a month after the European Commission launched an investigation into Microsoft's tying of Office and Teams following a complaint by Salesforce-owned (CRM.N) workspace messaging app Slack in 2020. Microsoft's preliminary concessions failed to address concerns. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Foo Yun Chee, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Microsoft, U.S ., European Commission, Salesforce, Thomson Locations: U.S

Terry Gou, Foxconn founder announces his bid for the Taiwan presidency during a press event in Taipei, Taiwan August 28, 2023. Before he announced his bid to run as an independent on Monday, Gou had sought the KMT ticket for the presidency but failed. But his direct language, along with his business acumen, has drawn crowds in pseudo-campaign events across Taiwan that Gou held in the run-up to his announcement. He showed me how to use the touch screen on the spot," Gou said in 2011 about his relationship with Jobs. Gou told Trump he wanted to be a peacemaker between Taiwan, China and the U.S. as Taiwan's president.

Persons: Terry Gou, Ann Wang, Taiwan's Terry Gou, Democratic Progressive Party's, Gou, Sung Wen, APPLE Gou, Foxconn, Steve Jobs, Jobs, reverentially, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, Trump, Ben Blanchard, Yimou Lee, Sarah Wu, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Apple Inc, Foxconn, Democratic Progressive, DPP, Kuomintang, KMT, Taiwan People's Party, National University's Taiwan Studies, APPLE, Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, Chicago, Atari, Dell, Apple, Sony Corp, Nintendo Co, Microsoft Corp, Communists, Communist Party's, Thomson Locations: Taiwan, Taipei, Rights TAIPEI, China, Beijing, Shanxi, Guangdong, People's Republic of China

☆ Who are candidates participating in the first Republican presidential debate?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/9] Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he campaigns at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. August 12, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Ten Republican candidates are seeking their party's nomination to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election. In a sign of his extraordinary hold on his party, just two rivals at the first Republican presidential debate said they would not support him as the nominee if he were convicted. Haley has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative who has the ability to address issues of gender and race in a more credible fashion than many of her peers. Still, his name recognition remains limited outside Arkansas and he earned no support among Republicans polled by Reuters/Ipsos.

Persons: Donald Trump, Evelyn Hockstein, Joe Biden, DONALD TRUMP Donald Trump, Trump, RON DESANTIS, DeSantis, MIKE, Jan, Pence, VIVEK RAMASWAMY, Ramaswamy, NIKKI HALEY, Haley, TIM SCOTT, Scott, ASA HUTCHINSON, Hutchinson, CHRIS CHRISTIE Christie, Trump's, Christie, DOUG BURGUM Burgum, HURD, Hurd, Suarez, Susan Heavey, Ross Colvin, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Republican, Fair, REUTERS, Rights, Democratic, Justice Department, Twitter, Trump, U.S, Capitol, Christian, White, United Nations, Biden, Republican Party, TIM, Black Republican U.S, Reuters, ASA, White House, New, Republicans, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: Iowa, Des Moines , Iowa, U.S, China, Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Jersey, Texas

☆ VMware, Nvidia target businesses that want their own AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the VMware cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. VMware, which is close to being acquired by chip firm Broadcom Inc (AVGO.O) in a $69 billion deal, makes software that corporations use to run their privately owned data centers. On Tuesday, the company released a new set of tools help designed to manage Nvidia chips, which dominate the market for AI systems that can read and write text in human-like ways. But some VMware customers want to do that work in their own data centers when the data is sensitive. The company declined to say how it will be priced, other than saying that the cost will be based on how many Nvidia chips the customer uses the software to manage.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Raghu Raghuram, Raghuram, Stephen Nellis, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: VMware, REUTERS, VMware Inc, Nvidia Corp, Broadcom Inc, Nvidia, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: San Francisco

☆ Fintech firm Ramp raises $300 mln at lowered valuation of $5.8 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Aug 22 (Reuters) - Ramp, a developer of financial management software, has raised $300 million in its latest funding round to accelerate expansion in new categories, the company said on Tuesday, notching up a valuation of $5.8 billion. The new funding is at a lower valuation from the $8.1 billion achieved by the New-York based startup in a funding round last year, a spokesperson of the company confirmed. The latest funding round was co-led by Thrive Capital and Sands Capital along with existing investors Founder's Fund and General Catalyst among others. Previous investors in the fintech include Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella, Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Redpoint Ventures and Thrive Capital. The financial management company intends to expand its software into adjacent categories in an attempt to make customer's businesses more "efficient", said Chief Executive Officer Eric Glyman.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Goldman Sachs, Eric Glyman, Pritam Biswas, Shailesh Organizations: New, Sands Capital, Founder's Fund, Catalyst, Microsoft Corp, Redpoint Ventures, Thomson Locations: York, Bengaluru

☆ Factbox: Who is participating in this week's Republican presidential debate?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Susan Heavey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., August 19, 2023. The former president dominates the field, with his indictments in four separate criminal cases boosting his popularity among Republican voters, and has said there is little political upside for him to debate his rivals. The political outsider has stoked grassroots chatter as a potential alternative to Trump and garnered 7% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. She has about 5% support among Republican voters in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Hutchinson, 72, has touted his experience leading the deeply conservative state as proof he can deliver on policies Republican voters care about, citing tax cuts and job creation initiatives.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Brian Snyder, Donald Trump, Republican Party's, Trump, RON DESANTIS, MIKE, Pence, VIVEK RAMASWAMY, Ramaswamy, NIKKI HALEY, Haley, TIM SCOTT, Scott, ASA HUTCHINSON, Hutchinson, Ipsos, CHRIS CHRISTIE Chris Christie, Trump's, Christie, DOUG BURGUM Burgum, Susan Heavey, Nathan Layne, Joseph Ax, Ross Colvin, Deepa Babington, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Republican, Florida, REUTERS, Rights, Republican National Committee, RNC, Twitter, Trump, U.S . Capitol, Christian, Reuters, United Nations, Biden, Republican Party, TIM, Black Republican U.S, ASA, White House, New, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: Manchester , New Hampshire, U.S, DeSantis, Florida, Pence, Indiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Jersey

☆ Who qualifies for the Republican debate that Trump is skipping?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Susan Heavey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Here is a list of 2024 Republican hopefuls who appear to be on track to qualify for the debate:DONALD TRUMPTrump dominates the Republican presidential field, and his indictments in four separate criminal cases have only turbo-charged his popularity among Republican voters. DeSantis is Trump's top rival but remains far behind the former president in opinion polls - he stands at just 13% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. The political outsider has excited a lot of grassroots chatter as a potential alternative to Trump and garnered 7% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. She has about 5% support among Republican voters in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Christie saw no support among Republicans in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, which has a credibility interval of about 6 percentage points.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Brian Snyder, Donald Trump, Republican Party's, Tucker Carlson, Ronna McDaniel, DONALD TRUMP Trump, Trump, RON DESANTIS, MIKE, Pence, VIVEK RAMASWAMY, Ramaswamy, NIKKI HALEY, Haley, TIM SCOTT, Scott, ASA HUTCHINSON, Hutchinson, Ipsos, CHRIS CHRISTIE Chris Christie, Trump's, Christie, DOUG BURGUM Burgum, Susan Heavey, Nathan Layne, Joseph Ax, Ross Colvin, Deepa Babington Organizations: Republican, Florida, REUTERS, Rights, Fox News, Sunday, Twitter, Trump, U.S . Capitol, Christian, Reuters, United Nations, Biden, Republican Party, TIM, Black Republican U.S, ASA, White House, New, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: Manchester , New Hampshire, U.S, Milwaukee , Wisconsin, Georgia, DeSantis, Florida, Pence, Indiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Jersey

☆ Microsoft's role in data breach part of US cyber inquiry -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California U.S. November 7, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File PhotoCompanies Microsoft Corp FollowAug 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. cybersecurity advisory panel will investigate risks in cloud computing that will also include Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) role in the recent breach of government department email systems by suspected Chinese hackers, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. That access was used to spy on the communications of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and senior State Department diplomats. The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee last week said it was opening an investigation into China's suspected involvement in recent breaches of Commerce and State department email systems. Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Lucy Nicholson, Ron Wyden, Gina Raimondo, CISA, Gokul, Himani Sarkar, Jamie Freed Organizations: Microsoft, Los Angeles , California U.S, REUTERS, Bloomberg, Federal Trade Commission, Infrastructure Security Agency, Justice Department, U.S . Commerce, State Department, U.S . House, Commerce, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S, Oregon, Bengaluru

☆ GQG Partners adds Nvidia, Amazon, Apple in Q2
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A view of a Nvidia logo at their headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File PhotoNEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Australia-listed investment firm GQG Partners added more shares of Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) in the second quarter, ending June with $5.9 billion invested in the chipmaker, according to regulatory filings on Friday. Shares in Nvidia are up roughly 180% year to date and reached $1 trillion in market capitalization, amid excitement over advancements in artificial intelligence. GQG held 13.9 million shares of Nvidia at the end of June, or 5.7 million more than it did on March 31. Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ann Wang, Rajiv Jain, GQG, Carolina Mandl, Deepa Babington Organizations: REUTERS, GQG Partners, Nvidia Corp, Nvidia, Reuters, Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Carolina, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, Australia, Fort Lauderdale , Florida, New York

Google (GOOGL.O) had asked for summary judgment on all the government's claims in the case, which is to go to trial next month. Google said Friday it appreciated the court's "careful consideration and decision to dismiss claims regarding the design of Google Search" in the case brought by the state attorneys general. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong praised the decision to allow the states Google search antitrust suit to proceed to trial. Mehta noted Google LLC operates the largest U.S. internet general search engine whose "brand name has become so ubiquitous that dictionaries recognize it as a verb." He noted Google in 2020 had nearly 90% market share and advertisers spend over $80 billion annually alone to reach general search users.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Judge Amit Mehta, Google's, Mehta, William Tong, Tong, Trump, Judge Mehta, Diane Bartz, David Shepardson, Mark Porter, Diane Craft Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Justice Department, Big Tech, Microsoft Corp, Apple, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Verizon, Mozilla, Justice, Department, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, WASHINGTON, U.S, Washington, Connecticut, Virginia

☆ Microsoft is touting the size and growth rate of its Salesforce rival Dynamics
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft still isn't disclosing the size of its Azure business, providing only the growth rate for the cloud business and leaving investors guessing how its revenue compares to Amazon and Google . But in its much smaller Dynamics business, which includes software for salespeople, marketers and customer-service agents, Microsoft has suddenly opted for greater transparency. In its annual report to investors last week, Microsoft disclosed Dynamics revenue in a table alongside other products for the first time. He also noted that Microsoft Sales Copilot, a tool capable of writing business-oriented email drafts, integrates with Dynamics as well as Salesforce's software. Partly motivated by Microsoft's AI capabilities, some companies are switching to Dynamics from Salesforce, said Manny Medina, CEO of sales software startup Outreach.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Flipkart, Nadella, Manny Medina, Medina, Salesforce, Bret Taylor, Marc Benioff, they're, Doug Burgum, Adam Mansfield, Mansfield Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, Google, Dynamics, Products, Cloud Services, Technology, IDC, Oracle, SAP, CNBC, Industry, Marketing, Commerce Cloud, Plains Software, North, Republican Locations: Mumbai, India, MSFT, Marketing Cloud, Commerce, North Dakota, Great Plains

☆ Microsoft warns of service disruptions if it can’t get enough A.I. chips for its data centers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., during the company's Ignite Spotlight event in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Microsoft is emphasizing to investors that graphics processing units are a critical raw material for its fast-growing cloud business. OpenAI relies on Microsoft's Azure cloud to perform the computations for ChatGPT and various AI models, as part of a complex partnership. Those efforts and the interest in ChatGPT have led Microsoft to seek more GPUs than it had expected. Microsoft has begun looking outside its own data centers to secure enough capacity, signing an agreement with Nvidia-backed CoreWeave, which rents out GPUs to third-party developers as a cloud service.

Persons: Satya Nadella, chatbot, Jensen Huang, ChatGPT, Amy Hood, Rowe's Dom Rizzo Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, Nvidia, AMD Locations: Seoul, South Korea

☆ Microsoft to supply AI tech to Japan government -Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

TOKYO, July 27 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) will provide artificial intelligence technology to the Japanese government after enhancing the processing power of its data centres located within the country, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday. Japan's Digital Agency will make the technology developed by Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI available on a trial basis from the autumn for tasks such as preparing minutes and analysing government statistics, Nikkei said. The roll-out would be the first such overseas deployment for Microsoft's technology outside of Europe, Nikkei said. Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sam Nussey, Tom Hogue Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Nikkei, Japan's Digital Agency, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Europe

☆ Why we're raising our price target on Microsoft despite a softer revenue outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Revenues beat across the board, Azure's revenue growth decelerated in line with expectations, and companywide operating margins expanded nicely from last year. But total revenues fell a little less than expected, at 4%, mostly due to a 12% decline in Windows OEM revenue and a 18% drop in devices revenue growth. Gaming revenue grew 2%, with Xbox content and services revenue up 6%, offset by a 13% decline in Xbox hardware. In the productivity and business processes segment, revenue increased about 10% from last year thanks to a 15% increase in Office 365 Commercial Revenue growth. Microsoft sees Azure revenue growing 25% to 26% in constant currency, including roughly 2 points from all Azure AI services.

Persons: Amy Hood, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Satya Nadella, Flipkart, Nadella, Amit Madheshiya Organizations: Microsoft, Revenue, Refinitiv, Revenues, Services, Activision Blizzard, Office Consumer Products, Nvidia, CNBC, Microsoft Corp, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: Mumbai, India

☆ Global shares slip, dollar soars vs yen on BoJ policy expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 19, 2023. The yen weakened 1.19% to 141.77 per dollar, while the dollar index , a measure of the greenback against major trading currencies, rose 0.31%. "None of them are happening with massive severity, but the longer we go on with higher rates, more and more that's going to come through," he said. BOJ policymakers prefer to scrutinize more data to ensure wages and inflation keep rising before changing yield control policy, five sources familiar with the matter said. "Markets were building up expectations which now look unlikely to play out," said Guillaume Paillat, a multi-asset manager at Aviva Investors.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, BoJ, Dow, Garrett Melson, Mullarkey, Patrick Spencer, Guillaume Paillat, Brent, Herbert Lash, Naomi Rovnick, Stella Qiu, Conor Humphries, David Holmes, Marguerita Choy, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Fed, ECB, Reuters, Bank of Japan, U.S . Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Nasdaq, Investment, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, SLC Management, Baird, Microsoft, Apple, NYSE, Aviva Investors, Treasury, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Boston, London, MSCI's U.S, Europe, China, Sydney

Gold prices slipped as the dollar rebounded to its highest level in more than a week as investors prepare for next week's big central bank policy meetings, including the BoJ, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. The yen weakened 1.13% to 141.68 per dollar, while the dollar index , a measure of the greenback against major trading currencies, rose 0.36%. BoJ policymakers prefer to scrutinize more data to ensure wages and inflation keep rising before changing yield control policy, five sources familiar with the matter said. The report added there was no consensus within the central bank and the decision could still be a close call. As Japanese inflation has stayed above the BoJ's target, traders have bet on the central bank ditching its yield curve control program, a move likely to cause the yen to strengthen.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, BoJ, Garrett Melson, Patrick Spencer, Spencer, you've, Guillaume Paillat, Brent, Herbert Lash, Naomi Rovnick, Stella Qiu, Conor Humphries, David Holmes, Marguerita Choy Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Fed, ECB, Reuters, Bank of Japan, U.S . Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Investment, Nasdaq, Baird, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, NYSE, Aviva Investors, Treasury, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Boston, Europe, China, London

☆ FTC to pause Microsoft-Activision merger trial, Bloomberg reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 20 (Reuters) - The US Federal Trade Commission is poised to pause its in-house trial against Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) opening the door to potential settlement talks, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Microsoft and FTC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Mrinmay Dey, Shailesh Organizations: US Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Bloomberg, FTC, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have mounted an unprecedented number of legal challenges to mergers since Biden came to office in 2021. The Justice Department lost a merger in the insurance industry but won an effort to stop a book publisher merger. Deal advisers said companies had already braced for a tough antitrust regime under Biden and some had been emboldened by the regulators' recent court losses. "The (regulators' guidelines) do provide more transparency but that transparency also reveals some concerns that they are quite hostile to consolidation. The new antitrust guidelines also reflect the White House's focus on labor issues.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Joe Biden's, Biden, Department's, Kenneth Schwartz, Flom, Fiona Schaeffer, Milbank, Elizabeth Warren, Warren, Diane Bartz, Richard Chang, Chizu Nomiyama, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, U.S . Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard Inc, FTC, Meta, Justice Department, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines Inc, Amazon.com, Amazon, Flom LLP, Global, LSEG, Intelligence, Democrat, Congress, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, WASHINGTON, Skadden, Slate

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is expanding its suite of free security tools for customers, the software company said on Wednesday, following criticism that it was charging clients to protect themselves against Microsoft's mistakes. Microsoft's previous practice of charging for advanced versions of those tools has come under widespread criticism, especially following the recently disclosed hack at the U.S. State and Commerce Departments. That hack - which Microsoft later acknowledged was down to a breach and coding flaws - was only discovered because one of the victims spotted an anomaly while reviewing their digital logs. In a statement released alongside Microsoft's blog post, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency official Eric Goldstein said that "everyone wins" when security tools are provided free of charge. Charging for those tools "is a recipe for inadequate visibility into investigating cybersecurity incidents," Goldstein said.

Persons: Eric Goldstein, Goldstein, Raphael Satter, Josie Kao Organizations: Microsoft Corp, U.S, Microsoft, U.S . State, Commerce, Infrastructure Security Agency, Thomson

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