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☆ Trump's growing list of indictments is the biggest political storyline of a generation — but does anyone care?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But as the arraignment played out on Thursday, it felt like we had all been there before. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Trump was arraigned on Thursday over charges related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But compared to his two impeachments and the made-for-TV Capitol riot hearings — all of which accused Trump of serious wrongdoing — the most recent indictment and arraignment felt largely humdrum. But in this case, he's a former president charged with trying to change the outcome of an unfavorable election.

Persons: Trump, Donald Trump, he's, John Lauro, Biden, Charlie Savage, yawning, homed, Martha MacCallum, Andrew McCarthy, we've, Joe Biden Organizations: Service, White, Capitol, Trump, CNN, Truth, Justice Department, New York Times, Fox News, GOP, Monmouth University Locations: Wall, Silicon, Manhattan, Georgia

☆ Bank of Ireland raises full-year forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBLIN, July 31 (Reuters) - Bank of Ireland (BIRG.I) raised its full-year guidance on Monday and expects net interest income in the second half of the year to be marginally higher than the first when a 68% year-on-year jump drove a more than doubling in profits. The bank reported a 1.2 billion euro ($1.1 billion) first-half underlying profit before tax versus 435 million euros a year ago when it was still operating in a negative interest rate environment. The European Central Bank has since lifted borrowing costs by a combined 425 basis points. Ireland's largest lender by assets said its business income for the rest of the year is expected to be broadly in-line with the first half, when it rose 23% and that its full year return on tangible equity (ROTE) would be similar to the 18.5% posted in the first half. ($1 = 0.9083 euros)Reporting by Padraic Halpin, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Padraic Halpin, Louise Heavens Organizations: DUBLIN, Bank of Ireland, European Central Bank, Thomson

☆ BBVA plans 1 bln euro buy-back as Mexico, Spain drive profits
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jesús Aguado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Spanish bank also announced a 1 billion euro share buy-back programme. It follows a smaller additional share buy-back earlier this year and a 3.2 billion euro programme it completed in 2022. In the case of Caixabank, the new buy-back programme follows a 1.8 billion euros share buy-back in 2022. In Mexico, the bank's net profit rose 32% while net interest income climbed 38%. In Spain, net profit more than tripled versus a year earlier while NII was up 51%.

Persons: BBVA's, Jefferies, NII, Jesús Aguado, Emma Pinedo, Inti Landauro, Jason Neely, Robert Birsel Organizations: BBVA, Reuters, Thomson Locations: MADRID, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Caixabank, Turkish

☆ Caixabank's quarterly net profit jumps 48%, announces 500 mln euro share buy-back
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jesús Aguado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The country's biggest lender by domestic assets reported a net profit of 1.28 billion euros ($1.41 billion), ahead of 1.16 billion euros analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. The bank also announced a 500 million euro share buy-back programme that would begin before the end of 2023 and is aimed at distributing capital above the 12% threshold. Last year, the lender bought back 1.8 billion euros of shares. Caixabank's net interest income, earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 60.7% year-on-year in the quarter to 2.44 billion euros, above the 2.29 billion euros analysts expected. The lender also said that recent commercial trends implied upside over its more than 30% growth guidance for net interest income in 2023.

Persons: Caixabank, Jesús Aguado, Inti Landauro, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Thomson Locations: NII, MADRID, Banks, Europe

☆ Sabadell doubles Q2 net profit, lifts guidance for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Jesús Aguado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Spain's fourth-largest bank by market value reported a net profit of 359 million euros ($398 million) for April-June, compared with 179 million euros in the same period last year. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a net profit of 287 million euros. TSB's net interest income (NII) - earnings on loans minus deposit costs - grew 9.7% year-on-year in the quarter. Sabadell's NII in the quarter rose 30% year-on-year to 1.17 billion euros. Domestic rival Unicaja (UNI.MC) said its net profit rose by around 6% year-on-year in the second quarter, also supported by higher financial margins.

Persons: Spain's, Leopoldo Alvear, Alvear, Sabadell's, Unicaja, Jesús Aguado, Emma Pinedo, Miral Fahmy, Mark Potter, Susan Fenton Organizations: Bank, Sabadell, Reuters, British, TSB, Barclays, Thomson Locations: MADRID, Sabadell, Spain

☆ Wales Has a Prince, But It Has Never Hosted a British Open
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Alan Blinder | More About Alan Blinder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Still near enough to peek through, though, was the Welsh coast, a handful of long tee shots across the estuary. The British Open, scheduled to conclude on Sunday, may never come closer to Wales. First played when Queen Victoria was on the throne, the Open is a national rite that has encompassed only so much of the nation: Unlike England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales has not hosted it. With sites through 2026 already selected and Wales still left out, the drought will last at least as long as the first 154 Opens. By then, Northern Ireland, which did not welcome a modern Open until 2019, will have had another.

Persons: Queen Victoria, ”, Ken Organizations: Royal Liverpool Golf, British, Wales, Welsh Parliament Locations: Welsh, Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Britain

☆ Threads: An Early Vibe Check
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I come to you with a breaking news vibes report from Threads, the new Twitter clone that Mark Zuckerberg unveiled on Wednesday. It has already signed up 30 million users, according to Zuckerberg, and appears to be the most rapidly downloaded app ever. “Can’t get enough of your threads,” the actress Jennifer Lopez said in a Threads post. For an app that has caused a lot of drama — Twitter is already threatening legal action — the user experience feels basic, even rote. If there’s a dominant topic of conversation, it’s how weird it is to be on Threads.

Persons: Madison, I’ve, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, you’ve, Olivia Rodrigo, Al Roker, Slim Jim, Wendy’s, MrBeast, “ Can’t, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, ”, Ellen DeGeneres Organizations: Twitter, Elon

☆ Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls: Delta, Netflix, Pinterest, Nvidia, Pepsi, Deere, Nike and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Goldman Sachs reiterates Snowflake as buy Goldman said it's standing by its buy rating after the company's investor day. JPMorgan reiterates Pepsi as overweight JPMorgan said Pepsi is a "safe haven" heading into earnings in July. Wells Fargo upgrades Pinterest to overweight from equal weight Wells Fargo said it sees "above-consensus revenue growth" for Pinterest. Deutsche Bank downgrades Walgreens to hold from buy Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock after its disappointing earnings results earlier this week. Deutsche Bank initiates Western Alliance as hold Deutsche Bank said the regional bank's "funding pressures persist."

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Snowflake, it's, Wells, Wells Fargo, Daiwa downgrades Uber, EBITDA, Deere, Canaccord, Oppenheimer, Morgan Stanley, CarMax, Needham, CFRA, KeyBanc Organizations: Nvidia, JPMorgan, Pepsi, Nike, Netflix, Deutsche Bank, Walgreens, RBC, Western Alliance, KMX, Delta, Barclays, Bank of America, Old Dominion, of America, Dominion, ZoomInfo Technologies, Lincoln, EV Locations: China, NVDA, Canada, Old

☆ Restaurant Review: Superiority Burger Has the Courage of Its Quirks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Pete Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At times Superiority Burger can seem to be composed entirely of unnecessary grace notes, arbitrary ambitions and whispered messages that may or may not be understood. (Why, when you go to the restroom, do you hear the jingles that play when the doors close on the Tokyo subway?) Cementing all this willful oddity together, though, are solid, mainstream restaurant values. The servers, who seem to be having as much fun as anybody, are serious about helping you get the most out of your meal. Superiority Burger isn’t just more enjoyable than fast-casual chains, which isn’t hard.

Persons: Burger, It’s Locations: Tokyo

☆ It's only a matter of time before A.I. chatbots are teaching in primary schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Mikaela Cohen | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

AI is already sending waves throughout education, with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates saying AI chatbots can teach kids to read in 18 months rather than years. Younger generations are surrounded by digital tools, and experts say it's only a matter of time before classrooms are immersed in AI. AI for routine learning, teachers for personalized lessonsAI, and specifically chatbots backed by programmed large language models, can help students, from primary education to certification programs, self-guide through voluminous materials and tailor their education to specific learning styles. With the rise of AI, teachers can transition from being a general practitioner to more of a specialist, where they can focus on helping kids with particular issues and specific concepts, he added. AI can also help teachers leverage existing knowledge and content, so they can repurpose it and dramatically reduce their workload, Guo said.

Persons: Bill Gates, Sarah Guo, Danny King, King, Guo, It's Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Harvard, MIT Locations: McGraw

☆ Bad Bunny asks for reggaeton copyright lawsuit to be thrown out
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Bad Bunny and some of the music industry’s biggest stars want a lawsuit that alleges copyright infringement of a 1989 song thrown out of court. Lawyers from Freundlich Law representing Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, known as the superstar Bad Bunny, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Thursday, arguing the musical elements in question don’t fall under copyright protection. Bad Bunny himself is accused in the lawsuit of copyright infringement for 77 songs, the motion said. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2021. Stars from Taylor Swift to Led Zeppelin have been involved in legal battles over their music.

Persons: Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, Bad Bunny, Clevie, Wycliffe Johnson, Cleveland Browne, Shabba, ” Johnson, Bad, Pryor Cashman, Pitbull, Justin Bieber, Karol G, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Jason Derulo, J Blavin, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Becky G, Rosalia, Diplo, ”, Pitbull’s Mr, Ed Sheeran’s, Marvin Gaye, ” Pryor Cashman, Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Zeppelin Organizations: New, New York CNN, Freundlich Law, WK Records, CNN Locations: New York, Jamaican, Ozuna, Manhattan

☆ The CEO of pharma giant Eli Lilly shares 3 ways AI could transform his industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The CEO of Eli Lilly said he expects AI to massively change the productivity of the workplace. According to David Ricks, the CEO of the pharma giant Eli Lilly, the technology has the potential to upend the industry. Ricks told Insider that AI is "one of the most exciting technological moves" he's seen in a long time. Three ways Lilly wants to use AIRicks said he sees three main ways Lilly and the larger biopharma space could use AI. In May, Lilly announced a $250 million partnership with pharmaceutical-technology company XtalPi to uncover new potential drugs using AI.

Persons: Eli Lilly, David Ricks, Ricks, It's, Lilly Organizations: Biotech, pharma, Morning

☆ ‘Primary Trust’ Review: Sipping Mai Tais, Until Bitter Reality Knocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Naveen Kumar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

(“Primary Trust” doubles as the name of Kenneth’s new employer, and an abbreviated metaphor for what was lost when his mother died.) As in her superstore dark comedy “Paris,” presented by Atlantic Theater Company in 2020, Booth again probes the half-dread of working-class Black characters in a one-freeway-exit corner of the Northeast. And though Kenneth’s Blackness is an underlying aspect of his experience, it is not the acute source of his alienation. Booth’s one-man study is wonderfully vivid, but there’s only so much emotional engagement that the unburdening of feelings, rather than their enactment or discovery, can inspire. Her other characters are far more loosely sketched: Sanders and Matthis turn small roles, rich with concise, sideways detail, into four-course meals, paradoxically making them feel underused.

☆ Here are 10 AI-powered tools to help boost your productivity at work
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

ChatGPT isn't the only AI-powered tool that can help make your job easier. Here are 10 that can help with everything from generating slideshows to writing emails. Tome: Building slide decksIf you make a lot of PowerPoints for work, the app Tome can help you do it faster. Managing your inbox can be a pretty tedious time-suck, but tools like Remail might help you get through emails more efficiently. Brain.fm, an AI-generated music tool, can help users stay on task.

☆ I tried of the best AI productivity tools for a week to make my job easier. Here are the 2 I've kept using, and the 2 that made my life harder.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Labor experts agree that AI tools can make workers more productive. Insider's Aaron Mok tested 4 AI tools for a week to see if they can boost productivity. AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT have taken the world by storm — and workers are using them to make their jobs easier. Many experts agree that AI tools can boost productivity, and people have already used ChatGPT and other AI tools to generate articles, write code, and produce real estate listings in attempts to save time. AI tools will not do your job, but they can make it easier if you spend time learning how to use themAfter playing with these tools for a week, I realized that there's a learning curve.

And so whenever I get one of those notifications, I know I’m going to have a good time there. kevin roose[LAUGHS]: I actually don’t think I could’ve told you what IBM stood for. kevin rooseSo I’ve thought a lot and written a lot about how and when AI actually is a threat to jobs. The third category is just the jobs that I think are going to be protected, the jobs that we won’t let AI do. But I don’t actually think the speed of it matters at all.

☆ HSBC vote gives Ping An a fresh shove towards exit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Ping An Insurance (601318.SS) is having an underwhelming week. Instead, HSBC’s results were decent and the AGM resolution was crushed. True, 20% of votes cast went in favour of plans for a strategic review each quarter which could assess whether to spin off HSBC’s key Asian arm, and to reinstate the bank’s pre-Covid dividend. Ping An could continue to chunter away at HSBC boss Noel Quinn from the sidelines. Throw in the lack of investor support implied by the vote, and Ping An’s essential choice – to pipe down or to sell its stake – has become ever more stark.

☆ AIB upgrades guidance after 70% jump in first quarter income
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Padraic Halpin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies Bank increases FY net interest income guidance by 10%New savings products to be introduced in H2CFO comfortable with market consensus for 2024, 2025DUBLIN, May 4 (Reuters) - Ireland's largest mortgage lender AIB (AIBG.I) revised its full year guidance upwards across the board on Thursday after its total income jumped 70% year-on-year in the first quarter due to record increases in official interest rates. The bank said it expects net interest income of 3.3 billion euros this year versus the 3 billion guided in March, increased its net interest margin forecast to above 2.70% from 2.40% and forecast 2023 return on tangible equity (ROTE) to be a high-teens percentage. A 215 million euro direct share buyback last week cut the government's stake in the bank to 53%. The bank's net interest margin (NIM), a key metric showing the profitability of its lending, rose to 2.78% in the first quarter versus 1.45% a year ago when it was still operating in a negative interest rate environment. AIB Chief Financial Officer Donal Galvin said the market consensus for NIMs of 2.40% and 2.50% in 2024 and 2025 seemed reasonable.

Royal Bank of Canada analysts said the results pointed to a strong performance at BNP's trading arm and good cost control. In securities trading, revenue edged down 1.8% but still performed better than some peers including Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), which saw fixed-income trading decline by 17% in the first quarter. At U.S. bank Goldman Sachs, first-quarter sales from fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) trading, usually a bright spot, plunged 17% to $3.93 billion, while equity trading revenue sank 7% to $3.02 billion. The first quarter net income, group share amounted to 4.44 billion euros, in line with expectations, and up from 1.84 billion a year earlier. The first tranche of 2.5 billion euros was approved in March, a sign analysts deemed reassuring as it took place shortly after the collapse of Credit Suisse.

☆ It's not AI that is going to take you job, but someone who knows how to use AI might, economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AI won't take your job — if you know how to use it, economist Richard Baldwin said at the World Economic Forum's Growth Summit. He believes AI can uplift the middle class and will affect every job. "AI won't take your job," Baldwin said during a panel at the 2023 World Economic Forum's Growth Summit. Baldwin's thoughts on AI come as generative AI tools like ChatGPT have sparked debate over whether the tech will replace jobs. Given the meteoric rise of generative AI tools, it's only a matter of time before rote tasks will be eliminated.

☆ Opinion | We Are Opening the Lids on Two Giant Pandora’s Boxes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Thomas L. Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Well, if you are most worried about China beating America in A.I., you want to turbocharge our A.I. If you want to truly democratize A.I., you might want to open-source its code. systems will compound discrimination, privacy violations and other divisive societal harms, the way social networks do, you want regulations now. That last danger is real enough that on Monday Geoffrey Hinton, one of the pioneering designers of A.I. “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” Hinton told The Times’s Cade Metz.

☆ For a Bride With Chronic Illness, a Wedding Cut Short
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Fortesa Latifi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I didn’t picture us getting married as much as I pictured us being married. In that picture, Alex wasn’t stopping by the pharmacy on his way home from work to pick up my medications. I wasn’t rationing pills depending on my pain level, and he wasn’t holding my hand when I cried over yet another failed intervention. The future I saw was spotless, unmarred by chronic illness — but our union was imminent and I was still sick. My internal monologue in the weeks leading up to our wedding was filled with my fears and, therefore, exhausting.

Now, a Japanese city is turning to the AI chatbot for something else: helping to run the government. Yokosuka City, in Japan’s central Kanagawa prefecture, announced this week that it will begin using ChatGPT to help with administrative tasks. In the face of these population problems, the city turned to ChatGPT to enhance efficiency and establish a better workflow within government operations, said the spokesperson. The scramble by rival tech companies to develop their own AI tools has also highlighted the ways AI can spit out racist, sexist and harmful content. At the bottom of the document, a single line read: “This release was drafted by ChatGPT and proofread by our staff.”

☆ We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck that math education startup Innovamat used to raise $21 million in new funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Innovamat is a Barcelona-based edtech startup that uses a new way of teaching math to K-8 students. Now, the team has raised $21 million in Series A funding and will expand into the US. The idea for Innovamat, a startup focused on developing a new way to teach math to K-8 students, came to the company's cofounders when they were students themselves. In 2015, Dotti and Piedra spent their free time working as engineering and math teachers at their university's neighboring academy, which helps first year students study and pass important qualifying exams. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck that Innovamat used to raise $21 million in Series A funding:

☆ Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can't afford
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

The local utility in charge of overseeing the interconnection process told Pine Gate it would be more than $30 million. Pine Gate had to terminate the project because it couldn't afford the new fees, its vice president of regulatory affairs, Brett White, told CNBC. "Those projects ended up withdrawing from the queue or terminating, because they don't pencil anymore," White told CNBC. "There is Texas, and then there's the rest of the country with respects to interconnection," White of Pine Gate told CNBC. And that means getting those engineers out of some of the rote manual data entry and into the actual analysis," White told CNBC.

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