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☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: UnitedHealth, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, JetBlue and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

JPMorgan Chase — Shares fell slightly even after the bank reported stronger-than-expected results for the second quarter, as it benefited from higher interest rates and better-than-expected bond trading. Wells Fargo — Wells Fargo shares rose slightly after the Wall Street firm topped second-quarter expectations. The Wall Street firm also said AT&T's exposure to cable may limit the upside for shares. Alcoa — The aluminum stock fell 4.9% following a downgrade to neutral from overweight by JPMorgan. Eli Lilly — The pharmaceutical stock rose 3% in midday trading.

Persons: JPMorgan Chase, Wells, UnitedHealth, Eli Lilly, Yun Li, Alex Harring, Sarah Min, Michelle Fox Organizations: JPMorgan, JPMorgan Chase —, Elevance, Citigroup —, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines — JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Microsoft, UBS, Blackrock —, Alcoa, Progressive Locations: Wells, York

☆ Homebuyers must ‘learn to live’ with near-7% mortgage rates, says RE/MAX chairman
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

After all, he recalls the early 1980s when the Federal Reserve’s war on inflation briefly spiked mortgage rates above 18%. “Everyone has been spoiled by the past 15 years of low interest rates,” Liniger, now the chairman of RE/MAX, told CNN. Mortgage rates climbed to 6.96% during the week ending July 13, up from 6.81% the week before, Freddie Mac said Thursday. “We’re just going to have to learn to live with 6.5% or 7% mortgage rates for six to 18 months,” said Liniger. ‘This is the top’Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, is more optimistic about the direction of mortgage rates.

Persons: Dave Liniger, ” Liniger, Freddie Mac, That’s, Liniger, “ We’re, ”, Lawrence Yun, ” Yun, ” Torsten Slok, it’s, Yun, there’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Federal, CNN, National Association of Realtors, Apollo Group Locations: New York, America

☆ China executes kindergarten teacher for poisoning preschoolers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) - A former kindergarten teacher was executed in central China this week after killing one child and injuring 24 others by poisoning their porridge with sodium nitrite four years ago, state media reported on Friday. In March 2019, Wang purchased some sodium nitrite after being involved in a dispute with a fellow teacher. The next morning at the kindergarten she added some of the chemical compound into the children's "eight treasures porridge", the court ruled, according to state media. "Eight treasures porridge" is a sweet-flavoured rice-based porridge which is very popular in China. China executes thousands of people each year, by far and away more than any other country, according to estimates by human rights NGO Amnesty International.

Persons: Wang Yun, Wang, Martin Quin Pollard, Lincoln Organizations: Amnesty International, Beijing, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Henan province, China's Guangdong

☆ Citigroup posts better-than-expected earnings and revenue, shares rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Citigroup shares rose in premarket on Friday after the bank reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that topped expectations. Earnings per share: $1.33 vs. $1.30Revenue: $19.44 billion vs. $19.29 billionShares of Citigroup climbed more than 1% in premarket trading. While beating Street estimates, Citi's revenue dipped 1% from a year ago as the decline in markets and investment banking businesses weighed on the result. "In Banking, the long-awaited rebound in Investment Banking has yet to materialize, making for a disappointing quarter." On the bright side, revenue from personal banking and wealth management increased 6% in the quarter to $6.4 billion driven by strong loan growth.

Persons: Refinitiv, Jane Fraser, Fraser Organizations: Citigroup, P Bank ETF, Citi, Investment Banking Locations: premarket, U.S

REUTERS/Jason Lee/File PhotoTAIPEI, July 14 (Reuters) - China's military has been flexing its muscles this week around Taiwan practicing joint force operations far out at sea, ahead of Taipei holding its annual war games at the end of the month when Taiwan will simulate breaking a Chinese blockade. Chieh Chung, a military researcher at Taiwan's National Policy Foundation think tank, said practicing long-distance missions was important for China as they would be the "main combat mode" in any conflict. "They are expanding military deterrence actions to create a cognitive effect that Taiwan's national defences are useless," the official said. China routinely denounces U.S. military activity in the strait as provocation. "The Eastern Theatre Command are well seasoned, but it's the Southern Theatre Command that needs training for long-distance support," Su said.

Persons: Jason Lee, Chieh Chung, Han Kuang, Tsai Ing, Kevin McCarthy, Xi Jinping, Su Tzu, yun, Su, Yimou Lee, Roger Tung, Yew Lun Tian, Ben Blanchard, Robert Birsel Organizations: Chinese Air Force, REUTERS, Foundation, Taiwan, House, Eastern Theatre Command, U.S . Navy, Institute for National Defence and Security Research, Southern Theatre Command, Thomson Locations: Beijing, TAIPEI, Taiwan, Taipei, China, Philippines, Japan, Borneo, Los Angeles

☆ EU Commission sticks to US economist pick for senior antitrust job
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, July 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission stuck to its guns on Friday, saying it was not reconsidering EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's pick of a U.S. economist to a senior job helping to oversee Big Tech despite criticism from French ministers and EU lawmakers. Fiona Scott Morton, 56, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama's tenure, will take up her three-year stint on Sept. 1 when the current chief economist, Pierre Regibeau, retires. She will be the first non-EU national, first U.S. national and first woman for the job. They cited the strategic importance of the post, potential conflicts of interest due to Scott Morton's previous work with Big Tech, and her previous public antitrust comments. Head of the centre-right group European People's Party Manfred Weber, president of the liberals' group Renew Europe Stephane Sejourne, head of the socialists group Iratxe Garcia Perez and the heads of the green party Philippe Lamberts and Terry Reintke said they opposed the new hire.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager's, Fiona Scott Morton, Barack Obama's, Pierre Regibeau, Vestager, Scott Morton's, Dana Spinant, European People's Party Manfred Weber, Europe Stephane Sejourne, Iratxe Garcia Perez, Philippe Lamberts, Terry Reintke, Scott Morton, Foo Yun Chee, Jan Harvey Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, U.S . Department of Justice, EU, European People's Party, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, U.S, Europe

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Nvidia, Carvana, Disney, Amazon and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Alphabet — The Google-parent company added 4.4% after launching its large-language model, Bard AI, in Brazil and the European Union. Cirrus Logic — The chipmaker fell more than 3% in midday trading after Cirrus announced in an 8K filing plans to slash 5% of its workforce. Nvidia invested $50 million into Recursion to help drive AI-based drug discovery, the company said Wednesday. Progressive — Shares of the insurance company fell about 11% after Progressive reported results for June and the full second quarter.

Persons: Bard, Bob Iger's, Carvana, SoFi, Morgan Stanley, Tobi Lutki, —, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Jesse Pound, Michelle Fox, Alex Harring Organizations: Google, European Union, Cirrus, Nvidia, Disney —, Bank of America, Disney, JPMorgan, Viasat – Viasat, Viasat, Amazon, Progressive Locations: Brazil, Americas

BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - Alphabet (GOOGL.O) said it is rolling out its artificial- intelligence chatbot, Bard, in Europe and Brazil on Thursday, the product's biggest expansion since its February launch and pitting it against Microsoft (MSFT.O)-backed rival ChatGPT. Bard and ChatGPT are human-sounding programs that use generative artificial intelligence to hold conversations with users and answer myriad prompts. Earlier this week, billionaire Elon Musk also launched his long-teased artificial-intelligence startup xAI, whose team includes several former engineers at Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. Krawczyk said Google had since then met the watchdogs to reassure them on issues relating to transparency, choice and control. In a briefing with journalists, Amar Subramanya, engineering vice president of Bard, added that users could opt out of their data being collected.

Persons: Bard, ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Jack Krawczyk, Krawczyk, Amar Subramanya, Subramanya, Foo Yun Chee, Isabel Woodford, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe, Brazil, U.S, Brussels, Mexico

☆ 'Big Short' investor Steve Eisman says stocks will keep on chugging as long as economic data is fine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Steve Eisman of "The Big Short" fame said Thursday that the stock market rally can carry on as long as the economy stays healthy. But it could go on for quite a bit longer because as long as the economic data is OK, I don't see why people are going to sell their stocks." The market ended the first half of the year with flying colors, and it just got another boost this week from softer-than-expected inflation data. So, for the regionals, I don't think earnings have bottomed and I wouldn't even think about buying them until I thought that they had," Eisman said. The widely followed investor also revealed he's betting on "greenification," or companies involved in solar panels, grid improvement and industrials.

Persons: Steve Eisman, Eisman, Neuberger Berman, hasn't, Michael Lewis Organizations: Federal Reserve, Fed

☆ Tom Lee, who nailed the inflation call, reveals what the market needs to hit all-time highs
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Tom Lee, who correctly called the stock market rally after June's softer-than-forecast inflation report, said the S & P 500 could hit new a record high soon — on one condition. "If a recession is not imminent, then I think a lot of folks are offsides and that's what propels markets to all time highs." The widely-followed strategist had predicted Monday that the S & P 500 might jump 100 points following a lighter-than-expected inflation reading. Lee recently raised his year-end S & P 500 target to 4,825, which would put the benchmark at an all-time high. The S & P 500 closed at an all-time high of 4796.56 in early January, 2022.

Persons: Tom Lee, Lee, aren't Organizations: Fundstrat Global Advisors, Pepsico, Delta Air, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Wall Street, CNBC, Federal Reserve Locations: Wells

BRUSSELS/PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) - France's foreign minister and government minister have called EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager to reconsider her appointment of a U.S. economist and former antitrust official to a senior job at the European Commission overseeing Big Tech. Vestager on Tuesday announced the hiring of Fiona Scott Morton, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama's tenure. Scott Morton will take up her post on Sept. 1 when the current chief economist, Pierre Regibeau, retires. French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said she was astonished at the appointment. "I invite the @EU_Commission to reconsider their choice."

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Fiona Scott Morton, Barack Obama's, Scott Morton, Pierre Regibeau, Catherine Colonna, Jean, Noel Barrot, Foo Yun Chee, Conor Humphries Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, Vestager, Tuesday, U.S . Department of Justice, Charles River Associates, DG, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, PARIS, France, Europe

Average 30-year mortgage rates have increased significantly this month, and are around 26 basis points higher compared to June's average rates. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage Refinance Rates TodayMortgage type Average rate today This information has been provided by Zillow. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. Mortgage rates started ticking up from historic lows in the second half of 2021 and increased significantly in 2022. This is a dramatic slowdown compared to recent months, and a sign that mortgage rates will likely start falling soon.

Persons: Lawrence Yun, Freddie Mac, it's Organizations: of Labor Statistics, National Association of Realtors, Zillow Locations: Chevron

☆ EU helping UN, Turkey in bid to extend Black Sea grain deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A Kremlin spokesman later said that Russia had not taken a final decision on whether to exit the grain deal. The European Commission's priority is to ensure that Ukrainian grain can reach the world market and it calls on all parties to extend the Black Sea deal, a European Union spokesperson in Brussels said on Thursday. Russia has threatened to ditch the Black Sea grain deal because several demands to dispatch its own grain and fertilizer abroad have not been met. The last ship traveling under the Black Sea agreement is currently loading its cargo at the Ukrainian port of Odesa ahead of the Monday deadline. Britain has also "worked very closely with the City of London to enable a very complex payment system" for Russian grain, Britain's U.N. ambassador, Barbara Woodward, has said.

Persons: Antonio Guterres, Vladimir Putin, SWIFT, Guterres, Putin, Ursula von der Leyen, Putin's, U.N, Barbara Woodward, Woodward, Michelle Nichols, Foo Yun Chee, Angus MacSwan, Leslie Adler Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, European Commission, United, Black, European Union, Russian Agricultural Bank, Reuters, United Nations, Kremlin, JPMorgan Chase &, reassurances, U.S ., The United Nations, African Export, Import Bank, City, Thomson Locations: United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian, EU, U.N, Moscow, Brussels, Russian, Odesa, Africa, Britain, London

☆ Illumina hit with record $476 million EU antitrust fine over Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummaryCompanies Fine corresponds to 10% of Illumina global turnoverGrail given symbolic 1,000-euro fine for active roleIllumina says fine disproportionate, will appealBRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. genetic testing company Illumina (ILMN.O) was fined a record 432-million-euro ($476 million) by the EU on Wednesday for closing its takeover of cancer test maker Grail (GRAL.O) before securing EU antitrust approval. By closing the deal prematurely, Illumina was able to exercise a decisive influence over Grail, the EU enforcer said, calling the move unprecedented and a very serious infringement. Illumina and Grail knowingly and deliberately did so by implementing their tie-up as we were still investigating," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. The company has challenged the EU veto of the deal, its decision to examine the deal despite not meeting the EU merger criteria and the EU order to keep Grail separate so that it can unwind the deal. It said success in the second case would nullify the EU fine and expects the EU court to rule in late 2023 or early 2024.

Persons: Illumina, Margrethe Vestager, Grail, Ilumina, Foo Yun Chee, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: EU, European Commission, Regulators, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, U.S, EU

☆ Meta to contest EU antitrust charges at July 13 hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta (META.O) will contest EU antitrust charges at a closed hearing on Friday in a bid to stave off a possible hefty fine after regulators charged it with tying its classified advertisements service to its social network, people familiar with the matter said. The European Commission sent a charge sheet to the world's most popular social network last December, singling out two practices that showed that Meta abused its market power. It said Meta's tying of its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace with its social network Facebook gave the former an unfair advantage. It also took issue with Meta's unfair trading conditions imposed on rival online classified ads services which advertise on Facebook or Instagram. Meta declined to comment on the hearing during which senior Commission antitrust officials and their peers from national watchdogs will be present to hear its arguments.

Persons: Tim Lamb, Foo Yun Chee, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Meta, European Commission, Facebook, European, Reuters, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS

☆ Broadcom's $61 billion VMware deal wins conditional EU antitrust OK
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO.O) secured EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its $61 billion proposed acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware (VMW.N) after offering remedies to help rival Marvell Technology (MRVL.O). The deal, Broadcom's largest ever, will help the chipmaker diversify into enterprise software. Broadcom offered Marvell and other rivals interoperability commitments related to its Fibre Channel Host-Bus Adapters (FC HBAs), a kind of storage adapters, the European Commission said, confirming a Reuters story last month. Marvell and other rivals will also have guaranteed access to the source code for all of Broadcom's current and future FC HBA drivers through an irrevocable open source license. "The commitments offered by Broadcom will enable its only rival Marvell, to continue competing on equal footing and ensure a similar protection for any future entrants," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Persons: Marvell, Margrethe Vestager, Foo Yun Chee, Jason Neely Organizations: chipmaker Broadcom, VMware, Marvell Technology, Broadcom, Marvell, Fibre, HBAs, European Commission, Reuters, FC HBAs, FC HBA, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, European Union, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Taiwan

☆ CNBC Pro Talks: A.I. investors share their best stock picks in a roundtable discussion
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCNBC Pro Talks: A.I. investors share their best stock picks in a roundtable discussionArtificial intelligence was one of the main drivers of the first-half rally this year. Enthusiasm around the sector has helped stocks rebound from the 2022 lows in a big way, leaving some wondering if new highs are still to come. In a special CNBC Pro Talks roundtable, top AI investors, Trent Masters, Paul Meeks, Adam Johnson, and special guest, market technician Katie Stockton, give their analysis of some of the best AI stocks and discuss their investment plays for the second half of the year.

Persons: Trent Masters, Paul Meeks, Adam Johnson, Katie Stockton Organizations: CNBC, Trent

☆ Here's an A.I. pure play that could get bought by a megacap tech, says investor Paul Meeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Longtime tech investor Paul Meeks said artificial intelligence pure play C3.ai could be a potential winner as the firm might be a acquisition target for megacap tech companies. "One pure play AI company, C3.ai, probably at some point successfully sells itself to one of the mega tech cap companies," Meeks said on CNBC Pro Talks Wednesday. Siebel sold his prior software company, Siebel Systems, to Oracle for nearly $6 billion in 2006. Three years later, he started C3.ai , a provider of AI solutions to businesses. C3.ai uses AI to predict a host of issues ranging from fraud detection to helping companies optimize their operations.

Persons: Paul Meeks, Meeks, Tom Siebel's, Siebel, Tom Siebel, it's, Baker Hughes Organizations: CNBC Pro, Independent Solutions Wealth Management, Siebel Systems, Oracle, Forbes, U.S . Department of Defense, Shell

☆ Shares of this retailer could get a boost if the 'Barbie' movie is a hit
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Upcoming movie "Barbie" is set to be a blockbuster and can give a boost to retailer Five Below , which is selling a slate of licensed merchandise, according to Roth MKM. "Barbie could generate enough buzz via social media and other avenues to drive incremental traffic to FIVE and incremental spend in the process," analyst David Bellinger said in a note Wednesday. The analyst noted his firm has come across more than 30 licensed Barbie items highlighted on Five Below's website, mostly priced at $5 per item. He expects any incremental traffic and attached spend across the store as a "modest positive." Roth MKM has a buy rating on Five Below and a 12-month price target of $225, which would translate into a 13% gain from Tuesday's close.

Persons: Roth, David Bellinger, Roth MKM, Bellinger, —, Michael Bloom Locations: Tuesday's

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Domino's Pizza, DraftKings, Lucid, SunPower and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The agreement has the potential to add incremental orders from Uber Eats to 70% of Domino's stores, the company said. DraftKings — Shares of the sports betting app rallied about 5% following an upgrade to buy by analysts at Bank of America. Bank stocks — Bank stocks jumped after consumer prices came in lighter than expected. SunPower — Shares jumped 9.4% after the solar power company was upgraded by Raymond James to strong buy from outperform. Beyond Meat shares added 4% in the previous session.

Persons: Uber, DraftKings, it's, Lazard, Jefferies, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, KeyCorp, Lucid, FactSet, Raymond James, Pavel Molchanov, Stellantis, Holley, JPMorgan, Yun Li, Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Michael Bloom Organizations: Domino's, Bank of America, TV, Jefferies, Bank, — Bank, Citigroup, Goldman, Comerica, Acadia Healthcare, Holley Inc, —, JPMorgan Chase Locations: Zions, U.S, New Mexico, Acadia

☆ Amazon launches first Big Tech challenge to EU online content rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon's challenge at the Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe's second highest, is the first by a Big Tech company and came two weeks after German online retailer Zalando (ZALG.DE) sued the European Commission over the same issue. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last year, 19 online platforms and search engines were labelled as very large online platforms (VLOP) as they have more than 45 million users. The VLOP designation requires companies to do more to tackle illegal online content. "If the VLOP designation were to be applied to Amazon and not to other large retailers across the EU, Amazon would be unfairly singled out and forced to meet onerous administrative obligations that don’t benefit EU consumers," an Amazon spokesperson said. "Amazon doesn’t fit this description of a 'Very Large Online Platform’ under the DSA and therefore should not be designated as such," the spokesperson said.

Persons: Foo Yun Chee, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Union, Big Tech, European Commission, Digital Services, EU, Amazon, DSA, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Luxembourg, U.S

☆ Faraday Future interim CFO resigns, firm to restate certain financial reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 11 (Reuters) - Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (FFIE.O) said on Tuesday its interim finance chief has resigned and the company will restate its financial statements for 2022 and the quarter ended March 2023 after it uncovered some errors, highlighting continued turmoil at the electric vehicle firm. The company, which had raised going-concern doubts last year, appointed outsider Jonathan Maroko as its new interim chief financial officer, effective July 24. Faraday Future also said its annual report for 2022, quarters ending September 2022 and March 2023 "should no longer be relied upon" due to certain errors. The company will file restated financial statements and the move will not affect its vehicle delivery timeline, it added. Last month the company secured $90 million funding commitment from existing investors and had in May announced plans to raise $100 million in debt.

Persons: Jonathan Maroko, Yun Han, Faraday, Tesla, Yuvraj Malik, Shailesh Organizations: FF, Lordstown Motors, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ EU to green light Broadcom's VMware deal on Wednesday, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Broadcom is a leading supplier of FC HBAs, which are storage adapters that connect servers to storage located outside the server on a storage-area network using the fiber channel protocol. The VMware deal is Broadcom's largest-ever acquisition as it looks to diversify into enterprise software. The European Commission declined to comment. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the UK competition agency are also examining the deal.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Foo Yun Chee, Mark Porter Organizations: Broadcom, REUTERS, chipmaker Broadcom, VMware, Reuters, HBAs, Marvell Technology, FC HBAs, European, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS

☆ Real estate expert: Mortgage rates won't go back down to 3% 'in my lifetime'—here's why
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Mike Winters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

"One can never truly predict the future, but I don't see mortgage rates returning back to the 3% range in the remainder of my lifetime," he says. If you're a U.S. homebuyer waiting for a return to super-low mortgage rates, don't hold your breath. That's because average 30-year fixed mortgage rates of 3% or less were an anomaly related to the pandemic, lasting from about July 2020 to Nov. 2022. Historically low mortgage rates during the pandemic were "an exceptional measure, during exceptionally uncertain times," says Yun. And with that, mortgage rates rose too.

Persons: —, Lawrence Yun, Freddie Mac, Yun Organizations: National Association of Realtors, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department Locations: U.S, Covid

☆ EU looks to take lead in metaverse world, avoid Big Tech dominance
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Tuesday set out a plan in a bid to take the lead in the metaverse - shared virtual worlds accessible through the internet - and to prevent Big Tech dominating a nascent sphere that could boost economic growth. The EU initiative comes as Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) work on metaverse products or services, prompting fears that the companies may get an unfair advantage over smaller rivals. "We need to have people at the centre and shape it according to our EU digital rights and principles, to address the risks regarding privacy or disinformation. Last week, she said that there are no plans to regulate the metaverse for now but expects the raft of rules enacted in recent years, including privacy, market power and the upcoming artificial intelligence regulation to apply to the new field. Reporting by Foo Yun CheeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Foo Yun Chee Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, EU, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, EU

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