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☆ Live Updates: Another Death Adds to Triple Crown Cloud as Mage Looks to Continue Run
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Melissa Hoppert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The death on Saturday added to the recent toll of horse fatalities surrounding the Triple Crown races, after seven horses died at Churchill Downs in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby earlier this month. His colt National Treasure is a 3-1 morning line choice in the Preakness and could provide the stiffest challenge to Mage, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner. Baffert was suspended after Medina Spirit failed a drug test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Last year, Baffert was serving his Kentucky suspension during the Triple Crown, so the racing commissions in Maryland and New York kept him from the Preakness and the Belmont. After the seven deaths at Churchill Downs ahead of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes officials were taking a cautious approach to pre-race examinations.

☆ Preakness Stakes Live Updates: Another Death Adds to Triple Crown Cloud as Mage Looks to Continue Run
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Joe Drape | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

PinnedA horse trained by Bob Baffert suffered a fatal injury in an undercard race in the hours before the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, as deaths continued to haunt the road to the Triple Crown. His colt National Treasure is a 3-1 morning line choice in the Preakness and could provide the stiffest challenge to Mage, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner. Baffert was suspended after Medina Spirit failed a drug test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Last year, Baffert was serving his Kentucky suspension during the Triple Crown, so the racing commissions in Maryland and New York kept him from the Preakness and the Belmont. After the seven deaths at Churchill Downs ahead of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes officials were taking a cautious approach to pre-race examinations.

☆ Warren Buffett bought more Occidental shares in each of the last six trading days
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought more shares of Occidental Petroleum in each of the last six trading days, boosting its stake in the Houston-based oil-and-gas producer to 24.4%, according to regulatory filings. The Omaha-based conglomerate purchased a total of of 5.6 million shares for $327.2 million over the past six sessions at an average price of $58 a share. Berkshire now owns 217.3 million shares with a market value of nearly $12.7 billion. Shares of Occidental rose nearly 2% in premarket trading Friday. Berkshire owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each.

☆ A California-based woman bought 3 abandoned houses in a Sicilian village for $3.30, cashing in on Italy's desperation to repopulate its fast-emptying ghost towns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Amanda Goh | Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rubia Daniels flew to the town of Mussomeli in Sicily after hearing about its cheap homes. Many Italian towns have introduced similar schemes in an attempt to repopulate rural Italy. Rubia Daniels standing in front of one of her Mussomeli properties Rubia Daniels. Rubia Daniels. She currently splits her time between San Francisco and Mussomeli and spends at least a month in the Italian village each time.

Some Chinatown residents benefited from the development boom, selling properties to developers or drawing more customers from increased foot traffic. Some residents have shown tentative support for the luxury buildings, saying they might make the neighborhood safer or bring in wealthier Asian residents who could boost Chinatown's economy. Manhattan Chinatown's housing stock is "really aged," which has led to costly fires, according to Thomas Yu, executive director of Asian Americans for Equality. Chinatowns and the pandemicMany debates surrounding luxury development and affordable housing were accelerated by the pandemic, which shuttered hundreds of businesses across Chinatowns. However, business owners who spoke with CNBC said Chinatown's businesses, though still recovering, are keeping the city's culture alive.

☆ Slovak caretaker PM quits months before early elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Heger is due to meet President Zuzana Caputova, who has the power to appoint a new caretaker prime minister, later on Sunday. Heger has faced opposition calls to make way for a technocrat administration to lead the central European country until early elections to take place in September. Polls find the public favours the biggest opposition party, which is led by former prime minister Robert Fico and has opposed increasing military aid to neighbouring Ukraine. Heger lost a no-confidence vote in December last year and in January he agreed to early elections as the best solution, leaving him in a caretaker role. It was not certain whether Caputova would name a new prime minister on Sunday.

☆ Slovak foreign minister quits in fresh blow to ailing cabinet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Slovakia's foreign minister offered his resignation on Friday, the president said, dealing a fresh blow to the centre-right cabinet which has already been serving in a caretaker capacity ahead of elections in September. Rastislav Kacer's departure follows a string of other ministerial resignations and piles pressure on Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who had been facing mounting opposition calls to quit and make way for a technocrat government. Caputova, whose role gives her the power to appoint a new prime minister, said she would discuss the situation with Heger and parliament speaker Boris Kollar on her return. SaS joined a leftist opposition party in voting through a no-confidence motion in December, accusing the government of not helping people cope with the higher energy costs. The prime minister said he would not comment until he meets the president.

☆ ‘The Melt Goes On Forever’ Review: David Hammons Makes, and They Take
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Wesley Morris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The title of this new documentary about the artist David Hammons is a mouthful: “The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons.” It’s playing at Film Forum, and I don’t envy whoever has to make it fit the marquee. But they should figure that out because the title feels crucial to the aim of this movie, a sly, toasty, piquant consideration of Hammons’s conceptual art, the way it mocks and eludes easy ownership. Which is to say: the way his art is aware of — the way it’s often about — the stakes for Black people navigating the straits of the market. That piece is like a lot of Hammons’s work: tragicomic. It would have been enough to behold the assortment of thrilling footage of Hammons at work, in conversation and, in one contentious encounter, under interrogation by a group of students.

☆ Factbox: Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway at a glance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

[1/2] Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett walks through the exhibit hall as shareholders gather to hear from the billionaire investor at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 4, 2019. REUTERS/Scott Morgan/File PhotoMay 4 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people are descending on Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual shareholder weekend for billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N). Susan Buffett and Howard Buffett are Berkshire directors. His Berkshire stock will go to philanthropy after he dies. (Interview with CNBC, April 12, 2023)Abel on Berkshire managers' relationship with him: "It's not the same as working for Warren.

"They independently created 'Thinking Out Loud,'" Farkas said. Farkas told the jury that these were "basic musical building blocks" that no one owns. A lawyer for the heirs was expected to give a closing argument to the jury later in the afternoon. Sheeran won a trial in London last year in a separate copyright case over his hit "Shape of You." Gaye's heirs in 2015 won a lawsuit claiming the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams song "Blurred Lines" copied Gaye's "Got to Give It Up."

☆ What Is Bluesky Social? The Jack Dorsey-Backed Twitter Alternative Explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Cordilia James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCKTwitter users are buzzing that Bluesky Social might be a text-first social-media platform good enough to rival the network Elon Musk now owns. And that is no coincidence, since it was initially backed by Twitter and its co-founder, Jack Dorsey . Bluesky—pronounced “blue sky,” not “blue ski”—was formed in 2021 inside Twitter and launched as an independent organization in 2022. It operates using an open protocol, similar to email or HTML, so people can create their own servers. For now, Bluesky is running the main one.

☆ What Is Bluesky? The Jack Dorsey-Backed Twitter Alternative Explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Cordilia James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ In emergency meeting, DeSantis-appointed board votes to counter-sue Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The DeSantis-appointed board that oversees Disney's district has sued the company. The move comes after Disney filed a lawsuit in federal court in Tallahassee. The board lawsuit will be filed in Central Florida, where Disney World is. Under a decadeslong arrangement with the state, Disney doesn't have to run its plans by zoning commissions or building-inspection departments. Last week, DeSantis' newly appointed board said "nothing is off the table" as it took on a major overhaul of the area.

☆ Silver Lake adds to Software AG stake amid acquisition bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Silver Lake said in a regulatory disclosure that it had acquired a 5% stake in Software AG at or below its acquisition bid of 30 euros per share from existing shareholders. This adds to its agreement to buy a 25.1% stake in Software AG from a charitable foundation that is the principal shareholder in the company. The consummation of that agreement is not subject to Silver Lake's offer being accepted by a majority of Software AG's shareholders, Silver Lake said. Software AG has said it is "highly supportive" of Silver Lake's offer and intends to recommend it to the company's shareholders. Silver Lake also disclosed on Friday that it had secured debt financing for its offer for Software AG.

Disney alleges that DeSantis tried to "weaponize government power" over the company. It alleges that DeSantis' continued action against Disney "threatens Disney's business operations." Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, alleging that he tried to "weaponize government power" over the company. As retaliation to the Disney executives' pledges, DeSantis took aim at a decades-long provision that gives Disney special self-governing privileges in Florida. Unlike rival parks Universal Studios and Sea World, Disney doesn't have to run their plans by zoning commissions or building-inspection departments.

☆ Fed emergency lending rises slightly in latest week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In the details of the data, the Fed said it extended $69.9 billion as of Wednesday via its discount window lending facility, versus $67.6 billion on April 12. Collectively, the shifts in emergency lending and other factors allowed the total size of the Fed's balance sheet to go down, hitting $8.643 trillion on April 19 from $8.665 trillion on April 12. Fed officials have underscored for some time now that they see the troubles that have driven the surge in emergency lending as limited to a few institutions. Thus far, they have said they see no reason to be worried about the ongoing high levels of emergency lending. But he also said it's not a bad thing for banks to use the discount window when they need liquidity.

☆ DeSantis-picked board seeks new taxes and affordable housing at Disney after the company's 'blatant and hostile' grab for control
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

DeSantis' board overseeing Disney is considering new taxes, public transit, and housing. The board met for the first time since Disney's surprise maneuver. The five-member board met Wednesday for the first since Disney stealthily arranged a deal that would allow the theme park and resort to maintain control of its land, virtually in perpetuity. Much of the meeting made the legal case for the new board moving ahead, despite the maneuver Disney pulled last month. Firefighters who work for Disney's district said the previous board failed to give them the resources they needed to do their jobs, including new ambulances, even as Disney grew.

☆ Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Lee Curtis spent the Covid-19 lockdown together
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Marianne Garvey | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —It’s sourdough bread and handstands for Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis, who won best supporting actress Oscar at lthe 2023 Academy Awards, is friends with Gyllenhaal’s parents, director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner. He and Jeanne lived in the house next door that I have. “He made a lot of sourdough bread, a lot,” Lee said. It also stars Alexander Ludwig, Antony Starr, Bobby Schofield and Jonny Lee Miller.

"I was previously considered wealthy in the area," said Liu, who also owns some commercial property in the northeastern city of Liaoyuan. In play now in China, where around 70% of household wealth is in property, this phenomenon is weighing on the post-pandemic recovery of household consumption, which Chinese policymakers have vowed to make a more prominent driver of economic growth. Capital Economics estimates net household wealth declined 4.3% overall last year, due to falling house and stock prices, the first decline since at least 2001. Indeed, deposits rose a further 9.9 trillion yuan in the first quarter of this year. ($1 = 6.8376 Chinese yuan renminbi)Additional reporting by Shuyan Wang; Editing by Marius Zaharia and Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault's wealth soared to a record high of $210 billion on the same day protestors swarmed the company's headquarters in Paris
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

LVMH boss Bernard Arnault's fortune soared by $12 billion on Thursday to a record high of $210 billion, per Bloomberg. LVMH shares hit a record high in Thursday trade after a strong first-quarter earnings report. On Thursday, LVMH shares price on the Euronext Paris stock exchange hit a record high of 884.50 euros, or $979, before closing 5.7% higher at 883.90 euros a piece. LVMH's Arnault has featured frequently in protest slogans and chants, per Reuters on Thursday. LVMH shares are extending gains on Friday, trading 0.7% higher at 889.90 euros at 9:57 a.m. in Paris.

☆ LVMH Q1 sales lifted by strong Chinese rebound
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 12 (Reuters) - LVMH (LVMH.PA), the world's largest luxury company, reported a 17% rise in first-quarter sales, more than double analysts' expectations, as China rebounded after COVID-19 lockdowns. LVMH said first-quarter sales grew by 14% in Asia, excluding Japan, and by 8% in the United States. That compared with flat revenues in Asia and 15% growth in U.S. sales for last year. "Asia experienced a significant rebound," the company said in a statement. LVMH made 27% of its 2022 revenues in the Americas, and 30% in Asia excluding Japan.

☆ NY Fed report sees several more years of balance sheet contraction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Fed is now allowing just shy of $100 billion per month in bonds it owns to expire and not be replaced. The New York Fed report also offered projections of the net negative income situation the institution faces as part of its efforts to raise rates. While the Fed was still able to hand back excess profits to the Treasury in 2022, its income turned negative late last year. "The projections for negative net income suggest that remittances to the U.S. Treasury will be suspended for some time, and that the deferred asset recorded on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet reflecting the accumulated net loss will continue to grow," the report said. But central bankers and analysts have cautioned that the resulting expansion of the balance sheet due to this lending is not stimulative to the economy.

☆ Goldman Sachs was fined $3 million after it mixed up millions of 'short' sale orders as 'long.' The culprit was one missing line of code.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Finra fined Goldman Sachs $3 million for mixing up 60 million short sale orders. Goldman Sachs had mismarked "short" sales orders totaling more than 14 billion shares as "long" sales orders between October 2015 and April 2018, per the filing, which was signed by both, Finra and the investment banking giant. Of the 60 million incorrectly marked orders, Goldman Sachs executed nearly eight million, Finra said. Further, Goldman's mismarked orders led to 12,335 short orders being executed while a short-sale circuit breaker was in place, per the filing. Insider was unable to reach Goldman Sachs via phone lines outside regular business hours.

☆ LVMH boss Bernard Arnault's wealth soared over $200 billion, making him the third person ever after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to reach the milestone
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

LVMH boss Bernard Arnault's net worth surpassed $200 billion on Tuesday. Arnault is also the first person outside the US to surpass a net worth of $200 billion. His net worth gained $2.4 billion on Tuesday, bringing the Frenchman's fortune to $201 billion, per Bloomberg's index. Shoppers in China are expected to boost the luxury goods sector this year after the country lifted COVID-zero restrictions. The 73-year-old tycoon has not announced who will succeed him as LVMH CEO.

☆ What Is a Money Market Fund?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

“Money market funds have become a much more interesting place,” says Jay McLaughlin, institutional sales manager for iMoneyNet, a research firm that follows the money market fund industry. How money market funds workThe first thing for investors to understand is that money market funds are mutual funds, not bank accounts. Municipal money market fundsMunicipal money market funds appeal to many high-income investors because of their tax-exempt nature. One popular muni money market fund is the $17 billion Vanguard Municipal money market Fund (VMSXX) and its current 7-day yield of 2.65%—a yield which on its face is lower than other fund types, but after taxes are considered, can actually be higher for some investors. How to get the best money market fund ratesTypically your stock trading platform may have a default money market fund for its clients, established at your initial sign-up, as a kind of placeholder to keep your cash.

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