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☆ Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg say they’re ready for a cage fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Now Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg say they want to settle their scores in a cage fight. Twitter owner and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Musk recently tweeted that he would be “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta. A spokesperson for the company told Verge: “The [Instagram] story speaks for itself.”It remains unclear whether Zuckerberg and Musk are serious or having a laugh. Quite who would win in a cage fight, however, remains to be seen. Musk is physically bigger than Zuckerberg, but the Meta chief practices jiu-jitsu, the Brazilian martial art, and won gold and silver in a tournament in May.

Persons: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Musk, Zuckerberg, Alex Heath, “, Meta, —, “ naysayers, ” Musk, “ I’ve, Bernard Arnault Organizations: London CNN — Business, Twitter, Meta, “, CNN, Bloomberg Locations: Las Vegas

☆ Bank of England hikes interest rates to 5%, stoking fears of a ‘mortgage bomb’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

London CNN —The Bank of England raised interest rates by half a percentage point Thursday, after data this week revealed surprisingly stubborn inflation. Many mortgage holders due to refinance their loans this year and next bought their homes when interest rates were much lower and mortgage rates were closer to 1% or 2%. Capital Economics is forecasting a 12% decline in house prices between their August 2022 peak and 2024. If interest rates must stay higher for longer to tame inflation, house prices could fall more sharply. “If mortgage rates were to stay at 6% for several years, a house price fall of 25% would be likely,” Wishart said.

Persons: we’ve, Andrew Bailey, ”, Jake Berry, Rishi Sunak, ” Simon Pittaway, Tom Bill, Knight Frank, Bill, Banks, ” Bill, “, There’s, Andrew Wishart, ” Wishart Organizations: London CNN —, Bank of England, ” Bank of England, ” Financial, “, Institute for Fiscal Studies, UK Finance, CNN, Savings, Capital Economics Locations: United Kingdom, United States, Europe, —

☆ Ukraine Recovery Conferece: War-torn economy needs private investors to rebuild
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine faces an enormous fundraising challenge, and it’s one that governments and development finance institutions won’t be able to meet without help from private investors. The Ukraine Development Fund is still in the planning stages and is not expected to launch until the conflict ends. But it faces a crucial test Wednesday, when it will canvas support from governments and investors attending the London conference. Attracting private investmentThe Ukraine Development Fund aims to raise so-called concessionary capital from governments and development finance institutions, and then use that to attract private investment. Sunak also unveiled a “war-risk insurance” framework Wednesday, backed by Group of Seven countries, which will help limit potential losses faced by private investors in Ukraine.

Persons: London CNN —, Rishi Sunak’s, Antony Blinken, Sergei Chuzavkov, Volodymyr Zelensky, Stefan Weiler, JPMorgan’s, Weiler, It’s, ”, Brandon Hall, ” Hall, Yan Dobronosov, ” Zelensky, Sunak, ” Sunak, Lenna Koszarny, — Jo Shelley Organizations: London CNN, Conference, Citi, Sanofi, Philips, Bank, World Bank, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Ukraine Development Fund, CNN, Fund, London, BlackRock’s, Group of, Private, Horizon Locations: Russia, Ukraine, London, United States, Russian, Kyiv, Ukrainian, Europe, East, Africa, Kupiansk

☆ Pirelli: Italy ties China's hands over fears about chip technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Italy has imposed several curbs on Pirelli’s biggest shareholder, Sinochem, in a move aimed at blocking the Chinese government’s access to sensitive chip technology. The government order risks inflaming tensions between Europe and Beijing, and follows similar intervention by Germany and the United Kingdom to protect their semiconductor technology. The order sets a host of limitations on Sinochem’s involvement in Pirelli, including a bar on it devising the company’s strategy and financial plans, or appointing a CEO. It requires that Pirelli refuse any requests from Sinochem’s owner — China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council — for information sharing, including any information connected to the “know-how” of proprietary technologies. Separately, Rome is also assessing whether to renew its partnership with Beijing on the Belt and Road Initiative — China’s global infrastructure and investment megaproject.

Persons: Pirelli, Antony Blinken, Sinochem, Pirelli’s, —, — Laura Organizations: London CNN —, ASML, CNN, Pirelli, Union, Supervision, Administration Commission, State, AstraZeneca, Financial Times, Sequoia Capital, European Commission, Reuters Locations: London CNN — Italy, Europe, Beijing, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, China, Ukraine, — China’s, Rome, Italy, Hong Kong

☆ The AI act: Europe is leading the race to regulate artificial intelligence. Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“We have made history today,” Brando Benifei, a member of the European Parliament working on the EU AI Act, told journalists. Detailed summaries of the copyrighted data used to train these AI systems would also have to be published. AI systems with minimal or no risk, such as spam filters, fall largely outside of the rules. Fines under the AI Act serve as a “war cry from the legislators to say, ‘take this seriously’,” Muldoon said. The Act also requires EU member states to establish at least one regulatory “sandbox” to test AI systems before they are deployed.

Persons: ” Brando Benifei, ” Benifei, Brad Smith, Sam Altman —, Doug McMillion, James Quincy —, Racheal Muldoon, Maitland Chambers, Meta, ” Muldoon, Dragoș, ”, Muldoon Organizations: London CNN, European Union, EU, Lawmakers, of, Big Tech, Microsoft, Yale, Summit, Walmart, ” Systems, Facebook, Twitter, General Data, Office, AI, Companies, Google, IBM Locations: Brussels, EU, Europe, China, London

☆ European Central Bank hikes interest rates to highest level in 22 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

London CNN —The European Central Bank raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point Thursday, unmoved by recent data showing a mild recession last winter in the 20 countries that use the euro. The ECB has now hiked rates at eight consecutive meetings since July in a fight against inflation. The central bank diverged from the US Federal Reserve, which opted to pause its historic rate-hiking campaign Wednesday after 10 successive increases. Rising prices and higher interest rates are increasingly taking a toll on the euro area’s economy, which entered a mild recession around the turn of the year. That could bolster the case for the central bank to pause interest rate hikes soon.

Persons: Christine Lagarde Organizations: London CNN, European Central Bank, ECB, US Federal Reserve, Investors, Reuters Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ UK employment hits record high but the economy is still short 1 million workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —The number of people in work in the United Kingdom has climbed above its pre-pandemic level for the first time, reaching a record high. Employment hit a record 33.1 million between February and April, with increases in both the number of employees and self-employed workers, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. Employment in the United Kingdom has recovered more slowly than in any other major economy since the pandemic, according to the UK Institute for Employment Studies. This is the fastest rise on record, apart from the period when the figures were distorted by the pandemic, Morgan noted. Food inflation remained above 19% — near a 45-year high — hitting poor households the hardest because they spend more of their available income on food.

Persons: Darren Morgan, Morgan, Liz Truss, Jeremy Hunt, ”, Ashley Webb, Anna Cooban Organizations: London CNN, National Statistics, Employment, UK Institute for Employment Studies, Bank of, “, Capital Economics, Bank, Ill Locations: United Kingdom, Europe, United States

☆ UBS completes Credit Suisse takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —UBS has finalized its emergency takeover of fallen rival Credit Suisse, creating a giant Swiss bank with nearly $1.7 trillion in assets in the biggest banking tie-up since the 2008 global financial crisis. The government has said that allowing Credit Suisse (CS) — one of the world’s 30 most important banks — to fail would probably have triggered an international financial crisis. Swiss taxpayers are on the hook for up to 9 billion Swiss francs ($10 billion) of losses that UBS may incur from certain Credit Suisse assets, over and above losses of 5 billion francs ($5.5 billion) that UBS has agreed to bear itself. Investors have already sued the Swiss financial regulator over its decision to impose those losses on them, Reuters has reported. Credit Suisse bled customer deposits worth 67 billion francs ($74.3 billion) in the first three months of the year, adding to massive withdrawals at the end of last year.

Persons: FINMA, “ FINMA, “, Sergio Ermotti, Colm Kelleher, Ermotti, Kelleher, ” Organizations: London CNN, UBS, Credit Suisse, Swiss, Financial Times, CNN, Suisse, Reuters, Credit, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank Locations: Swiss, Switzerland, Silicon, United States

☆ Climate change: The world's biggest companies have made almost no progress on limiting greenhouse gas emissions since 2018
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —The vast majority of the world’s biggest companies have done almost nothing in the past five years to cut their planet-heating pollution enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Large companies are either more likely to contribute to extreme levels of warming or are not disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions at all, according to a new report from ESG Book, seen by CNN. Slow progressIn its analysis, ESG Book assigned “temperature scores” to companies based on publicly reported emission data and factors such as emission reduction targets to determine firms’ contribution to global climate goals. It accounted for direct emissions from operations as well as indirect emissions from use of the companies’ products. Still, slightly more than $1 trillion is expected to flow toward oil, gas and coal this year, significantly above the level consistent with the world reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, the IEA said.

Persons: ”, Daniel Klier, we’re, ” Klier, Fatih Birol Organizations: London CNN, CNN, Shell, BP, European Union, EU, International Energy Agency, World Meteorological Organization Locations: Paris, United States, United Kingdom, China, India

☆ Half of the biggest global companies plan to cut office space. US cities will suffer most
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

There are fears that a rise in delinquencies as a result of the downturn could cause significant losses at banks, which finance many commercial real estate deals. Office space in the United States was also much more generous per person than in Europe and Asia, he said. London, Berlin, Madrid and Hong Kong were also forecast to have a large amount of excess office space. Before the pandemic, the Californian city was one of the hardest places in the United States to find office space, with a vacancy rate of only 9.5%. Now, 30% of its office space is either vacant or due to return to the market in the next year — a 30-year high.

Persons: —, Knight Frank, ” Lee Elliott, Elliott, “ We’re, ” Elliott, Savills, ”, Kelcie Sellers, “ Organizations: London CNN —, San, CNN, Companies, “, Washington DC Locations: San Francisco, homeworking, delinquencies, Francisco, United States, Europe, Asia, San Francisco , New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Washington, London, Berlin, Madrid, Hong Kong, Pacific, America, “

☆ Premarket stocks: Main Street traders are taking big risks. They might not pay off
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But Main Street isn’t listening. New data from TD Ameritrade shows that retail investors shrugged off US debt ceiling uncertainty and recessionary fears last month as they increased their exposure to markets. That index aggregates Main Street investor positions and activity to measure how they’re positioned in the market. Retail investors also piled out of AI and tech stocks as the sectors surged in May, opting instead to put their money into riskier bets. But these trades are risky and while an institutional investor might lose their job for making a big mistake, a Main Street trader could lose their shirt.

Persons: New York CNN — “, recessionary, Dow, they’ve, Alex Coffey, Ameritrade, “, ”, Coffey, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Gary Gensler, Hanna Ziady, Willie Walsh, ” Walsh, Walsh Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Federal Reserve, First Republic Bank, Nasdaq, Research, CNN, PayPal, Disney, Coffey Retail, US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Global, International Air Transport Association, Airlines Locations: New York, USA, bro

☆ IATA: Airline industry expects to make profits of nearly $10 billion this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

IATA on Monday more than doubled its 2023 profit forecast for the global airline industry despite a looming economic downturn. Airlines are expected to make $9.8 billion in net profit in 2023, up from a December forecast of $4.7 billion. The industry’s main lobby group expects 4.35 billion people to travel by air this year, not far off the 4.54 billion passengers who flew in 2019. The figures mark a significant turnaround for the airline industry, which carried just 1.8 billion passengers in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, at a loss of $76 per traveler. From that nadir, air travel has rebounded even as high inflation and rising interest rates weigh on spending by businesses and consumers in other areas.

Persons: Willie Walsh, ” Walsh, Walsh, “, CNN’s Richard Quest, we’re, ” — Gayle Harrington Organizations: London CNN — Global, International Air Transport Association Locations: Istanbul, “

☆ Inflation in Europe drops to lowest level since Russia invaded Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Inflation in Europe has fallen to its slowest pace since Russia invaded Ukraine, bolstering the case for the region’s central bank to bring interest rate hikes to an end soon. That’s the lowest rate of inflation since February 2022, when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor, sending global energy prices soaring. The pace of food price rises eased for the second month running in May, while energy prices actually fell. Inflation has fallen sharply in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, national data published Wednesday showed. Separate data published Tuesday showed lending by banks in the euro area stagnated further in April, with loans to households barely growing at all.

Persons: Price, Christine Lagarde, ” Lagarde, ” Franziska Palmas, ”, Bert Colijn Organizations: London CNN, Russia, European Central Bank, ECB, US Federal Reserve, Bank of, Capital Economics, ING Locations: Europe, Ukraine, Moscow, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Bank of England, Palmas

☆ Risks the global economy still faces as threat of US debt default recedes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —With the threat of an unprecedented US debt crisis receding fast, the global economy looks to have dodged a huge shock. While an immediate crisis has likely been avoided, the litany of problems that had been temporarily overshadowed by the specter of a US default — among them, high inflation, rising interest rates and sluggish growth — haven’t gone away. Bloomberg/Getty ImagesInflation still too highAgainst that backdrop, inflation has eased in Europe’s second biggest economy, mimicking falls in Germany, Spain and Italy. But it could still arise from two longstanding threats: the Ukraine war and the climate crisis, both of which pose risks to global supply chains and food prices. The war helped drive international food prices to an all-time high last year.

Persons: specter, haven’t, ”, Carsten Brzeski, “, Charlotte de, Neil Shearing, Vladimir Putin, Michael Bociurkiw, Bociurkiw, Marcelo del Pozo Organizations: London CNN —, ING, Charlotte de Montpellier, Bloomberg, Getty, Data, United, Deutsche Bank, Capital Economics, Atlantic Council, Isla Mayor, ” Gro Intelligence Locations: United States, China, Germany, France, Beijing, Europe’s, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian, Russia, Isla, Europe

☆ Britain is getting so desperate to tame inflation it’s talking about food price caps
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Food inflation dipped slightly to 15.4% in May, but that’s still the second-highest rate on record. But chocolate and coffee prices are rising as global commodity prices soar, British Retail Consortium CEO Helen Dickinson said. Price controls anyone? “The current food price shock does not warrant such an intervention,” he added. Brexit is responsible for about a third of UK food price inflation since 2019, according to researchers at the London School of Economics.

☆ Nvidia WPP deal: The world's biggest ad agency is going all in on AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency, has teamed up with chipmaker Nvidia to create ads using generative artificial intelligence. This new technology will transform the way that brands create content for commercial use,” WPP CEO Mark Read said in a statement. The platform will enable WPP (WPP)’s creative teams to integrate content from organizations such as Adobe and Getty Images with generative AI to produce advertising campaigns “more efficiently and at scale,” according to WPP (WPP). In the demo screened by Huang, WPP had created realistic footage of a car driving through a desert. “It’s much easier to identify the jobs that AI will disrupt than it is to identify the jobs that AI will create,” Read told the Financial Times Monday.

☆ Debt ceiling crisis: How a US default would ricochet around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But if it does, it could make the 2008 global financial crisis feel like a walk in the park. The consequences are frightful.”The belief that America’s government will pay its creditors on time underpins the smooth functioning of the global financial system. During the 2011 standoff over raising the US debt ceiling, the S&P 500 index of leading US shares plunged more than 15%. “It’s unclear in a Treasury default crisis whether the Fed could do enough even with the types of efforts it deployed in March 2020,” Obstfeld said. “A default would be a message to investors all around the world of eroding confidence in America,” he added.

☆ UK inflation surprises for all the wrong reasons
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Britain’s stubbornly high inflation is a major drag on its economy because it increases the cost of everyday goods and services, dampening consumption. At the same time, interest rate hikes to combat inflation make loans and mortgages more expensive, which further weighs on spending by businesses and consumers. “The indirect impact of energy prices on business costs means lower gas and electricity prices should eventually feed into lower core inflation. But strong wage growth is likely to keep services inflation high throughout this year,” he added. But it cautioned that high inflation is still a considerable risk to the UK economy.

Persons: Grant Fitzner, Britain’s, ” Paul Dales, Martin Beck, ” Organizations: London CNN —, National Statistics, Bank of England, International Monetary Fund, Bank, Capital Economics, IMF, Bank of England’s Locations: United Kingdom

☆ Meta slapped with record $1.3 billion EU data privacy fine over transfer of Facebook data to US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The European Data Protection Board announced the fine in a statement Monday, saying it followed an inquiry into Facebook (FB) by the Irish Data Protection Commission, the chief regulator overseeing Meta’s operations in Europe. The fine is the largest ever levied under Europe’s signature data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Meta has also been ordered to cease the processing of personal data of European users in the United States within six months. Meta’s infringement is “very serious since it concerns transfers that are systematic, repetitive and continuous,” said Andrea Jelinek, chair of the European Data Protection Board. EU and US policymakers were on a “clear path” to resolving this conflict under a new transatlantic Data Privacy Framework.

☆ BT jobs: Company will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

London CNN —BT Group is planning to slash up to 55,000 jobs in the next five to seven years as it makes greater use of technology to cut costs and simplify its business. The UK telecom company said Thursday that its total workforce would fall to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2028-2030, from 130,000 at present. “New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future.”Earlier this week, Vodafone (VOD), once the world’s biggest mobile telecom group, said it would cut 11,000 jobs, or about 11% of its workforce, over three years. The company also unveiled a turnaround plan to revive its ailing fortunes under new CEO Margherita Della Valle. Its adjusted earnings rose 5% to £7.9 billion ($9.8 billion).

☆ Vodafone plans 11,000 job cuts in the UK and worldwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

London CNN —Vodafone said Tuesday it would cut 11,000 jobs over three years, as the telecoms company unveiled a turnaround plan to revive its fortunes following years of poor performance. The job cuts would affect the firm’s UK headquarters and operations in other countries, Vodafone added in a statement. Within a challenging sector, Vodafone’s performance relative to peers had “worsened over time,” Della Valle said in a video posted to the company’s website. Shares in Vodafone have fallen 28% over the past year. Under its turnaround plan, Vodafone would invest more in its customer experience and also direct more resources towards Vodafone Business, serving corporate clients, which was growing in nearly all the company’s European markets.

☆ Vice Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

London CNN —Vice Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday to facilitate a sale of the company, according to court documents and a statement from the struggling media group. The company, which publishes websites such as Vice, Motherboard, made the filing in the Southern District of New York. The sale process would allow other parties to submit “higher or better bids” for the company, it added. “This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the company and position Vice for long-term growth,” said co-chief executive officers Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala. News of the proposed sale comes weeks after the company announced a major restructuring, canceling its popular program “Vice News Tonight” and cutting dozens of jobs.

London CNN —The publisher of UK tabloid the Daily Mirror has apologized to Prince Harry for using unlawful methods to gather information about his private life. The pair has filed at least seven lawsuits against British and US media organizations since 2019, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, according to Reuters. News Group Newspapers publishes the Sun and used to produce News of the World, which was shut down in 2011 over its own phone hacking scandal. A spokesperson for Mirror Group Newspapers said in a statement Wednesday that “where historical wrongdoing” has taken place, the group has taken “full responsibility” and apologized “unreservedly” for its actions. Mirror Group Newspapers “is now part of a very different company.

☆ Elon Musk: Twitter is adding calls and encrypted messaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Ryanair buys 150 new 737-10 aircraft in its biggest Boeing order ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Ryanair has agreed to buy 150 new Boeing 737-10 aircraft, and taken options on 150 more, inking the largest order ever placed by an Irish company for US manufactured goods. The planes, the largest of Boeing’s (BA) 737 Max aircraft, will be delivered between 2027 and 2033. At a news conference Tuesday, O’Leary said Boeing had made significant progress in catching up, according to Reuters. On prices, the Ryanair CEO said: “In our view it will never be cheap enough and in Boeing’s view it is always far too cheap.”Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, meanwhile, praised the deal. Ryanair is one of Boeing’s largest customers, with more than 600 planes in its fleet or on order, according to its website.

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