Report - page 31

News

Visa Analysis Reveals Online Holiday Shopping Growth

Online retail shopping during the holiday season increased by 7.1%, according to Visa observations, though the majority of purchases still take place in brick-and-mortar stores.

Science & Technology

Amazon and Universal Music to Combat Unlawful AI-Generated Content

Amazon and Universal Music Group (UMG) have expanded the scope of their partnership.

Finance & Economics

Retailer Party City Files for Bankruptcy

Retailer Party City, which has been facing difficulties since the coronavirus pandemic, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States last weekend for the second time in two years.

Finance & Economics

Nordstrom to Go Private

Nordstrom, the luxury department store chain, announced on Monday, December 23, that it would become a private company after it agreed to a buyout deal valued at approximately $6.25 billion from Nordstrom’s founding family and Mexican department store El Puerto de Liverpool.

News

Apple Approaches $4 Trillion Valuation

Apple is currently approaching its historical market capitalization indicator of $4 trillion.

News

Fed’s Beth Hammack Says Economic Strength Argues Against Rate Cut

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said this week she voted against cutting interest rates by the United States financial regulator, as the strengthening of the US economy and inflation outlook do not indicate expediency of further easing of monetary policy.

News

China Keeps Benchmark Lending Rates Steady

Last Friday, December 20, the People’s Bank of China decided to keep its main benchmark lending rates at the same level, as the Asian country is currently facing the challenge of bolstering economic growth while backstopping the weakening yuan.

News

Southeast Asia Seeks to AI Boom

Southeast Asia is gradually becoming a promising investment hot spot for leaders in the global artificial intelligence industry such as Nvidia and Microsoft, which are making financial injections in cloud services and data centers.

Fintech & Ecommerce

Justt Raises $30 Million

Chargeback management company Justt raised a $30 million investment to bolster its platform powered by artificial intelligence.

News

Morgan Stanley Reportedly Predicts Favorable Environment for Lenders in 2025

The media published information according to which Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating and price targets for shares of several credit card companies and lenders.

Finance & Economics

Bank of England Holds Rates

The Bank of England on Thursday, December 19, as part of its last monetary policy meeting this year, decided to keep interest rates at the same level.

News

Accenture Beats Quarterly Revenue

Accenture on Thursday, December 19, released a report on its earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which exceeded Wall Street’s preliminary expectations regarding this company’s revenue and profit for the mentioned period.

News

Hong Kong Picks Several Banks and Tech Firms to Test GenAI in Financial Sector

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has picked ten banks and four technology partners to participate in a project to test several use cases for generative artificial intelligence in the financial services sector.

Science & Technology

US Finalizes $458 Million Award to SK Hynix

The United States Commerce Department on Thursday, December 19, finalized an award for South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix in the form of government grants worth up to $458 million.

News

Losses From Crypto Hacks Jump to $2.2 Billion in 2024

In the current year, the total amount of funds stolen as a result of hacker attacks on cryptocurrency platforms reached $2.2 billion.

Science & Technology

Micron Shares Fall

The value of Micron Technology shares fell by about 12% on premarket trading on Thursday, December 19, as this chip manufacturer published disappointing earnings guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, indicating sluggish consumer demand for personal computers and smartphones, despite strong sales growth of microcircuits used for the operation of artificial intelligence systems.