World shares mixed in quiet trading as traders await cues from Fed
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2% to 43,546.29 as market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4% after it announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in US computer chip maker Intel. Intel gained 5.4% in pre-market trading early Tuesday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 25,122.90, while the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1% lower, to 3,727.29. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 8,896.20.
In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 0.8% to 3,151.56. Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET slipped 0.1%. This week will bring updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest US retailers. On Monday, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their first trading after Trump's inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine.
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, but that meeting finished after US markets were closed. The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1%. It was its first loss after it set an all-time high for three consecutive days. The Dow slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%.
Novo Nordisk's stock that trades in the United States rose 3.7% after the Danish company said USregulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese people. Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped 14.9% after announcing a deal where an investor group led by hotel-operator MCR would pay $9 in cash for its shares.
On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Fed. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before cutting interest rates.
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Arab Times
an hour ago
- Arab Times
Alaska man gifted $22,000 motorcycle by Russian government after viral interview
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug 20, (AP): An Alaska man might have walked away as the biggest winner of last week's high stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage. He rode off with a new motorcycle, courtesy of the Russian government. Putin's delegation gifted Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage, a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar, one week after a television crew's interview with Warren went viral in Russia. The motorcycle company, founded in 1941 in western Siberia, now assembles its bikes in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan, and distributes them through a team based in Woodinville, Washington. Warren already owned one Ural motorcycle, purchased from a neighbor. He was out running errands on it a week before the summit when a Russian television crew saw him and asked for an interview. Warren told the crew about his difficulty obtaining parts for the bike because of supply-and-demand issues. "It went viral, it went crazy, and I have no idea why, because I'm really just a super-duper normal guy,' Warren said Tuesday. "They just interviewed some old guy on a Ural, and for some reason they think it's cool.' On Aug. 13, two days before the Trump-Putin summit to discuss the war in Ukraine, Warren received a call from the Russian journalist, who told him, "They've decided to give you a bike.' Warren said a document he received indicated the gift was arranged through the Russian Embassy in the U.S., which did not immediately return a message Tuesday. Warren said he initially thought it might be a scam. But after Putin and Trump departed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson following their three-hour summit last Friday, he got another call informing him the bike was at the base. He was directed to go to an Anchorage hotel the next day for the handoff. He went with his wife, and there in the parking lot, along with six men he assumed to be Russians, was the olive-green motorcycle, valued at $22,000. "I dropped my jaw,' he said. "I went, 'You've got to be joking me.'' All the Russians asked in return was to take his picture and interview him, he said: "If they want something from me, they're gonna be sorely disappointed.' Two reporters and someone from the consulate jumped on the bike with him, and he drove slowly around the parking lot while a cameraman ran alongside and filmed it. The only reservation he had about taking the Ural is that he might somehow be implicated in some nefarious Russian scheme. Warren said he doesn't want a "bunch of haters coming after me that I got a Russian motorcycle. … I don't want this for my family.'
Kuwait Times
14 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Intel gets $2bn lifeline from Japan's Softbank
WASHINGTON: Intel is getting a $2 billion capital injection from SoftBank Group in a major vote of confidence for the troubled US chipmaker in the middle of a turnaround. The equity investment, announced by the companies on Monday, is a lifeline for the once-iconic US firm which has struggled to compete after years of management blunders that left it with virtually no foothold in the booming artificial intelligence chip industry. It will make SoftBank a top-10 shareholder of Intel and add to the Japanese tech investor's ambitious bet on semiconductor and AI assets that includes the $500 billion Stargate US datacenter project. SoftBank also held talks with Intel on buying its contract chipmaking business ahead of the investment announcement, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing multiple people with knowledge of the talks. Intel has invested billions of dollars in setting up a contract manufacturing business that has struggled to compete with Taiwan's TSMC and barely attracted external customers. 'SoftBank's investment helps, but it is not what is going to move the dial for Intel,' said Amir Anvarzadeh, Japan equity strategist at Asymmetric Advisors. 'It's more to maintain this very good relationship he has with Trump,' he said, referring to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The deal follows media reports last week that the US government may buy a stake in Intel, after a meeting between new CEO Lip-Bu Tan and President Donald Trump that was sparked by the President's demand for Tan's resignation over his ties to Chinese firms. It also comes as Tokyo pledged a $550 billion investment package into the US last month as part of a trade deal with Washington. The Intel investment is not currently part of that package, a Japanese government source with knowledge of the negotiations said. SoftBank's decision to invest in Intel is not connected to Trump, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role,' Son said in a statement. It will pay $23 per Intel share, a slight discount to Monday's closing price of $23.66. SoftBank's investment will come via a primary issuance of common stock by Intel, and, based on the US company's market capitalization at close of trading on Monday, represent an equity stake of just under 2 percent, an Intel spokesperson said. The Japanese company would become the sixth largest investor in Intel, according to LSEG data. SoftBank shares closed down 4 percent on Tuesday following the announcement, while Intel surged 6.6 percent in US premarket trading. The Japanese company will only take an equity stake in Intel and will neither seek a board seat nor commit to buying Intel's chips, the person familiar with the matter said. Intel has struggled financially and recorded an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024, its first such loss since 1986, as it grapples with multiple challenges. Its longtime rival AMD has been gaining share in Intel's mainstay personal computer and server semiconductor markets, while its ambitious and costly plan for a chip contracting business has failed to take off. The company is now considering a significant change to its contract chip manufacturing business to win major customers, Reuters reported last month, in a potentially expensive shift from its previous strategies. SoftBank's Son held talks with Tan since his appointment as Intel CEO in March to discuss a potential deal, according to the FT's Tuesday report. They discussed a wide range of outcomes, including joint ventures with third parties or a minority investment similar to Monday's announcement, according to the report. The $2 billion investment did not preclude a bigger deal over Intel's foundry business in the future, the report said. SoftBank and Intel did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the report. 'Intel's dual role as designer and manufacturer/fabricator uniquely positions it as potentially the best platform in the US to compete with TSMC,' said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo. Bloomberg News reported earlier on Monday that the US government is in talks to take a 10 percent stake in Intel. SoftBank declined to provide more details on the Intel investment when asked to comment by Reuters. Tan, a chip industry veteran who also served as a SoftBank board member before quitting in 2022, thanked Son for 'the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment.' The Intel funding is the latest in the Japanese company's run of mammoth investment announcements in 2025, which include committing $30 billion to ChatGPT maker OpenAI as well as leading the financing for Stargate. – Reuters
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
World shares mixed in quiet trading as traders await cues from Fed
BANGKOK, Aug 19, (AP): World shares were mixed on Tuesday after Wall Street held near its records, with traders awaiting fresh cues about interest rates from the US Federal Reserve. Germany's DAX gained 0.2% to 24,896.79. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 0.5% to 7,924.30. Britain's FTSE edged 0.2% higher to 9,173.55. The future for the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was barely changed. In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2% to 43,546.29 as market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4% after it announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in US computer chip maker Intel. Intel gained 5.4% in pre-market trading early Tuesday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 25,122.90, while the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1% lower, to 3,727.29. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 8,896.20. In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 0.8% to 3,151.56. Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET slipped 0.1%. This week will bring updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest US retailers. On Monday, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their first trading after Trump's inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, but that meeting finished after US markets were closed. The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1%. It was its first loss after it set an all-time high for three consecutive days. The Dow slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. Novo Nordisk's stock that trades in the United States rose 3.7% after the Danish company said USregulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese people. Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped 14.9% after announcing a deal where an investor group led by hotel-operator MCR would pay $9 in cash for its shares. On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Fed. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before cutting interest rates.
