
China Service Activity Unexpectedly Picks Up, Private Poll Shows
The S&P China services purchasing managers' index rose to 52.6 from 50.6 in June, according to a statement published Tuesday. That suggests activity expanded the most since May last year.
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Bloomberg
20 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
US Considers Location Trackers in AI Chips, Officials Say
The US is exploring ways to equip artificial intelligence chips with better location-tracking capabilities in order to stop their sale to China. Bloomberg's Mike Shepard joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on 'Bloomberg Tech.' (Source: Bloomberg)


New York Times
20 minutes ago
- New York Times
In Brooklyn, a Former Tailor Shop Is a Perfect Fit
After attending college at the New School in New York, Donelle Kosch lived in Copenhagen and Berlin before finally settling in Amsterdam, where she married a Dutchman. 'I've been in Europe my whole adult life,' said Ms. Kosch, now 36, who grew up outside Detroit. Nevertheless, she could never forget New York. And the longer she was away, the more she wanted to return. 'I missed the culture of New York and the disposition that people have here,' she said. 'I missed some of that energy.' At the beginning of 2023, Ms. Kosch decided to rent an apartment in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, for a few weeks to have an extended visit with her sister's family in the neighborhood. By the time the rental period was ending, she didn't want to leave. 'I wanted to spend more time here,' she said. 'And I was in a financial position to have a second home.' Ms. Kosch was working as a music booking agent at the time. If she had a pied-à-terre in Brooklyn that was well designed, she figured, it would give her not only a reason to visit more often, but also a place to meet with industry contacts in the city. Looking at listings, she fell almost immediately for a 450-square-foot former tailor shop in Boerum Hill that had been converted to an apartment. The home was part of a larger co-op, but the unit, a studio, was contained in its own single-story yellow-brick building that opened directly to the street. From Amsterdam, she toured the apartment via FaceTime before closing that May for $635,000, having few concerns about the renovations the interior needed. 'I was purposely looking for something to make my own,' Ms. Kosch said. She also knew that in such a tight space creating comfort while leaving enough room to host a crowd would be a challenge. But, as a follower of the YouTube channel Never Too Small, she had seen how architects and designers routinely work wonders in small spaces. One particular video that showcased a 350-square-foot apartment by the New York-based architecture firm Dunham Robinson had stuck with her. 'After I bought the apartment, I went back through the channel, found it and reached out to them,' Ms. Kosch said. Michael Dunham and Rachel Robinson, the firm's founders, were eager collaborators. 'We were instantly struck by this unusual existing condition,' Ms. Robinson said. 'It was a former commercial space that had most recently been a live-work artist space.' Mr. Dunham and Ms. Robinson decided the best approach to create what Ms. Kosch wanted was to completely gut the interior and reconfigure the floor plan. 'We tried to create these discrete rooms within what is essentially one room,' Ms. Robinson said. 'Kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, office, bathroom, laundry room.' 'The biggest challenge,' Mr. Dunham said, 'was creating a place for entertaining,' while squeezing in everything else. In the reconfigured apartment, Dunham Robinson positioned an enlarged kitchen just inside the front door. Equipped with stainless steel cabinets and a small island with a cooktop and oven beneath a custom hood, it was built by Osara New York, a company that frequently fabricates commercial kitchens. The designers added a small coffee bar by recessing it into a wall. Next to the kitchen, they created a dining area centered on a vintage dining table by the German designer Rainer Daumiller that can expand with leaves. A custom, L-shaped banquette in channel-tufted leather and Daumiller dining chairs provide flexible seating options for different numbers of guests. The floor plan leaves just enough space behind the banquette for a small sofa, which creates a compact living room before a frosted glass panel that demarcates the bedroom, where Dunham Robinson squeezed a washer and dryer, and a desk, into a corner beside a built-in wardrobe. To save floor space in the sleeping area, they installed wall-mounted Float shelves from New Tendency to serve as bedside tables. Ms. Kosch also gave Dunham Robinson directions for the color and material palette: brick and butter. The brick was inspired by a visit to the Glass House, designed by the architect Philip Johnson in Connecticut, which has a brick floor. The butter was inspired by her love of food and cooking. The designers responded with deep reddish-brown brick tile for the floor and textured buttery yellow tile for some walls in the kitchen and bathroom. Construction took about eight months after Dunham Robinson discovered that structural repairs and new insulation were required after demolition. The apartment was complete in May 2024 at a cost of roughly $400,000. In the interim, Ms. Kosch changed careers, becoming a women's health coach, though she is still mostly based in Amsterdam. While she no longer needs to entertain people in the music industry, she has found her studio just as valuable for hosting family and friends, even for six adults and two children on Thanksgiving last year. Regardless of whether she's hosting guests or enjoying some quiet time alone, she said, 'I'm super happy here.'
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Corporate Insiders Were Dumping Stocks Into July's Record Rally
(Bloomberg) -- Investors across Wall Street eagerly piled into US stocks in July, sending the S&P 500 Index to 10 all-time highs in a month, but a notable group was heading in the opposite direction: corporate executives. Seeking Relief From Heat and Smog, Cities Follow the Wind PATH Train Service Resumes After Fire at Jersey City Station Chicago Curbs Hiring, Travel to Tackle $1 Billion Budget Hole NYC Mayor Adams Gives Bally's Bronx Casino Plan a Second Chance Insiders at just 151 S&P 500 companies bought their own stocks last month, the fewest since at least 2018, according to data compiled by the Washington Service. And while July's selling by corporate insiders slowed from June's pace, purchases dropped even more, pushing the ratio of buying-to-selling to the lowest level in a year, the data shows. The waning appetite among executives came as the stock market rally appeared to be tiring out, even before Friday's selloff. The S&P 500 rose 2.2% in July after gains of 5% in June and 6.2% in May. Still, that three-month advance has suddenly made S&P stocks pricey at nearly 23 times forward earnings, well above the 10-year average of around 18. So a cautious stance among corporate leaders — the group that likely knows their businesses best — may signal concerns about their market valuations and the coming hit to their companies' bottom lines from President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs. 'Corporate executives are behaving a lot like institutional investors right now: cautious, conservative, and valuation-sensitive,' said Dave Mazza, chief executive officer of Roundhill Investments. Moreover, economic data has been increasingly troubling. The latest jobs report released Friday pointed to a slowing labor market, with employment growth cooling sharply over the past three months and the unemployment rate inching up last month. And the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of underlying inflation increased in June at one of the fastest paces this year, while consumer spending barely rose. Divided Sentiment Of course, investors need to be careful about reading too much into insiders' buying and selling, as factors beyond market performance could be driving those moves. Still, the lack of enthusiasm from corporate executives about their own shares stands in stark contrast to Wall Street's broader risk-on sentiment in July. The S&P 500 hadn't had a three-month winning streak in almost a year, and the index has soared more than 25% since its April 8 bottom. In addition, corporate buybacks slowed last month and were below typical seasonal levels for a fourth consecutive week through July 25, the latest available data from Bank of America Corp. strategists led by Jill Carey Hall show. The firm acknowledged that one reason for this may be the late start to the earnings season due to the July 4 holiday. But Carey Hall's analysis shows a steady deceleration in buybacks as a share of market capitalization since March, which she says is a sign 'elevated rates and valuations may finally be having some impact' on corporate sentiment. 'The hesitation on buybacks suggests they're more focused on protecting balance sheets than signaling market confidence, which speaks volumes given the market rally,' Roundhill's Mazza said. Analysts who closely track data on corporate share repurchases could argue that they're a more important sentiment indicator than insider selling, since individuals often have ongoing liquidity needs and typically prefer to rebalance from concentrated holdings in their companies, according to Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Taken together, however, the lack of faith that both corporations and executives are showing in their own shares is a reason for investors to be concerned. 'The people that know the most about companies are telling you that much of the good news is discounted,' Samana said. --With assistance from Elena Popina. AI Flight Pricing Can Push Travelers to the Limit of Their Ability to Pay How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Government Steps Up Campaign Against Business School Diversity What Happens to AI Startups When Their Founders Jump Ship for Big Tech Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data