Swiss president heads to US to improve offer in tariff talks
"The aim is to make the U.S. a more attractive offer in order to reduce the level of additional tariffs on Swiss exports, while taking U.S. concerns into account," the government said in a statement.
(Writing by Madeline Chambers, Editing by Miranda Murray)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
8 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
OpenAI eyes $500 billion valuation in potential employee share sale, source says
ChatGPT maker OpenAI is in early-stage discussions about a stock sale that would allow employees to cash out and could value the company at about $500 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. Existing investors, including Thrive Capital, are in discussions to participate, said the source, who requested anonymity because the talks are private. The $500 billion valuation is an eye-popping bump-up from the $300 billion valuation that the Microsoft-backed company currently has. The share sale would offer a financial incentive to employees as technology giants such as Meta compete aggressively for AI researchers with lucrative compensation packages.
Zawya
8 minutes ago
- Zawya
Dollar drifts as investors await Fed governor replacement
SINGAPORE: The dollar was rangebound on Wednesday, with investors choosing to stay on the sidelines ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to fill a coming vacancy on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. Trump said on Tuesday he will decide on a nominee by the end of the week and had separately narrowed the possible replacements for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to a short list of four. Data out the same day also showed the U.S. services sector activity unexpectedly flatlined in July even as input costs climbed by the most in nearly three years, underscoring the hit from Trump's tariffs on the economy, which has also begun to bite corporate earnings. Still, those did little to sway the dollar, as traders were hesitant to take on fresh positions ahead of news on who would fill the Fed board vacancy. Concerns are mounting that partisan loyalty would invade the staid world of central bank policy. The dollar was last little changed at 147.54 yen, while the euro ticked up 0.02% to $1.5760. Sterling last bought $1.3304. Moves in currencies overnight had been muted. "I still think that between now and the end of the week, if Trump is going to make an announcement about who he wants to fill the vacant board seat, depending on... how credible (the markets) view that candidate to be, I think that has the potential to prompt some reaction across everything," said Ray Attrill, head of FX research at National Australia Bank (NAB). "For me, that' the biggest swing factor for the next sort of 48 hours or so." While moves in the dollar have been more subdued this week, the currency has yet to recover from its steep losses on Friday, when it clocked its largest one-day percentage fall in nearly four months following an alarming jobs report. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was last at 98.76 , still some distance away from its peak of 100.25 hit on Friday before the nonfarm payrolls figures. Traders continue to price in an over 90% chance of a Fed cut in September, with about 58 basis points worth of easing expected by the year-end. But data such as Tuesday's services ISM report underscore the fine line the Fed has to tread, as policymakers weigh rising price pressures from Trump's tariffs against signs of a weakening U.S. economy. "The services ISM has obviously got that kind of stagflationary whiff about it... that's obviously a bit of a two-edged sword in terms of what does that mean for policy," said NAB's Attrill. "At the moment, I think we're sort of of the view that maybe there's a bit too much confidence in the market about the certainty of a September move." In other currencies, the Australian dollar rose 0.15% to $0.6479, while the New Zealand dollar gained 0.23% to $0.5914. New Zealand's jobless rate rose slightly in the second quarter as the labour market remained soft, data on Wednesday showed, supporting the view that the central bank will proceed with a flagged 25 basis-point interest cut at its August policy meeting.
Zawya
8 minutes ago
- Zawya
US Stocks: Wall Street ends lower as investors consider tariff impact on results, economy
NEW YORK: U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday as investors weighed the impact of tariffs after Yum Brands and other companies cited trade duties in their results or outlooks. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June on a sharp drop in consumer goods imports, and the trade gap with China shrank to its lowest in more than 21 years. In addition, a measure of activity in the U.S. services sector hit stall-speed in July, with businesses saying new import taxes are pushing costs higher. Shares of KFC parent Yum Brands fell 5.1% after the company missed estimates for the second quarter, as steep trade duties restricted consumer spending. Caterpillar warned U.S. tariffs would pose significant challenges in the second half of the year and cost it up to $1.5 billion in 2025, but its shares ended up 0.1%. The comments come at the tail end of the U.S. second-quarter earnings season, in which about 80% of reports from S&P 500 companies are beating analyst profit expectations. "If you look at results, they are trending above low-bar expectations," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "The impact of tariffs remains a work in progress. We're not seeing any meaningful impact on company profitability with tariffs. We do know, however, that they loom." The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61.90 points, or 0.14%, to 44,111.74, the S&P 500 lost 30.75 points, or 0.49%, to 6,299.19 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 137.03 points, or 0.65%, to 20,916.55. Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. could impose a "small tariff" on pharmaceutical imports before increasing the rate subsequently. He also signaled an announcement on tariffs on semiconductors and chips in the "next week or so." "Today's market action reflects investors that are merely in pause mode," Sandven said, noting that the backdrop for equities remains constructive for the year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit a string of record highs recently, and the S&P 500 remains up 7.1% for the year so far. In other results-related news, Marriott International cut its full-year forecast for revenue growth and profit and signaled slowing travel demand and economic uncertainties. Its stock closed up 0.2%. While the earnings period is winding down, investors look forward to more key results on Wednesday, with both Walt Disney and McDonald's due to report. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 158 new highs and 67 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,216 stocks rose and 2,365 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.07-to-1 ratio. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.29 billion shares, compared with the roughly 18.33 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. (Additional reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Twesha Dikshit; Editing by Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis)
