SNB Cuts Interest Rate to Zero in Effort to Stop Franc Inflows
The quarter-point reduction on Thursday is the sixth consecutive move by officials, and was forecast by most of the economists surveyed by Bloomberg after the currency's strength caused consumer prices to drop for the first time in four years. A minority anticipated an even bigger half-point step.
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Engadget
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Apple says the App Store is 'fair and free of bias' in response to Musk's legal threats
Apple has denied Elon Musk's accusation that it's favoring OpenAI in its App Store rankings and making it impossible for other AI companies to reach the top. In a statement sent to Bloomberg , Apple said the App Store is "designed to be fair and free of bias." The company's spokesperson explained that the App Store features "thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria." They added: "Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories." xAI founder Elon Musk accused Apple of "unequivocal antitrust violation" by favoring OpenAI in a post on X, warning that his company "will take immediate legal action." In a separate post from his threat, he asked Apple why it "[refuses] to put either X or Grok in [its] 'Must Have' section." X, he said, is "the #1 news app in the world," while Grok is ranked number five among all apps. "Are you playing politics? What gives?" he continued. Musk didn't provide evidence to back his accusations. It's also worth noting that Chinese AI app DeepSeek reached the top of Apple's free app rankings back in January, overtaking even ChatGPT. As X's own Community Notes also mentioned in Musk's post, added hours after it went up, Perplexity reached the top of overall rankings in India's App Store back in July. Both apps were able to reach the top of their respective lists way after Apple and OpenAI announced their partnership last year. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk's accusation, as well. He said it's a "remarkable claim," given that he has heard allegations that Musk manipulates "X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." In response, Musk posted: "Scam Altman lies as easily as he breathes."
Bloomberg
26 minutes ago
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Gold Holds Modest Gain as Inflation Data Aids US Rate-Cut Bets
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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Electric vehicle sales growth eases to 21% in July, research firm says
By Alessandro Parodi (Reuters) -Global electric vehicle sales grew 21% year-on-year in July, the slowest rate since January and down from 25% in June, as momentum in plug-in hybrid sales in China slackened, market research firm Rho Motion said on Wednesday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT China is the world's biggest car market and accounts for more than half of global EV sales, which in Rho Motion's data include battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Its overall car sales growth slowed in July, with BYD, the world's largest EV maker, recording its third monthly drop in registrations. The relatively muted slowdown in overall EV sales however shows other markets are taking up some of the slack, with European sales for one benefiting from incentives aimed at speeding up decarbonisation. BY THE NUMBERS Global sales of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rose to 1.6 million units in July, Rho Motion data showed. China's EV sales growth, which averaged 36% a month in the first half, eased to 12% in July as the previously booming market was dampened by a pause in some 2025 government subsidy schemes for EV and plug-in hybrid purchases, Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said. Chinese sales reached around one million vehicles. European sales surged 48% to about 390,000 units, while North American sales climbed 10% to more than 170,000. Sales in the rest of the world jumped 55% to more than 140,000 vehicles. KEY QUOTE "Despite regional variations, the overall trajectory for EV adoption in 2025 remains strongly upward," Lester said. WHAT'S NEXT Chinese car sales are expected to return to strong growth from August as new funds become available for its subsidy schemes, while a cut in U.S. tax credits for buying or leasing new EVs at the end of September will hurt demand there, Lester added. Sign in to access your portfolio
