Tech stocks led Wall Street slightly higher on Wednesday, with investors largely shrugging off benign U.S. inflation data and unsurprising minutes from the Federal Reserve’s March meeting.
U.S. grain trader Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Wednesday it will open a voluntary retirement window for North American employees and may eliminate individual positions as part of restructuring of specific areas.
Oil futures climbed more than 1 percent on Wednesday after U.S. data showing a deep decline in gasoline stocks overrode a rise in crude inventories to 17-month highs, and as an OPEC report showed further tightening of Venezuela’s crude supply.
The euro rose and world stock markets edged higher on Wednesday amid tame U.S. inflation data and as the European Central Bank left its ultra-easy policy stance unchanged but warned that economic risks remained to the downside.
The wife of ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn returned to Japan on Wednesday and intends to testify to Tokyo prosecutors, a source close to her entourage said, days after she left the country to seek help from the French government.
Chief executive officers of some of America’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc, on Wednesday testified before Congress, where they were grilled on a wide range topics.
The U.S. federal government posted a $147 billion budget deficit in March, according to data released on Wednesday by the Treasury Department.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that U.S.-China trade talks continue to make progress and the two sides have basically settled on a mechanism to enforce any agreement reached.
Airbnb’s decision not to go ahead with excluding Jewish settlements in the West Bank from its accommodation listings Palestinian condemnation on Wednesday and accusations that it was helping to perpetuate Israeli occupation.
Saudi Aramco said on Wednesday that it raised $12 billion from its debut international bond issue, which was split into five tranches. The bonds have maturities ranging from three to 30 years.
Chief executives of some of the largest U.S. banks appeared before Congress on Wednesday, giving lawmakers their first opportunity to grill the lenders since the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
Oil prices rallied more than 1 percent on Wednesday after U.S. data showing a deep drawdown in gasoline stocks overshadowed crude inventories rising to 17-month highs, and as sanctions and blackouts in Venezuela helped tighten global supply.
Technology stocks lifted the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on Wednesday, ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its latest policy meeting, while a drop in Boeing shares kept the Dow lower.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao defended the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to not immediately ground the Boeing 737 MAX fleet after a second deadly crash in March of an airplane in Ethiopia.
Sunrise Communications’ top shareholder on Wednesday blocked plans to extend the company’s right to issue fresh capital to 2021, complicating its bid to buy Liberty Global’s Swiss UPC cable business for $6.3 billion.
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