Business & Finance News
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter as consumers boosted spending and farmers rushed shipments of soybeans to China to beat retaliatory trade tariffs before they took effect in early July.
U.S. President Donald Trump was set to deliver remarks on the economy at the White House at 9:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT) on Friday after the Commerce Department said the economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years during the second quarter.
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter as consumers boosted spending and farmers rushed shipments of soybeans to China to beat retaliatory trade tariffs before they took effect in early July.
U.S. government statisticians say they have addressed a methodology problem, which analysts had argued tended to understate economic growth in the first quarter.
The dollar pared its earlier gains against a basket of currencies on Friday as data showed the U.S. economy expanded at its fastest clip in nearly four years but they did not quell worries the pace of growth would slow due to tariffs.
Exxon Mobil Corp , the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer, said on Friday its quarterly profit jumped 18 percent as rising crude prices offset falling production.
Drugmaker Merck & Co on Friday raised its full-year profit forecast after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit as sales of blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda nearly doubled.
Twitter Inc on Friday reported fewer monthly active users than analysts expected and warned that the closely-watched figure could keep falling as it deletes phony accounts, sending shares sharply lower in early trading.
(This version of the July 26th story corrects to say company reiterated its full-year expense forecast, not raised the full-year expense forecast in headline and paragraphs 1, 2)
China plans to put more money into infrastructure projects and ease borrowing curbs on local governments to help soften the blow to the economy from the Sino-U.S. trade war, policy sources told Reuters.
U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday as Amazon’s robust earnings buoyed the flagging FAANG group of high-flying stocks and ahead of a potentially strong U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) data.
Drugmaker Merck & Co topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Friday as sales of blockbuster cancer drug nearly doubled and the company raised its full-year profit outlook.
Revenue forecasts from Facebook Inc that alarmed investors, fueling the worst day ever for its shares on Thursday, add to the pressure on its Instagram unit to win over more of the ad buyers that have long found success on the company’s flagship app.
Drugmaker Merck & Co reported a 12.3 percent fall in quarterly profit on Friday, as research and development expenses rose.
Twitter Inc posted record profit on Friday with second quarter revenue that beat financial analysts’ estimates and said penalizing misbehaving users this year had paid off even though monthly usage had dropped.
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