Author: Chief Editor

Sweden’s AB Volvo (VOLVb.ST) on Tuesday posted a bigger-than-expected rise in profit helped by strong demand for its trucks, but warned of continued supply chain issues. A global shortage of components such as semiconductors and a lack of freight capacity have pressured truck makers after markets began to recover from the pandemic-induced demand slump. The Gothenburg-based truck maker said it had successfully mitigated effects of supply chain disruptions and higher material costs through prices, adding that the situation for components was still unstable and unpredictable. “We will therefore continue to have disruptions and stoppages both in the production of trucks and in…

The U.S. Department of Defense agreed with Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) to build about 375 F-35 fighter jets over three years, the two parties said on Monday, amid expectations the price of the most common version of the aircraft would increase due to inflation and slower production. “We are pleased to announce that the Department and Lockheed Martin reached a handshake agreement for the next F-35 lot buy on a basis of 375 aircraft,” said William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer. Earlier on Monday, Reuters reported the deal, worth about $30 billion, was nearing an agreement. The handshake agreement came as…

European shares slipped on Tuesday, while the dollar hovered below last week’s peak, with investors eyeing central bank meetings this week for clues on market direction. The broader Euro STOXX 600 (.STOXX) fell 0.6%, with indexes in Paris (.FCHI) and Frankfurt (.GDAXI) both down 0.9%. Traders were on edge with few immediate pieces of macroeconomic or political news to drive direction, market players said. “Right now it’s cautious mode. It’s not necessarily plain defence and really being short markets,” said Olivier Marciot, senior portfolio manager at Unigestion. “Really little exposures all over the place, and waiting for some sort of clearer direction to deploy risk.” MSCI…

SAS (SAS.ST) and pilot unions have reached a wage deal, the Scandinavian airline confirmed on Tuesday, ending a 15-day strike over a new collective bargaining agreement that had grounded 3,700 flights and put the carrier’s future in doubt. Shares in SAS rose more than 12% in early morning trade. They are still down about a third since the beginning of the year. SAS and a union representing its pilots had said late on Monday that a deal was close. The airline, which filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on the second day of the strike, said the industrial action had cost it more…

Russia’s Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the West over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian state gas monopoly said in a letter dated July 14 that it was retroactively declaring force majeure on supplies from June 14. The news comes as Nord Stream 1, the key pipeline delivering Russian gas to Germany and beyond, is undergoing 10 days of annual maintenance scheduled to conclude on Thursday. The letter added to fears in Europe that Moscow…

Cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network said bitcoin mining is key to the company’s restructuring efforts at a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing on Monday in Manhattan. New Jersey-based Celsius received approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn to spend $3.7 million in construction costs at a new bitcoin mining facility and $1.5 million on customs and duties on imported bitcoin mining rigs. Patrick Nash, a lawyer for Celsius, told Glenn that bitcoin mining could provide a way for the company, which halted other business operations like its cryptocurrency lending, to repay customers, whose assets its froze in the weeks leading up to…

U.S. bank executives said they’re optimistic on loan growth as demand for borrowing from retail and business customers bounced back in the second quarter from the lows of the pandemic, but warned demand could weaken later this year if the worsening economic outlook starts to hurt consumer confidence. Analysts and investors have been carefully watching loan growth, a core driver of bank income, after extraordinary government stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic dampened companies’ and consumers’ appetite for bank borrowing. As the economy bounced back from the pandemic, demand for loans began to pick up in the first quarter driven by…

U.S. companies are facing a “new era” in which fewer people are entering the workforce and pressure to pay higher salaries may become permanent, Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) President Brad Smith told Reuters in an interview. At the software maker’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters, Smith highlighted one source of what he called today’s “greater economic turbulence.” In his office, he walked over to a wall-sized touchscreen device and pulled up a series of charts, showing how population growth has tumbled in the United States, Europe, China and Japan. The trend of around 5 million people expanding the U.S. working age population every five years…

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira on Monday threw his support behind new signing Cheick Doucoure after the Mali midfielder claimed he had been the victim of attempted blackmail and extortion since joining for the club. The south London club signed Doucoure in a deal worth a reported £20 million ($24 million) on July 11 after he impressed for Lens in the French top-flight last season. But in a statement from his lawyer Alexis Rutman Sunday, reported by British media, it was alleged that Doucoure and his entourage had been “victims of blackmail and an attempt at extortion from several individuals”…

Wales captain Gareth Bale got his first taste of Major League Soccer action on Sunday in Los Angeles FC’s 2-1 away victory over Nashville in Tennessee. Goals from Cristian Arango and Jose Cifuentes either side of a penalty by Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar put LAFC 2-1 up before prized acquisition Bale, a five-time UEFA Champions League winner, came on in the 72nd minute. Even though LAFC were on the road, the former Real Madrid and Tottenham superstar was cheered by a sell-out crowd at Geodis Park, which included a vocal contingent of LAFC fans. “I was itching, soon as I got…