Reuters

US Trade Chief Tai Says Open to Discussions with China

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday that she is open to trade conversations with Chinese officials, but the Biden administration would defend U.S. interests and was focused on investments to compete more effectively with China. In prepared testimony before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Tai said that U.S. legislation to enable investments in […]

Snap Launches Enterprise Division to Help Businesses Build AR Features

Snap Inc, owner of photo messaging app Snapchat, launched a new division on Thursday that will help other companies build augmented reality features for their websites or apps. The division called AR Enterprise Services (ARES) marks the first time Snap will sell to business customers its AR technology, which can enhance photos and videos of […]

Moderna Signs Licensing Deal With Generation Bio in Push Beyond COVID

Moderna Inc has entered a licensing deal with Generation Bio Co to develop treatments targeting the immune system and liver, the latest such transaction by the vaccine maker as it expands beyond its COVID shots. Generation Bio’s shares rose about 13.14% to $4.40 in premarket trading on Thursday. Moderna will pay $40 million in cash […]

Hindenburg Shorts Jack Dorsey’s Payments Firm Block

Hindenburg Research said on Thursday it held short positions in Block Inc, alleging that the Jack Dorsey-led payments firm overstated its user counts and understated its customer acquisition costs. “Our 2-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to be helping,” the short seller said in a note […]

Sanofi, Regeneron Unveil ‘Blow-Out’ Smoker’s Lung Drug Data

Sanofi’s asthma drug Dupixent met all targets in a trial to treat “smoker’s lung”, potentially adding billions to the French drugmaker’s growth prospects, but also underscoring a heavy reliance on its bestseller. In a late stage trial Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron, led to a 30% reduction in moderate or severe acute exacerbations of chronic […]

Accenture Cuts Jobs, Trims Forecasts on Worries of Lower It Spending

Accenture Plc on Thursday lowered its annual revenue and profit forecasts and said it would cut about 2.5% of workforce, or 19,000 jobs, the latest sign that the worsening global economic outlook was sapping corporate spending on IT services. More than half of the layoffs will affect staff at its non-billable corporate functions, the company […]

Analysis - Banking Turmoil Takes the Leveraged out of the Buyout

Private equity firms that acquired companies since the banking crisis started on March 8 have funded the deals mostly with their own funds, a departure from traditional leveraged buyouts that reflects their struggle to secure cheap debt. Four acquisitions of companies by private equity firms that were announced in the last two weeks were funded […]

China Says It Has Never Deliberately Pursued Trade Surplus With U.S

China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus with the United States, Shu Jueting, a commerce ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday, despite signs that China is continuing to reduce its reliance on American exports. Although American export data published on Feb. 7 shows that exports to China increased by $2.4 billion on the year to […]

Huawei Touts Camera on Latest Premium Smartphone Without 5G

Huawei Technologies on Thursday continued to press ahead against U.S. pressure by launching a new smartphone with a price starting at 4,488 yuan ($658), which it promised has a top end camera though it would only be able to use 4G. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer arm, spent almost an hour presenting Huawei’s self-developed […]