Financial News

LONDON (AP) — The coronation of King Charles III is luring royal fans fascinated by the pageantry, spectacle and drama of the monarchy and far-flung visitors eager to experience a piece of British history. Tour companies, shops and restaurants are rolling out the red carpet, whether it’s a decked-out bus tour of London’s top sights with high tea or merchandise running from regal to kitschy. The weekend of events starting May 6 will bring a welcome cash infusion to central London businesses, especially hotels, pubs and restaurants. But it won’t do much for U.K. residents struggling with an economy on the precipice of recession and a cost-of-living crisis that has stirred months of disruptive strikes.

GM boosts outlook after US sales fuel first quarter profits

DETROIT (AP) — Strong sales in the U.S. helped General Motors increase its first-quarter net profit 19% over a year ago. The company raised its full-year profit guidance and says it expects demand for its vehicles to remain robust. The Detroit automaker said Tuesday that it made $2.37 billion from January through March, up from $1.99 billion a year ago. Excluding a $900 million charge for severance packages that went to about 3,000 white-collar workers who took buyouts during the quarter, GM made $2.21 per share. That soundly beat analysts’ estimates of $1.72 a share.

GM, Samsung plan new EV battery cell factory in US

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and South Korea’s Samsung SDI say they plan to invest more than $3 billion in building a new electric vehicle battery cell plant in the United States. The companies said they were not going to announce the location of the new factory at this time. It is targeted to begin operations in 2026. The companies plan to jointly operate the factory, which is expected to make nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells. The companies said in a release that the factory will have more than 30 GWh of capacity and will increase GM’s total U.S. battery cell capacity to about 160 GWh when it is at full production.

UBS reaps $28B in new money amid Credit Suisse fallout

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss bank UBS says it took in $28 billion in new money from wealthy clients in the first three months of the year. The Zurich-based bank said Tuesday that $7 billion of that came in the 10 days after the announcement it was taking over ailing rival Credit Suisse. UBS also says it drew $14 billion in new money to its asset management business. The bank posted net profit of nearly $1.04 billion in the first quarter, down 52% from the same period a year ago despite the new inflows. The client inflows at UBS came in marked contrast to the nearly $69 billion in outflows that Credit Suisse reported Monday for the first quarter.

McDonald’s first quarter sales boosted by higher prices

McDonald’s reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as store traffic grew despite higher prices. The Chicago burger giant said Tuesday that its global same-store sales rose 12.6% compared to the January-March period last year. That was well above the 8.7% increase Wall Street forecast, according to analysts polled by FactSet. McDonald’s said marketing campaigns __ including a Valentine’s Day meal promotion with rappers Offset and Cardi B __ and higher delivery sales boosted results in the U.S. The company also raised prices on some items to account for inflated costs for food and paper.

Central banks end crisis offer as bank system fears ease

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Major central banks are standing down from their offer of daily emergency dollar loans to banks, a crisis step launched after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. fed fears about the stability of the global financial system. The European Central Bank said Tuesday that it and other central banks found that pressure on banks’ cash needs has eased and the crisis credits were not being used much lately. The daily dollar credit window launched March 19. just days after Silicon Valley Bank failed and the same day the Swiss government announced that UBS would take over faltering rival bank Credit Suisse.

Stock markets today: US futures fall ahead of tech earnings

Wall Street futures followed global markets lower as investors awaited U.S. earnings reports and an update on economic growth. Futures for the Dow slipped 0.2% before the bell on Tuesday and futures for the S&P fell 0.4%. Some 170 of the biggest U.S. companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, are due to report earnings this week. McDonald’s rose before the bell after the fast food chain reported higher-than-expected sales and profit in the first quarter. General Motors jumped more than 3% after strong U.S. sales boosted profits and the company raised guidance based on expectations that demand will remain robust.

Fox News ousts Tucker Carlson, its most popular host

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News has ousted Tucker Carlson less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network’s 2020 election reporting. The network has said in a press release Monday that the popular and controversial prime-time host’s last program aired on Friday. Carlson became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in Fox’s prime-time lineup in 2017. He’s also consistently drawn headlines for controversial coverage, including most recently airing tapes from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to minimize the impact of the deadly attack. There was no immediate explanation from Fox about why Carlson has been ousted.

Cities reviving downtowns by converting offices to housing

NEW YORK (AP) — A growing number of developers are considering converting empty office towers into housing as part of an effort to revive struggling downtown business districts that emptied out during the pandemic. Many politicians see these conversions as a potential catalyst to bringing new housing to these dormant neighborhoods and, with that, restaurants, shops and other businesses serving these new residents. Some also see a chance to diversify neighborhoods with much-needed housing that is affordable to low- and middle-income residents. Conversion projects are underway in cities like New York, Washington, Pittsburgh and Dallas.

2 killed, 10 wounded as Russian forces hit Ukrainian museum

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile has hit a museum building in the north of the country, killing at least two and wounding 10 other people. The attack was part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is gathering its forces for a planned counteroffensive. The Russian military used S-300 air defense missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. They hit the museum of local history in the city center on Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video from the site that shows emergency responders examining the damage. He said that “the terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely … killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”