By Lisa Barrington and Sophie Yu BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s three biggest airlines reported deeper first-quarter losses on Tuesday from the same period a year ago, amid intensifying competition and economic pressures on consumers, and a worsening trade war with the United States. State-owned China Southern Airlines, Air China, and China Eastern have struggled to return to a break-even position after the COVID-19 pandemic, posting five consecutive years of annual losses. Domestic market competition, low international … Read more…

By Max A. Cherney, Stephen Nellis SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) -Intel said on Tuesday that several of its contract manufacturing customers planned to build test chips for a forthcoming advanced manufacturing process, which the company still has in development. The embattled chipmaker indicated it had received interest from customers at its Direct Connect conference on Tuesday for its contract chip business, or foundry. Intel’s attempt to build a foundry unit has hit snags, but ultimately … Read more…

(Reuters) -Facebook parent Meta Platforms on Tuesday launched a separate app for its Meta AI assistant, similar to those offered by Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google. The standalone app comes as Meta looks to boost the AI assistant’s usage, apart from being available within the company’s family of platforms – WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. It also signals CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s move to strengthen the company’s position in the competitive AI landscape, taking on major … Read more…

(Reuters) – KKR and Capital Group launched two funds on Tuesday, which would allow retail investors to invest in both public and private credit. The funds, Capital Group KKR Core Plus+ and Capital Group KKR Multi-Sector+, will allocate 60% of their assets to public fixed income and the rest to private credit. Private credit — loans typically made by non-bank institutions — have surged in popularity in recent years as banks retreat from riskier forms … Read more…

(Reuters) – Barclays lowered its Brent crude forecast on Monday by $4 to $70 a barrel for 2025 and set its 2026 estimate at $62/b, citing “a rocky road ahead for fundamentals” amid escalating trade tensions and OPEC+’s pivot in its production strategy. Despite oil market fundamentals evolving “significantly better than expected” in early 2025, the bank now projects a surplus of 1 million barrels per day this year and 1.5 mb/d in 2026. It … Read more…