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OpenAI closes $6.6 billion funding haul with investment from Microsoft and Nvidia

By Krystal Hu (Reuters) -OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has raised $6.6 billion from investors, which could value the company at $157 billion and cement its position as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. The funding has attracted returning venture capital investors including Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, as well as OpenAI’s biggest corporate backer Microsoft, and new participation from Nvidia. The closing of the funds coincides with the company’s ongoing … Read more…

Stocks stable, oil rises as wary investors eye Middle East hostilities

By Sinéad Carew and Lawrence White NEW YORK/ LONDON (Reuters) -MSCI’s global equities index was down slightly on Wednesday while the dollar rose and oil prices pared earlier gains, as investors digested U.S. economic data and anxiously waited for Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack the previous day. Oil prices rose on worries that further escalation in the Middle East could threaten oil supplies from the world’s top producing region, but a large build in … Read more…

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Lilly to invest $4.5 billion on new facility to scale-up pipeline drug production

(Reuters) -U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly said on Wednesday it will invest $4.5 billion to create a new center in Indiana that will focus on developing new ways to manufacture its drugs and increasing production of experimental medicines used in clinical studies. Lilly and Danish rival Novo Nordisk are market leaders for a class of weight-loss treatments known as GLP-1 agonists, which work by suppressing appetite. Some analysts expect this market will reach $150 billion by … Read more…

J&J to invest more than $2 billion in new manufacturing facility

(Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it will invest more than $2 billion to build a new manufacturing facility at Wilson, North Carolina, aiding production of new therapies. The new facility will expand J&J’s production of medicines to treat cancer, immunity-related and neurological diseases, the company said. The company expects to begin construction of the facility in the first half of 2025, J&J said, adding that it will employ about 400 full-time staff when … Read more…

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US issues $2 billion electric vehicle tax rebates since Jan 1, Treasury says

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government has issued $2 billion in advance point-of-sale consumer electric vehicle (EV) tax credit payments since Jan. 1 covering more than 300,000 vehicles, the Treasury said on Tuesday. Since new rules took effect this year allowing for consumers to take advantage of EV tax credits worth up to $7,500 at the point of sale, more than 250,000 tax credits have been issued for new EVs and around … Read more…

US condemns Iran attack on Israel as major escalation

By Jeff Mason and Simon Lewis (Reuters) -The United States warned Iran that it would face severe consequences for its ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday, saying the barrage marked a significant escalation but appeared to have been thwarted. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said U.S. military forces in the region helped Israel defeat the attack and that the Biden administration was consulting with Israel on a response. “This is a significant escalation … Read more…

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Fed liquidity tools see demand ease amid new repo market anxieties

By Michael S. Derby NEW YORK (Reuters) – Inflows into Federal Reserve liquidity tools eased on the first day of the new quarter, although some in markets now worry there are signs of building money market pressures that could cause the central bank to rethink its balance sheet drawdown plans. The Fed reported Tuesday that inflows into its reverse repo facility ticked down to $375.2 billion from $465.6 billion on Monday, which was the highest … Read more…

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DirecTV clinches long-elusive deal to combine with Dish

By Milana Vinn and Dawn Chmielewski NEW YORK (Reuters) – DirecTV on Monday agreed to buy EchoStar’s satellite television business that includes Dish TV, capping decades of on-and-off talks to create one of the nation’s largest pay TV distributors with a combined 20 million subscribers. The transaction comes at a time when satellite TV services DirecTV and Dish are hemorrhaging market share to competitors like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video, which have benefited from changing consumer habits … Read more…

EBay wins dismissal of US lawsuit over sale of harmful products

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing eBay of violating environmental laws by allowing the sale of hundreds of thousands of harmful products on its platform, including pesticides and devices to evade motor vehicle pollution controls. U.S. District Judge Orelia Merchant in Brooklyn ruled on Monday that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability over user content, shielded … Read more…

Trump says he spoke to Musk about getting internet to areas hit by hurricane

By Kanishka Singh (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday he spoke to billionaire Elon Musk about getting Starlink internet access to areas affected by Hurricane Helene, which has torn through the U.S. Southeast, killing more than 100 people across six states. Trump made his remarks in Georgia. Musk has endorsed the former U.S. president in the Nov. 5 elections, in which Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. “I just spoke … Read more…

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