Berkshire sells around $1.48 billion Bank of America shares, filing shows

(Reuters) -Berkshire Hathaway sold about 33.9 million shares of Bank of America for around $1.48 billion over multiple transactions this week, a regulatory filing showed. After the sale, Berkshire owned about 999 million BofA shares. Berkshire is one of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender’s largest shareholder. It also invests in several other banks, including Wells Fargo & Co and JPMorgan Chase The conglomerate, owned by Warren Buffett, began investing in Bank of America in 2011, … Read more…

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Exclusive-Chrysler-parent Stellantis paid $190.7 million in US fuel economy penalties

By David Shepardson (Reuters) -Chrysler parent Stellantis paid $190.7 million in civil penalties for failing to meet U.S. fuel economy requirements for 2019 and 2020, and owes another $459.7 million in outstanding penalties, government documents seen by Reuters show. The penalties, paid in March and May, were disclosed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which administers the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program, on a government website. The disclosure shows the significant compliance costs … Read more…

Oracle reaches $115 million consumer privacy settlement

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Oracle agreed to pay $115 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the database software and cloud computing company of invading people’s privacy by collecting their personal information and selling it to third parties. A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was filed on Thursday night in San Francisco federal court, and requires a judge’s approval. Oracle denied wrongdoing. The plaintiffs, who otherwise have no connection to Oracle, said the … Read more…

Tesla halted some production lines due to global IT outage, Business Insider reports

(Reuters) -Tesla halted some production lines due to the global IT outage, Business Insider reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The automaker sent some production employees home early during the night shift at its Austin, Texas and Sparks, Nevada facilities, the report added. The tech outage crippled industries from travel to finance before services started coming back online after hours of disruption due a content update by CrowdStrike for Microsoft Windows hosts. … Read more…

Meta chief Zuckerberg won’t endorse Trump or Biden in elections, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declined to endorse either Donald Trump or Joe Biden and said he does not plan to be involved in the upcoming U.S. presidential election in any way, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. In an interview with the publication on Thursday, the tech executive said former President Trump’s immediate reaction after being shot was “badass” and inspiring, and helps explain his appeal to voters. Zuckerberg’s comments come as several … Read more…

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Pivoting Techs – by Justin Vaughn

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russell 2000 stepped up Friday as investors and traders, ready for the pivot to small cap value stocks, jumped started the two laggard indexes. As inflation signs continue to show cooling, along with indications the Fed is near a rate cut, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 came alive, with Russell gaining 6% for the week. The S&P 500 had … Read more…

US appeals court blocks all of Biden student debt relief plan

By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from continuing to implement a new student debt relief plan designed to lower monthly payments for millions of Americans. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by seven Republican-led states to put on hold parts of the U.S. Department of Education’s debt relief plan that had not already been blocked by a lower-court judge. That … Read more…

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Goldman Sachs names senior dealmakers in reshuffle, memo says

(Refiles to fix typographical error in paragraph 1) LONDON (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs has made a handful of senior leadership appointments within its investment banking team, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. The company named former JPMorgan banker Carsten Woehrn as joint co-head of M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to “grow and develop our European franchise,” the memo said. Woehrn led JPMorgan’s Infrastructure M&A franchise in Europe and has … Read more…

Apple in talks to license more Hollywood films, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) – Apple is in talks to license more films from Hollywood studios to boost its portfolio on Apple TV+ streaming service, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Streaming platforms have been looking to grow their library of offerings, including spending millions on licensing for movies and live sports programming, to attract users in a competitive industry. The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment. … Read more…

Google brings AI to US broadcast of Paris Olympics

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google will infuse artificial intelligence into the U.S. broadcast of the Paris Olympics, allowing sports commentators to use AI to explain competitions, the tech company said on Thursday alongside NBCUniversal and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Google will be named the official search AI partner of Team USA, marking the first time a tech company has partnered with the sports nonprofit, the three organizations said in a statement. … Read more…