Author: usaeverydaylife

Japan’s manufacturing activity contracted for the second month in August as U.S. tariffs weighed on overseas demand, a private-sector survey showed on Thursday.The S&P Global flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index increased to 49.9 in August from July’s final 48.9, but it remained below the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from contraction for two straight months.”The recovery in manufacturing output may be hard to sustain unless we see an improvement in sales in the near-term,” said Annabel Fiddes, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which compiled the survey.Manufacturing output showed a modest recovery, with the output index rebounding to growth from…

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President Donald Trump is pursuing an unusual strategy — courting Russian President Vladimir Putin, holding fire on Beijing, all the while turning the screws on a close ally: India. Despite India being one of the earliest nations to engage in negotiations with the Trump administration, there is still no sign of it sealing a deal with the U.S. New Delhi is now also staring at a secondary tariff of 25% or a “penalty” for its purchases of Russian oil that is set to come into effect later this month. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday escalated criticism against India,…

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A branch of the technology company Microsoft can be seen in Manhattan. Sven Hoppe | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesMicrosoft said on Wednesday it has scaled back some Chinese companies’ access to its early warning system for cybersecurity vulnerabilities following speculation that Beijing was involved in a hacking campaign against the company’s widely used SharePoint servers.The new restrictions come in the wake of last month’s sweeping hacking attempts against Microsoft SharePoint servers, at least some of which Microsoft and others have blamed on Beijing. That raised suspicions among several cybersecurity experts that there was a leak in the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), which Microsoft uses to help security vendors…

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Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Jim Lo Scalzo | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesElon Musk was ordered on Wednesday by a federal judge to face a lawsuit by voters accusing the world’s richest person of defrauding them into signing a petition to support the U.S. Constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway.U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas said Jacqueline McAferty…

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at Axel Springer Neubau in Berlin on Oct. 17, 2023Ben Kriemann | Getty ImagesMicrosoft said last week that it plans to stop providing discounts on enterprise purchases of its Microsoft 365 productivity software subscriptions and other cloud applications.Since the announcement, analysts have published estimates on how much more customers will end up paying. But for investors trying to figure out what it all means to Microsoft’s financials, analysts at UBS said the change is already factored into guidance.”In our view, it is safe to assume that the impact of the pricing change” was included in…

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Alibaba’s global headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on May 9, 2024.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesAlibaba-backed Banma, a provider of technology for smart cars, is planning to list shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to a filing.In a filing dated Aug. 21, Alibaba said it currently owns about 45% of Banma and will continue to control over 30% of the company’s stock after the listing. Banma said in a filing that the announcement does not guarantee a listing will take place.Banma, founded in 2015 and based in Shanghai, is “principally engaged in the development of smart cockpit…

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Evening view of Marine Drive, Queen’s necklace, Juhu and Chowpatty beachesGrant Faint | The Image Bank | Getty ImagesAsia-Pacific markets were poised for a muted start to the day as investors assessed the four-day losing streak for the S&P 500, led by declines in tech stocks.Investors in the region are awaiting India’s HSBC Composite flash purchasing managers’ index reading for August, which provides an early snapshot of the performance of the private sector economy, expected later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters expect it to come in at 60.5, compared to 61.1 in the month before.Japan’s Nikkei 225 was set to open…

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