Container ships from international mainlines, including those from Europe, Africa, India, Pakistan and Southeast Asia, load and unload containers at the Qianwan Port Area Container Terminal of Qingdao Port in Qingdao, China, on April 4, 2024. A norphoto | Getty ImagesThe World Trade Organization said on Wednesday it expects global trade to gradually rebound this year, before rising further in 2025, with the effects of higher inflation in the rearview mirror.In its latest World Trade Prospects and Statistics report, the World Trade Organization forecasts that total global trade volume will rise by 2.6% in 2024, and by a further 3.3%…
Author: ricardofrancois
It is based61 | It is based61 | Getty ImagesIt's unclear when the Fed could start lowering interest rates, but many homeowners who took out mortgages in recent years — where interest rates have ranged between 6% and 7%, and even touched 8% — are paying attention to opportunities to lower interest rates. interest rates. Refinancing.Thanks to higher mortgage interest rates, refinancing activity in 2023 was at its lowest level in 30 years.In the first and second quarters of 2023, there were just $75 billion and $80 billion, respectively, in mortgage refinancings nationwide, according to Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored entity…
Check out which companies are making headlines in pre-market trading. Nvidia – Shares of the chipmaker fell less than 1% before the opening bell, but the AI play and “Magnificent Seven” leader officially entered correction territory on Tuesday. Shares are down 10% from an all-time closing high of $950 per share on March 25. In an internal memo to employees. Ma's upbeat note also talked about the potential of artificial intelligence. ALBEMARLE – Shares rose about 2% after Bank of America upgraded the chemical maker to buy on the back of rising lithium prices, raising its price target. GoodRx –…
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang displays products on stage during the annual Nvidia GTC conference at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18, 2024.Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty ImagesChip industry giant Nvidia It has entered “correction territory,” with its shares now down 10% from its all-time closing high.The company, which makes graphics processing units – or graphics processing units – has been a major beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom, which has boosted demand for its chips.Nvidia GPUs are commonly used for compute-intensive AI applications, such as OpenAI's Chatbot AI. Its server chips are also a…
This aerial photo shows homes near the Chesapeake Bay in Centreville, Maryland, on March 4, 2024.Jim Watson | AFP | Getty ImagesOverall mortgage demand has now moved sideways for three straight weeks, but last week saw a split between those looking to buy a home and those hoping to save money by refinancing.Total mortgage application volume rose just 0.1% last week from the previous week, according to the seasonally adjusted Mortgage Bankers Association index, and is essentially flat.The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) rose to 7.01% from 6.91%, with points…
Washington – Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is expected to be withdrawn from the campaign trail for at least two months starting next week, as he stands on trial in New York, the first criminal trial of a former president in American history. Trump was accused of falsifying business records in an attempt to hide money paid to an adult film actress to prevent her from going public with allegations that she had sex with Trump.It is the only one of the four criminal cases Trump currently faces that has a trial date and could be the only…
Sacramento — Two approaches are gaining more attention as California grapples with the issue of retail theft, which has been pushed to the top of the state's political agenda this year by widely circulated videos of robberies and takeovers and the proliferation of pharmacies holding up essential goods. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) on Tuesday threw his weight behind a package of bills aimed at thwarting theft by, among other proposals, allowing restraining orders to keep people who steal away from certain stores and allowing prosecutors to collect the value of thefts across incidents. Multiple criminal charges are determined. Meanwhile,…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain, expects profits to rise this year and announces a £1 billion share buyback, as it attracts more shoppers to its stores and consumer sentiment improves.The FTSE 100 company reported a 7.2 per cent rise in sales for the year to February, to £61.5bn, as “inflationary pressures fell significantly”, while adjusted retail operating profits – which exclude Tesco Bank results – rose. by 10.9 per cent to British pounds. 2.76 billion. The company expects this amount to…
Truecaller has launched a web version of its eponymous caller ID app that offers a host of features including SMS and chat mirroring, call notifications and a number lookup function on desktop. The company initially said the web version, called Truecaller for Web, would only be available to Android users in India, but it plans to roll out support in other regions in the future. All Truecaller for Android users in India can now link their devices to the web client on a PC or Mac through a QR code. Currently, Truecaller limits the number of active web sessions to…
This article is the on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Nvidia shares closed 10 percent off their recent peak yesterday, despite a steady stream of news about all the life-changing AI models. Unhedged has two very simple tests to evaluate the effectiveness of AI. First, can we record our expenses? At that threshold, it's a good productivity booster. Second, can he replace us? Hence, it is destructive to productivity and must be stopped at…