By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Energy Department on Monday said it has finalized a $9.63 billion loan to a joint venture of Ford Motor and South Korean battery maker SK On to help finance construction of three new battery manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. The low-cost government loan for the BlueOval SK…
By Manya Saini (Reuters) -Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Brookline Bancorp have agreed to merge in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.1 billion, the regional lenders said on Monday, in yet another sign of increasing consolidation within the industry. Regional lenders that were at the heart of the banking crisis in 2023 have been cutting…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. manufacturers are optimistic that the sector will emerge from a prolonged recession next year, though capital expenditure growth was likely to fall short of 2024’s pace. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey published on Monday also found purchasing and supply executives at factories predicted higher employment levels in 2025. The…
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bond investors, expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, are bracing for the central bank to scale back its easing in 2025 in anticipation of higher inflation under the Trump administration. Market players are staying out of longer-dated…
(Reuters) – Meta Platforms said on Monday it has updated the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with AI video capability and real-time language translation functionality. The Facebook parent, which first announced the features during its annual Connect conference in September, said the update is available for members that are part of its “Early Access Program”. The…
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s economy will grow more slowly than expected in the next two years as its home-grown political turmoil adds to the global volatility weighing on activity, the central bank forecast on Monday in its quarterly outlook. After growth of 1.1% this year, the euro zone’s second biggest economy will expand 0.9% in…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican and Democratic negotiators in the U.S. Congress are closing in on a deal for a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through March 14, averting a partial shutdown that would otherwise begin Saturday, a source familiar with the talks said on Monday. The measure would likely keep the roughly $6.2…
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s economy in the July to September period notched its first quarter-on-quarter economic expansion since entering a technical recession at the end 2023, but contracted yet again in yearly terms, official data showed on Monday. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 3.9% in the third quarter in seasonally-adjusted terms versus the second…
