US

The Prices US producers receive for their products rose again in July. Prices have been rising for some time, partly because there is a lot of demand for various products.   Also, because the supply of materials is faltering and because the costs of raw materials such as metals, wood, and grains and soybeans are rising. Producer prices rose 1 percent from June, the US Department of Labor reported. However, compared to July 2020, the increase was 7.8 percent. That is the most significant annual increase recorded by the ministry since 2010. Rising producer prices are part of the explanation for rising inflation. Companies will also want to partly pass on the higher prices they have to pay to producers from their customers. Rising wages due to a shortage in the labour market also con...

Social media company Snap gained a lot of market value on Friday at the start of trading in New York. Investors reacted enthusiastically to the company's strong quarterly results. Twitter and chip group Intel has also looked at the books.   Twitter was also popular, but the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer was disappointed somewhat and was, therefore, one of the losers on Wall Street. The share of Twitter rose more than 1 percent, and Snap was even 24 percent higher in the first trading minutes. Twitter achieved almost three quarters more revenue in the second quarter than a year earlier. This was mainly because advertisers found the site with mini-blogs more attractive than before. In addition, more regular users were added to Twitter. Snap, the company behind the Snapch...

The National Contact Point for OECD Guidelines (NCP) handles a complaint from the trade union FNV about tax avoidance by the American oil and gas company Chevron.   FNV submitted the complaint to the NCP 2.5 years ago. This institution checks whether companies adhere to the guidelines of the OECD, the organization of mainly western industrial countries, on corporate social responsibility. FNV chairman Tuur Elzinga expects a "firm final judgment" from the NCP and realizes that such a judgment does not help much. "The NCP cannot impose a penalty, and Chevron has walked off the table during discussions in the complaints procedure. That shows that Chevron is evading its responsibility." Elzinga, therefore, sees more benefit in new legislation that puts an end to such practices. "That ...

Cinema chain AMC Entertainment was also in the spotlight with investors on Wall Street on Thursday.   The company, which saw its stock market value double a day earlier, filed an application with the US stock watchdog SEC to sell almost 12 million shares in the future. The stock plunged more than 16 percent, where it seemed before the market that it would continue its rise. The leading Dow-Jones index lost 0.5 percent to 34,413 points in early trading. The broad S&P fell 0.6 percent to 4,182 points. The Nasdaq also stepped back. The tech gauge fell 0.9 percent to 13,554 points.

US President Joe Biden will propose a $ 6 trillion budget. The New York Times reports this based on documents that the newspaper has seen.   It is said to be the highest federal expenditure since World War II. Biden will announce his budget plans for the fiscal year 2022 starting in October on Friday. Earlier, he had already developed great ambitions for investment in infrastructure, worth $ 2 trillion, and a stronger social safety net, involving $ 1.8 trillion. In addition to roads and bridges, it also concerns expenditure on childcare and education, for example. According to The New York Times, total federal spending will reach $ 8.2 trillion by 2031. The White House wants to pay for the expenditure through higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large companies, among oth...