Town Hall News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. retail sales increased less than expected in April, but the underlying trend was solid, suggesting that consumer spending likely remained strong early in the second quarter, despite growing risks of a recession this year. Retail sales rose 0.4% last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Data for March was revised slightly lower to show sales dropping 0.7% instead of 0.6% as previously reported. Economists polled […]

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s staff reviewers said on Tuesday safety data appeared generally favorable for administration of Pfizer Inc’s experimental respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine in pregnant women to protect their newborns. The comments by the staff reviewers come ahead of meeting on Thursday of the FDA’s outside advisers, who provide non-binding recommendations to the health regulator. (Reporting by Raghav Mahobe and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; […]

By Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Senior Tesla Inc executives will meet Indian government officials on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss local procurement of parts and other issues, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The electric carmaker’s renewed interest in India comes nearly a year after it put on hold plans to sell cars in the country after failing to secure lower […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Chinese wine sales will not return to the same level for Australia’s Treasury Wine Estate even if high tariffs imposed during a political dispute with Canberra are dropped, its chief executive said. The world’s biggest standalone winemaker drew a third of its profits from China before anti-dumping and subsidy tariffs of up to 212% were imposed on Australian wine, effectively ending sales, in 2020. Australia’s trade minister […]

(Reuters) – Restaurant chain Shake Shack Inc said on Tuesday it has added an independent director to its board in agreement with activist investor Engaged Capital LLC. On May 14, the Wall Street Journal had reported that Engaged Capital was planning to launch a proxy fight for three board seats at the chain. Shake Shack has also mutually agreed with Engaged Capital to add another director with restaurant operations experience, […]

By Elida Moreno PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -The number of U.S.-bound migrants who cross the dangerous jungle separating Panama and Colombia could rise to a record this year, according to a senior U.N. refugee official. The forecast for migrants crossing the Darien Gap on their way north comes as U.S. authorities have observed a recent drop in arrivals at their southern border with Mexico after a major policy shift. “The number […]

By Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Pilots at India’s Go First face delays getting paid due to the airline’s bankruptcy process and want the government to allow them to take up new jobs without serving long notice periods, a group representing the pilots said in a letter seen by Reuters. In the letter dated May 15, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) asks the aviation ministry to […]

By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) -Global shares held steady on Tuesday, while the dollar eased back from five-week highs ahead of another round of talks among U.S. lawmakers to resolve the deadlock over the government’s borrowing limit. Other assets such as commodities got no lift from the retreat in the dollar, as concern about demand from China and the resilience of the global economy dented the likes of copper and […]

ROME (Reuters) – Police in southern Italy said on Tuesday they had seized 2,700 kg of highly pure cocaine hidden in two refrigerated containers containing bananas that had been shipped from Ecuador. The haul found in the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro would have been worth more than 800 million euros ($880 million), Italy’s Guardia di Finanza police said in a statement. The shipment had come from Guayaquil in Ecuador […]