Town Hall News

By Tatiana Bautzer NEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumers are starting to fall behind on their credit card and loan payments as the economy softens, according to executives at the biggest U.S. banks, although they said delinquency levels were still modest. Profits at Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup Inc beat analyst forecasts as lending giants earned a windfall from rising interest rates. […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich to be freed from pre-trial detention, meaning he will stay in a former KGB prison until at least May 29 while a spying case against him is investigated. Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, denies the espionage charges. He looked calm and smiled as he stood in a glass and metal cage […]

(Reuters) – Italy’s data protection watchdog is ready to reactivate ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) technology on April 30 if its maker OpenAI takes “useful steps” to address concerns over privacy and data protection, the agency’s chief said on Tuesday. Rapid advances in AI such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT are complicating governments’ efforts to agree on laws governing the use of the technology. Here are the latest steps national and international […]

(Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson beat first-quarter profit estimates and raised its 2023 profit forecast on Tuesday, as cancer drugs such as Erleada and Crohn’s disease treatment Stelara boost sales at its large pharmaceuticals unit. Shares of the Dow component rose over 2% in premarket trading as sales across all the company’s businesses, including medical devices and consumer health, beat estimates. “Our position has changed to responsibly optimistic. We feel very […]

LONDON (Reuters) – WhatsApp and other messaging services have united to oppose Britain’s plan to force tech companies to break end-to-end encryption in private messages in its proposed internet safety legislation. Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal and five other apps signed an open letter saying the law could give an “unelected official the power to weaken the privacy of billions of people around the world”. Britain’s Online Safety Bill was originally designed […]

By Anirban Sen NEW YORK (Reuters) – Mark Gerstein, a veteran dealmaker who stepped down from law firm Latham & Watkins in December, has joined PJT Partners Inc, the investment bank led by Paul Taubman, as a senior adviser. Gerstein, who spent 27 years at Latham & Watkins and served as the firm’s global co-chair of mergers and acquisitions, said he started in his new role earlier this month. “I […]

(Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson beat first-quarter profit estimates and raised its 2023 profit forecast on Tuesday, as cancer drugs such as Erleada and Crohn’s disease treatment Stelara boost sales at its large pharmaceuticals unit. Shares of the Dow component rose over 2% in premarket trading as sales across all the company’s businesses, including medical devices and consumer health, beat estimates. “Our position has changed to responsibly optimistic. We feel very […]

LONDON (Reuters) – WhatsApp and other messaging services have united to oppose Britain’s plan to force tech companies to break end-to-end encryption in private messages in its proposed internet safety legislation. Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal and five other apps signed an open letter saying the law could give an “unelected official the power to weaken the privacy of billions of people around the world”. Britain’s Online Safety Bill was originally designed […]

By Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures climbed on Tuesday as Bank of America and Johnson & Johnson reported upbeat earnings, while signs of uneven economic recovery in China and prospects of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes capped gains.  Shares of Bank of America Corp advanced 2% in premarket trading after its first-quarter profit rose on higher earnings from customers’ interest payments as the […]