Author: News Room
In 2012, when Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, cut a $1 billion check to buy the photo-sharing app Instagram, most people thought he had lost his marbles.“A billion dollars of money?” joked Jon Stewart, then the host of “The Daily Show.” “For a thing that kind of ruins your pictures?”Mr. Stewart called the decision “really lame.” His audience — and much of the rest of the world — agreed that Mr. Zuckerberg had overpaid for an app that highlighted a bunch of photo filters.Two years later, Mr. Zuckerberg opened his wallet again when Facebook agreed to buy WhatsApp for $19…
The U.S. dollar extended its slide against other major currencies on Monday, the latest sign that investors may be starting to shun what has long been the safest haven in global financial markets.An index that tracks the dollar against a basket of major trading partners fell for a fifth straight day, even as U.S. stocks and bonds rallied. The dollar has fallen by roughly 8 percent this year, trading near a three-year low.There has been a particularly steep decline since President Trump announced tariffs on nearly every country’s imports a few weeks ago. The dollar has lost value against the…
President Trump signaled on Monday that he would soon announce additional tariffs targeting imported computer chips and pharmaceuticals, while suggesting he could also move to relax levies on imported cars and auto parts.The shifting strategy served to underscore the complications and contradictions in the president’s trade agenda, which has roiled markets and spooked the businesses that Mr. Trump is trying to persuade to invest in the United States.For a second day, Mr. Trump hinted that he would soon impose new tariffs on semiconductors, as he looks to shore up more domestic production of a vital component in electronics, cars, toys…
Goldman Sachs on Monday revealed its latest financial results and outlook for the future, and in a deft feat of linguistics, its executives managed not to utter the word “tariff” once.Instead, in an hourlong call with analysts, David M. Solomon, the bank’s chief executive, unfurled a bouquet of euphemisms, saying that there had been “landscape changes,” “uncertainty about how certain things that are close will proceed forward” and a change in “constructs” that impacted how international businesses “interact to the U.S. and global economic system.”Asked directly about how the investment bank’s trading business was faring this month, Mr. Solomon stated…
Mark Zuckerberg has appeared before Congress more times than any other tech leader. He will testify again soon — as a witness in a federal antitrust trial. Cecilia Kang, a technology reporter for The New York Times, recalls some of Zuckerberg’s past congressional hearings and explains why the stakes are even higher this time.
Follow live updates on the Trump administration.The British government ramped up actions to help protect businesses and households from some of the economic tumult created by President Trump’s decision to raise tariffs and upend the norms of global trade.The government said on Sunday it would suspend tariffs on 89 products for about two years to help businesses and consumers save money. The products include those for construction, such as plywood and plastics, and everyday household items, such as pasta and fruit juices.Officials will also increase financing support for exporters by 20 billion pounds ($26 billion), through partial loan guarantees, and…
It’s one Lego kit, a collection of small plastic bricks and related accessories. What could it cost? The answer, it turns out, could be thousands of dollars.Lego kits and minifigures, figurines that are a little over 1.5 inches tall, are commanding high prices on the secondary market, with some, like the LEGO San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Spider-Man, valued as high as $16,846.The children’s toys have even become something of an investing opportunity for those savvy enough to know what to look for.But with the eye-popping price tags comes a dark side: Lego kits have become a hot commodity on the…
Markets catch their breath Investors are breathing a bit easier on Monday, with markets rallying in Asia and Europe on hopes for a reprieve on tech tariffs. The optimism seems to contradict President Trump’s own words.The president has signaled that yet another round of levies are on the way, sowing more confusion among business leaders about what’s on, what’s off — and how to deal with their new reality.Is Trump undermining his own position? If the tariffs are in fact being watered down, that could erode his bargaining power — not to mention his argument that high-tech imports fall into…
After a Honduran immigrant arrived in the United States in 2022, officials ordered him to use a government-issued app as part of an immigration surveillance program.At least once a week, the immigrant, a former police officer in Honduras who was living in Louisiana, would take a selfie through the facial-recognition powered app to confirm his identity and location. By trading some of his privacy, he avoided being put in a detention center and obtained a work permit.In February, he received a message: report to an immigration office so the tracking technology could be updated. When he arrived, federal agents were…
President Trump last week issued executive orders designed to revive the use of coal in power plants, a practice that has been steadily declining for more than a decade.But the effort is likely to fail, energy experts said, because the fossil fuel faces some critical hurdles. The power that coal plants produce typically can’t compete with cheaper, cleaner alternatives. And many plants that burn coal are simply too old and would need extensive and expensive upgrades to continue running.“It will be very difficult to reverse this trend,” said Dan Reicher, an assistant energy secretary in the Clinton administration and a…