Browsing: Business

MENA Newswire, SAN FRANCISCO: Shares of several video game and game technology companies fell sharply on Friday after Google opened access to an artificial intelligence model that can generate interactive, game like worlds from a text or image prompt, a launch that drew investor attention to how generative tools could alter parts of the game creation pipeline. Google said the new capability is available as an experimental prototype called Project Genie, which lets users create, explore and remix interactive worlds. The company described the system as producing environments that respond in real time as a user moves and interacts, rather than only generating static images…

MENA Newswire, SEATTLE: Starbucks said first quarter fiscal 2026 revenue rose 6% to $9.9 billion as global comparable store sales increased 4%, led by higher transactions, and the company posted U.S. comparable transaction growth for the first time in eight quarters. For the 13 weeks ended Dec. 28, 2025, global comparable transactions increased 3% and average ticket rose 1%. In North America and the U.S., comparable store sales also increased 4%, driven by a 3% increase in comparable transactions and a 1% increase in average ticket. International comparable store sales rose 5%, including 7% growth in China, where comparable transactions increased 5%.…

MENA Newswire, SEATTLE: Amazon is cutting about 16,000 corporate roles worldwide, marking its largest round of layoffs since 2023 and extending a broader reduction in office based headcount that began late last year. The company said the cuts affect corporate positions across Amazon and are separate from its large hourly workforce in fulfillment and delivery operations. Amazon announced the reductions in an internal message shared publicly by senior human resources executive Beth Galetti. The company said it is working to support employees whose roles are eliminated, including providing most U.S. based corporate employees a 90 day period to apply for other positions inside Amazon, with…

MENA Newswire, NEW YORK: The U.S. dollar weakened broadly in late January trading as the Japanese yen climbed sharply, with investors focused on signs that officials in Tokyo and Washington were monitoring rapid currency moves. The yen’s surge helped pull the dollar lower against other major currencies, leaving the greenback near a four month low on widely followed measures of overall strength. The yen rallied nearly 3% across two sessions and was last trading around 154.6 per dollar after sliding as far as 159.23 on January 23. In New York trading on January 26, the dollar fell to 153.30 yen, its weakest level since mid November,…

MENA Newswire, NEW YORK: Elon Musk’s estimated net worth reached about $788 billion on Jan. 22, 2026, a record level on a widely followed real time wealth ranking after a rally in Tesla shares increased the value of his largest public stake. The estimate reflected end of day market prices and updated valuations used by the ranking, which tracks the paper value of founders’ holdings across public companies and private ventures. Tesla shares rose about 4% on Jan. 22 after Musk posted on X that Tesla had begun operating some robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a safety monitor in the vehicle. A video circulating…

NEW YORK: New Federal Reserve data show the wealth gap in the United States widened to its largest level in more than three decades as rising stock and home values lifted the richest households far more than everyone else. In the third quarter of 2025, total U.S. household net worth climbed to a record $181.6 trillion, supported by a strong equities market and continued gains in real estate values. The increase added to a long-running trend in which assets that appreciate fastest are held disproportionately by households at the top of the wealth ladder. The Fed’s Distributional Financial Accounts show the top 1% of households…

WASHINGTON: U.S. Treasurys are confronting fresh political risk after President Donald Trump’s administration revived pressure on Denmark over Greenland and coupled it with threats of trade retaliation, prompting parts of Europe’s investment community to reassess exposure to U.S. government debt. The reassessment has fueled market talk that Europe could use its substantial Treasury holdings as leverage, even as confirmed selling to date remains limited to individual institutions rather than any coordinated government action. The renewed focus on Greenland has unsettled transatlantic ties in a period already marked by heightened sensitivity to Washington’s fiscal trajectory and policy volatility. In public remarks around the…

Davos: JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon warned that a proposed cap on U.S. credit card interest rates would trigger an “economic disaster,” sharply criticizing President Donald Trump’s call for Congress to impose a 10% ceiling for one year as part of a consumer cost relief push aired at the World Economic Forum. Trump used his Davos appearance and related comments to press lawmakers to enact a temporary cap, arguing that credit card rates can run into the high 20% to low 30% range and that limiting borrowing costs would help households save, including for a housing down payment. The White House proposal…

STRASBOURG: The European Parliament has suspended its work to approve a pending European Union trade agreement with the United States, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs against European allies amid a dispute linked to Greenland. The decision halts planned committee steps needed for Parliament to set its position on the deal, pushing the transatlantic trade package into uncertainty at a moment of rising political friction between Washington and Brussels. The move centers on the Parliament’s international trade committee, which had been preparing to take votes later this month on elements tied to the agreement reached at a U.S.-EU meeting in Turnberry, Scotland,…

MENA Newswire, CALIFORNIA: Meta Platforms has cut about 1,500 jobs in its Reality Labs division, reducing headcount in the unit that develops the company’s virtual reality and augmented reality hardware, software and related content. The layoffs amount to roughly 10% of Reality Labs, according to reports published this week, and mark one of the largest workforce reductions inside the division since Meta began building it into a standalone organization. The job cuts have been reflected in state-level filings and employee notifications, including in Washington state, where hundreds of positions were listed as affected. Reality Labs employs thousands of people across engineering, product, content and operations…