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BP profits are cut in half to $2.6 billion as oil and natural gas prices fall 2023-08-01 - LONDON (AP) — Energy giant BP said Tuesday that it earned nearly $2.6 billion in the second quarter, almost half what it posted in the first three months of the year as oil and natural gas prices that surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have fallen. The company’s underlying replacement cost profit, which excludes one-time items and fluctuations in the value of inventories, was down nearly 70% from the April-to-June period a year ago, when London-based BP brought in $8.45 billion. It’s the latest oil and gas major to see profits fall from record highs last year, following British rival Shell, France’s TotalEnergies and U.S.-based ExxonMobil. Energy prices spiked after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, raising fears about Moscow’s supplies of oil and natural gas before it cut off most of its gas heading to Europe. Energy costs were a major driver of inflation around the world, stirring outcry as households and businesses faced skyrocketing electricity and heating bills while energy companies’ profits skyrocketed. The U.K. has passed taxes on such windfall profits. Now, those outsized earnings are drawing back down. “Another quarter of performing while transforming,” CEO Bernard Looney said in a statement. “Our underlying performance was resilient with good cash delivery — during a period of significant turnaround activity and weaker margins in our refining business.” Despite the hurdles, BP said it’s increasing its quarterly dividend by 10% and plans to buy back an additional $1.5 billion in stock from shareholders. BP, which saw its earnings last year double to a record high $27.7 billion, said it was awarded rights to develop two offshore wind projects in Germany — its first in continental Europe. It also noted progress in hydrogen projects. Energy companies are facing increasing pressure to do more to reduce such emissions that cause climate change. But fossil fuels have remained an important part of the mix. BP says two new oil and gas projects have launched in the second quarter. Britain also said Monday that it will grant hundreds of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea in a bid for energy independence despite pushback from climate activists.

Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI’s hallucination problem is fixable 2023-08-01 - Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn’t take long for them to spout falsehoods. Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it’s now a problem for every business, organization and high school student trying to get a generative AI system to compose documents and get work done. Some are using it on tasks with the potential for high-stakes consequences, from psychotherapy to researching and writing legal briefs. “I don’t think that there’s any model today that that doesn’t suffer from some hallucination,” said Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude 2. “They’re really just sort of designed to predict the next word,” Amodei said. “And so there will be some rate at which the model does that inaccurately.” Anthropic, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and other major developers of AI systems known as large language models say they’re working to make them more truthful. How long that will take — and whether they will ever be good enough to, say, safely dole out medical advice — remains to be seen. “This isn’t fixable,” said Emily Bender, a linguistics professor and director of the University of Washington’s Computational Linguistics Laboratory. “It’s inherent in the mismatch between the technology and the proposed use cases.” A lot is riding on the reliability of generative AI technology. The McKinsey Global Institute projects it will add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion to the global economy. Chatbots are only one part of that frenzy, which also includes technology that can generate new images, video, music and computer code. Nearly all of the tools include some language component. Google is already pitching a news-writing AI product to news organizations, for which accuracy is paramount. The Associated Press is also exploring use of the technology as part of a partnership with OpenAI, which is paying to use part of AP’s text archive to improve its AI systems. In partnership with India’s hotel management institutes, computer scientist Ganesh Bagler has been working for years to get AI systems, including a ChatGPT precursor, to invent recipes for South Asian cuisines, such as novel versions of rice-based biryani. A single “hallucinated” ingredient could be the difference between a tasty and inedible meal. When Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, visited India in June, the professor at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi had some pointed questions. “I guess hallucinations in ChatGPT are still acceptable, but when a recipe comes out hallucinating, it becomes a serious problem,” Bagler said, standing up in a crowded campus auditorium to address Altman on the New Delhi stop of the U.S. tech executive’s world tour. “What’s your take on it?” Bagler eventually asked. Altman expressed optimism, if not an outright commitment. “I think we will get the hallucination problem to a much, much better place,” Altman said. “I think it will take us a year and a half, two years. Something like that. But at that point we won’t still talk about these. There’s a balance between creativity and perfect accuracy, and the model will need to learn when you want one or the other.” But for some experts who have studied the technology, such as University of Washington linguist Bender, those improvements won’t be enough. Bender describes a language model as a system for “modeling the likelihood of different strings of word forms,” given some written data it’s been trained upon. It’s how spell checkers are able to detect when you’ve typed the wrong word. It also helps power automatic translation and transcription services, “smoothing the output to look more like typical text in the target language,” Bender said. Many people rely on a version of this technology whenever they use the “autocomplete” feature when composing text messages or emails. The latest crop of chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude 2 or Google’s Bard try to take that to the next level, by generating entire new passages of text, but Bender said they’re still just repeatedly selecting the most plausible next word in a string. When used to generate text, language models “are designed to make things up. That’s all they do,” Bender said. They are good at mimicking forms of writing, such as legal contracts, television scripts or sonnets. “But since they only ever make things up, when the text they have extruded happens to be interpretable as something we deem correct, that is by chance,” Bender said. “Even if they can be tuned to be right more of the time, they will still have failure modes — and likely the failures will be in the cases where it’s harder for a person reading the text to notice, because they are more obscure.” Those errors are not a huge problem for the marketing firms that have been turning to Jasper AI for help writing pitches, said the company’s president, Shane Orlick. “Hallucinations are actually an added bonus,” Orlick said. “We have customers all the time that tell us how it came up with ideas — how Jasper created takes on stories or angles that they would have never thought of themselves.” The Texas-based startup works with partners like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Facebook parent Meta to offer its customers a smorgasbord of AI language models tailored to their needs. For someone concerned about accuracy, it might offer up Anthropic’s model, while someone concerned with the security of their proprietary source data might get a different model, Orlick said. Orlick said he knows hallucinations won’t be easily fixed. He’s counting on companies like Google, which he says must have a “really high standard of factual content” for its search engine, to put a lot of energy and resources into solutions. “I think they have to fix this problem,” Orlick said. “They’ve got to address this. So I don’t know if it’s ever going to be perfect, but it’ll probably just continue to get better and better over time.” Techno-optimists, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, have been forecasting a rosy outlook. “I’m optimistic that, over time, AI models can be taught to distinguish fact from fiction,” Gates said in a July blog post detailing his thoughts on AI’s societal risks. He cited a 2022 paper from OpenAI as an example of “promising work on this front.” But even Altman, at least for now, doesn’t count on the models to be truthful. “I probably trust the answers that come out of ChatGPT the least of anybody on Earth,” Altman told the crowd at Bagler’s university, to laughter.

German beer sales resume their downward trend after a post-COVID pickup 2023-08-01 - BERLIN (AP) — Sales by German beer brewers and distributors resumed a long-term downward trend in the first six months of this year after picking up a bit in 2022 thanks to the end of most COVID-19 restrictions, official figures showed Tuesday. Sales dropped to 4.2 billion liters (1.1 billion gallons) in the January-June period, 2.9% lower than a year earlier, the Federal Statistical Office said. The figure includes domestic sales and exports of German beer, as well as beer imported from other European Union countries for sale in Germany. It excludes alcohol-free beer and beer imported from countries outside the EU. Sales inside Germany, which accounted for 82% of the total, were down 3.5% to 3.4 billion liters (899 million gallons). Exports were only slightly down — German brewers exported 404 million liters (106.7 million gallons) of beer to other countries in the European Union, a 0.4% decline, and 347.9 million liters (91.9 million gallons) to nations outside the EU, 0.2% less than a year earlier. German brewers have been struggling with a longer-term downward trend fueled by health concerns and other factors, although last year saw a slight recovery after lockdowns shut restaurants and bars for long periods in 2020 and 2021. The overall figure for the first half of the year is 12.2% lower than a decade earlier, the statistics office said. The statistics office said separately on Tuesday that more than 474 million liters (125.2 million gallons) of alcohol-free beer were produced in Germany last year, nearly twice as much as a decade earlier. But that compares with more than 7.6 billion liters (2 billion gallons) of alcoholic beer.

Australia’s central bank leaves cash rate at 4.1% for 2nd month but says inflation remains too high 2023-08-01 - CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank on Tuesday left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 4.1% for a second consecutive month raising expectations that rates might have reached their peak or are close to plateauing in the current cycle. The Reserve Bank of Australia has hiked the cash rate 12 times from a record-low of 0.1% in May last year — as the board has attempted to rein in inflation — to a target range between 2% and 3%. Inflation fell from 7% in the first quarter of the year to 6% in the June quarter. The bank’s governor Philip Lowe said inflation was “still too high at 6%” and interest rates could be lifted further. “Some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe, but that will depend upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks,” Lowe said in a statement. The bank’s decision not to lift rates was based on previous hikes continuing to rebalance supply and demand forces in the economy and an uncertain outlook, he said. Economists are divided on whether taming inflation will tip Australia’s sluggish economy into recession. Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the bank’s decision to wait. “This will be a big relief for Australians with a mortgage,” Chalmers told Parliament. “This is a welcome reprieve for Australians who already doing it tough enough.” “We are making progress in this fight against inflation,” he added. Brendan Rynne, chief economist at the financial firm KPMG, expected one more quarter percentage point rise to the cash rate at the board’s next monthly meeting on Sept. 4. That will be Lowe’s final meeting as governor before his five-year contract expires on Sept. 17. Rynne said the bank’s decision on Tuesday on whether to lift the cash rate by 0.25% or wait had been “pretty much a coin toss.”

Toyota’s profits rise 78% on strong sales as the parts crunch eases 2023-08-01 - TOKYO (AP) — Toyota’s profit for the first fiscal quarter jumped to 1.3 trillion yen ($9 billion) — a quarterly record for Japan’s top automaker — as sales grew and parts shortages related to the coronavirus pandemic eased. Toyota Motor Corp.’s April-June net profit rose 78% from 736.8 billion yen the previous year, the company reported Tuesday. Quarterly sales edged up 24% to 10.5 trillion yen ($74 billion) as vehicle sales improved on-year across major markets, including Japan and North America. The difficulty obtaining computer chips that crimped auto production in recent years has eased, although it’s unclear when that will get totally fixed, according to Toyota. Quarterly sales totaled 2.3 million vehicles, up from 2 million the previous year. Demand for its hybrid models was especially strong. Toyota has long been a leader in hybrids, which switch back and forth between an electric motor and gas engine to deliver higher mileage. The maker of the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models said it was making good progress on selling battery electric vehicles. During the quarter, Toyota sold 29,000 EVs, up from 4,000 vehicles sold the same period a year ago. Koji Sato, who took over as chief executive from Akio Toyoda earlier this year, is promising an aggressive shift on electrification. He has acknowledged Toyota fell behind in electric vehicles, but he also stressed it’s going to catch up. Toyota maintained its annual forecast to earn 2.58 trillion yen ($18 billion), up 5% from the previous fiscal year, on 38 trillion yen ($267 billion) in sales, up 2%. Toyota shares rose more than 2% in Tokyo trading. ___ Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://yurikageyama.twitter.com

Niger crisis deepens as France plans evacuation and coup leaders get support from neighboring juntas 2023-08-01 - NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — France prepared to evacuate French and European nationals from Niger on Tuesday, telling them to carry no more than a small bag, after a military coup there won backing from three other West African nations ruled by mutinous soldiers. The French Foreign Ministry in Paris cited recent violence that targeted the French Embassy in Niamey, the capital, as one of the reasons for the decision. The closure of Niger’s airspace also “leaves our compatriots unable to leave the country by their own means,” the ministry said. The evacuation comes amid a deepening crisis sparked by the coup last week against Niger’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. It was starting Tuesday for French and European citizens who wish to leave, the French ministry said in a statement. It gave no other details. The West African regional body known as ECOWAS announced travel and economic sanctions against Niger on Sunday and said it would use force if the coup leaders don’t reinstate Bazoum within one week. Bazoum’s government was one of the West’s last democratic partners against West African extremists. In a joint statement, the military governments of Mali and Burkina Faso said that “any military intervention against Niger will be considered as a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali.” Col. Abdoulaye Maiga, Mali’s state minister for territorial administration and decentralization, read the statement on Malian state TV Monday evening. The two countries also denounced the ECOWAS economic sanctions as “illegal, illegitimate and inhumane” and refused to apply them. ECOWAS suspended all commercial and financial transactions between its member states and Niger, as well as freezing Nigerien assets held in regional central banks. Niger relies heavily on foreign aid, and sanctions could further impoverish its more than 25 million people. Mali and Burkina Faso have each undergone two coups since 2020, as soldiers overthrew governments claiming they could do a better job fighting increasing jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. ECOWAS has sanctioned both countries and suspended them from the bloc, but never threatened to use force. Also on Sunday, Guinea, another country under military rule since 2021, issued a statement in support of Niger’s junta and urged ECOWAS to “come to its senses.” “The sanctions measures advocated by ECOWAS, including military intervention, are an option that would not be a solution to the current problem, but would lead to a human disaster whose consequences could extend beyond Niger’s borders,” said Ibrahima Sory Bangoura, general of the brigade, in a statement from the ruling party. He added the Guinea would not apply the sanctions. In anticipation of the ECOWAS decision Sunday, thousands of pro-junta supporters took to the streets in Niamey, denouncing France, waving Russian flags along with signs reading “Down with France” and supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and telling the international community to stay away. There has been no clear explanation of the references to Russia, but some demonstrators regard the country as symbolizing their anti-Western feelings. Protesters also burned down a door and smashed windows at the French Embassy before the Nigerien army dispersed them. The evacuation was announced by France’s embassy in an email sent to French nationals in Niamey. The message said the evacuation would be an airlift and that the spouses and children of French nationals were also eligible. It asked people to pack one small bag per person and to also take water, a bit of food, phones and batteries. Niger could be following in the same footsteps as Mali and Burkina Faso, both of which saw protesters waving Russian flags after their respective coups, analysts say. After the second coup in Burkina Faso in September, protesters also attacked the French Embassy in the capital, Ouagadougou, and damaged and ransacked the Institut Francais, France’s international cultural promotion organization. If ECOWAS uses force, it could also trigger violence between civilians supporting the coup and those against it, Niger analysts say. While unlikely, “the consequences on civilians of such an approach if putschists chose confrontation would be catastrophic,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank. Lyammouri does not see a “military intervention happening because of the violence that could trigger,” he said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday commended the resolve of the ECOWAS leadership to “defend constitutional order in Niger” after the sanctions announcement, and joined the bloc in calling for the immediate release of Bazoum and his family. Also Sunday, junta spokesman Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane banned the use of social media to put out messages he described as harmful to state security. He also claimed without evidence that Bazoum’s government had authorized the French to carry out strikes to free Bazoum. Observers believe Bazoum is being held at his house in Niamey. The first photos of him since the coup appeared Sunday evening, sitting on a couch smiling beside Chad President Mahamat Deby, who had flown in to mediate between the government and the junta. Both the United States and France have sent troops and hundreds of millions of dollars of military and humanitarian aid in recent years to Niger, which was a French colony until 1960. The country was seen as the last working with the West against extremism in a Francophone region where anti-French sentiment opened the way for the Russian private military group Wagner. After neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso ousted the French military and began working with Wagner mercenaries, Blinken visited Niger in March to strengthen ties and announce $150 million in direct assistance, calling the country “a model of democracy.” The U.S. will consider cutting aid if the coup is successful, the State Department said Monday. Aid is “very much in the balance depending on the outcome of the actions in the country,” said department spokesman Matt Miller. “U.S. assistance hinges on continued democratic governance in Niger.” The sanctions could be disastrous and Niger needs to find a solution to avoid them, Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou told French media outlet Radio France Internationale on Sunday. “When people say there’s an embargo, land borders are closed, air borders are closed, it’s extremely difficult for people. ... Niger is a country that relies heavily on the international community,” he said. In the capitalr, many people live in makeshift shelters tied together with slats of wood, sheets and plastic tarps because they can’t pay rent. They scramble daily to make enough money to feed their children. Since the 1990s, the 15-nation ECOWAS has tried to protect democracies against the threat of coups, with mixed success. Four nations are run by military governments in West and Central Africa, where there have been nine successful or attempted coups since 2020. In the 1990s, ECOWAS intervened in Liberia during its civil war, one of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa and one that left many wary of intervening in internal conflicts. In 2017, ECOWAS intervened in Gambia to prevent the new president’s predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, from disrupting the handover of power. Around 7,000 troops from Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal entered the country, according to the Global Observatory, which provides analysis on peace and security issues. The intervention was largely seen as accomplishing its mission. ___ AP journalist John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

Meta prepares AI-powered chatbots in attempt to retain users - FT 2023-08-01 - Aug 1 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) is preparing to launch a range of artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbots that exhibit different personalities as soon as September, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Meta has been designing prototypes for chatbots that can have humanlike discussions with its users, as the company attempts to boost its engagement with its social media platforms, according to the report, citing people with knowledge of the plans. The Menlo Park, California-based social media giant is even exploring a chatbot that speaks like Abraham Lincoln and another that advises on travel options in the style of a surfer, the report added. The purpose of these chatbots will be to provide a new search function as well as offer recommendations. The report comes as Meta executives are focusing on boosting retention on its new text-based app Threads, after the app lost more than half of its users in the weeks following its launch on July 5. Meta declined to comment on the FT report, when contacted by Reuters. The Facebook parent reported a strong rise in advertising revenue in its earnings last week, forecasting third-quarter revenue above market expectations. The company has been climbing back from a bruising 2022, buoyed by hype around emerging AI technology and an austerity drive in which it has shed around 21,000 employees since last fall. Meta launched a new version of its open-source artificial intelligence model in July called Llama 2 for commercial use, which will be distributed by Microsoft (MSFT.O) through its Azure cloud service and will run on the Windows operating system. Bloomberg News reported in July that Apple is working on AI offerings similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard, adding that it has built its own framework, known as 'Ajax', to create large language models and is also testing a chatbot that some engineers call 'Apple GPT'. Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BlackRock, MSCI face probe for allegedly facilitating China investments - WSJ 2023-08-01 - [1/2] The BlackRock logo is pictured outside their headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo Aug 1 (Reuters) - Asset manager BlackRock (BLK.N) and index provider MSCI are being investigated by a congressional committee for allegedly facilitating China investments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing letters. Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BMW lifts outlook, warns inflation and supply issues not over 2023-08-01 - BERLIN, Aug 1 (Reuters) - BMW (BMWG.DE) lifted its annual outlook for its margin on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the automotive segment on Tuesday but said it foresaw ongoing challenges from supply chain issues and inflation in the second half of the year. The carmaker's forecast mirrored that of competitors such as Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) which also raised their earnings outlook but warned the macroeconomic environment would continue to weigh on output. BMW now expects an EBIT margin on its cars division of between 9%-10.5% from 8%-10% previously, and expects solid growth in its deliveries, up from a previous forecast of only slight growth, on the basis of a strong order bank and improved availability of its premium vehicles. But it reduced its forecast for free cash flow to above 6 billion euros ($6.58 billion) from around 7 billion euros previously, citing the need to stock up its inventories and higher investment in electrification. The preliminary results and outlook adjustment failed to impress markets, with shares down 4.5% at 0908 GMT, underperforming Germany's DAX and Europe's autos index. Full quarterly results will be published on Aug. 3. The carmaker reported preliminary figures of a 12.6% group margin on earnings before taxes in the first half of the year and a 10.6% EBIT margin in the automotive segment, helped by higher sales and pricing. BMW sales rose 4.7% in the first half of the year compared to last year, when supply chain issues caused by factors including the war in Ukraine and lockdowns in China dented output. ($1 = 0.9114 euros) Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, additional reporting by Tristan Chabba; editing by Matthias Williams, Kirsten Donovan Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Aston Martin raises $277 mln via equity to cut debt 2023-08-01 - Aug 1 (Reuters) - Aston Martin (AML.L) said on Tuesday it has raised 216 million pounds ($277 million) in equity to cut down its expensive debt. The company offered 58.2 million new shares at 371 pence per share, representing a 6.2% discount to the stock's closing price on Monday. ($1 = 0.7798 pounds) Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Exclusive: Foxconn EV venture targets India, Thailand for new small car 2023-08-01 - [1/3] Mobility in Harmony (MIH) Chief Executive Officer Jack Cheng speaks at an interview with Reuters at the headquarters of Foxconn's EV platform unit in Taipei, Taiwan July 27, 2023. REUTERS/Ann Wang/FILE PHOTO TAIPEI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Foxconn's (2317.TW) venture attempting to build a standardised electric vehicle platform is targeting India or Thailand for the production of a small battery-powered car under development, the unit's chief executive said. The Taiwanese company's EV platform unit Mobility in Harmony (MIH) would be willing to work with its parent or another company to build the new three-seat EV priced below $20,000 and tailor-made for a corporate delivery fleet, MIH CEO Jack Cheng told Reuters in an interview. MIH has been in talks with convenience stores, car rental companies and courier companies ahead of unveiling its first prototype EV at Japan's largest auto trade show in October, Cheng added. He declined to name the companies in talks with MIH, but said the car would be priced between $10,000 and $20,000. India and Thailand are likely contenders for production sites, he said, adding that he expected India to be crucial to MIH's longer-term growth. "You build where the potential market is...In India or Southeast Asia, you have a huge volume opportunity right now," Cheng said, calling India a potential "emerging power for the next generation" in the EV sector. MIH had not previously described its manufacturing strategy or the potential customers for its new vehicle. Since 2021, Foxconn has had a joint venture with Thailand's state-energy company PTT (PTT.BK) centred on EVs, an area of focus for the Southeast Asian country's government. For its part, Foxconn has so far failed to land the kind of deal that would show the EV market can be opened to the type of contract manufacturing that Foxconn came to dominate in consumer electronics for Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone. Foxconn established the MIH consortium of some 2,600 suppliers two years ago with the aim of creating an open platform that could become the equivalent of Google's (GOOGL.O) Android operating system for EVs. Cheng conceded MIH had "not seen success yet" but said returns for participating suppliers would come with orders for a range of new EVs called Project X. The idea is to use low-cost, shared platforms to allow corporate fleet operators to order custom-made EVs. So far, that model is largely untested, and analysts have said the best opportunity for a new EV entrant like Foxconn could close in the next few years as established automakers and startups ramp up their own production. MIH plans to start production of the three-seat EV about 18 to 24 months after the prototype is unveiled in October, Cheng said. A six-seat EV is scheduled to follow in 2024 and a nine-seat model in 2025. Based on its timeline, it would take MIH four years or more from its founding to first sales in a best case scenario. But Cheng, who was a co-founder of Chinese EV maker NIO (9866.HK) and headed Fiat's joint venture in China before joining Foxconn, said Tesla's (TSLA.O) success with its large Shanghai plant showed how quickly an EV maker could scale up. "I'm building another Shanghai, probably in India," Cheng said. "If this is a Foxconn plant, fantastic, it's the mother company, we put it into the Foxconn plant. If this is a local India plant and it's even more competitive, give it to the India plant." Foxconn, which only produces a small number of EVs at present, has set an initial target of gaining a 5% share of the global market by 2025. MIH's sales will count towards Foxconn's target, Cheng said. Reporting by Sarah Wu; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Jamie Freed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Toyota nearly doubles Q1 profit, China remains challenging 2023-08-01 - TOKYO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Toyota (7203.T) nearly doubled its operating profit in the first quarter, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday, helped by increased sales and productivity as well as the tailwind from the weaker yen. "Sales volumes across all regions increased compared to the same period a year earlier due to productivity improvement efforts made together with suppliers," the company said in its earnings announcement. The world's top-selling automaker said operating profit for the three months through June totalled 1.12 trillion yen ($7.85 billion), an increase of 94% from a year earlier, beating the average 945.22 billion yen profit estimate in a poll of 10 analysts by Refinitiv. Last year's operating profit was 578.66 billion yen in the first quarter. Toyota maintained its forecast for a 3.0 trillion yen profit for the current year, as the conditions it faced had not changed greatly from three months earlier. That forecast compared to a 3.6 trillion yen average forecast from 23 analysts. Toyota said it may consider a revision around the time of its half-year results. Tuesday's earnings are the Japanese auto giant's first since it laid out an ambitious plan to better compete in the global market for battery-powered vehicles, as well as detailed its hydrogen strategy. If it does not realise its plan, Toyota risks missing out on a rapid shift to electric vehicles in especially China, where the rise of local competitors and price cuts by Tesla (TSLA.O) and others are squeezing its market share. Toyota said competition in China had become "extremely severe", adding that foreign exchange rate fluctuations and its response to price cuts in the world's top car market hurt its results there. The automaker did not specify the measures it had taken, but many automakers have either cut vehicle prices or production costs to stay competitive in a market that has rapidly pivoted to electric vehicles. Toyota has said it would strengthen development of EV technology in China and target significant cuts to manufacturing costs to become more competitive. In North America, another key market, Toyota said it had benefited from pent-up demand among consumers as the impact of a post-pandemic chip shortage wanes. Globally, the company sold some 2.53 million Toyota and Lexus luxury brand cars in the quarter, up 8.4% from a year earlier, with around 34% of those being hybrids and other electrified vehicles. Performance in Japan was especially strong, with operating profit more than doubling from a year earlier to 700.7 billion yen, making up more than 60% of the overall operating profit as vehicle sales rose, helped by better supply of semiconductors. Toyota shares, which were up 1.15% just before the release of the earnings, extended their gains immediately after and closed up 2.5% at 2,445.5 yen. ($1 = 142.7200 yen) Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by David Dolan and Miral Fahmy Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Australia holds rates steady, might be done tightening 2023-08-01 - SYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australia's central bank on Tuesday held interest rates at 4.1% for a second straight month, saying past increases were working to cool demand, but retained a warning that some more tightening might be needed to curb inflation. Wrapping up its August policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) largely left its economic outlook unchanged from the previous quarter, forecasting headline inflation would return to within its 2-3% target range by late 2025, from the current 6%. Markets had leaned toward a steady outcome given recent data showed inflation had eased for a second quarter and consumer spending was softening. However, economists were more split on the outcome, with 20 out of 36 polled by Reuters expecting a hike. The Australian dollar extended earlier declines to be 0.9% lower at $0.6656, and futures jumped as investors scaled back the probability of a further rise at all, with a move in September seen as a less than a 20% chance. Swaps now implied a risk of around 13 basis points of tightening by year end. Outgoing Governor Philip Lowe reiterated that higher interest rates were working to cool demand, and would continue to do so, and the pause this month would again provide time to assess the impact of the a 400 basis point jump in rates. "The recent data are consistent with inflation returning to the 2–3% target range over the forecast horizon and with output and employment continuing to grow," said Lowe, adding that further tightening will be dependent on data and the evolving risk assessment. In a relief for policymakers, headline inflation slowed more than expected in the second quarter while retail sales posted their biggest fall this year in June. With markets suspecting rate hikes might be already done, incoming Governor Michele Bullock, who assumes her role in September, will be in charge of steering a slowing economy and engineering any rate cuts, analysts say. MIGHT BE DONE Governor Lowe also removed any reference to a "narrow" path to a soft landing in which inflation eases without unemployment rising dramatically. Indeed, the economy is already slowing to sub-par levels, with the RBA forecasting growth would ease to 1.75% next year and average a little above 2% in 2025, while the jobless rate would tick up to 4.5% late next year, mostly unchanged from previous estimates. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which had forecast a hike to 4.35% on Tuesday, now expects the RBA to be on hold for an extended period of the year. "While the RBA retains a tightening bias, we expect the hurdle to another rate hike is high. It would take an upside surprise to the economic data from here... for the RBA to shift its assessment of the outlook," said Belinda Allen, a senior economist at CBA. However, risk remains that services inflation, including surging rents, stays sticky. The labour market has so far defied expectations for a slowdown while house prices continued to climb in July, a positive wealth effect for consumers. Both National Australia Bank and Goldman Sachs now see a hike in November, bringing the cash rate to 4.35%, compared with expectations for two hikes before. "I am a bit surprised about the RBA's over-relaxed tone with the backdrop that Australia's inflation rate today is now on the top tier of the developed economies," Hebe Chen, markets analyst at IG, told Reuters Global Markets Forum. "If the labour markets turn out more resilient than expected, the chance for RBA to extend the tightening to 2025 is also a possibility that can't be ruled out." Reporting by Stella Qiu and Wayne Cole. Additional reporting by Anisha Sircar. Editing by Sam Holmes Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Moving is expensive: Here’s how to pay for it 2023-08-01 - This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet. Packing your things and moving to a new home is a financial hurdle even in the best of times, but higher demand for moving-related services in the summer can send prices skyrocketing. If you’re wondering how to pay for an upcoming move, there are financing options, including credit cards and unsecured personal loans. You’ll want to minimize interest, though, and only borrow what you need. By taking the time to get multiple quotes, moving some stuff yourself or getting rid of belongings, you can lower the amount you need to borrow or avoid financing altogether. What to expect for moving prices this summer One piece of good news for prospective movers: The cost of moving this summer will likely be lower compared to summers prior. “The COVID years proved to be some of our highest demand periods where people were making housing decisions and work location decisions that were completely out of the norm,” says Steven McKenna, vice president and general manager of Allied Van Lines, one of the largest moving companies in the country. “This year, it’s come back down to earth a bit.” Higher interest rates and a slower housing market are likely behind the decrease, says Ryan Carrigan, co-founder of moveBuddha, a website where you can compare and book movers. The company’s data and data from major partners, he says, already show a drop in demand for the first half of this year. Still, prospective movers shouldn’t expect too much of a break. Though prices are down year-over-year, you can still expect to pay a 10% to 20% summer premium, says McKenna. Also see: Here’s how much to tip everyone — and a list of people you should never tip Financing options for your move It’s best to pay for your move with savings, but if that’s not an option, you could finance. Rob Bertman, a certified financial planner based in St. Louis, advises picking the product with the lowest interest rate to reduce the cost of borrowing. A credit card with an introductory 0% annual percentage rate may be an especially good option, says Bertman. These cards are interest-free if you pay off the debt during the promotional period, which can last up to 21 months. You’ll likely need good or excellent credit to qualify. Moving loans — unsecured personal loans offered by banks, credit unions and online lenders — are available to borrowers across the credit spectrum, but interest can be high, depending on the rate you qualify for. Bertman urges borrowers to focus on a plan for repayment, regardless of the product they choose. “That’s actually the most important thing,” Bertman says. “Above and beyond how someone goes about financing is, ‘How am I going to pay this back and how long will it take me to pay it back?’” Also see: ‘That can actually throw you into a tailspin’: Monthly credit card fees have been a rarity—until now Ways to save on your move There are ways to reduce moving costs, which can help you borrow less or even pay in cash. Though you can’t control factors like distance, you can control hiring, packing and overall weight. Get multiple quotes: Quotes from professional movers can vary by thousands of dollars, particularly if it’s a long-distance move, Carrigan says, so get three to four quotes minimum. “Pricing is dynamic and comes down to factors like does the company have trucks built up in that area, or do they need a reverse route covered so the truck doesn’t go empty,” he says. “DIY” what you can: Moving yourself is cheap, but it’s not an option for everyone. Consider a partial do-it-yourself approach, where you move lower-weight items, but use professional movers for heavy items like furniture. You can also pack yourself, but know the risks. “If you’ve got the mover packing, it’s done in a professional way, and there’s more protection if there’s damage,” McKenna says. Purge your things: One of the simplest ways to reduce costs is to move less stuff. Weight is a major factor in the cost of your move — and more stuff takes longer to load and unload. Sell or donate what you don’t need. Also see: How to finance a summer vacation Beware of scams: Look for online reviews or ask for references when considering a moving company. Interstate movers must be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and have a U.S. DOT number, a unique identifier that tracks safety information. If something feels off, listen to your gut. It can save you from a bigger financial headache later. “At the end of the day, you don’t just want to go with the lowest-cost provider,” Bertman says. “You want to go with the person who’s going to do the best job at the lowest price.” More From NerdWallet Jackie Veling writes for NerdWallet. Email: jveling@nerdwallet.com.

EVs may lose up to 31% of range in extreme heat, report says 2023-08-01 - Heat waves have gripped much of the Earth this summer as an El Niño climate pattern helps trigger heat domes on several continents. According to the National Weather Service, Phoenix has broken records with at least 27 consecutive days of air temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. People living under extreme heat conditions probably don’t need another thing to worry about. But we have one for them anyway. Extreme heat can reduce the range of some electric vehicles by nearly a third, according to a new study.

4 ways small business owners can use AI, no experience required 2023-08-01 - This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet. Artificial intelligence tools encompass everything from chatbots to image and video generators, and they can be used by individuals and businesses alike. For business owners looking to leverage AI technology, one of the biggest hurdles is likely dipping their toes into the water. From there, the learning curve isn’t as steep as it seems. “I’m very confident that something that you do right now is easily automated by AI if you’re running a small business, whether that’s writing marketing copy or building something in Excel or writing an email you don’t know how to word,” says Derek Pando, founder of Beeloo, an online business that creates printable activities for kids. And the return on investment can be substantial in terms of both the time and money your small business can save. Integrating AI tools into her team’s daily workflow has helped keep the workload manageable, says Lakesha Cole, founder of She PR, a public relations agency based in Tampa, Florida. Cole says she feels like she’s “added three new team members without the overhead.” Here are four tips for incorporating AI tools into your small business’s operations — no prior experience required. Plus: Microsoft’s AI payday will take time, and investors need to be patient Look up AI prompts for your industry AI tools can do a lot of things, but they can’t read your mind. And if your requests aren’t precise and direct, you might get responses that miss the mark. “It’s only as smart as you are,” Cole says. “You still have to know what you want it to do.” For AI-powered chatbots, she stresses the importance of learning prompts that are specific to your industry. If you’re not sure where to start, try searching online for prompt guides, suggests Joe Karasin, founder of digital marketing company Karasin PPC. “Making sure that you’re not spending as much time trying to tell the AI what to do is also another pitfall that you could avoid by just doing a little bit of front-end work,” he says. Cole says it took her team about three months of consistently using AI platforms to become adept at them. They logged the prompts that worked best so that they would be able to quickly reference them in the future. Also on MarketWatch: Netflix attacked for posting AI jobs that pay $900K while writers, actors strike Use AI to ramp up productivity Consider the tasks that eat up the most time and whether AI can help streamline them. If you create content, for instance, you know that research sometimes takes longer than the writing itself does. Karasin estimates that he saves 15 to 20 hours per week using ChatGPT to find citations and resources for topics he writes about for clients. However, he stresses the importance of verifying the information for accuracy. “I’ll do my research there, but my writing is still original,” he says. Cole uses an AI image generator to accelerate the graphic design process for her business. “It gives us the freedom to design the graphics that we need when we need it, and we’re not having to work around someone else’s deadlines,” she says. AI chatbots can help you plan tasks, too. Cole tells them her goals and deadlines for a particular project, like a product launch, and asks them to map out a realistic timeline. Don’t miss: 5 tips to help your small business become a TikTok sensation Think of AI as your marketing assistant Among other use cases, Pando treats AI chatbots as a marketing tool. They can take his business’s blog posts, which are written by a human, and help condense them into social media posts tailored to specific platforms, like Instagram and LinkedIn. They also suggest headlines that Pando can work with and tweak, which can be helpful in the midst of a creative rut. “I’ll say, ‘Give me five different short posts that I can use for social media,’ or ‘Summarize this into one paragraph,’” he says. “And so all of the labor that’s downstream from creating a core piece of content, we usually have the AI tools do the heavy lifting and give us lots of options and cut it down.” Pando also gives AI chatbots tone prompts if he wants a certain post to come across as funny or exciting, for instance. Otherwise, they won’t necessarily know which voice to adopt. Freelancers and small-business owners are using artificial intelligence to boost output and their incomes. WSJ reporter Te-Ping Chen joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss the benefits and risks associated with using generative AI tools in the workplace. Use AI judiciously and be transparent “I’m very picky and choosy as to when I use AI or when I need to show up myself,” Cole says. She makes the decision on a case-by-case basis, depending on the type of project or client, and views AI tools as a “starting point” instead of a stand-alone solution. For Pando, it’s also about transparency. “I think small-business owners put themselves at risk of losing some of the magic of what makes a small business connect with people, which is the personal connection and the trust,” he says. To solve for this, Beeloo’s website includes an AI policy that discloses how the business does and does not use the technology. Read next: How artificial intelligence can make hiring bias worse “Now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use it and to be better, but I think we’re going to have to be more transparent to maintain that trusted advantage,” he says. More From NerdWallet Hillary Crawford writes for NerdWallet. Email: hcrawford@nerdwallet.com.

Widows: Don’t overlook the financial consequences of remarrying 2023-08-01 - This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. Losing a spouse to death is a traumatic and life-altering event. Widows and widowers initially feel an overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness, but eventually some decide to find love again. According to a study led by a UC San Diego psychiatrist, 61% of men and 19% of women who lost a spouse were either involved in a new relationship or remarried within 25 months. The decision to remarry after widowhood is a complex one and many things need to be taken into consideration, especially how it will affect your financial future. “This is a big topic that casts many shadows and there are many considerations,” says Robert Barnett, attorney, CPA and founding partner with Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld LLP, a law firm in New York that helps people with estate, tax and financial planning. “Every single week we see clients who are contemplating entering into a new marriage after the loss of a spouse.” Plus: I’m a 65-year-old widow in good health. Should I wait until 70 to collect my pension? Main considerations Jim Schwartz, senior adviser for Strategic Wealth Advisors in Scottsdale, Arizona, says he was receiving so many questions regarding the financial aspects of widowhood that he developed a checklist to help clients navigate the first two years. “How remarriage will financially affect you as a widow or widower depends on your age, pension plan and tax status,” he says. Schwartz offers these general guidelines for different benefits: Social Security — After the age of 60 (or 50, if disabled), surviving spouses are eligible to collect a survivor benefit. If they are not over the age of 60 but are caring for a child under the age of 16, they are also eligible to receive Social Security survivor benefit. Depending on their age, the ages of any children and marital status, survivors can receive from 100% to 71½% of the deceased spouse’s benefit. If a widow or widower remarries before the age of 60 (age 50 if you have a disability), you cannot receive benefits as a surviving spouse while you are married. If you remarry after age 60 (age 50 if you have a disability), you will continue to qualify for benefits on your deceased spouse’s Social Security record. If you remarried prior to age 60 (50 if you have a disability), death or divorce of the current spouse will once again make you eligible for survivor benefits from the prior deceased spouse. More information can be found on the Social Security website. Military benefits — Qualified military personnel receive a lifelong pension when they retire, but the pension stops when the veteran dies. However, while still on active duty, vets can buy a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which pays a beneficiary — usually a spouse — a maximum of 55% of the military member’s retired pay. If a surviving spouse remarries before age 55, he or she loses SBP eligibility. If that marriage ends in death, divorce or annulment, SBP eligibility is reinstated. Surviving spouses and dependent children may also be eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) if the veteran dies of service-connected causes. The program, run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), covers deaths after retirement if the cause of death is due to an injury incurred or disease contracted while on active duty. Private Pensions — Schwartz says these may be taken away if you remarry at any age. “This is definitely something to look at in each pension plan and make sure you understand,” he said. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federal government agency, offers some tips on keeping track of private pensions. Federal Pensions — Schwartz says these are even more complicated than private pension plans. “If you remarry prior to age 55, you may lose the pension; you should really dig into the rules and caveats of each plan,” says Schwartz. Information on federal pensions can be found on Benefits.gov and the Office of Personnel Management website. “As you can see, there are many rules and caveats to each retirement plan,” says Schwartz. “Many of these situations and scenarios require some analysis and planning. Most widows and widowers should consider getting some level of analysis or planning from a qualified financial adviser before making certain irrevocable decisions.” Don’t miss: 8 weird things that America’s happiest couples have in common A couple weighs options Anna Johnson, 67, and Jerry Schirmer, 65, have been dating a few months. Both have lost their spouses. Schirmer says they are in a committed relationship but take the view of many late-life partners. “We really don’t see the benefit of the physical contract of marriage,” says Schirmer. “We are in a committed relationship; legal marriage is something more for young couples starting a family.” Johnson says remarriage would be a financial hit for her, as she would lose her late husband’s pension. “There are also tax considerations,” she adds. Protecting your income is only one part of the equation when deciding to remarry after widowhood. One important factor includes how remarriage will affect your tax bill. For lower-income earners, for example, adding a spouse’s wages could lift the total household income above the maximum allowed to qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. In the 2022 tax year, the EIC ranges from $560 to $6,935, depending on income and family size. “However, for most working single people, widows included, there is no tax penalty for getting married unless they are very high earners,” explains Schwartz. Schwartz adds widows receiving survivor benefits from Social Security may be taxed on some benefits if their “combined income” — Social Security benefits and pay from a job, for example — exceed $25,000 ($32,000 if they remarry and file a joint return). Other things to take into consideration include the Net Investment Income Tax, Medicare surtax and state and local taxes, says Schwartz. IRAs are also a consideration. “If a partner has a large IRA and plans to designate you as the beneficiary, marrying them can provide better inherited IRA options than not marrying them,” says Schwartz. Related: Flip the prenup into a financial planning tool Estate planning and health directives If you decide to remarry, Barnett advises you to look at all of your current estate plans, wills, trusts, beneficiaries, powers of attorney and healthcare directives. “The number one thing we see in our practice are people trying to avoid conflict with their families, particularly their respective children,” says Barnett. “People typically want to ensure their children from their previous marriage receive the money or real estate acquired during that marriage.” Barnett adds even if people decide not to marry and they want to protect their new partner in the event something should happen to them, they should draw up agreements. “They may have an agreement drawn up (saying) their partner can remain in their home for a specified amount of time,” says Barnett. “It should include everything, including who has right to burial.” Barnett says it is especially important to communicate with family as well and make your wishes known. Read next: Social Security, caregiving and prescription drug costs: Hot topics among older voters in the 2024 election Johnson has children, as well as stepchildren from her deceased husband and Schirmer also has children. Both have taken steps to protect their respective family’s inheritances. “If I enter into a committed relationship, we’ll also take action to protect each other,” says Johnson. Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell is a full-time freelance writer and author living in the Ozark Mountains. She is the founder and administrator for the public Facebook page, Years of Light: Living Large in Widowhood and a private Facebook group, Finding Myself After Losing My Spouse, dedicated to helping widows/widowers move forward. This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org, ©2023 Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. All rights reserved. More from Next Avenue:

Lattice Semiconductor and Rambus shares fall after results, and other stocks on the move 2023-08-01 - Here are some of the biggest movers of the day: Stock gainers: Shares of Arista Networks Inc. ANET, +2.65% soared 14% following its fiscal second-quarter earnings report. The company posted better-than-expected revenue and earnings, and it offered third-quarter revenue guidance that easily topped analysts’ estimates.

U.S. stock futures start August on the back foot after five-month winning streak 2023-08-01 - U.S. stock futures on Tuesday pulled back from 16-month highs as caution prevailed after a five-month winning streak. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.28% rose 100 points, or 0.28%, to 35560, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.15% increased 7 points, or 0.15%, to 4589, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.21% gained 29 points, or 0.21%, to 14346. What’s driving markets Markets were starting August in cautious mood, taking a breather after recording a five-month winning streak, the best such run in two years. News out of China — where reports showed factory activity contracting, home sales plunging and Country Garden 2007, -7.59% , one of the biggest property developers, abandoning a share placement — was suppressing risk appetite, lifting the U.S. dollar DXY, +0.28% and pushing lower the prices of industrial commodities such as oil CL.1, -0.53% and copper HG00, -0.77% . Still, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.15% closed Monday at a 16-month high having gained 19.5% so far in 2023 as investors welcomed cooling inflation and hope that the Federal Reserve can soon stop interest rate rises having not badly damaged the U.S. economy. The Fed may need to see evidence of easing inflationary pressures emanating from the labor market and so investors will be keenly eyeing jobs data over the rest of the week. The JOLTS job openings report for July will be published on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Eastern, followed on Wednesday by the ADP private sector jobs reports, the weekly initial unemployment claims on Thursday, and the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. “The current economic conditions, including decreasing inflation, a pause in Federal Reserve tightening, and steady or increasing growth, could create an ideal situation for the stock market. For a while now, the market has responded positively to the idea of a smooth transition to a stable economic environment,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset management. Other U.S. economic updates set for release on Tuesday include the S&P manufacturing PMI for July, due at 9:45 a.m., and the ISM manufacturing report for July, alongside June construction spending at 10 a.m..

U.K. house prices fall by the most in 14 years 2023-08-01 - U.K. house prices skidded in July by the most in 14 years, a leading mortgage provider said Tuesday. Nationwide reported a 0.2% seasonally adjusted change in July to take its home price index down 3.8% year-over-year. The decline in home prices comes as the Bank of England has aggressively raised interest rates to fight inflation, which at nearly 8% is one of the highest in the industrialized world.