 | | | | The benchmark S&P 500 struggled for direction on Thursday as strong results from Nordstrom Inc and a fall in U.S. jobless claims offset data showing a contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity. | | | | | | News Corp is developing a news-aggregation service to compete with Alphabet Inc's Google News and could be launched later this year, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. | | | | | | German industrial group Thyssenkrupp is in talks to buy metals distributor Kloeckner & Co in a move to strengthen its materials trading business, Handelsblatt reported on Thursday citing sources familiar with the matter. | | | | | | Oil prices weakened on Thursday on worries about the global economy and as equity markets were on edge over the uncertain outlook for U.S. interest rate cuts. | | | | | | China's embassy in Canada said on Thursday that bilateral ties were suffering "gross difficulties," and demanded Ottawa free Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. | | | | | | U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday assured Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that American officials were working to free two Canadian men who have been held by China since late last year. | | | | | | Buyout firm KKR & Co Inc is exploring a sale of Epicor Software Corp that could value the U.S. enterprise resource planning software provider at close to $5 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. | | | | | | An index of stock markets worldwide edged lower on Thursday on uncertainty over the outlook for U.S. interest rate cuts and weak U.S. manufacturing data that raised concerns about the health of the world's largest economy. | | | | | | The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration plans to test next month how pilots with around one year of experience flying Boeing 737 jets handle new software on the MAX model, four sources with knowledge of the matter said. | | | | | | Boeing Co has told suppliers it will resume production of its best-selling 737 jets at a rate of 52 aircraft per month in February 2020, then stepping up to a record 57 jets monthly in June, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. | | | | | |
