Reuters Financial News

By Oliver Griffin

By Ariba Shahid and Mohammad Yunus Yawar

CAIRO (Reuters) — Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation rate dropped to 35.8% in October from a record high of 38.0% in September, data from the country's statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Saturday, coming in lower than analysts had expected.

China continues to battle its property demons while it is Italy's turn to be in the eye of the ratings agencies. Here is your week-ahead primer from Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Kevin Buckland in Tokyo, Danilo Masoni in Milan and Alun John and Dhara Ranasinghe in London. 1/ INFLATION WATCH A slew of Federal Reserve policymakers including boss Jerome Powell say they are still not sure that rates are high enough to finish the battle with inflation. Traders, anticipating roughly three quarter-point Fed rate cuts next year, will now turn their attention to Tuesday's inflation data to confirm their view on the outlook. The October consumer price index is expected to have climbed 0.1% on a monthly basis, according to a Reuters poll. September's CPI rose 0.4% on a surprise surge in rental costs, but also showed a moderation in underlying inflation pressures. A sharper cooling could fan the peak rate talk, fuelled by October's employment report, which pointed to an easing in labor markets. A federal government shutdown meanwhile looms if lawmakers in Washington are unable to pass a measure to at least temporarily fund operations before a Nov.

Al-Shifa Hospital where the casualties had been taken on Friday. "About 50 martyrs were recovered from inside Al-Buraq school... in the Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza after missile and artillery strikes that targeted the school this morning," hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya said as quoted by AFP. Thousands of people are seeking safety in southern Gaza yesterday after fleeing the enclave's main hospital in what Palestinian officials said was an Israeli air strike, Reuters reported.

Google is reportedly in discussions to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Character.AI, the rapidly growing AI chatbot start-up, as per a Reuters report. The move comes as Character.AI seeks capital to train models and meet the increasing demand from users, according to sources familiar with the matter. The potential investment, which might take the form of convertible notes, would further solidify the existing partnership between Character.AI and Google.

The series features a cast including Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Dallas James Liu as Prince Zuko, Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai, Gordon Cormier as Aang, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Uncle Iroh, Elizabeth Yu as Princess Azula, and Ken Leung as Commander Zhao. The trailer also introduces some of the beloved animals, now transformed into action stars. Staying true to the plot of the animated series that premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005, «Avatar: The Last Airbender» delves into a medieval fantasy world inhabited by «benders» capable of manipulating earth, air, fire, and water. The franchise, with its popular spinoff series «The Legend of Korra,» extends to include video games and comic books, capturing the imagination of a diverse and dedicated fanbase. Meanwhile, Verizon is planning to offer the ad-supported versions of Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery's Max streaming services for about $10 a month combined instead of about $17, according to a source familiar with the matter. The discounted bundle is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, the source added. Netflix and Warner Bros will have to share revenue with Verizon, the source said. Reuters could not learn the financial terms of the contract. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on Thursday.

By Krystal Hu

By Herbert Lash and Nell Mackenzie

By Raphael Satter

US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn signed off on the restructuring on Thursday. Fahrenheit will pivot the business to pay back customers through bitcoin mining and earning "staking" fees by validating blockchain transactions, according to Reuters.

Elon Musk in the US next week as the two sides look to advance the carmaker's plan to enter the South Asian market, news agency Reuters recently reported. In the US, Goyal will also participate in the investors' roundtable along with meetings with chief executives of top companies.

ALSO READ: Earthquake Today: Indonesia hit by 6.9 measure quake The quake was originally pegged at 5.5 magnitude, with a depth of 8 kilometers (4.97 miles), but later downgraded to a magnitude of 4.8 by EMSC, Reuters reported. Earlier on Friday, an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 struck Papua New Guinea region, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC)said. The quake was at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles), EMSC said.

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures were mixed heading into the final day of trading this week, as investors eyed Treasury yield moves and gauged the path ahead for interest rates following a closely-watched statement from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Elsewhere, trade in the U.S. Treasury market is disrupted by a cyberattack on China's largest commercial lender by assets, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) agrees to pay out a $25 million settlement over claims regarding its U.S. immigrant hiring practices.

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economy failed to grow in the July-to-September period but at least managed to avoid the start of a recession, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday. The 0% change in gross domestic product in the third quarter compared with a forecast for a 0.1% fall in a Reuters poll of economists, which many analysts said was likely to represent the start of a recession.

Bank of India (RBI) with a sense of assurance, enabling them to maintain interest rates at a stable level over the coming months, as suggested by experts. According to a Mint poll of 17 economists, India’s retail inflation likely cooled to 4.8 per cent in October from 5 per cent in September. However, economists warned that vegetable prices still pose an upside risk to their forecasts.

OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's cloud computing, to enable virtual assistant interactions, reported Reuters. The device, known as the Ai Pin, is intended to be worn on clothing. It allows users to tap and communicate with a virtual assistant, which is powered by technologies from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and utilizes cloud computing power from Microsoft.

BEIJING — Chinese business database Qichacha said Friday it passed a data export security assessment that allows the company to resume overseas operations.

Bard is a path to developing another product with two billion users, a director said on Thursday at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. Bard, which lets consumers brainstorm and fetch information with the help of new artificial intelligence, is laying the ground work for Google to attract still more customers, its Product Lead Jack Krawczyk said in an interview.

Actors secured these new safeguards as part of a deal announced late on Wednesday, according to Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for the SAG-AFTRA actors union. Under the three-year contract, actors «have this right of consent, and the right to fair compensation anytime some sort of digital replica or replacement of them is used,» Crabtree-Ireland told Reuters. The proposed agreement sets a minimum compensation level for AI uses, Crabtree-Ireland said. Actors also are free to negotiate higher payments.