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Global stocks mixed after Wall St closes another winning week

World stocks were mixed on Monday after Wall Street coasted to the close of another winning week.

European markets were little changed. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 8,444.23. Germany's DAX edged down by 2.40 to 18,770.45 and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.1% to 8,210.88.

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Long-haul carrier Emirates sees $4.7 billion profit in 2023

The long-haul carrier Emirates announced Monday it saw record profits of $4.7 billion in 2023 as the airline fully took flight after the turbulent years of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted its operations.

Emirates, owned by Dubai's government, announced revenues of $33 billion, compared to $29.3 billion the year before. Profit the year prior had been $2.9 billion.

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Are US interest rates high enough to beat inflation?

The sharp interest rate hikes of the past two years will likely take longer than previously expected to bring down inflation, several Federal Reserve officials have said in recent comments, suggesting there may be few, if any, rate cuts this year.

A major concern expressed by both Fed policymakers and some economists is that higher borrowing costs aren't having as much of an impact as economics textbooks would suggest. Americans as a whole, for example, aren't spending much more of their incomes on interest payments than they were a few years ago, according to government data, despite the Fed's sharp rate increases. That means higher rates may not be doing much to limit many Americans' spending, or cool inflation.

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US imposes trade curbs on Chinese firms over balloon incident

The United States added 37 Chinese entities to a trade blacklist Thursday, including some companies accused of supporting a suspected spy balloon that flew over U.S. soil last year.

The Commerce Department said it also took aim at those that sought to acquire US goods to advance China's quantum technology capabilities.

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British economy rebounds strongly in first quarter, ending 'technical recession'

The British economy bounced back strongly in the first three months of the year, bringing to an end to what economists termed a "technical recession", official figures showed Friday.

The Office for National Statistics said the economy grew by 0.6% in the first quarter from the previous three-month period, with broad-based strength across the crucial services sector in particular.

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Global shares trade higher after Wall Street rally takes S&P 500 near record

Global shares traded higher Friday after a rally on Wall Street that pulled the S&P 500 back within 1% of its record.

In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.8% to 8,448.34 as the government reported that the British economy bounced back strongly in the first three months of the year, bringing to an end to what economists termed a "technical recession."

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European companies are less upbeat about China's vast market as its economy slows

China is actively seeking foreign investment to boost its slowing growth, but that very sluggishness is weighing on company plans to expand their businesses in the world's second largest economy, an annual survey of more than 500 European companies found.

The slowing economy is now the dominant concern of respondents to the European Chamber of Commerce in China survey, which was released Friday. China still ranks high as a place to invest, but the share of companies considering an expansion of their operations in the country this year fell to 42%, the lowest ever recorded.

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Judge grills Apple exec about whether company is defying order to enable more iPhone payment options

A federal judge has questioned whether Apple has set up a gauntlet of exasperating hurdles to discourage the use of alternative payment options in iPhone apps, despite a court order seeking to create more ways for consumers to pay for digital services.

The verbal sparring between Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and the head of Apple's app store kicked off a hearing focused on whether Apple is still steering U.S. consumers to its once-exclusive app payment system in defiance of an injunction aimed at promoting more choices that could help lower prices.

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With inflation soaring, Argentina will start printing 10,000 peso notes

Prices in Argentina have surged so dramatically in recent months that the government has multiplied the size of its biggest bank note in circulation by five — to 10,000 pesos, worth about $10.

The central bank announcement Tuesday promised to lighten the load for many Argentines who must carry around giant bags — occasionally, suitcases — stuffed with cash for simple transactions. Argentina's annual inflation rate reached 287% in March, among the highest in the world.

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Biden lauds new Microsoft center on the same site where Trump's Foxconn project failed

U.S. President Joe Biden has laced into Donald Trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern Wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot.

That location in the battleground state will now be the site of a new data center from Microsoft, whose president credited the Biden administration's economic policies for paving the way for the new investments. For Biden, it offered another point of contrast between him and Trump, who had promised a $10 billion investment by the Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn that never came.

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