BUSINESS

Microsoft delivered solid quarterly results on Wednesday, beating analyst expectations with revenue jumping 16 percent to $65.6 billion, but questions were raised about the company's big spending on the AI boom.

Asian stocks were mostly down on Thursday following a weak lead from Wall Street, though better-than-expected manufacturing data from China provided a glimmer of good news for local markets.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday that its operating profits soared 277 percent on-year to $6.6 billion but missed expectations as it struggled to leverage demand for chips used in artificial intelligence servers.

The results showed that Google is holding its own despite worry that the search engine juggernaut has been caught short in the AI race.

China slammed Brussels's decision on Wednesday morning, saying it did not "agree with or accept" the tariffs and had filed a complaint under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism.

The government has confirmed that the budget will include tax rises, cuts to public spending and changes to fiscal rules to enable borrowing billions more to invest.

The German car giant -- whose 10 brands range from its core VW models to Seat, Skoda and Porsche -- has been hit hard by high manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles and increased competition in key market China.

The eurozone economy grew more than expected in the third quarter, official data showed Wednesday, thanks to Germany which defied expectations and dodged a recession.

The leading digital currency was trading around $72,400 at 0300 GMT, after climbing as high as $73,563.63 in late US trade, just shy of its all-time peak of $73,797.98 in March.

The economy ministry has said it expects "a renewed slight decline" after gross domestic product already shrank by 0.1 percent in the second quarter.

The new rules, which take effect on January 2 next year, will prohibit US-headquartered firms, citizens, and permanent residents from engaging in transactions involving cutting-edge technology like semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing, the Treasury announced in a statement.

The major US automaker reported third-quarter profits of $892 million, down 26 percent from the year-ago level, on revenues of $46.2 billion, up 5.5 percent.

Profit after taxation slumped to $206 million in the three months to September, after a net profit of $4.9 billion in the same period in 2023, BP said in a results statement.

A year after spinning off its generics business to become a "pure-player" developer of innovative medicines, Novartis registered a 15 percent increase in its core net profit to $4.1 billion during the July-September period, from the same quarter last year.

The London-headquartered bank last week announced a major shakeup under new chief executive Georges Elhedery, who assumed his role in September.

Workers' representatives will update VW staff at all 10 German plants about management's latest savings proposals at 1000 GMT, with many bracing for news of thousands of job cuts.

Markets reacted negatively to the announcement with Philips's share price dropping by more than 11 percent in morning trading on the Amsterdam stock exchange's blue-chip AEX index.

Stefan Kaufmann became chief executive officer in April 2023, having served as a board member since 2019. He first joined the European arm of Olympus in 2003.

Israel carried out air strikes on military sites in Iran on Saturday in response to Tehran's October 1 missile barrage, itself retaliation for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.

Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of the members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 rejected the preliminary agreement late Wednesday, extending a walkout of some 33,000 Seattle-region employees.

The deal, seen as an attempt to create a new global fashion giant to compete with European powerhouses, was halted by a federal court in New York after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to prevent it earlier this year.

Barclays in February outlined plans to slash GBP2 billion in costs over the coming years, having axed 5,000 jobs in 2023.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) issued the Microsoft-owned website its first EU fine saying "the consent obtained by LinkedIn was not given freely".

At the same time, the bank plans to hire by mid-2028 some 3,500 young new employees to work in wealth management, it said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The US software giant bought the game's publisher Activision-Blizzard a year ago for $69 billion in the sector's biggest takeover.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world's largest contract manufacturer of chips used in everything from Apple iPhones to Nvidia's cutting-edge artificial intelligence hardware.

Almost two-thirds -- 64 percent -- of the members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 rejected the contract, the union said on X.

Americans go to the polls on November 5 to choose between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, with polls suggesting the two are neck and neck.

European and Asian stock markets traded mixed Wednesday and oil prices retreated as investors focused on company earnings and the outlook for the US and Chinese economies.