Browsing: Business

NASHVILLE: Starbucks will open a corporate operations office in Davidson County, Tennessee, later in 2026, the company and state officials announced Tuesday. The new site is expected to expand the coffee chain’s corporate presence in North America and provide an additional base for teams supporting U.S. operations. Officials said the office will be in the Nashville area, which is the seat of Davidson County. Starbucks said the Tennessee office will work closely with its global headquarters in Seattle. The company described the Tennessee location as a Southeast corporate office focused on operations work, including portions of its North American supply chain organization.…

CUPERTINO: Apple Inc. (AAPL) said on Feb. 24, 2026 it is on track in 2026 to purchase well over 100 million advanced semiconductors made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. at the chipmaker’s Arizona facility. Apple described the expected volume as a significant increase from 2025. The company did not disclose the value of the planned purchases or which specific chips and products the supply will support. Apple also said it has expanded the number of chips it sources domestically, reporting that it exceeded a target and obtained more than 20 billion U.S. made chips from 24 factories across 12 states. Apple listed partners that…

NEW YORK: U.S. stocks finished lower on Friday, Feb. 27, as a broad selloff in financial shares weighed on major indexes and capped a choppy week for markets. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% to 6,878.88, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% to 48,977.92. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9% to 22,668.21. Smaller-company stocks also declined, with the Russell 2000 down 1.7%, reflecting pressure across sectors tied to credit and funding conditions. The heaviest losses clustered in banks, brokers and asset managers, extending a late-month slide in the financial sector. The KBW Bank Index fell 4.9%, with Goldman Sachs down 7.5% and Wells Fargo…

NEW YORK: Gold prices edged higher on Thursday as the U.S. dollar softened, lifting demand for the metal in international markets. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $5,195.99 an ounce by 0639 GMT, holding near levels last seen around a more than three-week high earlier in the week. Traders tracked currency moves and fresh headlines on U.S. trade policy and geopolitics as bullion remained sensitive to shifts in risk appetite and interest-rate expectations. The dollar started the Asian session on weaker footing after a strong earnings outlook from U.S. chipmaker Nvidia helped improve sentiment in equities, while investors awaited more detail on U.S. tariff plans.…

CALIFORNIA: Nvidia reported record quarterly revenue and profit on Wednesday, saying demand linked to artificial intelligence continued to lift its data center business. The chipmaker said fourth-quarter revenue rose to $68.1 billion for the period ended Jan. 25, up 73% from a year earlier and 20% from the prior quarter. The company said its first-quarter revenue outlook is $78.0 billion, plus or minus 2%, as customers keep building out AI computing and networking capacity. Nvidia said net income for the quarter climbed to $43.0 billion, up 94% from a year earlier. Earnings per diluted share were $1.76 on a GAAP basis and $1.62…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has raised a temporary, across-the-board U.S. import tariff to 15% from 10%, applying the higher rate to most goods entering the United States from all countries as the administration shifts to a new legal basis for its sweeping duties. The new tariff is structured as an ad valorem customs duty and is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Feb. 24, according to federal notices and administration statements issued after a major Supreme Court ruling on tariffs. A White House proclamation dated Feb. 20 invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a temporary…

NEW DELHI: India joined the Pax Silica initiative on Feb. 20 by signing the Pax Silica Declaration and a bilateral addendum titled the Joint Statement on the India-U.S. AI Opportunity Partnership at an event held on the margins of the AI Impact Summit. The documents were signed by S. Krishnan, secretary at India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and U.S. Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg. India’s minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and U.S. OSTP Director Michael Kratsios witnessed the signing. Pax Silica is framed by the signatories as a cooperation effort to build secure, resilient and…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday announced a new 10% import duty on goods entering the United States from around the world, moving to replace a set of emergency tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down hours earlier. In remarks at the White House, Trump called the ruling “deeply disappointing.” The White House said the new levy will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Feb. 24, 2026, and will run for 150 days, with specified exemptions for certain products and trade partners. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize a president to…

BENTONVILLE: Walmart said fourth-quarter revenue rose 5.6% from a year earlier to $190.7 billion during the holiday shopping period, while its earnings outlook for the new fiscal year came in below analysts’ expectations. The retailer reported adjusted earnings of 74 cents a share, up from 66 cents a year earlier, and said global e-commerce sales increased 24%. Walmart also said U.S. comparable sales excluding fuel rose 4.6%, reflecting gains across store and digital channels. Walmart reported GAAP earnings of 53 cents a share, down from 65 cents a year earlier, and said consolidated net income attributable to the company fell 19.4% to $4.237…

CALIFORNIA: A published report on Friday said Nvidia is in talks to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI, a figure that would rank among the largest single equity checks into an artificial intelligence company. Nvidia and OpenAI have not announced any such deal, and neither company has released publicly disclosed terms confirming an investment of that size as of Feb. 20, 2026. The report revived focus on the financial ties between the leading supplier of AI accelerators and a major developer of generative AI systems. With no official confirmation of the reported talks, the most recent, detailed public statements between Nvidia and OpenAI remain…