Money Talks

It's been a hard 12 months for tech. Layoffs have eliminated thousands of jobs in Silicon Valley, and more may be on the way. But for the sector's biggest firms, there's some good news. Alphabet, the parent company of search titan Google, saw revenue of 70 billion dollars and a net profit of $15 billion in the first quarter of 2023. That's a billion dollars more than markets anticipated. Microsoft turned a $18.3 billion profit from $50 billion in total revenue. And they'll need every penny they can get, as the two companies gear up for a battle for dominance in Artificial Intelligence services. That will require major investments in hardware and, for the moment, expensive human talent.

#Google #Microsoft #TechSector

First Republic Bank was one of the victims of the US bank panic that gripped markets in March. It's back in the news with dismal figures for the first quarter of the year. Deposits dropped by 40%, but the bleeding has since stopped and withdrawals have leveled out. Now, total deposits stand at $102 billion. That's almost what they were in March last year. Bank officials on an earnings call have expressed appreciation for the $30 billion pumped into the regional bank by America's largest financial behemoths in a deal brokered by the federal government. These big banks were willing to spend big to avoid a wider crisis in the sector.

#FirstRepublicBank #USEconomy #USBanks

Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit out of court brought by voting machine company Dominion. The network has agreed to pay Dominion 787 million dollars. The lawsuit was filed by Dominion after Fox News spread false claims that their voting machines were rigged in favor of Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election. Muttalip Erdogan has the details.

#FoxNews #Dominion #Settlement

The holiday that marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Eid al Fitr, is here, and the Muslim world looks forward to celebrating. But the mood in Pakistan's Karachi is mixed due to the economic crisis. Tulay Kalyon Haznedaroglu explains.

#Eid #PakistanEconomy #EidInPakistan

Life is better when you share it. Netflix announced it was pushing back a broad rollout of its password-sharing crackdown to the second quarter, as it faces stiff competition from Disney Plus and other rivals. The streaming giant also added fewer new customers than expected in the January to March period and offered a disappointing outlook for the coming months.

The taps have been opened on a pipeline connecting Turkiye to its largest gas field. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led the official ceremony. The Sakarya field is also the largest in the Black Sea and it's hoped it will cater for 25 percent of the country's energy needs. Our diplomatic correspondent Andrew Hopkins reports from Zonguldak on Turkiye's Black Sea coast.

#TürkiyeGas #TürkiyeEconomy #RecepTayyipErdogan

Germany has completed the decade-long process of switching off its fleet of nuclear power plants. Fears of accidents and the accumulation of radioactive waste have motivated Germany's anti-nuclear movement for decades. Supporters of nuclear power say it offers a greener option in a warming world. Was Germany's decision a matter of policy or of politics? As Wilson Dizard reports, that's just the first in a future filled with questions without easy answers.

#GermanyEconomy #GermanyNuclearPlants #GermanyEnergy

Asia-Pacific markets are all in the red today as Japan's core inflation for March was unchanged from February, steady at 3.1%. This level is well above the Bank of Japan's target range as government subsidies so far only had a limited effect in bringing down price pressures. High inflation has battered Japan's economy since late 2022. Friday's reading comes ahead of a Bank of Japan meeting next week, where the bank is widely expected to maintain its ultra-loose policy under new head Kazuo Ueda.

#JapanEconomy #JapanInflation #BankofJapan

Riots and protests over inequality and a rise in the retirement age have rocked France in recent weeks, but that hasn't slowed down France's premier luxury brand. LVHM, the maker of Louis Vuitton and Dior products that retail for tens of thousands of dollars, saw its revenue increase by 17% in the first quarter of 2023. A post-pandemic rebound in demand in Asia helped boost the figure, along with more sales in Japan and Europe. The US remained a weaker but stable part of LVHM's balance sheet. Overall, the company pulled in $23 billion in the year's first three months. The company's CEO Bernard Arnault recently overtook Elon Musk to become the world's richest man.

The International Monetary Fund has released its estimates for US growth, and they defy some of the worst predictions for disaster that bubbled up in 2022. The US economy is expected to dodge a severe recession, but still see a 1.6% growth in 2023 and 1.1% growth in 2024. That's in part due to monetary tightening, intended to control inflation, but also because of a humbling of lender exuberance after several high-profile bank failures. But the IMF had better news for Turkiye, where it forecasts 3.6 percent growth in 2024, but revised down estimates for 2023 from 3 percent to 2.7 percent.

#IMF #USEconomy #TürkiyeEconomy