The threat of losing military protection did not persuade Taiwan to move half its chip manufacturing to the United States. Top trade negotiator and vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun stated that the 50-50 proposal would not be considered or even discussed. Instead, Taiwan plans to focus on lowering US-imposed tariffs that now stand at 20%. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick believes that Taiwan’s chip production would be safer on US soil. The US relies on Taiwan for an astounding 95% of chip production and cannot lose this strategic trade. “My objective, and this administration’s objective, is to get chip manufacturing significantly onshored…
Author: Staff Writer
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued additional warnings related to possible Listeria contamination in pasta products. The warnings suggest that the Listeria outbreak, which has sickened at least 20 and killed four since last year, is far from over. Here’s what you need to know about the latest warnings and which foods are being recalled this time. What’s happened? On September 30, the FDA posted a new recall notice to its website, which adds 11 new items to the list of pasta products being recalled due to Listeria…
The condition of America’s workforce remains undetermined, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics is currently not operational. The non-farm payrolls report will be delayed even if the unlikely event that the government reconciles today. The Chicago Federal Reserve compiled a separate report that indicates a contraction in the workforce. Unemployment remains stagnant at 4.34%, up a mere 0.01% from August. Layoffs also remained relatively unchanged at 2.1%. We have not reached the point of mass layoffs where companies can no longer afford to pay their employees. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported in a separate analysis that layoffs declined 37% in…
Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. This week, I’m focusing on Donald Trump’s recent AI-generated videos, which he (or his staff) posts on Truth Social. I also look at world models, the successor to large language models, and at OpenAI’s new Sora 2 model, which is also the anchor for a new social app. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments…
Six months after Elon Musk left the Trump administration to the great relief of Tesla investors worried about boycotts, the world’s richest man has announced some good news: Sales of Tesla cars are back. Well, maybe. The electric vehicle maker run by Musk reported Thursday that car sales jumped 7% in the three months through September after plunging for most of the year, as people turned off by his embrace of President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe balked at buying his cars. But the jump comes with a significant caveat: Tesla benefited from consumers taking advantage of a…
The Trump administration is canceling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. The cuts were announced in a social media post late Wednesday by Russell Vought, the White House budget director: “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.” The move comes as President Donald Trump threatens cuts and firings in his fight with congressional Democrats over the federal government shutdown. These cuts are likely to affect battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to…
I should go to the dentist more often. I really ought to join a gym. I wish I had partied less in college and bought more Apple stock. Had I ditched the pint of Guinness and invested in Apple in the early 2000s, each pint worth of stock would now be valued at $3,500. Over those college years, I would have accumulated enough stock to buy a brownstone on New York’s pricey Upper West Side. All cash. Looking back, I probably still would have enjoyed that cold brew with my friends. A pint of Guinness felt just right in the…
Investors are celebrating a major shake-up in how FICO scores will be shared with mortgage lenders, as shares of parent company Fair Isaac Corp. have rallied more than 20% on Thursday. That stock rally follows FICO’s announcement on Wednesday of a new pricing model that will allow mortgage lenders to calculate and distribute credit scores directly to borrowers, thereby eliminating the need to rely on the three nationwide credit bureaus for this information. In addition to its legacy pricing model, lenders can now opt for a direct license option that will save them up to 50% on per-score FICO fees.…
Berkshire Hathaway is buying Occidental Petroleum’s chemical division for $9.7 billion in what may be the last big acquisition involving the consummate dealmaker, Warren Buffett. Buffett wasn’t mentioned anywhere in materials released by Berkshire Hathaway discussing the deal Thursday, potentially signaling a passing of the torch to Vice Chair Greg Abel, to whom Buffet will hand the CEO title in January. Buffett will remain chairman at Berkshire and will still be involved in deciding how to spend the conglomerate’s colossal pile of more than $344 billion in cash. Berkshire’s cash reserves have been growing for years because Buffett has been unable to find any major acquisitions at…
ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a green day today: • NIKKEI 225 increased 385.88 points or 0.87% to 44,936.73 • Shanghai closed • Hang Seng increased 431.56 points or 1.61% to 27,287.12 • ASX 200 increased 100.20 points or 1.13% to 8,945.90 • SENSEX closed • Nifty50 closed The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today: • AUDUSD decreased 0.00202 or -0.31% to 0.65930 • NZDUSD increased 0.00061 or 0.10% to 0.58180 • USDJPY increased 0.076 or 0.05% to 147.169 • USDCNY increased 0.00472 or 0.07% to 7.13277 The above data was collected around 13:52 EST.…