Reckitt Benckiser 3Q Like-for-like Revenue Rose, Raises 2021 Guidance
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC said Tuesday that its third-quarter revenue rose on a like-for-like basis but slipped on a reported basis, and raised its full-year revenue guidance.
The consumer-goods company, which houses Dettol, Harpic and Durex among its brands, said quarterly revenue fell 6.8% on year on a reported basis to 3.28 billion pounds ($4.52 billion). Like-for-like revenue growth was 3.3%, Reckitt said.
Orange Backs 2021 Targets After Slight Decrease in 3Q Revenue
Orange backed its 2021 guidance after revenue decreased in its third quarter on the back of a decline in co-financing received from other operators on its fiber network in France.
The French telecommunications company said revenue stood at 10.51 billion euros ($12.20 billion), down 0.7% on a reported basis and 0.4% on a comparable basis.
Thales Backs 2021 Targets After 3Q Sales Edged Down, Order Intake Rose
Thales SA backed its 2021 targets on Tuesday after reporting slightly lower sales and higher order intake in its third quarter.
The French aerospace-and-defense company posted sales of 3.56 billion euros ($4.15 billion) in the period compared with EUR3.58 billion the prior year. Organically, sales fell 1.4% due to a "high basis of comparison," especially at its defense-and-security division, it said. Last year, Thales's activities rebounded in its third quarter after being affected during its second quarter by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns which limited access to its sites and therefore hit production.
Swedish FSA Drops Swedbank Market Abuse Probe
Swedbank AB said Tuesday that the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has dropped its investigation into breaches of European Union market abuse regulations at the bank.
The Swedish FSA opened an investigation in September 2020 into suspected breaches of articles 17 and 18 in the European Union's regulation on market abuse, but it has now closed the investigation without charges.
Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen Calls for New Tech Laws in Europe
LONDON-Facebook Inc. whistleblower Frances Haugen encouraged U.K. lawmakers to pass legislation to rein in social-media platforms, saying that Facebook has trouble curbing misinformation and hate speech in many languages and dialects, including British English.
Ms. Haugen's comments to a U.K. parliamentary committee Monday give new impetus to the biggest potential expansion in global tech regulation in years, with Britain currently considering legislation to curb harmful online content. The former Facebook employee presented her conclusions from a set of internal Facebook documents-first disclosed in The Wall Street Journal-that she says illustrate the social-media company's struggles to balance the safety of its users with its own profit motive.
Fund Manager Roundup: Market Pricing of ECB Rate Rise Is Too Ambitious, Says Santander AM
Bond markets' pricing of a eurozone interest-rate rise before the end of 2022 is too optimistic as inflationary pressures should ease, Klaus Schruefer, chief market strategist at Santander Asset Management Germany, tells Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. The 10-year German Bund yield could rise to 0% in coming weeks, while 2022 eurozone GDP growth is expected to be faster than that of the U.S. and this may help the euro, he says. The following is a selection of his comments. Santander AM had assets under management of EUR193 billion at the end of June 2021.
Market Pricing of ECB Rate Rise in 2022 Is Too Early, Says Santander AM
GLOBAL NEWS
Banks' Debt Sales Are Driving the Corporate Bond Market
U.S. banks are overrun with cash. So they are loading up on debt.
The six largest U.S. lenders have issued some $314 billion of bonds so far this year, already the most for any year since 2008, according to Dealogic.
Cryptocurrency Company Snared in SEC Dragnet Sues Regulator
A cryptocurrency developer who was handed two subpoenas as he walked inside a hotel last month won't comply with the demands-and is instead suing the federal regulator that issued them.
Do Kwon, a South Korean citizen and resident, says the move by the Securities and Exchange Commission violated the agency's rules and was designed either to embarrass him or to stir up media interest in its crackdown on the cryptocurrency market.
Democrats Negotiate Tax, Healthcare Provisions as Biden Seeks Deal This Week
WASHINGTON-Democrats are sprinting to wrap up negotiations over their social-spending and climate bill, hoping by this weekend to resolve disagreements on issues including tax policy and healthcare.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Monday there were three to four open issues. Lawmakers and aides said major policy areas, including the tax increases to pay for the package, Medicare and Medicaid provisions and a paid leave program, remain unresolved. The bill, initially drafted at $3.5 trillion, is now expected to cost between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.
Inflation Pinches Restaurants, but Customers Seem Willing to Split the Check
Inflation is making casual-dining shareholders sick to their stomachs. Relief is likely on the way.
Brinker International, owner of Chili's, said last Tuesday that it earned 34 cents a share on an adjusted basis in its fiscal first quarter, which ended in September-far below Wall Street analysts' estimate of 68 cents a share.
Fed Prepares to Taper Stimulus Amid More Doubts on Inflation
Federal Reserve officials are set to wind down their $120 billion-a-month bond-purchase program in November, but questions over how soon inflation pressures will fade are creating more uneasiness inside the central bank.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and senior officials have played down worries this year that a surge in prices during the uneven pandemic recovery would lead to permanently higher inflation. The most notable price increases have been tied to items most affected by the shutdown and reopening of the economy, but there are signs that inflation is coming from a broader set of products and services.
Buyout Firms Set Record for Loading Companies With Debt to Pay Themselves
Private-equity firms are taking advantage of a frothy credit market to pay themselves record sums with borrowed money, a controversial practice that critics say benefits buyout-firm executives but can harm portfolio companies.
Companies backed by U.S. private-equity firms have taken on $58.5 billion in dividend-recapitalization debt this year through Oct. 20, S&P Global Market Intelligence's LCD unit said in response to a Wall Street Journal data request. That is more than levels of such debt for 2019 and 2020 combined. The previous full-year record of $51.1 billion was set in 2013.
Energy-Stock Surge Leaves Climate-Focused Investors Behind
A surge in energy stocks is challenging climate-conscious money managers who beat the market for years when the sector struggled but are now missing out on Wall Street's hottest trade.
The S&P 500 energy sector has rebounded 54% this year, outpacing the broad index's 21% climb and leading the second-best performing group by about 16 percentage points. That would mark the third-largest such gap between the top two sectors since 2000, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
U.S. Treasury Creates New Post Focused on Racial Equity
WASHINGTON-The Treasury Department said Monday it had created a new position to support the Biden administration's efforts to promote economic opportunities for communities of color as the nation recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Janis Bowdler, who most recently worked as president of the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Foundation, will become the department's first counselor for racial equity, the Treasury said in a statement. Ms. Bowdler will be tasked with coordinating "efforts to advance racial equity including engaging with diverse communities throughout the country and to identify and mitigate barriers to accessing benefits and opportunities with the department," the Treasury said.
Russian Military Drills Near Afghan Border Deliver Warning to Extremists
HARB-MAIDON RANGE, Tajikistan-Russia held a series of joint military exercises with its Central Asian neighbors near the border with Afghanistan last week, a reflection of the concern in Moscow that ethnic tension or terrorism could spill over from the country as extremists such as Islamic State challenge the Taliban's rule there.
The Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, which also includes Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, conducted a weeklong series of exercises that ended Saturday on the Harb-Maidon training range, less than 20 miles north of Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan.
Write to sarka.halas@wsj.com
Write to us at newsletters@dowjones.com
We offer an enhanced version of this briefing that is optimized for viewing on mobile devices and sent directly to your email inbox. If you would like to sign up, please go to https://newsplus.wsj.com/subscriptions.
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-26-21 0629ET
