ADVFN US – Market Content Editor

Barclays strategists said oil prices and interest rates could have a greater influence on equity markets than the outcome of the November U.S. midterm elections, as global stocks follow a pattern broadly consistent with historical pre-election seasonality. Strategists led by Emmanuel Cau said the MSCI World had declined around 3% from its summer highs, broadly…

A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods unexpectedly came in nearly flat in the month of August. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders were virtually unchanged in August following a downwardly revised 0.9 percent increase in July. Economists had expected durable goods orders to…

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) said artificial intelligence tools are becoming part of the way U.S. consumers choose snacks, as shoppers increasingly look for products offering specific nutritional attributes, flavours and ingredients. The food company, whose brands include Slim Jim and Hunt’s, based its findings on research that included more than 53 million shopping transactions covering 17,000…

Goldman Sachs has reduced its global smartphone shipment forecasts for 2026 through 2028, citing continued cost pressures and a growing share of premium devices that the bank expects to be less sensitive to price changes. The investment bank lowered its shipment estimates by 1 million units for 2026, 8 million for 2027 and 0.2 million…

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) shares rose 21.3% in premarket trading after the company announced a seven-year cloud services commitment with artificial intelligence company Anthropic valued at $11.6 billion. The agreement is intended to support Anthropic’s CPU computing workloads across Akamai Cloud’s distributed infrastructure. The arrangement also includes provisions under which the relationship could expand by as…

People Incorporated (NASDAQ:PPLI) shares rose 6.5% in premarket trading following a Wall Street Journal report that MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is considering a potential takeover bid for the company. According to the report, a possible offer could emerge within days. No transaction has been announced, and the reported discussions do not establish that MGM will…

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) said on Friday it will halt operations at its Kryvyi Rih plant in Ukraine and record a non-cash impairment charge of approximately $1 billion following a series of missile strikes at the site. The steelmaker said four missile strikes over a five-week period resulted in the deaths of five employees and injuries to…