Warren Buffett Donates $4 Billion to Charity
Renowned investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Warren Buffett bestowed nearly $4 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and four family charities on Tuesday, as part of his pledge to donate almost all of his net worth.
Berkshire Hathaway, which Buffett has led since 1965, announced the donation of approximately 14.4 million Class B shares, with a closing price of $277.64 on Tuesday. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will receive 11 million shares, while the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after Buffett's late first wife, will receive 1.1 million.
MACROECONOMIC DATA ANALYSIS
The Chinese economy is exhibiting optimistic signs of recovery, as industrial output grew 0.7% in May on a year-to-year basis. While demand remains frail amid strict COVID curbs, investors of the Asian nation on Tuesday soared Chinese stocks to their highest in over two months.
The European Central Bank's (ECB) rate-setting Governing Council will meet unanticipatedly on Wednesday morning to discuss the recent sell-off in government bond markets, according to a spokesperson. Bond yields have bumped sharply since the ECB promised a series of rate hikes on Thursday last week, with the spread between German and more debt-stricken southern nations, particularly Italy, achieving two-year highs.
CURRENCIES
The U.S. dollar fell on Wednesday morning, despite investors betting on aggressive interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, tumbled 0.63% to 104.677.
GOLD
Gold prices rose on Wednesday’s early hours from near one-month slumps, as Treasury rates edged lower ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, which is likely to unveil aggressive interest rate hike intentions to combat excessive inflation. The value of the bullion increased 0.87% to $1,824 per ounce.
OIL
Oil prices were down in the early trading session of Wednesday, despite the worries about the unclear economic future and anticipated aggressive U.S. interest rate hike decisions. Brent futures inched 1.03% lower to $119.89 per barrel, while WTI futures dropped 1.15% to $117.58 a barrel.
INDICES
USA: S&P500 -0.38%, Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.50%, Nasdaq Composite +0.21%
Europe: FTSE 100 +1.22%, DAX +1.03%, CAC 40 +0.91%
Asia: Nikkei 225 -1.14%, Hang Seng +1.14%, CSI 300 +1.32%, Nifty 50 -0.26%
Newest
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has provided the closest thing to a confirmation that the company is developing a headset.
In a recent interview with China Daily USA, Cook was questioned about what, in his opinion, are the essential elements for augmented reality, or AR, to be successful in the consumer market.
“I am incredibly excited about AR as you might know. And the critical thing to any technology, including AR, is putting humanity at the center of it,” he said, echoing comments he’s made in the past about how important AR is to the company.
Meta, Microsoft, and other tech titans racing to build the emerging metaverse concept have formed a group to encourage the development of industry standards that will make the companies' nascent digital worlds compatible with one another.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), as well as other well-known standards-setting organizations, are among the participants in the Metaverse Standards Forum, according to a statement released by the group on Tuesday announcing its formation.