US Sanctions Chinese Firms Tied to Iran's Missile Program | Business Matters (Feb. 27)

now let's talk about today's business matters another Tech Giant has entered the quantum chip space Amazon has debuted his first ever Quantum Computing chip it's called Ula lot Amazon says the chip solves a key problem in Quantum Computing the company says this is an important step for Quantum Computing systems which could solve calculations that would take classic computers years to complete in classic Computing information can only be represented as a zero or a one while in Quantum Computing information can exist in more variations Microsoft and Google have both recently unveil their own chips and Elon Musk says Verizon's efforts to provide a critically needed upgrade to the FAA air traffic control system is failing and it's important that starlink take over starlink is a unit of SpaceX musk satellite and Rocket company Verizon has a $2.4 billion contract to provide a Longs sought upgrade to the faa's communication system it's known as the FAA Enterprise Network Services or Fen program asked about musk's statement the FAA issued a statement saying regarding the fen program no decision have been made this week the agency confirmed it is testing three starlink terminals Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment France wants in on Ukraine's deposits of critical Minerals today the nation's defense minister said that negotiations have been underway for months Ukrainian President Vladimir zelinski is expected at the White House tomorrow to sign a minerals deal with the United States President Donald Trump made the announcement yesterday The Rare Earth elements that both the US and France seek are critical for various Technologies lithium for batteries and uranium for nuclear power medical equipment and weapons to just mention a few and France's defense minister added that the possible purchase of minerals from Ukraine would not be intended as repayment for military and other Aid Trump has suggested that the emerging deal is a way for ke to repay the US for its support Warner Brothers Discovery has laid out a path to 150 million streaming subscribers by the end of the year the entertainment giant reported that Global streaming subscribers climb to nearly 117 Million last year for Max and Discovery plus revenue for the segment Rose 5% and at the same time Warner Brothers disclosed a $9 billion Goodwill impairment charge in the network segment last year in a note to shareholders the company said that linear TV advertising has deteriorated faster than it expected wbd reported that overall Revenue fell 2% to $10 billion fast food workers in California could be bringing home more bacon the council who oversees minimum wage is considering a cost of living adjustment the state already introduced the firstof its kind $20 minimum wage for fast food workers last year it's now considering bumping that up to $20.70 Advocates say the increase is needed for rising cost of living while businesses and business owners argue not enough time has passed since the last increase which already increased prices and reduced jobs California's fast food council's next meeting to discuss this is expected in April or May now in the rough and Rumble of football tackle football to be specific family amenities are scoring big with NFL players the NFL players Association has released its annual team report cards these offer a glimpse into the players quality of life the union says they have also helped improve I conditions for players by making some of their key grievances public one area of improvement across several teams was family services this includes Game Day daycare family rooms and other amenities this year the top teams were the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings while the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots scored the worst streaming winds weigh down by TV losses a continued erosion of cable audiences resulted in Paramount Global missing fourth quarter estimates declines in linear advertising and fewer sporting events on CBS drag down Revenue in the TV media segment on top of that its filmed entertainment division posted an adjusted operating loss of $42 million its streaming service though Paramount plus added 5.6 million subscribers during the quarter at the same time a memo seen by Reuters reveals that Paramount is ending its diversity programs due to the Trump administration's efforts to end them Google will be paying to police itself Canada plans to impose a fee on the search giant to recover the cost of enforcing the online news act new law requires internet platforms to pay for news content that appears on their websites the Canadian radio television and Telecommunications commission said the vast majority of its operations are funded by these kinds of fees the cost recovery will start in April the commission said the charge uh uh the charge uh for for May May Vary year to year and has no maximum Google has already agreed to pay Publishers $100 million a year to keep news stores uh news stories that is in search results meta decided to block news from its sites to avoid payments the state department yesterday announced sanctions on six entities in China and Hong Kong that are connected to Iran's drone and missile programs the move is part of president Trump's maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian regime to stop its weapon Supply this comes just a couple of days after the US imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Iran's oil industry which is their primary source of Revenue earlier this month the Trump Administration put Financial sanctions on an international Network they say ships Iranian oil to China meanwhile there may be a few cracks in the US job market and this is according to the labor department roughly 242,000 unemployment claims were filed last week and that is up 20 thou 22,000 from the tally taken the week before and was higher than many economists predicted part of the bump in joblessness comes from Recently laid off federal employees now moving on to Nvidia the company exceeded Wall Street expectations as it closed out 2024 posting stunning sales and profit growth the chip making giant yesterday released its earnings report for of the quarter ended in January it showed Nvidia raked in nearly $40 billion in the January quarter that is 78% higher than the same period in the prior year for the full Financial year nvidia's profits more than doubled to $74 billion the company says it's also expecting continued growth in the current quarter nvidia's earnings report was being highly Washed by Silicon Valley the company is considered to be a bellweather for the broader Tech sector which has faced tough investor questions about spending on artificial intelligence Southwest Airlines is now allowing travelers to book tickets on Expedia owned websites that includes not just Expedia but also travel velocity Hotwire orbits and cheap tickets this is the airline's first partnership with the third-party booking site up until now Southwest only allowed bookings through its own platforms the carrier started listing feros on Google flights in May but you had to click through the airline website to actually book The Ticket Expedia said southwest's full schedule should be bookable on Expedia platforms by the end of today Britain's Rolls-Royce lifted its midterm targets to reflect its confidence in future profit growth after a plan to improve engines and cut costs helped its results beat expectations here's more Britain's Rolls-Royce lifted its midterm targets Thursday conf idence for the future comes after The Firm beat expectations last year with a profit of $3.1 billion that was up 55% on the year before Rolls-Royce which works with Playmakers Boeing and Airbus said a cost-saving plan boosted profits it further said it was helped by engine tweaks to ensure they can fly for longer before maintenance and it had secured improved contract terms the Aerospace giant said it would meet its previous midterm Targets this year 2 years earlier than planned he it guided to midterm underlying operating profit of up to around $4.9 billion the upgrade showed the progress made by Rolls-Royce since Tuan urgen bilit took over as CEO two years ago at the time he said the company was a burning platform in need of a turnaround the company also announced a dividend on Thursday and launched a $1.27 billion share buyback investors were happy with what they heard and shares jumped 19% to hit an all-time hi Warby Parker is going to open in store shops at some Target stores they will offer eye exams Vision M Vision tests contacts and prescription glasses that start at $95 five stores will open in the second half of this year in Illinois Minnesota New Jersey Ohio and Pennsylvania with plans for more opening in the coming years target has other shoing shops uh in some off of its locations they include Apple Disney Levis and Ulta beauty shops it's been a slow start to the year for the fast food industry so Subway has announced a plan to try to attract more customers the sandwich chain is bringing back discounted Foot Longs beginning Friday you can get any foot long sandwich at Subway for just $6.99 that's a big discount since some fongs regularly cost as much as $14 but there is a catch the offer is is only available through the subway App or website with the code and is also only available for a limited time an official said Mexico is weighing further trade measures to crack down on lowcost shipments into the country after slapping tariff Sun purchases largely coming from China the country's Deputy Ministry economy Minister said the objective is political and it's to crack down on Contraband Mexico's economy Ministry in recent months has launched and offensive against cheap Goods mostly from China including counterfeit products which has entered under previous low cost exceptions in January Mexico began taxing many such Imports analysts called the move a bid to cut down shipments from e-commerce retailers such as shien and timu some of which sto in Mexico before being sent to the US okay onto markets S&P 500 and NASDAQ ended sharply lower today and it's weighed down by a slump in chipmaker Nvidia after his quarterly report uh failed to rekindle wall Street's AI rally while investors focused on data pointing to a cooler US economy so Nvidia dropped after the Silicon Valley company gave a weaker than expected quarterly forecast for gross margin uh that was overshadowed by an upbeat Revenue Outlook chip makers broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices also fell pulling the Philadelphia chip index down sharply and that's all on today's business matters