Prices of raw materials and building materials rose by 14.2 percent in September in Germany compared to the same period last year. The Federal bureau of Statistics Destatis reports Wednesday. According to the agency, this is the largest annual increase for producers since the 1974 oil crisis. In 1974 prices rose by 14.5% in October compared with a year earlier. In the year 2021, German industry...
China is considering having media companies share their content with rivals as well. This is what Bloomberg News Agency writes on Monday based on sources. Among other things, the Chinese Ministry of IT would consider including content and videos from Tencent and Bytedance in the search results of Baidu, for example. This would also mean that a part of Tencent’s turnover, for example, would...
SoftBank has entered into a strategic agreement with Deutsche Telekom, which includes an exchange of shares. This was announced by the Japanese investor on Tuesday. The agreement gives companies in SoftBank’s portfolio access to approximately 240 million customers of Deutsche Telekom in Europe and the United States. For Deutsche Telekom, this means a higher turnover per user and a new...
China has tightened the rules for internet companies in an attempt to stop unfair competition. This was shown on Tuesday by draft documents from the supervisor, according to local media. It is mainly about how companies are allowed to handle user data. Among other things, the use of fake reviews is restricted and the removal of negative reviews should no longer be allowed. The use of algorithms...
German industry production decreased again in June compared to the previous month. This was shown on Friday by figures from Destatis, the German statistical office. Production, adjusted for seasonality and working days, was 1.3 percent lower in June than in May. And in May, it was already a 0.8 percent decrease. Before June, economists had expected a small increase in production. On an annual...
Gary Gensler may be a proponent of strict regulation of cryptocurrencies, but he is also an admirer of Bitcoin. Gensler described by Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous founder of the largest cryptomunt Bitcoin, on Tuesday as “a major innovator of cryptography,” and said that his invention created for “promotion of the development of the digital assets and the underlying blockchain technology”...
The United States and Germany have reached an agreement on the controversial gas project Nord Stream 2. If Moscow uses the gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany to exert political pressure, it risks sanctions. “Should Russia try to use energy as a weapon or take further aggressive actions against Ukraine, Germany will take action itself and insist on sanctions at European...
Google has reached a settlement of 220 million euros with the French watchdog in France. The tech company pays the settlement after the authority filed a complaint for abuse of power in the advertising market. The French Competition Authority says that Google is abusing its monopoly position in the sale of online ads. Google’s tool to help websites and apps sell advertising would have given...
The financial stability of the euro area remains fragile. This was concluded by the European Central Bank on Wednesday in the Financial Stability Review in May. Interconnection between countries, banks and companies can pose a threat to financial stability, according to the ECB. A new coronavirus wave has slowed the recovery in the euro area and is weighing on the short-term economic outlook...
The German economy, the largest in Europe, grew somewhat stronger than previously thought in the fourth quarter of last year. This was partly due to increased investments in the construction sector and higher exports. However, there were weaker consumer spending, in connection with the lockdowns against the coronavirus. The German Federal Statistical Office reports on the basis of a new estimate...