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Prosecutor opens trial for FTX founder
A prosecutor accused FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of stealing at least $10 billion from his customers as opening statements began in a federal court trial in New York City.
Prosecutor Nathan Rehn said the 31-year-old California man defrauded thousands of investors and customers in his businesses by siphoning off their money for his own uses. Defense lawyer Mark Cohen insisted Bankman-Fried didn't steal from anyone.
TikTok ends retail business in Indonesia
Chinese-owned video platform TikTok says it will halt its online retail operation in Indonesia to comply with the country's decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms.
The decision comes as a big blow for TikTok's fastest-growing market. The company statement said it will stop facilitating e-commerce transactions in TikTok Shop Indonesia by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Last week, the Indonesian government announced the new regulation prohibiting social media companies from facilitating sales of products on their platforms in a bid to protect small businesses from e-commerce competition, accusing them of predatory pricing.
Saudi Arabia to maintain oil production cuts
Saudi Arabia says it will maintain a production cut of 1 million barrels of oil a day through the end of the year. Wednesday's announcement could further prop up oil prices, which are hovering around $90 a barrel.
Production cuts first announced by Saudi Arabia and Russia in July have driven up prices at the pump, enriched Moscow's war chest and complicated global efforts to bring down inflation.
Google packs more AI into new Pixel phones
Google has unveiled a next-generation Pixel smartphones lineup that will be infused with more artificial intelligence tools capable of writing captions about photos that also can be altered by the technology.
The injection of more artificial intelligence, or AI, into Google's products marks another step in the company's attempt to bring more of the technology into the mainstream. The next moves will include allowing its 7-year-old Google Assistant to tap into company's artificially intelligent chatbot, Bard, to perform tasks, such as scanning a photo taken on phone powered by Google's Android software and producing a pithy caption suitable for posting on social media.
Health care workers picket outside hospitals
Some 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are taking to picket lines in multiple states over wages and staff shortages. Unions representing the workers who walked off the job Wednesday approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and one day in Virginia and the District of Columbia. Doctors are not participating, and the company says it will keep its 39 hospitals open.
Kaiser union members say understaffing is boosting the hospital system's profits but hurting patients, while Kaiser say they offer better compensation than competitors.
Wall Street rises after getting some relief
Wall Street rose after getting some relief from relaxing bond yields and falling oil prices. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% Wednesday to claw back more than half its sharp tumble from a day earlier. The Dow rose 127 points a day after wiping out its gains for the year. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4%.
Treasury yields eased to give the stock market some more oxygen after reports suggested the U.S. economy may be cooling. Oil prices also tumbled by to take some pressure off inflation and the threat of rates staying very high.