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Drop in U.S. consumer spending clouds Fed rate hike outlook

U.S. consumer spending fell in August for the first time in seven months while inflation showed signs of accelerating, mixed signals that could keep the Federal Reserve cautious about raising interest rates. The Commerce Department said on Friday that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, fell 0.1 percent last month after accounting for inflation. “Consumers took a breather in August,” said Chris Christopher of IHS Global Insight

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Drop in U.S. consumer spending clouds Fed rate hike outlook

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Citigroup fails to halt AT&T use of ‘thanks’

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – A judge on Thursday rejected Citigroup Inc's bid for a preliminary injunction to stop AT&T Inc from using the phrase “AT&T thanks” on a customer loyalty program, which the bank called too similar to its trademarked “thankyou.” U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan said Citigroup has not shown that customers would likely be confused, or that it would suffer irreparable harm, if AT&T kept saying “AT&T thanks” while the bank&#…

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Citigroup fails to halt AT&T use of ‘thanks’

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Email campaign asks McDonald’s to take U.S. antibiotic curbs global

By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A charity looking to fight the rise of dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria on Thursday asked the public to help convince McDonald's restaurants around the world to stop serving meat and milk from animals raised with routine use of medically important antibiotics. A week after the world's biggest fast-food company took that step with poultry at its U.S. restaurants, U.K.-based ShareAction launched an online campaign enabling people to email McDonald's Corp CEO Steve Easterbrook. The group, which…

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Email campaign asks McDonald’s to take U.S. antibiotic curbs global

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Electronic Marlboro sucks Japanese smokers away from Japan Tobacco

By Ritsuko Shimizu TOKYO (Reuters) – Marlboro maker Philip Morris International says its e-cigarette has rapidly captured close to 3 percent of Japanese tobacco sales, making inroads into a market Japan Tobacco (JT) relies on for 40 percent of its profit. In what may be an early vindication of Philip Morris's e-cigarette strategy, the iQOS accounted for 2.2 percent of Japan's tobacco sales in the quarter ended June 30, a company spokesman said.

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Electronic Marlboro sucks Japanese smokers away from Japan Tobacco

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Fed should raise interest rates this year, Williams says

The Federal Reserve should raise interest rates further this year, a top U.S. central banker said in an interview published on Thursday, reflecting improved labor market conditions and the likelihood that inflation is heading higher. “As the economy gets closer to its goals, we can again pull our foot off the…

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Fed should raise interest rates this year, Williams says

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Two-decade Pfizer mission pays off for Guggenheim’s deal king

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Alan Schwartz knows how to play a long game. The executive chairman of boutique investment bank Guggenheim Partners spent almost 20 years cultivating Pfizer boss Ian Read as a client. Schwartz, 65, had been working with Read since 2013 to find a European-registered company with which U.S. firm Pfizer could combine and shift its headquarters to a country with a lower tax rate, so

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Two-decade Pfizer mission pays off for Guggenheim’s deal king