Vast Seek Open News

Europe's third largest insurer said it expected to raise more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion) from asset disposals carried out, above a target of 1.0 billion euros. http://vastseek.com/sources/13-cnbc/76625-generali-first-half-profit-beats-expectations-after-being-boosted-by-asset-disposals

Underlying profit for the period is $4.42 billion, up 12 percent year-on-year.  http://vastseek.com/sources/13-cnbc/76624-mining-giant-rio-tinto-sees-first-half-profit-rise-and-plans-additional-1-billion-share-buyback

Paid syndication is the promotion or inclusion of content on a third party website in exchange for a payment. http://vastseek.com/sources/12-investopedia/76623-paid-syndication

French bank BNP Paribas reported Wednesday a net income growth of 53 percent from the previous quarter at 2.39 billion euros ($2.79 billion). http://vastseek.com/sources/13-cnbc/76621-bnp-paribas-profit-rises-53-percent-for-the-quarter-to-2-8-billion

China's top leaders on Tuesday pledged economic stability just as data from the world's second-largest economy suggested that the country is starting to feel the pinch from U.S. tariffs. http://vastseek.com/sources/13-cnbc/76622-as-trump-s-tariffs-start-to-bite-china-pledges-it-ll-keep-its-economy-stable

Exec summary: Happy August! Or should I say, happy August? We shall see. I'm back from a few days up in Burlington, VT... Thank you, Oliver Darcy, for manning this letter while I was away... Now here's the day's media news... http://vastseek.com/sources/11-cnn-money/76619-reliable-sources-potus-rallies-show-worsening-hostility-toward-press-others

CNBC spoke with some experts to see what they think are the most concerning potential future scenarios for AI. http://vastseek.com/sources/13-cnbc/76617-five-of-the-scariest-predictions-about-artificial-intelligence

Huawei just reached a major milestone, passing Apple to become the world's second largest smartphone seller. http://vastseek.com/sources/11-cnn-money/76616-huawei-beats-apple-in-smartphone-sales-for-the-first-time

After some initial sluggishness, Asia Pacific stocks generally improved as Wednesday’s trading day progressed. But there were no blowout gains occurring with nearly all rising indexes up no more than 0.5% and many seeing advances of 0.2% of less. http://vastseek.com/76614-asia-markets-asian-markets-mostly-up-as-apple-suppliers-get-a-boost

Not every age group is as diligent about their fiscal future. http://vastseek.com/76613-millennials-are-doing-one-really-smart-thing-for-their-finances

Direct costs are expenses that can be directly traced to a product, while variable costs vary with the level of production output.  http://vastseek.com/sources/12-investopedia/76615-how-are-direct-costs-and-variable-costs-different

The random walk theory is the idea that stocks take a random and unpredictable path, so the past movement cannot be used to predict future movement. http://vastseek.com/sources/12-investopedia/76612-random-walk-theory

A hedge is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. http://vastseek.com/sources/12-investopedia/76611-hedge

A California court unsealed a lawsuit filed by a former Playboy centerfold claiming that a GOP fundraiser reneged on a 2017 agreement to pay her $1.6 million to keep quiet about an affair and pregnancy. http://vastseek.com/76610-the-wall-street-journal-details-revealed-in-ex-playboy-model-s-lawsuit-against-republican-fundraiser

Bloom Energy Corp.’s chief executive sat down with MarketWatch for a phone interview on the day his company’s stock debuted on Wall Street, to answer questions about an initial public offering that this column had openly questioned. His answers only did more damage. http://vastseek.com/76608-therese-poletti-s-tech-tales-bloom-energy-proves-it-should-not-be-trusted

As Washington and Beijing struggle to break a trade impasse, some administration advisers are urging President Donald Trump to raise the stakes with a sharp increase in the level of tariffs proposed for $200 billion in Chinese imports targeted for punitive measures. http://vastseek.com/76607-the-wall-street-journal-advisers-urge-trump-to-raise-tariffs-to-25-on-200-billion-of-chinese-goods

Learn about some of the most common Social Security scams that occur by phone, email and direct mail, Find out how to report these fraudulent activities. http://vastseek.com/sources/12-investopedia/76609-what-are-the-most-common-social-security-scams