Business
Boeing agreed to buy Spirit AeroSystems, a maker of jet fuselages that Boeing hived off from its operations in Wichita in 2005, in an $8.3bn transaction. Reincorporating Spirit will help Boeing streamline its production process after a host of claims about shoddy workmanship. Spirit built the door panel that blew off a 737 MAX upon take-off in January. It also produces parts for Airbus. That business will be sold to the European aerospace company as part of the deal.
Tesla delivered almost 444,000 electric vehicles in the second quarter. Although that was down by nearly 5% from the same period last year and was its second consecutive quarterly sales decline, the carmaker’s share price surged, as markets were expecting a bigger drop. BYD, a Chinese rival, increased its deliveries of pure battery EVs by 21%, to 426,000, so Tesla keeps its crown as the world’s biggest EV seller, for now.
General Motors had its best sales quarter in America since the end of 2020, shifting 696,000 vehicles from April to June. Sales of EVs accelerated by 40%, year on year, to 21,900, though that still represents just 3% of GM’s total US sales.
Japan’s Topix stockmarket index closed at a new high, beating the previous record set in December 1989. The Nikkei 225, which breached its 1989 peak in February, also hit new levels this week.
The euro zone’s annual inflation rate dipped slightly in June, to 2.5%, though the growth of prices in services was still high at a rate of 4.1%. The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold at its next meeting on July 18th, after cutting them a month ago.
An Apple executive will join OpenAI’s board as an observer, according to reports. Microsoft has a similar arrangement with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, a chatbot that uses generative artificial intelligence. Apple recently struck a deal with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its new Apple Intelligence system.
The revolution’s energy
Google’s annual assessment of its environmental impact revealed that its carbon emissions grew by 13% last year, to 48% above its 2019 baseline, mostly because of its expanding data centres and use of artificial intelligence. Google is still aiming to be net zero by 2030, a target it admits is “extremely ambitious”. There is a lot of “uncertainty around the future environmental impact” of AI, it said.
ITER, an attempt by six governments and the European Union to build a fusion reactor in the south of France, announced another delay. It was supposed to open in 2025 (already a postponement of nine years). That has been moved a further nine, to 2034, with the first energy-producing reactions expected in 2039, and the cost rising from €20bn ($21.6bn) to €25bn. It looks increasingly likely that one of the many commercial fusion companies now in existence will beat it.
The European Commission again flexed its new regulatory muscles under the Digital Markets Act, this time taking Meta to task over its “pay or consent” advertising model. European users of Meta’s platforms can either pay for an ads-free service or consent to having their data tracked. Meta’s response was that its advertising model complied with a ruling from “the highest court in Europe” and that it wanted a “constructive dialogue” with the commission.
Nike’s share price failed to recover from the hammering it took after the sportswear company reported weak quarterly earnings and lowered its sales forecast for the year. The stock lost 20% of its value. Nike has been running behind trendy competitors, such as Hoka and On, in terms of sales growth.
Walgreens Boots Alliance saw its share price take a similar dive after it slashed its profit forecast and announced more shop closures. The managing director of Boots, the British side of the pharmacy business, is stepping down. Walgreens had toyed with selling Boots, but none of the prospective buyers offered the right price.
EU regulators approved Lufthansa’s bid for a 41% stake in ITA, Italy’s national carrier, which was created from the ashes of Alitalia. Rome’s Fiumicino airport will be the German airline’s sixth hub when the deal closes, giving it better access to Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
City of flights
The Olympics is leading travellers to postpone their visits to Paris, according to Air France-KLM, which warned that traffic to and from the French capital was “lagging behind” other European cities and would hurt its revenue from June to August. As 15m people are expected in the city for the games, this may in part be because French people are postponing their holidays until late August. “Paris will be unbearable,” one resident told the media.