Business news in brief

Zuckerberg's EU testimony to air on Net

Facebook Inc. co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's testimony to the European Parliament today on the Cambridge Analytica scandal will be broadcast live on the Internet.

Zuckerberg agreed to the Web feed after talks with Antonio Tajani, the president of the Parliament. The proceedings, scheduled for the late afternoon in Brussels, were to take place in private.

"Great news for EU citizens," Tajani said in a Twitter post. "I thank him for the respect shown" to Parliament.

Zuckerberg will try to explain how Facebook data from as many as 2.7 million Europeans could have been passed to Cambridge Analytica. The U.K. consulting firm may have collected the data of some 87 million Facebook users and their friends for use by Donald Trump's U.S. presidential campaign. The revelation has been called a game changer in the world of data protection as regulators seek to raise awareness about how to secure information.

The previous plan to have Zuckerberg give a presentation in private had been widely criticized by EU officials, including EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, who is in charge of the bloc's new privacy rules.

-- Bloomberg News

Deal leads to Fifth Third bank stock skid

Fifth Third Bancorp's stock slumped the most in almost two years on concern it's overpaying to improve its standing in the Chicago area with a $4.7 billion purchase of MB Financial Inc.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third fell 8 percent in New York trading after announcing the size of the transaction, the most the company has ever paid for an acquisition and 24 percent higher than MB Financial's closing level last week.

"They're giving away more upfront than they're getting in the short term," Chris Marinac, director of research for FIG Partners, said. "Fifth Third's paying a premium in a pretty big way."

The deal helps Fifth Third build critical mass in Chicago, where the combined entity will be the second-largest bank by deposits, behind JPMorgan Chase & Co.

-- Bloomberg News

Magazine points up Tesla Model 3 flaws

DETROIT -- Long emergency stopping distances, difficult-to-use controls and a harsh ride stopped Tesla's Model 3 electric car from getting a recommended buy rating from Consumer Reports.

While the magazine said the car has exhilarating acceleration and handling, testers were troubled by its 152-foot average stopping distance from 60 miles per hour in emergency braking tests. The magazine said the distance was worse than any modern car it has tested, and is about 7 feet longer than a Ford F-150, a full-size pickup that weighs about twice as much as a Model 3.

Tesla said in a statement that its own tests found 60-to-zero braking distances averaging 133 feet.

The magazine also said nearly all of the Model 3's controls are on a center touch screen with no gauges on the dashboard and few buttons inside the car. This forces drivers to take several steps to do simple tasks and can cause driver distraction, the magazine said.

The Model 3 is Tesla's first attempt to appeal to mass-market buyers. The car that starts at $35,000 but can run as high as $78,000 has been plagued by production delays.

Consumer Reports also said that Car and Driver magazine experienced inconsistent and sometimes long stopping distances when it tested a Model 3, including one stop from 70 mph that took 196 feet.

-- The Associated Press

Ameren planning Missouri wind farm

ST. LOUIS -- Ameren Missouri announced plans Monday for a 400-megawatt wind farm in rural northeast Missouri, creating enough power to serve 120,000 homes within two years.

St. Louis-based Ameren said its High Prairie Wind Farm near Kirksville will be the largest in the state. Ajay Arora, vice president of power operations and energy management at Ameren Missouri, called it a significant step toward Ameren's goal of reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.

"What's most important for our customers is to have a balanced energy mix," Arora said in an interview. "That would be a combination of hydro, nuclear, natural gas, coal, wind, solar. Our portfolio has it all. And that provides the affordability and reliability that our customers expect."

Plans call for 175 450-foot-tall wind turbines on land in Adair and Schuyler counties, near the Iowa border about 200 miles north of St. Louis.

Groundbreaking is expected in summer of 2019, and the turbines are expected to be operational by 2020, Arora said.

-- The Associated Press

Gold falls as hedge funds head for exits

Hedge funds and other large speculators pared bullish bets on bullion to the lowest in more than two years as gold fell below $1,300 an ounce for the first time this year, spurring the biggest weekly price decline since December.

Money managers headed for the exits as the dollar advanced to a 2018 high amid expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again next month, helping push up yields on U.S. Treasurys and hurting the appeal of non-interest-bearing assets like bullion. While the Trump administration said it's putting the trade war with China on hold, persistent geopolitical risks, including U.S.-North Korea tensions, have failed to revive demand for the metal as a haven.

In the week ended May 15, money managers reduced their net-long position, or the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a decline, by 40 percent to the smallest since July, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released three days later. They pared their long position by 9.2 percent to 107,133 futures and options contracts, the lowest since February 2016.

Even the metal's physical demand has been slowing. In the first quarter, global purchases fell 7 percent to 973 tons. That was the lowest for the period since 2008, the depths of the global financial crisis, the World Gold Council said in an emailed report earlier this month.

-- Bloomberg News

Business on 05/22/2018

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