World

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia: Shares of Moderna fell nearly 10 per cent after it lost a bid to invalidate a US patent owned by Arbutus Biopharma that poses a potential obstacle to Moderna's efforts to develop next-generation vaccines, including a COVID-19 vaccine. An administrative court run by the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected arguments by Moderna that an Arbutus patent known as the '069 patent should be revoked because it described obvious concepts. The '069 patent relates to lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology that allows the human body to make its own therapeutic proteins. LNP technology is crucial to Moderna's vaccine development efforts, and the patent ruling could increase pressure on the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm to pay for a license to Arbutus' patent portfolio,...

In March, the IRS announced that the federal tax filing deadline would be pushed to July 15, 2020. The move, made in response to the coronavirus pandemic, gave Americans an extra three months to file their 2019 returns without incurring interest or penalties. If you're still not ready to file by Wednesday July 15, though, you can file for an extension like you normally would. Anyone can use Free File to electronically request a tax-filing extension, which would give you until October 15, 2020 to file your return, according to the IRS. (That's the same extended filing deadline from prior years.) An extension to file, however, is not the same as an extension to pay. If you're filing an extension, you still need to estimate any taxes you may owe and pay them by the regular deadline to avoid...

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer at Google LLC, speaks during the Google Cloud Next '19 event in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Deutsche Bank said on Tuesday it has agreed a strategic, multiyear partnership with Google to give the German lender access to cloud services and drive innovation in technology-based financial products for clients. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Deutsche Bank expects the partnership to generate more than 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) in accumulated earnings before income and tax (EBIT) over the next 10 years. Both parties have signed a letter of intent and plan to sign a multi-year contract within the next few months, the bank said. "The partnership with Google Cloud will be an important driver of our s...

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, March 16, 2020. (This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) A handful of tech names have led the market's rebound since the coronavirus-induced sell-off in March, and as these companies become an ever larger share of the overall market, some investors have started to sound the alarm over potential risks. "Concerns of another technology bubble are rising," said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at SunTrust, in a recent note to clients. "There is also growing concentration risk, with the top five stocks now accounting for 22% of the S&P 500 Index."

The United States, Japan and France are prodding their companies to rely less on China to make the world’s smartphones, drugs and other products. But even after the coronavirus derailed trade, few want to leave China’s skilled workforce and efficient suppliers of raw materials to move to other countries. Disruptions from the pandemic, on top of the U.S.-Chinese tariff war, fueled warnings that relying too much on China leaves global companies vulnerable to costly breakdowns in the event of disasters or political conflict. Drugmakers stand out as one industry that is trying to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers by setting up sources of raw materials in the United States and Europe. But consumer electronics, medical devices and other industries are sticking with China. “I don’t know of ...

U.S. Customs placed a detention order on imports of products made by subsidiaries of the world's largest medical glove maker, Malaysia's Top Glove Corp Bhd on Wednesday, an action taken against firms suspected of using forced labor. KUALA LUMPUR: U.S. Customs placed a detention order on imports of products made by subsidiaries of the world's largest medical glove maker, Malaysia's Top Glove Corp Bhd on Wednesday, an action taken against firms suspected of using forced labor. The bar on Top Glove products comes at a time when demand for the medical gloves and protective gear has skyrocketed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the United States harder than any other country. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website showed Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd...

Daimler said on Thursday it will stop building Mercedes-Benz sedans in the United States and Mexico as part of cost-cutting measures to streamline production, after saying it will post a smaller-than-expected operating loss in the second quarter. The company said it will post an operating loss of 1.68 billion euros ($1.91 billion) in the second quarter, pre-releasing earnings ahead of July 23. "Daimler pre-released better than consensus second-quarter numbers," Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said in a note late on Thursday. A slump in demand forced by dealership closures and lockdowns due to the coronavirus crisis pushed Daimler to report an adjusted second-quarter loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 708 million euros during the same period. At its Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans u...