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European shares opened lower on Thursday after a broad advance in Asia spurred by a rebound on Wall Street.Upbeat economic updates and a steady flow of quarterly reports from U.S. companies have helped counter worries over surging share prices for Big Tech companies.But that optimism failed to carry over from Asia to Europe.Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% to 24,003.24, while the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.5% to 8,033.11. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% to 9,761.18.The future for the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%.In Asia, shares bounced back from a retreat the day before.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3% to 50,883.68.Shares in Nissan Motor Co. fell 1.7% after the company said it was selling its headquarters building in Yokohama to raise cash.After trading closed, Nissan reported a 221.9 billion yen ($1.4 billion) loss for April-September and said its revenue dropped 7% from a year earlier.In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 0.6% to 4,026.45. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.7%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.1% to 26,485.90, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.1% to 4,007.76.However, shares in autonomous driving companies Pony.ai and WeRide fell in their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange.Pony.ai lost 9.3%, while WeRide’s shares fell 10%.Shares in Cathay Pacific Airways gained 4% after it announced that Qatar Airways was selling its 9.57% stake in the Hong Kong-based carrier in a buyback worth $896 million. The deal is subject to shareholder approval.On Wednesday, U.S. stocks gained ground with broad gains, reversing the prior day’s dip. Much of the market’s push and pull came from the technology sector, where several companies with huge values have an outsized influence over the market.Google’s parent, Alphabet, jumped 2.4%, Broadcom rose 2%, and Facebook parent Meta Platforms rose 1.4%. They helped lead the way higher for the broader market. Their gains also helped counter losses from a few technology behemoths, including Nvidia and Microsoft.Overall The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Dow industrials picked up 0.5% to 47,311. The Nasdaq composite added 0.6%.Company earnings and forecasts were once again a big focus for Wall Street, with results coming from a broad spectrum of industries.The latest round of earnings offers Wall Street a source of information on consumers, businesses and the economy that is otherwise lacking amid the government shutdown. Important monthly updates on inflation and employment have ceased, leaving investors, economists and the Federal Reserve without a fuller picture of the economy.There are still several informative private economic updates that Wall Street can review.A monthly report from ADP showed that private payrolls rose more than expected in October. The report offers a partial glimpse into the job market, which has been generally weakening and raising broader concerns about economic growth.A weaker job market remains a big concern for the Fed. The central bank cut its benchmark rate for the second time this year at its most recent meeting, in part to help bolster the economy amid a weakening job market. Lower interest rates can make a wide range of loans and credit less expensive, potentially promoting economic growth. But, lower rates can also add fuel to inflation, which could stunt economic growth.In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude gained 26 cents to $59.86 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 25 cents to $63.77 per barrel.The U.S. dollar fell to 153.85 Japanese yen from 154.11 yen. The euro rose to $1.1510 from $1.1494. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
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Until recently, some of the fastest-growing places in the U.S. were also among the most exposed to climate risk. But that’s starting to changemore Americans are now moving out of the areas that are most likely to flood. In the Miami area, where nearly a third of homes face flood risk, nearly 70,000 more people moved away than moved in last year, according to a new report from Redfin. In Houston, the domestic outflow was more than 30,000 people; in Brooklyn, where around a quarter of homes face flood risk, around 28,000 more people left than moved in. In Floridas Pinellas County, where many homes were hit hard by Hurricane Helene, around 4,000 more people left for other parts of the state or country. Florida has been a migration destination, but this year the Florida housing market changed a lot, says Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. Weve seen a downward trend in home values there, so we wanted to explore what is going on. The team looked at the highest-risk counties for flooding, where the biggest percentages of homes face flood risk, using climate risk scores from First Street, and then compared those to the lowest-risk counties. High-risk counties were losing more people, and low-risk counties were gaining them. (The caveat: because of international immigration, places like Houston and Miami didn’t see net population loss last yearRedfin’s data focuses only on domestic moves.) Climate risk obviously isn’t the only reason that people move. Cost is another major factor, as the price of housing has gone up in places like Miami. But in a Redfin survey, “concern for natural disasters or climate risks in my previous area” was the most common reason cited by Florida residents for a move. In some cases, people who moved may have lost their homes in a disaster. Others may be struggling with the rising cost of insurance premiums. In some cases, people aren’t moving that far; people leaving Pinellas County often moved to non-flood zones in nearby Pasco County. But some people who left flood-prone areas may be “boomerang” movers who arrived in the pandemic and now are going back to other states where they lived before. “One of the reasons that we hear from our agents that people are leaving these places that during the pandemic, people moved to migration destinations like Houston or Miami, got there, and realized that they are really hot,” Fairweather says. “And then it’s not as affordable so they thought.” It’s not clear if the trend will stickHouston had an outflow of people moving after Hurricane Harvey, but then gained more residents during the pandemic, and now that’s reversing again. But people are increasingly becoming aware of climate risk. “As there have been more high-profile storms happening, flooding is something that’s more on the minds of home buyers,” says Fairweather. “It’s just an added cost when it comes to affordability.”
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Travelers through some of the busiest U.S. airports can expect to learn Thursday whether they’ll see fewer flights as the government shutdown drags into a second month.The Federal Aviation Administration will announce the 40 “high-volume markets” where it is reducing flights by 10% before the cuts go into effect Friday, said agency administrator Bryan Bedford. The move is intended to keep the air space safe during the shutdown, the agency said.Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights could be canceled. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” Bedford said Wednesday. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.Mounting staffing pressures are forcing the agency to act, Bedford said Wednesday at a news conference.“We can’t ignore it,” he said, adding that even if the shutdown ends before Friday, the FAA wouldn’t automatically resume normal operations until staffing improves and stabilizes.Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declined during the news conference to name the cities and airports where they will slow air traffic, saying they wanted to first meet with airline executives to figure out how to safely implement the reductions.Major airlines, aviation unions and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system and “forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman in a statement.Duffy warned on Tuesday that there could be chaos in the skies if the shutdown drags on long enough for air traffic controllers to miss their second full paycheck next week.Duffy said some controllers can get by missing one paycheck, but not two or more. And he has said some controllers are even struggling to pay for transportation to work.Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.During weekends from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities. Associated Press journalist Christopher L. Keller contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rio Yamat, AP Airlines and Travel Writer
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Ikea is ready to begin overhauling its smart home products. The Swedish furniture manufacturer began dabbling in smart home products as early as 2012, but in July it announced plans to soon debut a revamped range. The goal, it says, is to make products that are more universally compatible and more intuitive to usein other words, bringing the connected smart home experience to the masses. Now, Ikea’s 21 new smart home products are here. The collection includes new smart bulbs that come in more color and light intensity options than previous versions, an array of sensors and controls, and a smart plug that can make any “dumb” lamp or small appliance smart. Pricing and beginning availability date for the products will vary by market, according to the company. [Photo: Ikea] “Until now, smart home technology hasn’t been easy enough to use for most peopleor affordable enough for many to consider,” David Granath, Ikea of Sweden’s range manager, said in a statement. “This launch brings us closer to helping everyone feel ready and confident to get started.” The new line comes as Ikea faces falling sales for a second consecutive year. Ikea said last month that although the number of products sold was up, global revenue fell 1% to about $52 billion. The company is finding ways to reach new customers, like “shop-in-shop” locations inside select Best Buys in Texas and Florida that sells kitchen and laundry room items and extend the brand’s reach without having to build out new stores. The company says its smart home products were developed over years, through a design process that included in-home testing. Ikea says it wants everything it puts out to be intentional, and the strategy going forward will be to release new products if they’re cheaper and easier to use than its existing product line. “We believe technology should serve a purpose, not exist for its own sake,” Granath says. [Photo: Ikea] The company’s new Kajplats smart bulb range comes in 11 variations with options for color and white bulbs. The bulbs are also dimmable. The corresponding Bilresa remote controls come in two variations. One version has buttons that can switch the lights on and off, as well as adjust brightness and color, while a separate scroll wheel option gives an old-school iPod click wheel UI to home lighting. [Photo: Ikea] Ikea’s five new sensors include a motion sensor for indoor and outdoor lighting, as well as sensors for temperature and humidity, air quality, and water leakages. The water sensor, called Klippbok, was designed to be put under sinks and appliances. [Photo: Ikea] The Grillplats is an adaptable smart plug you can use to smarten up dumb lamps and appliances, so you can turn them on and off remotely. You can also pair it with remotes and motion sensors to track energy use. [Photo: Ikea] Ikea previously unveiled its smart home system hub Dirigera, a smart bluetooth speaker, and smart table lamp in a first look at its new smart home products earlier this summer. All of Ikea’s new products are compatible with Matter, a smart home technical standard. The smart home market size was nearly $128 billion in 2024, and it’s expected to roughly quadruple by 2030, according to Grand View Research, a market research firm. By revamping its smart home line and designing products meant to be cheap, useful, and intuitive, Ikea is positioning itself to capitalize on the rise of smart, connected homes.
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Nintendo’s hard-line approach to piracy has shut down a streamer who seemingly specialized in unauthorized content. Jesse Keighin has been ordered to pay Nintendo $17,500 in damages after livestreaming gameplay footage of at least 10 different games on at least 50 occasions before the games were released to the public. Included among those were Super Mario Party Jamboree, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Pikmin 4. Keighin was served with takedown notices by Nintendo dozens of times for those streams. Yet he continued to air himself playing the games, encouraging viewers to support him on loco.gg, an Indian live-streaming and esports platform, if his other accounts were banned. Platforms would take the account down following Nintendo’s complaints. But after that happened, Keighin sent emails to Nintendo saying I have a thousand burner channels and [w]e can do this all day, according to the recommendation of the U.S. magistrate judge who oversaw the case. Nintendo also says Keighin had released links to repositories of ROMs (digital pirated games), including several that were Switch-specific. Those pirated copies are played via emulators, such as Yuzu. Yuzu was a target of Nintendo’s anti-piracy campaign last year. The video game company shut down the emulator, saying the team behind it had enabled piracy at a colossal scale. The Yuzu team agreed to pay $2.4 million and ended all operations. But in an email to Nintendo, Keighin vowed to actively help people find newer and updated copies of the software, which he said was still being developed underground, according to the judge’s recommendation. That cavalier attitude also led Keighin to ignore Nintendo’s repeated attempts to serve him with the lawsuit. His refusal to engage resulted in the case proceeding without him, which led to the default judgment. Nintendo has long taken an aggressive stance against piracy of its games, including emulator programs. Dolphin, an open-source emulator for the Nintendo Wii and GameCube, was a target of the gaming giant in 2023 when Dolphin’s developers announced plans to put its emulator on the Steam game distribution platform. Nintendo sent a cease-and-desist order to Valve, which pulled the listing. Days later, Dolphins developers announced: It is with much disappointment that we have to announce that the Dolphin on Steam release has been indefinitely postponed. A $17,500 judgment isnt pocket change, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $4.5 million Nintendo is seeking against a now-former moderator on Reddit, after accusing him of facilitating a network of online websites that offered pirated Nintendo Switch games. Nintendo says in the filing that it could easily have demanded more, alleging that the defendant, James C. Williams, “not only copied and distributed Nintendo game files without authorization; he actively promoted their distribution and copying to thousands of others across a variety of websites and online ‘communities,’ and knowingly trafficked in unlawful software products aimed at circumventing Nintendos technological measures protecting against unauthorized access.” While the Switch remains important to Nintendo, the Switch 2 is driving more and more of the company’s revenue. On November 1, the company reported its fiscal Q2 earnings, noting it had sold 10.36 million Switch 2 units between June 5 and September 30 and was raising its sales estimate for the year. Thats twice the rate the Switch sold in the same time period. Nintendo now expects to sell 19 million Switch 2s before the end of March 2026. The original Switch has thus far sold 154.01 million units.
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