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A record 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. But some companies pledged to hold off on job cuts, and are offering workers a financial cushion.
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 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Ballard Power Systems Inc. rallied to a 17-year high after the company announced a $7.7 million order from China.The Vancouver-based hydrogen fuel-cell maker jumped as much as 8.3% to its highest since December 2002 after the receiving a purchase contract from Guangdong Synergy Ballard Hydrogen Power Co., a 10%-owned joint venture located in China.The company's technology currently powers over 650 electric buses and more than 2,200 electric trucks in China, according to Alfred Wong, managing director at Ballard."This follow-on order from the Synergy-Ballard joint venture is an important indicator of the continued progress and market demand for Ballard fuel cell technology," Wong said in a statement Thursday. "We expect to see high adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles in China."Ballard is the second-best performing stock on Canada's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index this year with a 165% rally, pushing its market value to almost C$6 billion ($4.4 billion) amid burgeoning speculation that wide-scale adoption of hydrogen fuel cells may at long last be around the corner."We believe Ballard fuel cell technology will offer a compelling value proposition, including high reliability and durability," Wong said in the company statement.(Updates to add value of contract in first paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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 U.S. stock benchmarks opened sharply higher Thursday morning after a closely followed report on the health of the labor market showed that the U.S. added 4.76 million jobs in June and the unemployment fell to 11.1% from 13.3% in May, suggesting that the employment picture is improving after a stunning collapse due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted 3.7 million jobs were created or restored in June, with some estimates ranging as high as 8 million. Meanwhile, a separate report showed that Americans filed for 1.43 million new unemployment claims in the latest week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 356 points, or 1.4%, at 26,085, the S&P 500 index added 36 points, or 1.2%, at 3,152, while the Nasdaq Composite Index opened at an intraday record at 10,272, and was trading 1.2% higher. In corporate news, shares of Tesla Inc. were trading sharply higher after a Wedbush analyst boosted his stock price target to $2,000 and after the electric-vehicle maker released a better-than-expected sales report. U.S. financial markets will be closed on Friday and the bond market will close an hour early at 2 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday with the Independence Day holiday observed on Friday instead of July 4th.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Print Rubric:
Business reaction to the Republicans'' big tax-reform plan is mixed
Print Headline:
Give and take
Print Fly Title:
American business and tax
UK Only Article:
standard article
Issue:
America''s global influence has dwindled under Donald Trump
Fly Title:
Give and take
Location:
NEW YORK
'CUT, cut, cut!' That is what President Donald Trump wanted to name an eagerly awaited Republican proposal for reforming America''s tax code. He vows that slashing the rate of corporate tax will create millions of jobs. In the end, on November 2nd, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives unveiled the modestly named Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Some business leaders cheered. The US Chamber of Commerce called it a 'once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix the problem'. The National Association of Manufacturers declared the plan 'a grand slam for ...
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