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To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for September 30, 2021. It’s the last day of the third quarter! Yes, that means earnings season is coming, along with a whole bunch of venture […]

NASA has chosen two U.S. companies to develop electric propulsion technologies for aircraft, with the aim of introducing this tech to U.S. aviation fleets by 2035. The two companies, GE Aviation and MagniX, will conduct their work over the next five years. That includes ground and flight test demonstrations, as well as collaborations with other […]

September 30, 2021 By Ann Saphir (Reuters) -Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans on Thursday said he believes that the supply shocks that are pushing up on prices now will ease next year, and low interest rates will still be needed to bring U.S. inflation back durably to 2%. “Let’s be patient and not […]

September 30, 2021 By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK (Reuters) – Accounting and consulting firm PwC told Reuters it will allow all of its 40,000 U.S. client services employees to work virtually and live anywhere they want in perpetuity, making it one of the biggest employers to embrace permanent remote work. The policy is a departure […]

September 30, 2021 By Karen Pierog (Reuters) – S&P Global Ratings on Thursday warned of “severe and extraordinary” consequences for financial markets if the United States defaults on its debt, although it added it expects the U.S. Congress will ultimately address the debt ceiling in a timely manner. “It would be unprecedented in modern times […]

September 30, 2021 By Hyunjoo Jin, Jane Lanhee Lee and Paresh Dave SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – General Motors Co’s Cruise and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo self-driving car subsidiaries on Thursday became the first companies to receive autonomous vehicle permits to offer rides to passengers in California. Cruise has obtained a permit from the California Department of […]

September 30, 2021 By Christopher Bing (Reuters) – The U.S. intelligence community’s budget bill could place new controls and reporting requirements on former U.S. spies, according to the author of the legislation, making it harder for them to work as contractors for foreign governments following a 2019 Reuters investigation into American mercenary hackers. “People in […]

September 30, 2021 By Dawit Endeshaw ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia is expelling seven senior U.N. officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday, two days after the world body’s aid chief warned a government blockade of aid had likely forced hundreds of thousands of people in the northern region of Tigray into famine. […]

Vlad Novakovski co-founded Lunchclub in 2017 as a way to improve professional networking. In 2020, the company made a large push toward videos (thanks, COVID) and eventually saw enough traction to raise a $24.2 million Series A at a valuation above $100 million. Nicole Quinn from Lightspeed Ventures lead the raise. We’re thrilled to have […]

While cruising along Interstate 8 in the Lucid Air, it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to spider graphs. Spider graphs offer a quick glimpse of how various factors like power, performance, weight and aerodynamics interact with one another. For the engineer sitting in the passenger seat, spider graphs are top of mind. […]

September 30, 2021 By Anthony Esposito and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Bank of Mexico raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75% on Thursday, as expected, in a four-to-one vote by its governing board, as the central bank expressed concern about above-target inflation. All 22 analysts surveyed in a […]

September 30, 2021 As he prepares for his return to New England as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first time, Tom Brady reflected on his career Thursday. But he isn’t letting nostalgia dampen his competitiveness. “I still have a lot of great friends there, but they know I want to kick […]

September 30, 2021 NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday rejected Wells Fargo & Co’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the fourth-largest U.S. bank of defrauding shareholders about its compliance with a series of consent orders from U.S. regulators, including a cap on its assets. U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan […]

September 30, 2021 (Reuters) -Retailer Neiman Marcus Group said on Thursday it had notified about 4.6 million online customers that their personal information including names, contact information and credit card numbers may have been accessed in a data hack. The high-end department store chain said it had notified law enforcement authorities about the breach, which […]

September 30, 2021 By Mrinalika Roy (Reuters) -Merck & Co said on Thursday it would buy Acceleron Pharma Inc for about $11.5 billion, broadening its portfolio beyond aging cancer drug Keytruda with potential treatments that could bring in fresh revenue. The deal gives Merck access to Acceleron’s rare disease drug candidate, sotatercept, which the company […]

September 30, 2021 (Reuters) -Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc said on Thursday its Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen is expected to step down in the summer of 2022, and the company will begin the search for its new finance chief soon. Jorgensen, who has been the CFO of Electronic Arts for over a decade, […]

September 30, 2021 By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday promised to redouble efforts to find “diverse candidates” to replace two high-profile officials who resigned this week after criticism of their securities trading, as the central bank tried to regroup from a blow to its typically staid, technocratic image. […]

The California Department of Motor Vehicles gave General Motors-backed Cruise and Alphabet-owned Waymo the green light to start charging for autonomous services offered to the public. On Thursday, Cruise received a “driverless deployment permit,” which means it can receive compensation for services provided without a safety operator in the front seat. Waymo’s “drivered deployment permit” […]

September 30, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – National security adviser Jake Sullivan planned on discussing high oil prices with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a meeting earlier this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday. Psaki did not provide details of the conversation. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Jonathan Oatis) […]

September 30, 2021 (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve has said it will start to reduce its bond purchases as soon as November if the economy continues on its current track. Some officials will watch the September jobs report, due Oct. 8, for a final bit of evidence that the labor market has achieved “substantial further […]