Ackman's Pershing Square exited ADP and UTX investments -source

BOSTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management has sold its positions in Automatic Data Processing and United Technologies and built a new position in a company whose name has not been disclosed, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Ackman announced the exit from ADP in a letter sent to clients and seen by Reuters on Monday. He said investors earned a 51% return, including dividends, on the investment, which was made roughly two years ago. Pershing Square made $1.2 billion on its investment.

U.S. designates China as currency manipulator

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. government has determined that China is manipulating its currency, and will engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate unfair competition from Beijing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on Monday. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Treasury Department declares China a currency manipulator

The U.S. Treasury Department designated China as a currency manipulator on Monday afternoon, after the yuan’s value CNYUSD, +0.0001% against the dollar fell below a "line in the sand" and intensified trade tensions. In a statement, the Treasury Department said Secretary Steve Mnuchin, "under the auspices of President Trump," has determined that China is a currency manipulator. "As a result of this determination, Secretary Mnuchin will engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage created by China’s latest actions," the Treasury department said, explaining: "In recent days, China has taken concrete steps to devalue its currency, while maintaining substantial foreign exchange reserves despite active use of such tools in the past. The context of these actions and the implausibility of China’s market stability rationale confirm that the purpose of China’s currency devaluation is to gain unfair competitive advantage in international trade." China’s currency weakened early Monday, trading at more than 7 yuan per U.S. dollar for the first time in more than a decade. The perceived willingness by China to use the yuan as a trade weapon led to a huge selloff on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.90% and S&P 500 SPX, -2.98% falling almost 3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.47% slid 3.5%.

S&P 500 futures fall after U.S. Treasury calls China currency manipulator

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 5 (Reuters) – S&P 500 futures dropped 1.2% late on Monday after the U.S. Treasury Department labeled China as a currency manipulator.

The U.S. government has determined that China is manipulating its yuan currency, and will engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate unfair competition from Beijing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. (Reporting by Noel Randewich, editing by G Crosse)

STERIS Plc Raises Earnings Guidance – Quick Facts

STERIS plc (STE), announced for fiscal 2020, the company now projects adjusted earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $5.38 – $5.53, compared with $5.28 – $5.43 previously. Constant currency organic revenue growth is now expected to be in the range of 6-7%, compared with 5-6% previously. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report profit per share of $5.40. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

For the first-quarter, adjusted net income was $105.0 million, or $1.23 per diluted share, compared to $85.6 million or $1.00 per share, prior year. On average, seven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.11, for the quarter.

First-quarter revenue increased 9% to $696.8 million compared with $638.8 million, a year ago. Analysts expected revenue of $678.97 million for the quarter.

STERIS’s Board of Directors has increased the quarterly interim dividend from $0.34 to $0.37 per share. The dividend is payable September 26, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 10, 2019.

ST Now, News As It Happens – Aug 6, 2019

Welcome to ST Now, News As It Happens. Recap of what happened earlier. Reach us at [email protected] or on Facebook and Twitter @STcom.

North Korea says joint military drills violate agreements with U.S., South Korea: KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea said on Tuesday that the joint military drill being conducted by the United States and South Korea violates agreements North Korea made with them, state media KCNA said.

North Korea remains “unchanged in our stand to resolve the issues through dialogue,” the statement said, but “we will be compelled to seek a new road as we have already indicated,” if the two countries continue with “hostile military moves.”

US president blames latest mass shootings on mental illness

Donald Trump blames mental illness, video games and social media for mass shootings in the United States. But his critics think he has to take some responsibility because of the language he uses.We also ask if the government’s £1.8bn for the NHS is new money or rehashed ahead of a general election?And police criticise residents who’ve refused to leave their homes in the exclusion zone around a damaged dam in Derbyshire.

:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,Spotify,Spreaker

China suspends U.S. agricultural purchases

BEIJING – China has suspended purchases of U.S. agriculture products in response to U.S. threats to impose tariffs on billions of U.S. dollars more in Chinese goods.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said early Tuesday that China "will not rule out" putting tariffs on U.S. agriculture imports purchased after August 3, two days after President Trump declared he would impose 10% tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports.

China said the threat of new tariffs "severely violates" the agreement the two countries struck in late June at the G-20 in Japan. Back then, President Trump agreed to allow U.S. companies to resume selling products to Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co. and said that China would soon purchase large quantities of U.S. agriculture products. U.S. officials had said they would grant a handful of temporary exceptions to an export blacklist against Huawei, giving the firm some reprieve from tough trade penalties. But a round of trade talks between the U.S. and China last week made little progress and the U.S. escalated trade tensions by saying it would implement additional tariffs starting September.

China hasn’t retaliated by imposing more tariffs on the U.S. but has allowed its yuan to depreciate against the U.S. dollar. In response, the U.S. Treasury labeled China as a currency manipulator.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in its statement, which came hours earlier, that the U.S. should implement the agreement between its presidents.

Write to Chao Deng at [email protected]