U.S. Dollar Slips Near Two-Month Low as Markets Await Key Jobs Data and Central Bank Decisions 
Korea Zinc to Build $7.4 Billion Critical Minerals Refinery in Tennessee With U.S. Government Backing 
Fortescue Expands Copper Portfolio With Full Takeover of Alta Copper 
FDA Says No Black Box Warning Planned for COVID-19 Vaccines Despite Safety Debate 
Korea Zinc Plans $6.78 Billion U.S. Smelter Investment With Government Partnership 
Australian Consumer Sentiment Slumps in Early December as Inflation Fears Resurface 
Gold Prices Slip Slightly in Asia as Silver Nears Record Highs on Dovish Fed Outlook 
China’s Small Bank Consolidation Struggles as Profits Fall and Risks Persist 
Trello Outage Disrupts Users as Access Issues Hit Atlassian’s Work Management Platform 
Japan Business Sentiment Hits Four-Year High, Boosting Expectations of BOJ Rate Hike 
Gold and Silver Prices Dip as Markets Await Key U.S. Economic Data 
Bank of Japan Poised for Historic Rate Hike as Inflation Pressures Persist 
S&P 500 Slides as AI Chip Stocks Tumble, Cooling Tech Rally 
Bank of Korea Downplays Liquidity’s Role in Weak Won and Housing Price Surge 
EU Signals Major Shift on 2035 Combustion Engine Ban Amid Auto Industry Pressure 
United Airlines Tokyo-Bound Flight Returns to Dulles After Engine Failure 
Ireland Limits Planned Trade Ban on Israeli Settlements to Goods Only 
Western Digital Corp. and Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp are in merger talks that could be worth over $20 billion and create a bigger competitor for Samsung Electronics Co. in the market for memory chips used as storage in portable devices and computers.
The deal between longtime joint venture partners may be reached as early as mid-September.
Kioxia, which is closely held, is pursuing an initial public offering,
Western Digital, whose shares rose as much as 15 percent after the talks were reported, has a market value of about $20 billion.
Kioxia spun out of Toshiba Corp., the inventor of flash memory, which is taking over for data storage from hard disk drives, Western Digital’s main product.
Kioxia and Western Digital had combined flash memory chips sales of about $17 billion last year against Samsung's $18.6 billion.
Industry sales soared 37 percent in 2020.
Western Digital has funded Kioxia's capital expenditure and research and development in return for production from the latter's plants.
The relationship has been fractious with an attempt by Western Digital, under a previous CEO, to acquire Kioxia when Toshiba was financially troubled.
