-- Elecom (TYO:6750) has raised its year-end dividend forecast for the fiscal year ended March 31 to 31 yen per share from 26 yen previously, according to a Tokyo bourse filing Tuesday.
The revision includes a commemorative dividend of 5 yen in conjunction with the electronics company's 40th anniversary of its founding in May.
The year-end dividend increase raises the total annual dividend to 57 yen per share from 48 yen per share in the previous fiscal year.
Biofuels feedstock futures closed higher on Tuesday, as soybean oil futures reached a new high amid uncertainty in the Middle East peace talks.The Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures contract closed 0.75% higher at $11.74 per bushel, and the CBOT May soybean oil futures contract settled 3.60% higher at 72.14 cents per pound.On Monday, the May ethanol futures contract on the Nymex ended 0.26% higher at $1.90 per gallon.Energy markets were moderately higher as US and Iranian officials are reportedly set to meet in Pakistan on Tuesday.Rhett Montgomery, DTN analyst, said that soybeans led the way higher, primarily borrowing strength from the soybean oil market.Montgomery said that firm crude oil and diesel futures certainly played a role, along with continued trend-based buying as traders remain very bullish on soybean oil demand prospects in light of last month's bullish Environmental Protection Agency mandates."The state of negotiations in the Middle East and subsequent status of trade through the Strait of Hormuz continues to cast a large shadow over the soybean market (and markets in general)," Montgomery stated in a daily note.
Meta Platforms (META) is installing software to track mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes of US employees in an effort to train its artificial intelligence models, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing an internal memo.The owner of Facebook and Instagram will use Model Capability Initiative, a tool that will run on work-related apps and websites and will also gather occasional snapshots of the content on employee's screens, according to the report.The collected data is intended to improve the tech giant's AI models, which currently struggle to replicate how humans engage with computers, particularly when selecting from dropdown menus and using keyboard shortcuts, the media outlet reported.Meta did not immediately respond to' request for comment.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)Price: $674.18, Change: $+3.27, Percent Change: +0.49%
Financial stocks were declining in late Tuesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index decreasing 0.6% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) off 0.3%.The Philadelphia Housing Index was adding 0.8%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) fell 1.6%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was decreasing 0.2% to $75,717, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 4.2 basis points to 4.29%.In corporate news, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is working to secure approval from securities regulators in China to launch actively managed exchange-traded funds in the country for the first time, Bloomberg reported. JPMorgan shares were down 0.7%.