EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING : Stocks Struggle With -2-

Roche: Actemra/RoActemra Gets FDA Emergency-Use Authorization for Covid-19 Treatment

Roche Holding AG said Friday that it has received an emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Actemra/RoActemra drug to treat certain patients with Covid-19.

The Swiss pharmaceutical major said the authorization allows for emergency use of Actemra/RoActemra for the treatment of Covid-19 in hospitalized adults and children who are at least 2 years old.

Steinhoff International 1H Pretax Loss Narrowed, Revenue Rose

Steinhoff International Holdings NV said Friday that its pretax loss narrowed in the first half of fiscal 2021, while revenue rose.

The South African conglomerate reported a narrowed pretax loss of 219 million euros ($261.3 million) for the six months ended March 31, from a restated pretax loss of EUR1.24 billion.

U.K. Car Manufacturing Suffers from Global Supply Shortages

U.K. car manufacturing rose in May compared with the same month last year when the country was in its first coronavirus lockdown, but is still 53% below the May 2019 figure, an industry body said Friday.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that production is being hurt by global supply shortages, notably of semiconductors.

U.K. Consumer Confidence Stabilizes in June

Consumer sentiment in the U.K. leveled off in June following four months of gains amid the gradual reopening of the economy.

Market-research firm GfK's consumer-confidence barometer stood at minus nine in May, unchanged from April. The reading is below the minus eight consensus forecast from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Food Companies Say Combating Climate Change Comes With Costs

Food companies are investing billions of dollars into sustainability efforts, betting that costs will fall and consumers will remain interested in more environmentally friendly diets, executives said.

Nestlé SA, the world's biggest food and beverage company, has committed to paying premium prices over the next five years for recycled materials in its packaging, as it works toward achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. Agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. is offering incentives for farmers to adopt more climate-friendly practices, part of industry efforts to meet corporate and government carbon-reduction goals.

Europeans Split Over Russia After Biden's Summit With Putin

European leaders rebuffed a proposal from Germany and France to hold formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following President Biden's summit with him last week.

After a meeting in Brussels that stretched into early Friday morning, European Union leaders released a statement calling for "selective engagement" with Russia but without explicit reference to a summit, a rare defeat for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

U.S. Considers a Plan to Relocate Afghans Who Aided U.S. During War

The White House is assembling a plan to rescue Afghan interpreters and others who have helped the U.S. over the past 20 years by helping them to get out of Afghanistan and, ultimately, to the U.S., officials said.

The effort would involve quickly moving Afghan interpreters and drivers who worked with the U.S. military out of Afghanistan-where they have become targets of possible retaliation for the Taliban-to another country or U.S. territory where they would be safe while the U.S. State Department processes their visas to come to the U.S., which typically takes several years.

GLOBAL NEWS

Consumers Are Back Out Spending, Driving the Recovery

Consumers likely increased spending last month on services that they shunned earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, helping fuel the broader economic recovery.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect Friday's Commerce Department report to show consumer spending rose 0.4% in May. They expect incomes fell 2.7% last month from April, as the boost faded from government stimulus checks sent out earlier in the year.

Fed Gives Big Banks Clean Bill of Health in Latest Stress Test

WASHINGTON-The Federal Reserve gave large U.S. banks a clean bill of health as they emerge from the coronavirus crisis, paving the way for the lenders to boost their payouts to investors after June 30.

In a vote of confidence for the banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co., the Fed on Thursday said it would end temporary limits on dividend payments and share buybacks after all 23 firms performed well in annual stress tests.

Saving for Retirement? Now You Can Bet on Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrencies, among the world's most volatile assets, are searching for mainstream acceptance in the investment world. Their next target: your retirement portfolio.

Financial services companies are rolling out new products and services that allow more everyday investors to add bitcoin and other virtual currencies to their nest eggs as a way of reaching for higher returns. Some are marketed under names such as "CryptoIRA" and "BitcoinIRA."

Fed's Williams Says More Progress Needed Before Rate-Hike Shift

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams reiterated Thursday he doesn't see a case to raise rates any time soon given that the job market remains far short of the strength the central bank wants to see.

When it comes to lifting rates, "it is not the time now because the economy still is far from maximum employment," Mr. Williams said in a virtual appearance. As for when the Fed may raise rates, "the answer, which you might not like, is that it depends" on how the economy performs, he said.

Numbers Ain't What They Used to Be in Turbulent U.S. Economy

There is a rule of thumb in data watching that, if you want to understand which way things are trending, you need to watch the revisions. What is happening with capital spending might be a case in point.

The Commerce Department on Thursday reported that U.S. manufacturers' new orders for durable goods rose 2.3% in May from April, lower than the 2.6% gain economists expected. Much of that increase was due to a jump in aircraft orders, which are often lumpy.

Environmental Investing Frenzy Stretches Meaning of 'Green'

The first time Gerard Barron tried to mine the sea floor, the company he backed lost a half-billion dollars of investor money, got crosswise with a South Pacific government, destroyed sensitive seabed habitat and ultimately went broke. Now he's trying again, but with a twist: Mr. Barron is positioning his new seabed mining venture, The Metals Company, as green, to capitalize on a surge of environmentally minded investment.

TMC is set to receive nearly $600 million in investor cash in a deal slated to take the company public in July. If successful, that would value TMC at $2.9 billion-more than any mining company ever to go public in the U.S. with no revenue.

Sydney Locks Down as Delta Covid-19 Variant Spreads

SYDNEY-Parts of Australia's largest city will go into a rare lockdown for at least a week as officials seek to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

People who live or work in four areas in and near downtown Sydney and the iconic Bondi Beach have been ordered to stay home from Friday night to stem the spread of the virus first detected in the city last week.

Derek Chauvin Faces Sentencing for Murder of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS-Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is expected to be sentenced Friday afternoon for the murder of George Floyd, closing out a chapter in a case that redefined the conversation over race and policing in the U.S.

Mr. Chauvin, 45 years old, was convicted in April of all counts: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of Mr. Floyd. The 46-year-old Black man died after the white officer knelt on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. Mr. Chauvin was fired from the Minneapolis police force.

Biden, Senators Agree to Roughly $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

WASHINGTON-President Biden and a group of 10 centrist senators agreed to a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan Thursday, securing a long-sought bipartisan deal that lawmakers and the White House will now attempt to shepherd through Congress alongside a broader package sought by Democrats.

Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders said that advancing the deal on transportation, water and broadband infrastructure will hinge on the passage of more elements of Mr. Biden's $4 trillion economic agenda. The two-track process sets up weeks of delicate negotiations to gather support for both the bipartisan plan and a separate Democratic proposal, a challenging task in the 50-50 Senate and the narrowly Democratic-controlled House.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-25-21 0623ET