Slovakia, Hungary balk at EU Russian sanctions
Slovakia and Hungary say they won't support sanctions against Russian energy that the European Union is preparing over the war in Ukraine. The countries said Tuesday that they are too reliant on those supplies and there are no immediate alternatives.
The European Commission has drafted new proposals for sanctions, which could include a phased-in embargo on Russian oil. The 27 member countries are likely to start discussing them Wednesday.
Despite disagreement on new energy sanctions, European Council President Charles Michel vowed to "break the Russian war machine" by steering countries away from Russia's natural gas supplies. He toured liquefied natural gas facilities being built in Greece with the leaders of Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia.
Starbucks sales jump, profits up 2% in quarter
Starbucks' sales climbed to record levels in its fiscal second quarter, but its profits took a hit from climbing labor and ingredient costs.
The Seattle coffee company - which welcomed back former CEO Howard Schultz last month as its interim leader - said revenue rose 15% to a record $7.6 billion in its 13-week quarter, which ended April 3. That was in line with Wall Street's estimates.
But net earnings rose just 2%.
Starbucks same-store sales were up 7% globally despite a 23% decline in China due to coronavirus restrictions.
BP record profits spur call for new windfall tax
BP posted its highest quarterly profit in more than a decade thanks to surging oil and gas prices.
The earnings report Tuesday renewed calls for a U.K. government tax on energy companies' windfall earnings to help households struggling with rising energy bills.
The British energy giant said that underlying profit more than doubled in the first three months of the year to $6.2 billion. It reports a net loss of $23 billion after accounting for the write-off of its stake in Russian oil producer Rosneft over the Ukraine war.
Opposition parties are calling for the U.K. government to tax energy companies that make unexpectedly big profits to help people struggling to get by.
Airbnb cuts losses as revenues rebound
Airbnb is getting a boost from the rebound in travel. The lodging-reservations company said Tuesday that while it lost $19 million in the first quarter, that was much better than the $1.2 billion loss it suffered in the same quarter last year.
Airbnb says bookings are up, and revenue is nearly double 2021 levels, up to $1.51 billion. The loss was smaller than analysts expected, and revenue was slightly higher than Wall Street had forecast.
The company expects average rates in the second quarter to be flat from a year ago. Still, it forecast revenue of between $2.03 billion and $2.13 billion - above analysts' predication of $1.96 billion, according to a FactSet survey.
Airbnb said the possibility of future COVID-19 outbreaks, the war in Ukraine and inflations pose risks to its business.
The loss that Airbnb reported was a sliver of the $1.17 billion loss it suffered a year earlier, when it took $782 million in write-downs on loans and office space in San Francisco.
- Compiled by Dave Flessner