MassMutual gives land for Springfield health center - The Boston Globe (2024)

TOYS

Barbie dolls to celebrate female sports stars

Barbie dolls will honor tennis champion Venus Williams and eight other athletes as part of a project announced by Mattel on Wednesday. The others being depicted as dolls are gymnasts Rebeca Andrade and Alexa Moreno, soccer players Mary Fowler and Christine Sinclair, boxer Estelle Mossely, swimmer Federica Pellegrini, paratriathlete Susana Rodriguez, and track and field sprinter Ewa Swoboda. “Throughout my career, I’ve always been driven by the idea of shattering glass ceilings and staying true to myself, and Barbie’s mission couldn’t resonate more deeply with that ethos,” said Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles. The brand wanted to note “the impact of sports in fostering self-confidence, ambition, and empowerment among the next generation,” Mattel’s Krista Berger said. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

FINANCE

Citigroup fined millions for a fat-fingered trader’s mistake

Citigroup was fined $79 million by UK regulators for failures after a London staffer’s fat-finger trade caused a flash crash in European stocks in 2022. The Wall Street giant’s systems were poorly designed and its real-time monitoring was “ineffective,” allowing the errant trade to go through, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement. Citigroup did not dispute the regulator’s findings and agreed to settle the claims. The trader had intended to sell a basket of equities valued at $58 million but made an error while inputting the order that resulted in a basket valued at $444 billion being created instead, according to the FCA. Citigroup’s controls did block a portion of the trade from going through, but not all of it. About $1.4 billion worth of equities were sold across European exchanges before the trader canceled the order. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Former FTX exec to be sentenced next week

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame should serve five to seven years in prison, prosecutors say, for criminal charges stemming from the multibillion-dollar collapse of the cryptocurrency empire. In a sentencing memo filed in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, federal prosecutors said the 30-year-old pleaded guilty to “serious crimes, and a substantial sentence is required to ensure that Salame receives just punishment.” Salame’s lawyers have argued he should serve no more than 18 months. Salame is due to be sentenced on May 28, the first of FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried’s top lieutenants to be punished for their roles at a crypto exchange that siphoned $10 billion from customers, investors, and lenders. Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison, an outcome he is planning to appeal. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

ATHLETIC CLOTHING

Lululemon’s chief product officer departing

Lululemon’s shares dropped more than 7 percent Wednesday after the company said its chief product officer was leaving, raising concerns among analysts that the athleisure brand is losing its edge. Sun Choe won’t be replaced. As part of a bigger organizational reorganization, Choe’s responsibilities for product design will move over to Jonathan Cheung, the company’s global creative director, Lululemon said in a statement. Lululemon’s stock had fallen 37 percent this year through Tuesday’s close, while the S&P 500 Index was up 12 percent. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

RETAIL

Target revenue down as shoppers spend less

Target on Wednesday posted a decline in quarterly revenue as higher prices cut into shopper spending. The Minneapolis retailer also delivered profit results that were below analyst expectations and issued a muted profit outlook, but it said it expects that it will get back to quarterly sales growth this quarter. Shares dropped more than 8 percent Wednesday. The company is looking for ways to reverse softening sales. On Monday, said it would cut prices on thousands of consumer basics over the next several months, from diapers to milk, in a bid to entice customers who are looking for deals. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

VOICE ASSISTANTS

Amazon to charge monthly fee for AI version of Alexa

Amazon plans to charge Alexa users a monthly fee when it rolls out an AI-infused version of the voice assistant later this year, CNBC reported. The Alexa subscription will help pay for the upgrade, the news site said, citing people familiar with the situation. The company hasn’t decided on a price, CNBC reported. Amazon has previously announced plans to use generative artificial intelligence to make Alexa more conversational so it can compete better with chatbots from OpenAI and Google that can hold human-like conversations with users. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

RETAIL

Walmart+ subscribers to get telehealth benefits for their pets

Walmart is turning to furry friends to grow its membership program. The retailer said it will add telehealth services for pets as a new benefit for Walmart+ users this year. The offering, which represents the program’s first health care perk, is part of Walmart’s efforts to retain and add more users who pay $98 a year to get free online delivery and compete with rival Amazon. When Walmart tested out the pet telehealth service through a partnership with online veterinary service Pawp, it became the highest redeemed benefit for the membership in 2023, said Venessa Yates, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart+. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

Inflation falls in London but still above BOE target

Inflation in the UK fell sharply to its lowest level in nearly three years in April on the back of big declines in domestic bills, official figures showed Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics said inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index, fell to 2.3 percent in the year to April, down from 3.2 percent in March. That is the lowest level since July 2021 when the global economy was still being held back by the coronavirus pandemic. The fall also takes inflation nearer to the Bank of England’s target rate of 2 percent and is likely to pile pressure on its nine-member rate-setting panel to cut interest rates from the current 16-year high of 5.25 percent. — ASSOCIATED PRESS