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The crucial spring home-sales season in the US, barely off the runway, is already sputtering.

April is normally when transactions kick into overdrive, warmer weather drawing in buyers and sellers alike. But this year, the number of signed contracts was the lowest for the month since the Covid lockdown in 2020, according to seasonally adjusted data from Redfin Corp. Deals were down 3% from last April, already seen as a low mark.

Active listings for April also ballooned to the highest level since 2019, suggesting homes are piling up on the market. And annual median price growth, measured by completed purchases, was just 1.4%, compared with the almost 6% gain recorded in April 2024.

The UK government appointed Jim O’Neil, a senior investment banker at Bank of America Corp., to a top position in the Treasury as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves continues a drive to boost Britain’s economic growth rate.

O’Neil, a former chief executive of UK Financial Investments, which managed the government’s investments in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds after the global financial crisis, in July will become the Treasury’s second permanent secretary, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

O’Neil’s “extensive knowledge of the private sector will be vital in helping us deliver our number one mission to grow the economy,” Reeves said in the statement. “It’s fantastic to have him join the Treasury’s top team.”

Novo Nordisk A/S is partnering with US biotech Septerna Inc. on the development of oral pills for obesity in a deal potentially worth up to $2.2 billion.

The two companies will start with four development programs that use different ways to potentially treat obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diseases linked to obesity, the Danish maker of blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy said Wednesday.

The deal terms are linked to progress and milestones achieved and include more than $200 million in upfront and near-term payments. In the future, the US company could also receive royalties on the sales of any approved products.

AMD said on Wednesday that its board of directors approved $6 billion in share buybacks. The stock climbed 8%. The authorisation is in addition to $4 billion in existing approved share repurchases, the company said.

“Our expanded share repurchase program reflects the Board’s confidence in AMD’s strategic direction, growth prospects, and ability to consistently generate strong free cash flow,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said in a statement.

A JPMorgan Chase & Co. office in the City of London has been defaced, making it the latest firm in the Square Mile to draw protesters over the past few years.

The revolving glass doors of the Blackfriars complex, which houses the US bank’s asset and wealth management division, were shattered and red paint was sprayed on the exterior walls of the building, including the ornate Victorian facade of the building that used to house the City of London School. The main London office in Canary Wharf wasn’t affected.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said tariffs and related uncertainty could slow growth and boost inflation this year, but monetary policy is well-positioned to respond as needed.

Jefferson stressed heightened uncertainty about government policies, and said it is not yet clear if tariffs will have a short-lived or more persistent effect on price growth. He marked down his economic growth forecast for this year, but said he still expects the economy to continue to expand.

“If the increases in tariffs announced so far are sustained, they are likely to interrupt progress on disinflation and generate at least a temporary rise in inflation,” Jefferson said Wednesday in prepared remarks for a conference organized by the New York Fed.

The Japanese government is likely to establish 1% growth in real wages as its first-ever official target for pay increases, a move that comes as prolonged inflation continues to exert a drag on domestic demand.

The government will set a goal of reaching 1% annual gains in real wages by the fiscal year starting in April 2029, according to a policy draft by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s new capitalism panel released Wednesday. The goal is based on the premise that stable and sustainable 2% inflation is in place.

Roche Holding AG said it would need to reconsider planned US investments if President Donald Trump implements an executive order to cut prescription drug costs.

Last month, Roche said it planned to invest $50 billion in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics in the US over the next five years, creating more than 12,000 jobs. That pledge came after Trump threatened tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, citing companies’ reliance on manufacturing sites around the world to supply the US.

Trump signed an executive order Monday asking drugmakers to lower prices voluntarily or else face regulatory measures. Pharmaceutical companies had expected — and feared — action on drug prices, but the order was far weaker than they’d anticipated.

US Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said that it’s important for central bankers not to respond to day-to-day volatility in equities and economic policy pronouncements, noting that economic data remain steady for now.

“It’s important to remember that the Fed – our job is to be the steady hand, not respond to the daily gyrations either of the stock market or of policy pronouncements,” Goolsbee said in an interview on NPR that aired Wednesday morning. “And we’ve continued to get these numbers that at least suggest that it’s going OK.”

Goolsbee noted the risk of consumers and businesses pulling back on spending and investment plans due to concern about an uncertain environment. He said that last month was a moment when there was “a lot of dust in the air,” without detailing specifics. President Donald Trump on April 2 unveiled steep “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners that roiled equities, though he later put most of them on pause.

Big tech stocks rallied in early trading, while the dollar weakened on speculation that the Trump administration is making currency policy a part of trade talks.

S&P 500 futures added 0.3%, with Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. getting a boost in the pre-market session. Investors are continuing to snap up tech shares, with sentiment helped by signs that the US is paving the way for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to win wider access to advanced AI chips.

UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s new Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Hemsley will receive $1 million in annual base salary as well as a one-time $60 million equity award as he returns to helm the beleaguered insurer.

Hemsley, the company’s board chair and former CEO, will also get additional personal security benefits following the December murder of UnitedHealth’s top insurance executive, according to a Wednesday filing.

US President Donald Trump said the US would explore normalising relations with Syria after the toppling of longtime autocrat Bashar al-Assad, adding to a pledge to lift sanctions against the country’s new government.

Strengthening ties with Syria’s Islamist-led administration “gives them a good, strong chance” to recover after more than a decade of war that devastated the economy and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian and refugee crises, Trump said Wednesday in Riyadh.

Samsung Electronics Co. has agreed to buy FläktGroup Holding GmbH for €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion), acquiring the European heating and cooling specialist in its biggest overseas takeover in eight years.

The Korean company inked a pact to acquire all shares of the century-old German company from Triton Investments Advisers LLP. That deal should get done in 2025, it said in a statement. Samsung’s shares rose as much as 1.6% on Wednesday morning in Seoul.

FläktGroup would help bolster Samsung’s position against rivals such as LG Electronics Inc. in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning market, which is expanding rapidly alongside the need to cool data centers during the AI development boom.

Stock futures were little changed Wednesday as Wall Street looked to extend a strong start to the week.

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