Katie Ledecky left her teammates stunned after completing an inhuman comeback to lead the US to another gold

• Scott Davis
 

• 2h
• 26,364
 
• 3

Martin Meissner/AP

The US looked dead in the water. Until Katie Ledecky happened.

Anchoring the US women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay on Wednesday, Ledecky made magic again, completing a stunning comeback to lead the US to gold.

As Ledecky dove into the pool, the U.S. trailed by a not insignificant amount, about .90 seconds. In a neck-and-neck race through the first three legs, Australia had actually passed US swimmer Maya DiRado in the third leg, making a U.S. gold look like an uphill battle.

Luckily, Ledecky made it possible. Not only did she make up the difference by the end of the first leg, over the next 150 meters, she stormed ahead of Australia. She finished the 200 meters in 1:53.74, the only swimmer to finish under 1:54.

Her teammates' reactions said it all:

Tom Pennington/Getty

This is what happens when you watch Ledecky do her thing.

Here's the distance Ledecky made up over her leg:

NBC

NBC

The rest of the swimming world was equally stunned:

Yelp is taking off after posting a surprise profit in the second quarter

• Bob Bryan
 

• 17h
• 1,176
 

The Yelp Inc. logo is seen in their offices in Chicago, IllinoisThomson Reuters

Online review aggregator Yelp posted strong earnings Tuesday, and the stock is taking off.

The firm reported a surprise profit of $0.01 per share in adjusted terms versus analysts expectations of a loss of -$0.07 a share adjusted. Revenue also came in above expectations at $173.4 million against predictions of $169.8 million, according to Bloomberg.

Forward-looking guidance for the third quarter was $180 million to $184 million, and according to Bloomberg, estimates were for $179.7 million. Full year revenue was also projected to be $700 million to $708 million by Yelp, versus expectations of only $699.8 million by analysts.

“We had a great second quarter with local revenue growth accelerating to 41% year over year,” said Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman in a release accompanying earnings.

Following the news, the stock leapt in after-ohurd trading. As of 4:34 p.m. ET, the stock was up over 8% to $35.28.

Google Finance

NOW WATCH: A nutrition expert reveals how often you should eat to look better

h

More: Yelp Earnings

Norway is threatening to derail Brexit

• Adam Payne
 

• 22h
• 19,409
 
• 18
 

Sean Gallup / Getty

Theresa May's promise to make a Brexit work for the United Kingdom looks to be approaching yet another major hurdle in the form of Norway. 

That is because the Nordic state's European affairs minister, Elizabeth Vik Aspaker, said her government could block the UK from trying to rejoin the single market, as it's not in Norway's interests.

Prime Minister May has said thatshe wants to secure a Brexit which will allow Britain to remain part of the EU's single market. Some Brexit supporters have suggested joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — a small group of states which has access the single market despite not being EU members — would be the best way of doing this. 

However, the UK's route into the EFTA will not be as straightforward as it perhaps first seemed. "It’s not certain that it would be a good idea to let a big country [the UK] into this organisation," Vik Aspaker told the Aftenposten newspaper. "It would shift the balance, which is not necessarily in Norway’s interests."

She also confirmed that the UK could only join the EFTA if the current members reached a unanimous agreement. The current members are Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. In theory, Norway, or any other EFTA member, could exercise its veto and block UK from pursuing a key element of its Brexit project. 

One of the major concerns for the Norwegian government, the Aftenposten report says, is that Norway would have to renegotiate a host of trade agreements if the UK were to join. This would be an incredibly long and complex process. 

Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, urged Brits to resist voting for a Brexit in the run-up to the June 23 referendum. "Do not leave the EU," she said. "You will hate it."

The challenge facing Theresa May and her ministers of withdrawing the country from the EU seems to be getting more complex and unrealistic with each day that passes. This reality was summed up perfectly by legal expert David Allan Green, who writing for the Evening Standard on Tuesday, said:

"Making something happen is not the same thing as merely wishing for it. It may be near-impossible for the UK to leave the EU, at least in the next few years. And just as the brutal fact that the British people voted to leave the EU cannot be ignored, the fact that leaving the EU may not be possible cannot be ignored either."

Green could not be closer to the truth. The challenge facing May and her government is huge. Last month, Business Insider noted how various EU diplomats had accused the UK of being "nowhere near" establishing what the terms of Brexit should be. You can read about this here.

Note: This article was amended so that European Economic Arena (EEA) was corrected to European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

NOW WATCH: Theresa May: 'Brexit means Brexit'

h

More: Brexit

The British economy shrank in July, according to an influential think-tank

• Will Martin
 

• 23h
• 187
 
• 1
 

Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Britain's economy contracted by 0.2% in July, the first full month after the UK's vote to leave the European Union, according to the latest numbers from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

The NIESR's monthly economic data shows that on a quarterly basis, growth in the UK was 0.3% in the three months up to the end of July, compared with 0.6% growth in the three months to the end of June.

That fall was driven by the contraction in July, which saw economic activity shrink as a result of the economic uncertainty and trepidation brought about by the Brexit vote.

Speaking about the numbers, James Warren, a Research Fellow at the NIESR said:

"We estimate that in the three months to July the UK economy grew by 0.3 per cent, a marked economic slowdown. The month on month profile, suggests that the third quarter has got off to a weak start, with output declining in July. Our estimates suggest that there is around an evens chance of a technical recession by the end of 2017."

The institute said the numbers should be trated with caution: "Monthly data are volatile and as such we should be cautious about over-interpreting developments in the fundamentals of the economy from any single month."

Last week, the influential think-tank argued that there is now a 50-50 chance of Britain entering a technical recession in the coming year or so, saying in a statement: "We expect the UK to experience a marked economic slowdown in the second half of this year and throughout 2017. There is an evens chance of a 'technical' recession in the next 18 months, while there is an elevated risk of further deterioration in the near term."

Late on in July, the Office for National Statistics' official data for the UK's economic growth showed a better than expected performance for the economy in the second quarter of the year.UK GDP grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2016, according to figures released by the ONSbeating forecast growth of just 0.5%. On an annual basis, GDP rose by 2.2%, again beating the 2.1% growth predicted.

NOW WATCH: No one wants to buy this bizarre house in a wealthy San Francisco suburb

h

More: NIESR Recession UK GDP ONS 

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff is headed to trial

• Anthony Boadle, Reuters

• 6h
• 609
 
• 1

Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff attends a news conference with foreign media in Brasilia, Brazil, June 14, 2016.REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Senate voted early on Wednesday to indict President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws and put her on trial in an impeachment process that has stalled Brazilian politics since January.

With the eyes of the world on the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, senators in the capital Brasilia voted 59-21 against the suspended leftist leader in a raucous, 20-hour session presided over by Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski.

A conviction would definitively remove Rousseff from office, ending 13 years of leftist rule by her Workers Party, and confirm that interim President Michel Temer will serve out the rest of her term through 2018.

Rousseff's opponents needed only a simple majority in the 81-seat Senate to put her on trial for manipulating government accounts and spending without congressional approval, which they say helped her win re-election in 2014.

A verdict is expected at the end of the month and will need the votes of two-thirds of the Senate to convict Rousseff, five votes less than her opponents mustered on Wednesday.

Wednesday's vote showed the movement to oust Rousseff has gained strength in the Senate, which had voted 55-22 in May to take up the impeachment proceedings initiated in the lower house in December. It also looked like game over for Rousseff who lost crucial ground instead of winning over more senators.

This will strengthen Temer's hand as he strives to establish his legitimacy and stabilizeBrazil politically.

The uncertainty has hampered his efforts to plug a fiscal crisis inherited from Rousseff, who is blamed for driving the economy into what could be its worst recession since the 1930s.

Temer, Rousseff's conservative former vice president who took office in May, has urged senators to wrap up the trial quickly so he can move ahead with a plan to cap public spending, reform an overly generous pension system and restore confidence in government finances.

Investor expectations that Rousseff will be replaced by the more business-friendly Temer have strengthened Brazil's currency and driven up shares on the Sao Paulo stock market by more than 30 percent since January, placing them among the world's best performing assets.

Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and denounced her impeachment as a right-wing conspiracy that has used an accounting technicality as a pretext to illegally remove a government that improved the lot of Brazil's poorer classes.

"The cards are marked in this game. There is no trial, just a sentence that has already been written," Workers Party Senator Jorge Viana said in a speech to the chamber. The impeachment, he said, was driven by the elite which oppose social welfare gains.

Rousseff's critics say her interventionist economic policies and inability to govern led to the debacle in Latin America's largest country. Some argue that, whatever the legal reasons for impeaching her, she should not be allowed to return to office for the good of the nation.

Her supporters argue that she is being ousted by politicians who are in many cases being investigated for receiving kickbacks in the graft scandal at state-led oil company Petrobras.

Corruption allegations forced the resignation of three of Temer's cabinet members after and he could also be implicated. In plea bargaining testimony published by local media over the weekend, jailed construction magnate Marcelo Odebrecht reportedly claimed Temer had received illegal campaign funding.

(Additional reporting by Carolina Marcello and Bruno Federowski; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

MORE FROM REUTERS:

• As migrants pile up at Swiss-Italian border, Amnesty warns children at risk
• Russia accuses Ukraine of armed Crimea incursion, says two killed
• Zimbabweans spot green gold in bamboo that spares forests
• Danish police arrest asylum seeker who threatened to blow himself up
• FDA approves Heron's therapy for chemotherapy-induced nausea

More: Reuters Brazil Dilma Rousseff Impeachment 

LendingClub is diving after reporting an earnings miss and announcing its CFO is resigning

• Akin Oyedele
 

• 17h
• 1,876

Google

LendingClub shares fell by as much as 8% in after-hours trading on Monday after the company reported worse-than-expected earnings and some management changes. 

The online lender announced in astatement that CFO Carrie Dolan resigned "to pursue a new opportunity." The company said she brought up her departure earlier in the year, but the board asked her to wait amid the CEO's resignation.

Bradley Coleman, LendingClub's principal accounting officer, will become the interim CFO.

Also, Timothy Mayopoulos, the president and CEO of Fannie Mae, was appointed to LendingClub's board as an independent director. 

LendingClub reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.09 for the second quarter, greater than the three-cent loss analysts had projected, according to Bloomberg. Its earnings were dented by acquisition and severance costs. 

Its net revenues beat expectations, totaling $103.4 million ($100.6 million expected). 

Former CEO Renaud Laplanche stepped down in May after an internal investigation into improper lending practices. Separately, New York regulators subpoenaed the fintech company over the interest rates and fees it charged customers.

LendingClub's loan originations rose 2% year-over-year to $1.96 billion during the second quarter.

SEE ALSO: A 'paradox' is plaguing the oil market

NOW WATCH: JIM CRAMER: This is what’s preventing people from achieving the American dream

h

More: Lending Club

MONEY & MARKETS

Deflationary pressures across China's industrial sector are weakening

DAVID SCUTT 

AUG 9, 2016, 12:12 PM   

• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER
• REDDIT
• LINKEDIN
• EMAIL

Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Chinese consumer price inflation ebbed in July, rising by the slowest amount seen since January.

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), consumer prices rose by 1.8% from July last year. The increase was in line with market expectations, but marginally softer than the 1.9% pace seen in June.

By component, food inflation continued to slow, rising at an annual rate of 3.3% from 4.6% in June. Falling pork prices — a staple of the Chinese diet — largely explained the deceleration, falling from an annual pace of 30.1% in June to 16.1% in July.

Partially offsetting the deceleration in food price inflation, non-food inflation accelerated, rising 1.4% from the levels of a year earlier. Not only was this higher than the 1.2% pace seen in June, it marked the fastest year-on-year increase seen in over a year.

By location, consumer prices rose by 1.8% in urban areas over the past year, marginally ahead of the 1.5% increase seen in rural areas.

Though consumer prices came in bang-on expectations, there was better news on upstream price pressures with producer price deflation weakening far quicker than markets had expected.

Compared to a year earlier, prices fell by 1.7%, a figure that was an improvement on the 2.6% contraction seen in June and forecasts for a decline of 2.0%.

While prices have now fallen for 53 consecutive months, the year-on-year decline was the smallest seen since August 2014.

On that score, deflationary pressures caused by lower commodity prices and severe overcapacity in some industries appears to be ebbing.

The annual pace of deflation has now fallen every month since the beginning of the year. That, at least based on the figures presented, fits with the recent surge in raw materials prices, driven in part by government measures to shutter obsolete and uneconomic output and heightened levels of speculation in futures markets.

There has been no discernible reaction to either release, suggesting that Chinese data — at least for the moment — is not a consideration for investors.

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

---