Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff praised Oracle chief Larry Ellison’s efforts to break into the social media space with a potential TikTok partnership. 

The enterprise software maker was approved for a deal in principle over the weekend to partner with the rapidly growing social media app, allowing it to avoid a U.S. shutdown. Oracle said it will become TikTok’s secure cloud provider and will become a minority investor with a 12.5% stake in the company.

Benioff said that the coroanvirus pandemic should be driving new urgency at companies, and praised Ellison’s boldness in buying a consumer-focused social media network — a company far outside of Oracle’s historical expertise.

“I’m so impressed by seeing them and everyone else make these aggressive moves,” Benioff said Wednesday on CNBC’s “C...

U.S. government debt prices were lower on Friday morning as traders monitored news of potential new fiscal stimulus in the United States.

At around 1.45 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to trade at 0.6692%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was trading higher at 1.4077%. Yields move inversely to prices.

It comes after Treasury yields dropped on Thursday on the back of weak jobless claims. 

In the meantime, Democrat lawmakers are reportedly working on a small stimulus package as the U.S. economy keeps grappling with the implications of the coronavirus pandemic.

The economic calendar is thin Friday with only durable goods due to be published at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 9 a...

Amazon unveiled on Thursday an all-new Echo smart speaker lineup with a revamped, orb-like design.

The new design will be featured across four different Echo speaker models: the “regular” Echo, the cheaper and smaller Echo Dot, the Echo Dot with a built-in clock and the Echo Kids’ edition, which has designs like cute animal characters. The regular Echo will cost $99, the Echo Dot will cost $49.99 and the Echo Dot with the clock will cost $59.99.

The new devices are the linchpin of Amazon’s Echo and Alexa strategy, offering relatively affordable speakers that give customers access to a host of Amazon services and features from music to shopping.

Amazon also said the new Echo speakers will have a special process...

Florida prosecutors on Thursday dropped sex solicitation charges against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, after being barred from using police surveillance videos that might prove their case.

The move was expected after the Florida attorney general’s office said Monday that it would not ask the state Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court decision blocking as evidence videos showing Kraft getting sexually serviced for money during two visits to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla., in early 2019.

The videos, which...

A day after President Donald Trump refused to promise a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the 2020 election, lawmakers pushed back on his statements.

“I have confidence that he won’t get away with saying, for example, I won with … the vote on the ground, the vote in the mail doesn’t count, and the rest of that,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters on Thursday. 

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Thursday: “The president will accept the results of a free and fair election.”

At a press conference Wednesday, Trump said, “we’ll have to se...

Amazon announced two new Fire TV products during its big online hardware event on Thursday. Amazon’s Fire TV gadgets compete directly with Roku and Apple TV, offering people access to popular apps such as Disney+, Netflix, Hulu and more. 

Amazon says people are spending more time in front of TVs than ever before due to the spread of coronavirus. It sees the TV as the center of the household and wants to get even more features in front of users to keep them coming back. The new features may help it compete more aggressively against Roku, which still has a 50% market share of global connected TV streaming hours with strong growth opportunities, according to an analyst note from Deutsche Bank in August.

The new Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite will be the first of Amazon’s streaming ...

Amazon is launching a new Ring security camera that’s fixed on top of a flying drone. 

Called the Ring Always Home Cam, it’s an autonomous indoor security camera that can fly inside your home and record footage of multiple viewpoints. Users set a path for the device to fly throughout the home. When the device isn’t in the air, it locks into a dock that blocks the camera, in an effort to assuage privacy concerns.

Amazon unveiled the device during its virtual hardware event on Thursday alongside a slew of new products. The company announced upgraded Echo and Echo Show models, new Ring security cameras for cars and launched its video game streaming service, Luna.

Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018, has ...

Facebook on Thursday outlined its new set of rules for employee communications within Workplace, the company’s internal social network.

Chief among the new changes is a requirement that employees use a photo of themselves or their initials as their profile pictures. This change would prohibit employees from setting their profile pictures to images that promote specific political candidates or causes, for instance. 

“We deeply value expression, open discussion, and a company culture built on respect and inclusivity,” Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement...

House Democrats are preparing a new, smaller coronavirus relief package expected to cost about $2.4 trillion as they try to forge ahead with talks with the Trump administration, a source familiar with the plans said Thursday.

The bill would include enhanced unemployment insurance, direct payments to Americans, Paycheck Protection Program small-business loan funding and aid to airlines, among other provisions, the person said. To reach the price tag, Democrats would chop roughly $1 trillion from their previous proposal for a fifth pandemic aid plan.

The party aims to restart stimulus negotiations with the White House after...

Will an authorized coronavirus vaccine in the U.S...