Asian shares inch higher on optimism over vaccines, stimulus
Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday as investors were encouraged by progress toward rolling out coronavirus vaccines and talk of reaching a compromise on new help for the U.S. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.2% higher to 26,582.85 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was almost unchanged at 26,806.37. Overnight, the S&P 500 index rose 0.2% to an all-time high of 3,669.01, a second straight record close. Nor by a report showing economic activity slowed in Novembe r as coronavirus cases surged. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that its latest survey of private U.S. employers shows they added 307,000 jobs last month.
Salesforce buying work-chat service Slack for $27.7 billion
Business software pioneer Salesforce.com is buying work-chatting service Slack for $27.7 billion in a deal aimed at giving the two companies a better shot at competing against longtime industry powerhouse Microsoft. But software as a service has become an industry standard that has turned into a gold mine for longtime software makers. If all goes smoothly, Salesforce hopes to take control of Slack sometime from May to July next year. Slack and Salesforce are headquartered about a block away from each other in San Francisco. Slack," Benioff said.