By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday said a lawsuit accusing Geico Corp of overcharging more than 2 million California policyholders on car insurance early in the COVID-19 pandemic may proceed as a class action.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose, California, rejected Geico’s contention that a group lawsuit over the alleged inadequacy of its “Geico Giveback” program would create “insurmountable manageability problems.”

Geico, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said a class action would not sufficiently account for differences among policyholders, including the time periods they had insurance.

The Chevy Chase, Maryland-based insurer also said it would be difficult to assess damages, isolate pandemic costs and adjust rates retroactively.

But the judge said a class action was preferable to individual lawsuits, and the plaintiffs’ damages model “could present an appropriate percentage refund over a sufficiently long time” to address manageability concerns.

Lawyers for Geico did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The plaintiffs’ lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Policyholders objected to Geico’s decision to provide $2.5 billion of credits, including 15% on renewals, starting in April 2020, reflecting how people were at the time driving and getting into accidents less often.

They said Geico reaped a “windfall” because the credit fell “well short” of adequate given the lessened risks, and accused the insurer of falsely claiming that its credits provided “substantial and full relief.”

Some insurers, including State Farm and Allstate Corp, offered pandemic-related refunds to policyholders.

The class covers California residents who bought Geico car, motorcycle or RV insurance between March 1, 2020 and now.

Geico is defending against a similar federal lawsuit in Chicago, and in May persuaded an appeals court in Manhattan to uphold a judge’s dismissal of a similar lawsuit there.

Berkshire, based in Omaha, Nebraska, has owned all of Geico since 1996.

The case is Day v. Geico Casualty Co et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 21-02103.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

(Reuters) -Shares of TuSimple Holdings Inc nearly halved on Monday after the self-driving truck startup said it had removed Chief Executive Xiaodi Hou in connection with the company’s ties to a China-backed firm.

TuSimple said in a securities filing that an investigation by its board showed some of its employees spent paid hours last year working for Hydron Inc, a startup working on autonomous trucks mostly in China.

The company had also shared confidential information with Hydron, which was being evaluated as a potential original equipment manufacturer, that was not brought to the attention of audit and government security committees, according to TuSimple.

Hou confirmed in a WeChat post that he had been removed as chairman and CEO by TuSimple’s board, but denied any wrongdoing and said the move was “without cause.”

“It is so unfair to let politics get in the way of the dream we were pursuing together,” he said.

Hou’s ouster came after a Wall Street Journal report that TuSimple was being investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) about its relationship with China-backed Hydron.

The FBI, the SEC and the CFIUS did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Separately, TuSimple reported revenue of $2.7 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 49% from a year earlier but below analysts’ estimate of $3.2 million, according to Refinitiv data.

The company posted a per-share loss of 50 cents, smaller than the 56-cent loss expected by analysts, pushing its shares about 2% higher to $3.49 in extended trading.

San Diego, California-based TuSimple has named Ersin Yumer, the vice president of operations, as its interim CEO.

The company also said that it had not been able to determine the value of confidential information shared with Hydron.

(Reporting By Kevin Krolicki in Singapore and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; editing by Peter Henderson, Chris Reese and Anil D’Silva)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A global stock index fell and U.S. Treasury yields edged up on Monday as investors prepared for the U.S. Federal Reserve to stick with its aggressive approach to raising interest rates this week.

The dollar advanced across the board.

Even though they declined for the day, major U.S. stock indexes posted strong gains for October, with the Dow’s percentage gain in October its strongest for any month since 1976. The Dow jumped about 14% for the month.

The Fed, which begins its two-day meeting Tuesday, is expected to deliver a fourth straight 75-basis-point rate hike on Wednesday in its attempt to tame inflation. Investors will also focus on the communication of the outlook.

Some investors have been entertaining the idea the Fed could pause its rate hikes or at least shift to a less aggressivee hiking campaign, and those views have helped support stocks recently. Others see little evidence to support that view.

“The bond market has continued to doubt that the Fed is ready to either slow interest rate increases or actually move to the sidelines,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Troy, Michigan, adding that markets had gotten ahead of themselves.

Investors are expecting another 75 basis-point rate hike by the Bank of England later this week as well.

Investors also were digesting data released Monday that showed eurozone inflation came in hotter than expected and also, separately, data that showed China’s factory activity unexpectedly fell in October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 128.85 points, or 0.39%, to 32,732.95, the S&P 500 lost 29.08 points, or 0.75%, to 3,871.98 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 114.31 points, or 1.03%, to 10,988.15.

Quarterly results from S&P 500 tech and growth companies have so far been mixed this earnings season, adding to recent volatility in U.S. stocks.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.35% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.44%.

The yield on two-year notes, which typically moves in step with rate expectations, was up 8.1 basis points at 4.503% while the 10-year yield rose 7.1 basis points to 4.081%.

U.S. wheat futures jumped, hitting a two-week high, and corn rose more than 1% as Russia’s withdrawal from a Black Sea export agreement raised concerns over global supplies.

Benchmark CBOT wheat futures hit a record high of $13.63-1/2 a bushel in March.

GRAPHIC – Key food and energy prices drop after initial panic https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/klvygebkjvg/Pasted%20image%201667217490995.png

GRAINS REPORT

In currencies, the dollar rose 0.8% against the struggling yen to 148.62 yen. For the month of October, the dollar was up 2.7%, on track to post its third monthly gain versus the Japanese currency.

On Monday, Japan’s finance ministry said it spent a record $42.8 billion on currency intervention this month to prop up the yen.

The euro dropped 0.8% against the dollar to $0.9887. Elsewhere, the Chinese yuan slumped after data released on Monday showed China’s factory activity unexpectedly fell in October.

The dollar was last 0.9% higher against the yuan traded offshore at 7.336.

Brazil’s currency and main stock index rallied Monday, a day after leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the country’s presidential election.

The Brazilian real gained more than 2% against the dollar after having fallen 2% overnight. The Bovespa stock index sank 2% at the opening and ended the session up 1.3%.

In the energy market, oil prices fell as investors expected U.S. production could increase. Brent crude futures dropped 94 cents, or 0.98%, to $94.83 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.37 to $86.53 a barrel, a 1.6% loss.

(Additional reporting by Marc Jones in London, and Herbert Lash and Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Angus MacSwan, David Gregorio and Deepa Babington)

By Byron Kaye and Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY (Reuters) – A swathe of hacks on some of Australia’s biggest companies has made the country a target for copycat attacks just as a skills shortage leaves an understaffed, overworked cybersecurity workforce ill-equipped to stop it, technology experts said.

    As Monday saw the disclosure of another potential breach of sensitive data – a ransomware attack on a communication platform for military personnel – cybersecurity experts put a wave of high-profile breaches down to a common factor: human error.

Between Australia’s No. 2 telecoms company Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, and the country’s biggest health insurer, Medibank Private Ltd, some 14 million customer accounts have had data hacked – equivalent to 56% of the population – since Sept. 22 alone.

    The workforce weakness assertion points to a problem with no quick fix.

After COVID-19 border closures which ended in late 2021, Australian immigration officials say they are still working through one million visa applications from people seeking to work in the country, many in technology and cybersecurity jobs for employers looking to fill vacancies abroad.

    “They don’t have enough trained people to take it seriously and do what is needed,” said Sanjay Jha, chief scientist at the University of New South Wales institute for cybersecurity.

    “Sometimes you’re ticking a box in an Excel spreadsheet and you don’t understand what you’re doing, and then the outcome is not going to be great. You need people who are really skilled and trained properly.”

With hacking software easier to acquire online and the shift to working from home leaving more weak spots in company networks, the number of data breaches has tripled globally in two years, according to cybersecurity industry research. This week 37 countries, including Australia, will meet at the White House with the goal of tackling ransomware and other cyber crime.

The uptick has sent shockwaves through corporate Australia in particular due to the high visibility of targets and the sensitivity of their data, including millions of medical records.

Experts said a steady stream of smaller breach notifications may be the result of hackers seeking to match others’ success.

BIG TARGET

Government agency the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) said the number of breach notifications rose 13% to be worth a total A$33 billion ($21 billion) in the year to June 2021, the most recent available figures. The agency is expected to show another increase when it publishes 2022 figures in the coming weeks.

Australian cybersecurity insurance premiums rose by an average of 56% year-on-year in the second quarter, said insurer Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc.

“It’s a rich country, a first-world country that does a lot of business, that has a lot of data, so therefore it is targeted,” said Win-Li Toh, principal at actuary firm Taylor Fry, who specialises in cybersecurity risk.

“Trying to employ people to defend your assets is getting harder because there just aren’t enough people coming out, and education will take one to two years.”

Companies are offering premiums of up to 50% on starting salary offers for cybersecurity workers due to a “deep talent deficit”, said Nicole Gorton, a director at specialist recruiter Robert Half. The average Australian cybersecurity base salary is A$105,000, according to jobs website Glassdoor.

Neil Curtis, an Australian cybersecurity executive of U.S. technology contractor DXC Technology Co, who runs a programme retraining military veterans in cybersecurity, said he had requests for about 300 trained personnel in the next six months.

Curtis said an official at DXC Technology had recently relayed to him a private request for cybersecurity staff for one of Australia’s biggest companies.

“I said, ‘How many do you want?’,” he told Reuters by phone.

“They said, ‘We’ll take everybody you’ve got’.”

($1 = 1.5584 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Alasdair Pal and Kenneth Maxwell)

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House will host officials from 37 countries and 13 global companies in Washington this week to address the growing threat of ransomware and other cyber crime, including the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, a senior U.S. official said.

The in-person meeting follows last year’s virtual inaugural meeting of the informal Counter-Ransomware Initiative, adding seven more countries and bringing in a diverse group of private sector players for the first time.

The White House hopes the meeting will allow participating countries to “institute a set of cyber norms that are recognized across the globe to counter criminal ransomware threats and hold malicious actors accountable,” the official said.

Participants plan to issue a joint statement at the end of the meeting on Tuesday, including a pledge to redouble efforts to bring pressure on Russia and other countries that harbor ransomware attackers, the official said.

One key topic for discussion will be how to disrupt such attacks, counter the illicit movement of cryptocurrencies and build resilience against such attacks, the official said.

“So less about Russia, more about how we as a set of countries make it harder, costlier, riskier for ransom actors to operate,” the official said.

Ransomware attacks have increased sharply in recent years, with over 4,000 attacks reported outside the United States over the last 18 months alone, the official said, adding that there had also been progress in arresting attackers.

Ransom software works by encrypting victims’ data, with hackers offering the victim a key in return for cryptocurrency payments that can run as high as millions of dollars.

Top administration officials, including FBI Director Chris Wray, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will address the meeting.

Countries participating in addition to the United States include: Australia, Austria, Belgium Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, European Commission, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway Poland, South Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Britain.

Russia, Belarus and other countries believed to harbor attackers will not participate.

Companies participating include Crowdstrike, Mandiant, Cyber Threat Alliance, Microsoft, Cybersecurity Coalition, Palo Alto, Flexxon, SAP, Institute for Security + Technology, Siemens, Internet 2.0, Tata – TCS, and Telefonica, the White House said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – One of Amazon India’s biggest sellers, Appario, will cease to list products on the shopping website, the U.S. firm said on Monday, after it faced years of allegations from brick-and-mortar retailers of giving preferential treatment to the seller.

A Reuters investigation last year, based on Amazon documents, showed the U.S. company gave preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers including Appario and another one named Cloudtail, and used them to bypass Indian laws.

Amazon, which has maintained it does not give preferential treatment to any seller and complies with all laws, agreed to end its relationship with Cloudtail in August last year.

Appario, a joint venture partnership between Amazon and India’s Patni group, has listed products on Amazon India since 2017.

The JV will continue but Appario will cease listing products on Amazon, the U.S. firm said in statement.

“Partners have decided that Appario … will cease to be a seller on amazon.in, and amazon.in/business within the next 12 months,” a spokesperson said in the statement, which did not provide an explanation for the decision.

“The partners will continue to explore new business opportunities, including helping businesses across India to scale up their online presence.”

The Reuters investigation last year found Amazon gave both Appario and Cloudtail – which were referred to internally as “special” merchants – discounted fees and access to Amazon global retail tools used for things like inventory management.

In early 2019, some 35 of Amazon’s more than 400,000 sellers accounted for around two-thirds of its online sales in India. Appario and Cloudtail accounted for 35% of the platform’s sales revenue that time.

In April this year, India’s antitrust body raided Cloudtail and Appario offices as part of investigations into accusations of anti-competitive practices such as promoting preferred sellers and giving priority to listings by some.

India is a key growth market for Amazon, where it has committed investment of $6.5 billion, but one where it faces several regulatory challenges, including stricter investment rules laws.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; editing by Jason Neely)

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s has not offered any remedies to EU antitrust regulators reviewing its proposed $69 billion bid for “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard ahead of an expected full-scale EU probe, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The U.S. software company is betting on the acquisition to help it compete better with leaders Tencent and Sony, with the latter being a critic of the deal.

The European Commission, which is scheduled to finish its preliminary assessment of the deal by Nov. 8, said its website was up to date. The site showed that Microsoft had not provided concessions.

Microsoft said it continues to work with the Commission on the next steps and to address any valid marketplace concerns, such as those voiced by Sony.

“Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Companies typically do not offer remedies during the EU preliminary review when they know regulators subsequently intend to open a four-month long investigation.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by David Evans)

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index edged lower on Monday for the first time in seven trading sessions as investors braced for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike this week, but the index still notched its largest monthly gain in nearly two years.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 45.05 points, or 0.2%, at 19,426.14, after six straight days of gains. On Friday, it posted its highest closing level in nearly six weeks.

U.S. stocks also fell, closing out a strong month on a soft note, as investor focus turned to the Fed’s policy decision on Wednesday.

The central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points, but investors will look for any clues that rate hikes are set to decelerate in the future.

“I don’t expect volatility to go away, but, I believe we’re closer to the end of the rate hike cycles, both in Canada and in the U.S.,” said Kevin Headland, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife Investment Management.

“Although we’re going to get some choppiness, there could be more of an upward bias and it may continue a bit of the run we’re on right now.”

The Toronto stock exchange gained 5.3% in October, its biggest monthly advance since November 2020, as higher oil prices boosted energy shares.

Energy rose 1.6% on Monday, lifting its monthly gain to 21.9%, and healthcare ended 4.3% higher as shares of cannabis producer Canopy Growth Corp jumped 18.9%.

Most other sectors lost ground, including declines of 1.2% for both the technology and consumer staples sectors.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson)

By Nate Raymond and Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled skepticism on Monday toward the legality of race-conscious admissions policies in cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina that could imperil affirmative action programs often used to boost enrollment of Black and Hispanic students.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, heard tense arguments lasting nearly five hours in appeals by a group founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum of lower court rulings upholding policies used by the two prestigious schools to foster student diversity.

The conservative justices voiced doubt about allowing race to be considered at all in admissions decisions by colleges and universities and emphasized that court precedents allowing such policies had cautioned that they should not exist forever. The liberal justices defended a limited consideration of race in admissions as one factor among many to give opportunities to deserving applicants. Rulings are due by the end of June.

“So what is your response to the simple argument that college admissions are a zero-sum game?” conservative Justice Samuel Alito asked a lawyer representing a group of students supporting UNC’s policy. “And if you give a ‘plus’ to a person who falls within the category of under-represented minority, but not to somebody else, you’re disadvantaging the latter student?”

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court’s two Black justices, expressed misgivings about the principle of diversity and its educational benefits.

“I’ve heard the word ‘diversity’ quite a few times and I don’t have a clue what it means,” Thomas said.

“I don’t put much stock in that because I’ve heard similar arguments in favor of segregation, too,” Thomas added.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh told the state lawyer defending UNC’s policy that the court’s precedents have held that “these racial classifications are potentially dangerous and must have a logical end point.”

Students for Fair Admissions, Blum’s group, said UNC discriminates against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants. The schools disagree.

Many schools place a premium on achieving a diverse student population not simply to remedy racial inequity and exclusion in American life but to bring a range of perspectives onto campuses.

Harvard and UNC have said they use race as only one factor in a host of individualized evaluations for admission without quotas – permissible under Supreme Court precedents – and that curbing its consideration would cause a significant drop in enrollment of students from under-represented groups.

The cases give the court an opportunity to overturn its prior rulings – including one as recent as 2016 – allowing race-conscious admissions policies. They also give it a chance to embrace an interpretation favored by conservatives of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of equal protection under the law that would bar governments and other institutions from using race-conscious policies – even those crafted to benefit people who have endured discrimination.

The court is confronting this divisive issue four months after its conservative majority drove major rulings curtailing abortion rights and widening gun rights.

‘AMERICAN PLURALISM’

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said the plaintiffs are arguing that it does not matter if institutions are racially diverse in an American society that is quite diverse.

“I thought that part of what it meant to be an American and to believe in American pluralism is that actually our institutions are reflective of who we are as a people in all our variety,” Kagan said.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the court, said that given schools’ lawful ability to consider dozens of personal factors it might be unconstitutional to disallow the recognition of race among them.

Jackson said that if “a university can take into account and value all of the other background and personal characteristics of other applicants, but they can’t value race, what I’m worried about is that that seems to me to have the potential of causing more of an equal-protection problem than it’s actually solving.”

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts said if “checking the box with race is taken away,” schools could pursue “race-neutral” alternatives such as letting students write essays that “indicate experiences they have had because of their race.”

The suits were filed separately in 2014. One accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal funding. The other accused UNC violating the 14th Amendment.

President Joe Biden’s administration backed the schools.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices, “When students of all races and backgrounds come to college and live together and learn together, they become better colleagues, better citizens and better leaders.”

Prelogar emphasized the importance of diversity at the nation’s military academies with an eye toward ensuring a racially diverse future officer corps.

The court in 2016 upheld a University of Texas race-conscious admissions policy, but has shifted rightward since then. It first upheld affirmative action in college admissions in 1978, ruling that actions to achieve diversity were permissible but racial quotas were not. It decided in 2003 that colleges could consider race as one admissions factor because of the compelling interest of creating a diverse student body.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in Washington and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham)