News from the world of finance

CHARLESTON (Reuters) -U.S. drug distributors knowingly flooded a West Virginia city and county with addictive opioid painkillers, lawyers for the governments told a court on Tuesday at the close of a landmark trial, as they seek $2.5 billion to remedy the crisis.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse on Tuesday posted a 21% rise in second-quarter net profit and confirmed its guidance for the year.

PARIS (Reuters) -A consortium led by German automaker Volkswagen is in advanced talks to buy Europcar in a deal that would value the French car rental company's equity at about 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion).

(Reuters) -Centene Corp on Tuesday became the latest U.S. health insurer to warn of higher COVID-19 costs in the coming quarters due to the impact of the Delta variant, which has become the dominant coronavirus strain globally.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Four police officers on Tuesday told lawmakers they were beaten, taunted with racial insults, heard threats including "kill him with his own gun" and thought they might die as they struggled to defend the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 against a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters.

Revenues at Italian luxury down jacket maker Moncler topped analyst expectations in the second quarter helped by easing COVID-19 restrictions, adding to evidence of a sharp rebound in the sector.

U.S. stocks fell from record highs on Tuesday while real U.S. bond yields hit all-time lows, as a sell-off in Chinese shares, economic growth concerns and an imminent Federal Reserve meeting put some investors on guard and drove profit-taking.

A bet on 10-year U.S. bond yields rising to 2% was meant to be the slam-dunk trade of 2021. It still is, say many analysts and money managers, who expect the rate to shift back higher by year-end without causing market ructions.

Michael Steinhardt, a former hedge fund titan on Wall Street, lost a lawsuit he filed against an art gallery and its president for allegedly making an "unfair secret profit" from the $12 million sale on consignment of a portrait of George Washington.

Four major U.S. drug companies agreed to a $26 billion settlement last week to end lawsuits over the opioid crisis, but treatment advocates expressed frustration that the money will be slow to arrive and worry it could be misspent.