Live news: Salesforce shares jump as price increases underpin outlook upgrade

Economic data: India has second-quarter gross domestic product figures. Economists polled by Reuters forecast growth of 7.7 per cent, the fastest annual pace in a year. China publishes official purchasing managers’ indices for August.

Japan: Workers at one of Tokyo’s most famous department stores are going on strike for the first time since the 1950s.

Malaysia: Financial markets are closed for National Day, celebrating the country’s independence from the UK in 1957.

Markets: Futures in Hong Kong and Tokyo pointed higher on Thursday. US stocks advanced on Wednesday as soft US growth and labour market data boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve would not increase interest rates again this year. The S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5 per cent.

Salesforce shares surged in after-hours trading as the software company reported forecast-beating results for the second quarter and lifted its full-year outlook.

The company also boosted its guidance for the current quarter, thanks in part to its decision to raise prices for some of its products for the first time in seven years.

For the full year, Salesforce expects to earn about $3.50 a share on revenue in the range of $34.7bn-$34.8bn, both ahead of Wall Street forecasts.

Salesforce shares rose about 6 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, froze and struggled to answer a reporter’s question on Wednesday in a startling incident that echoed a similar episode last month.

McConnell was taking questions from reporters in his home state of Kentucky when he appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds after being asked whether he would seek re-election in 2026.

A video of the exchange shows an aide asking McConnell if he had heard the question. When the Senate minority leader did not reply, she told reporters: “I’m sorry, y’all, we’re going to need a minute.”

Read more about age concerns in US politics here

The deputy governor of Italy’s central bank has emerged as the only nominee proposed to succeed Fabio Panetta on the executive board of the European Central Bank.

“By the deadline, Italy was the only country to put forward a candidate: Piero Cipollone,” Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe said in a statement published on Wednesday evening.

The candidacy will be discussed at the next Eurogroup meeting on September 15.

Panetta will vacate the ECB executive board seat on November 1 to become the new governor of the Bank of Italy.

Cipollone studied economics at La Sapienza University in Rome and Stanford University in California. He joined Italy’s central bank in 1993 and worked there for most of his career.

Shares in marijuana companies surged on Wednesday following a report that a senior US health official has recommended easing restrictions on use of the drug.

Shares in two of the biggest marijuana companies, Tilray Brands and Canopy Growth Corporation, increased by 10 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in early afternoon trading on Wall Street.

Bloomberg reported that Rachel Levine, assistant Secretary for Health, had written to the US Drug Enforcement Administration recommending that marijuana be reclassified as a schedule III drug. The drug is currently registered as a schedule I drug, the same as heroin, a classification that severely restricts the market for products based on the drug.