A renewed rise in oil prices past $120 a barrel is intensifying pressure on some of Asia’s most fragile currencies, with several trading back at all-time lows. The Indonesian rupiah , Philippine peso and Indian rupee have all tumbled since the start of the war two months ago to rank among the region’s worst performers. The rupiah and rupee slid more than 0.3% against the dollar to lows on Thursday...
A renewed rise in oil prices past $120 a barrel is intensifying pressure on some of Asia’s most fragile currencies, with several trading back at all-time lows. The Indonesian rupiah , Philippine peso and Indian rupee have all tumbled since the start of the war two months ago to rank among the region’s worst performers. The rupiah and rupee slid more than 0.3% against the dollar to lows on Thursday, while the peso traded within half a percentage point of similar levels. The selloff reflects the three economies’ heavy reliance on imported oil, which has left their currencies highly exposed to the energy supply shock. As costs climb, investors are growing wary about fuel-driven inflation and widening external and fiscal deficits, factors that risk complicating central banks’ efforts to keep the economy afloat while containing prices. “Central banks are likely to recalibrate the magnitude of currency intervention to preserve foreign exchange reserves,” said Wee Khoon Chong , a strategist at BNY, adding that the high oil prices are a key consideration into how aggressively to step into markets. The weakness followed the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to keep interest rates unchanged, a move that some analysts say would heighten pressure on emerging-market currencies as investors increasingly price in rate cuts being pushed further out, boosting the dollar. Adding to the strain was Brent crude hovering at the highest level in nearly four years after the US stepped up pressure on Iran and media reports that President Donald Trump would not lift a naval blockade of Iran’s ports without a nuclear agreement with Tehran. Central banks have already tried to contain the fallout. The Reserve Bank of India, for example, has rolled out a series of measures — including opening a dedicated dollar-swap window for oil refiners and barring banks from offering the most widely used offshore rupee trading instrument — to curb speculation and support the currency. Those measures ar...
Standard Chartered Plc largely brushed off concerns about the impact of the conflict in the Gulf as it reported record earnings driven by its wealth business. The London-headquartered bank said it made a pretax profit of $2.5 billion in the first three months of the year, beating a Bloomberg-compiled consensus estimate of $2.09 billion, helped by strong flows of net new money into its wealth manag...
Standard Chartered Plc largely brushed off concerns about the impact of the conflict in the Gulf as it reported record earnings driven by its wealth business. The London-headquartered bank said it made a pretax profit of $2.5 billion in the first three months of the year, beating a Bloomberg-compiled consensus estimate of $2.09 billion, helped by strong flows of net new money into its wealth management business. “We delivered a record first quarter performance in 2026, with double digit growth in Wealth Solutions and Global Banking,” Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters said in a statement on Thursday. Standard Chartered’s latest earnings report comes as the lender’s “Fit for Growth” program draws to a close this year. Involving hundreds of initiatives, it targeted savings ranging from a few hundred thousand to tens of millions of dollars. The bank will next month unveil a fresh set of financial targets at a series of investor events. StanChart reported a credit impairment charge of $296 million, mostly driven by $190 million of “precautionary management overlays relating to the Middle East conflict.” “Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainty, our advantaged market presence and disciplined risk management give us confidence in our ability to perform,” Winters said. The hostilities in the Gulf, which choked off oil flows, set off wild swings in energy prices and upended interest-rate expectations, have had varying impact on bank earnings this season. On Wall Street, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ’s equities traders rode the volatility to a banner quarter while their peers in fixed-income, currency and commodities posted a surprise drop in revenue. JPMorgan Chase & Co. traders notched their highest-ever quarterly revenue, with both equities and FICC beating estimates. Winters, whose 11th year anniversary as CEO is coming up soon, has overseen a restructuring of the business that saw it raise billions of dollars from investors as it pared back r...
(RTTNews) - Kakao Games (293490.KQ) reported a first quarter net loss attributable to the Shareholders of the Parent Company of 29.96 billion Korean won compared to a loss of 23.03 billion won, prior year. The company posted an operating loss of 25.46 billion won, compared to a l
(RTTNews) - Kakao Games (293490.KQ) reported a first quarter net loss attributable to the Shareholders of the Parent Company of 29.96 billion Korean won compared to a loss of 23.03 billion won, prior year. The company posted an operating loss of 25.46 billion won, compared to a l
Chinese solar exports surged in March, doubling to a record high as demand accelerated across dozens of markets, according to a new report. The spike comes as global energy systems react to renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the dual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and the US. The Persian Gulf shipping corridor, a critical chokepoint for global oil and gas flows, has bec...
Chinese solar exports surged in March, doubling to a record high as demand accelerated across dozens of markets, according to a new report. The spike comes as global energy systems react to renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the dual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and the US. The Persian Gulf shipping corridor, a critical chokepoint for global oil and gas flows, has become a focal pressure point amid escalating tensions that began on February 28 with US-Israel...
Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images News Activist investor Engine Capital has taken a ~2% stake in government contractor KBR ( KBR ) and is urging a sale of the company , which it believes is undervalued, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday. KBR ( KBR ), which has a market value of ~$4.5B, has seen its stock price drop more than 25% since it announced plans last September to separate its bus...
Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images News Activist investor Engine Capital has taken a ~2% stake in government contractor KBR ( KBR ) and is urging a sale of the company , which it believes is undervalued, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday. KBR ( KBR ), which has a market value of ~$4.5B, has seen its stock price drop more than 25% since it announced plans last September to separate its businesses. KBR ( KBR ) said the split would allow shareholders to better value the underlying businesses, but Engine argued in a letter delivered to the company's board this week that the planned separation would be costly and create new risks and tax difficulties, according to the WSJ report. Instead, Engine believes KBR ( KBR ) could attract both private equity and strategic buyers for the company and could fetch a price in the $48-$55/share range in a transaction; KBR closed Wednesday at $36.02. "A full-company sale would offer shareholders a clear and immediate realization of value," Engine wrote in the letter. "It would also mitigate execution risk, eliminate incremental standalone costs, and allow an acquirer to optimize the business under its own management and operating structure." More on KBR KBR: Low Valuation And Healthy Long-Term Drivers Make It A Buy KBR Q4 2025 Earnings Call Presentation KBR Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Earnings Call Insights: Alphabet (GOOGL) Q1 2026 Management View CEO Sundar Pichai framed the quarter as AI-led across the portfolio, saying, "It's clear that our AI investments and full stack approach are driving performance across our business," and added that in Search, "AI continues to drive search usage and queries are at an all-time high." Pichai highlighted cloud demand and commitments, sta...
Earnings Call Insights: Alphabet (GOOGL) Q1 2026 Management View CEO Sundar Pichai framed the quarter as AI-led across the portfolio, saying, "It's clear that our AI investments and full stack approach are driving performance across our business," and added that in Search, "AI continues to drive search usage and queries are at an all-time high." Pichai highlighted cloud demand and commitments, stating, "Cloud accelerated again this quarter due to strong demand for our AI products and infrastructure," including that revenue "grew 63%, exceeding $20 billion for the first time" and that "our backlog nearly doubled quarter-on-quarter to over $460 billion." On product and model momentum, Pichai said, "Overall, the number of paid subscriptions has now reached 350 million," and added, "Our first-party models now process more than 16 billion tokens per minute via direct API use by our customers, up from 10 billion last quarter." CFO Anat Ashkenazi summarized consolidated results and capital intensity, stating, "Consolidated revenue reached $109.9 billion," "earnings per share increased 82% to $5.11," and "CapEx was $35.7 billion in the first quarter with the overwhelming majority of the spend in technical infrastructure to support the AI opportunities we see across the company." Ashkenazi also disclosed shareholder return changes: "As we announced today, our Board of Directors declared a 5% increase in the quarterly dividend." Outlook Ashkenazi guided FX impacts, saying, "At current spot rates, we would expect to see an FX tailwind of approximately 1 percentage point to our consolidated revenue in Q2 compared to a 3 percentage points FX tailwind in the first quarter." On TPU hardware sold into customers’ data centers, Ashkenazi said, "We expect to begin recognizing a small percent of the revenues from these agreements later this year with the vast majority of revenues to be realized in 2027," and cautioned, "revenues from TPU hardware sales will fluctuate from quarter-to-qu...
In this week’s Hong Kong Edition, we map out the pressures facing international schools in the city. We also sit down with the new head of the M+ museum and chart the trajectory of Asia’s AI-driven stock rally. For the Review, we see if Bakehouse can hold its own as a dinner venue. To subscribe to this weekly newsletter for free, click here . School Blues For a city with global ambitions like Hong...
In this week’s Hong Kong Edition, we map out the pressures facing international schools in the city. We also sit down with the new head of the M+ museum and chart the trajectory of Asia’s AI-driven stock rally. For the Review, we see if Bakehouse can hold its own as a dinner venue. To subscribe to this weekly newsletter for free, click here . School Blues For a city with global ambitions like Hong Kong, elite schools are a vital part of the appeal. They give access to top-notch education to the children of banking executives and tech tycoons and also serve many locals — if they can afford it. So when the most popular schools run into trouble, the impact ripples out across the community. Most recently, eight operators — including the English Schools Foundation, the city’s largest English-language system with more than 18,000 students in 22 institutions — were reportedly found to have fallen short of the government’s minimum limit for foreign passport holders. International schools lost large chunks of their customer base when political upheaval and Covid restrictions compounded to send many expats packing. Now, the government is stepping up scrutiny over compliance with rules requiring a majority of non‑local students. The strain is compounded by declining education allowances from international companies. HSBC Reviews $38,000-Per-Kid School Fee Perk for HK Bankers Read more To go deeper into the school crunch and puzzle out what might happen next, we answer some key questions here: Why did some international schools get in trouble? International schools operated by the English Schools Foundation and those that have signed service agreements with the Education Bureau need to meet minimum quotas for non‑local students. Since 2009, they are obligated to maintain a level of at least 70% non-local students. According to the government’s classification, a non-local student is anyone without a Hong Kong SAR or British National (Overseas) passport. Holders of other passport...
From the rooftop terrace of Kosovo’s innovation center, Shpend Lila pointed out a red-brick building on a recent weekday morning. Originally the headquarters of a local publishing agency, the modernist structure was Pristina’s tallest for decades. Today, it is dwarfed by high-rises housing a growing mix of tech companies — including SPEEEX , a business processing outsource firm on track to become ...
From the rooftop terrace of Kosovo’s innovation center, Shpend Lila pointed out a red-brick building on a recent weekday morning. Originally the headquarters of a local publishing agency, the modernist structure was Pristina’s tallest for decades. Today, it is dwarfed by high-rises housing a growing mix of tech companies — including SPEEEX , a business processing outsource firm on track to become the country’s first unicorn. Kosovo’s vibrant IT scene isn’t just changing the capital’s skyline. It is helping to curb one of the most stubborn post-war economic problems in the Western Balkan nation of 1.6 million people: high youth unemployment. Government officials and entrepreneurs hope this will, in turn, slow a long-running brain drain. “Tech is the only sector that helps to keep young people in Kosovo,” said Lila, a manager at the Innovation Centre Kosovo , which has been teaching computer skills for nearly 15 years, in an interview. “They can stay here if they get good salaries.” It’s been nearly two decades since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, and Europe’s youngest country remains one of its poorest. But its economy has been growing steadily, projected to reach around $12 billion this year, with tech and IT contributing around 6% of output , according to Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Youth unemployment dropped from a high of 61% in 2014 to around 10% in 2025, according to official data and local authorities interviewed for this story. The trend began during the Covid pandemic around five years ago, as people stayed indoors in front of their screens. The country hasn’t yet attracted global giants like Amazon or Google. Some 45,000 people working in the sector are employed by around 2,500 local firms, from small start ups that often come and go to SPEEEX. They earn on average about €1,000 ($1,170) a month — well below European levels but roughly double the national average. Senior roles and remote work for international companies sometimes pay much more tha...