In this article .KS11 XAU= JPY= .DXY EUR= GBP= KRW= Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledges those in attendance after speaking from the Cross Hall of the White House on April 1, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Brandon | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two or three weeks in a national a...
In this article .KS11 XAU= JPY= .DXY EUR= GBP= KRW= Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledges those in attendance after speaking from the Cross Hall of the White House on April 1, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Brandon | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two or three weeks in a national address on Wednesday. "We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks," he said. "We're going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong." But the first targets to bear the brunt of the president's "Epic Fury," Washington's name for the Iran operation, were Asian stocks, U.S. Treasuries and oil prices. Shortly after his 19-minute speech, Asian markets reversed earlier gains from Thursday's session, as benchmarks in Australia, Japan and South Korea fell. South Korea's Kospi plunged 4.37%, leading losses in the region. The Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets, which opened their sessions shortly after his speech, started the day in negative territory. Markets reacted negatively because, while Trump says it is nearly over, he is sending the third aircraft carrier and more troops to the region so it is hard to believe his words. Alicia Garcia Herrero Chief Economist, Asia Pacific, Natixis U.S. stock futures were down over 1% for all three major indexes after trading flat earlier in the session. U.S. Treasury yields climbed after Trump's speech, signaling a sell-off in the bond market, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year notes climbing 6 basis points to 4.38%. In currencies, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.37% to 100.02, reversing earlier losses. The Japanese yen weakened 0.38% to 159.37 against the greenback, while the South Korean won fell 0.6% to 1,521.80. Both currencies had strengthened earlier in the session. The dollar also strengthened against other major currencies, with the Euro trading at 1.153, while the pound fell 0.57% to 1.3...
(RTTNews) - European stocks may tumble at open on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump did not give a clear timeline for ending the Middle East conflict in his highly anticipated prime-time address to the nation.
(RTTNews) - European stocks may tumble at open on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump did not give a clear timeline for ending the Middle East conflict in his highly anticipated prime-time address to the nation.
Countries across Asia are jockeying for leverage and adopting splintering approaches as they respond to US President Donald Trump ’s call to open the Strait of Hormuz by themselves, amid mounting economic disruptions. As the conflict enters its second month, governments from India to the Philippines are negotiating with Iran for the safe passage of vessels, while forming small circles to seek a di...
Countries across Asia are jockeying for leverage and adopting splintering approaches as they respond to US President Donald Trump ’s call to open the Strait of Hormuz by themselves, amid mounting economic disruptions. As the conflict enters its second month, governments from India to the Philippines are negotiating with Iran for the safe passage of vessels, while forming small circles to seek a diplomatic solution — and even bartering deals. Some US allies such as Japan are looking at a 35-country effort led by London to restore freedom of navigation to a waterway that weeks ago handled about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade. Other countries like Pakistan and China are proposing their own multi-point plan for peace, as the Islamic Republic keeps a tight grip over the shipping artery. Trump suggested in a rare address to his nation Wednesday evening that trade would get easier in the coming weeks, claiming the strait would open “naturally” so the Iranian regime could sell more oil. “The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage,” Trump added, stopping short of saying America would abandon efforts to assist such efforts. “We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.” Following Trump’s earlier suggestion the war could end with the waterway closed, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will chair a virtual meeting Thursday with counterparts from countries including France, Canada and the United Arab Emirates to discuss a plan for opening the strait. A Japanese government spokesman said Tokyo was considering taking part. Other US partners in Asia including South Korea and Australia are expected to join. That meeting will consider a shared diplomatic approach to the challenge, as well as economic leverage such as sanctions, and could also set conditions for potential military options, if needed. It’s unlikely that Asian nations will play an...
Finnish chocolate maker Fazer is on track for a possible initial public offering within a few years to fund an international expansion and potential acquisitions, Chief Executive Officer Christoph Vitzthum said. “I see Fazer listing by 2029,” Vitzthum said in an interview at the company’s chocolate factory just outside of Helsinki. The family-owned company still has some work to do to ensure inves...
Finnish chocolate maker Fazer is on track for a possible initial public offering within a few years to fund an international expansion and potential acquisitions, Chief Executive Officer Christoph Vitzthum said. “I see Fazer listing by 2029,” Vitzthum said in an interview at the company’s chocolate factory just outside of Helsinki. The family-owned company still has some work to do to ensure investors understand its various businesses, the CEO said. Oy Karl Fazer Ab , as the company is formally known, was founded in 1891 by confectioner Karl Fazer . It’s one of the largest food companies in the Nordic region, with annual net sales of about €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion), operating in eight countries and selling products in more than 40 markets. It has three businesses — confectionery, bakery and plant-based foods. Fazer is now looking to expand internationally. It’s pursuing deals in the Nordic markets, Poland and the Czech Republic, the CEO said. “We are currently negotiating an acquisition that could be completed this year,” Vitzthum said. In addition to possibly raising funds for expansion, a motivation for an IPO would be giving Fazer’s roughly 90 shareholders the option of parting ways with some of their shares. “If you put 90 people in a room, they will rarely agree on everything,” Vitzthum said, adding that “generally, they want liquidity for their holdings and want to enable the company to grow and perform well.” A key step Fazer still needs to take is building investor awareness of the company and its prospects. About half of its sales are chocolates and sweets, with bakeries making up a third and its unit focusing on plant-based foods, breakfast products and smoothies accounts for about 15%. “Once we decide to seriously begin those discussions, we need to start educating investors on what kind of company we are,” the CEO said. “If we were purely a chocolate company or purely a bakery company, it would be much easier to communicate,” he said. “This requires so...
Globalstar's ( GSAT ) stock price surged roughly 15% during after-hours trading on Wednesday to $79.06 after FT.com reported that Amazon ( AMZN ) was weighing an acquisition of the satellite communications company. Amazon ( AMZN ) is in discussions to acquire Globalstar ( GSAT ) in a transaction reportedly valued at around $9B. The move pushed the satellite company to an 18-year high, as investors...
Globalstar's ( GSAT ) stock price surged roughly 15% during after-hours trading on Wednesday to $79.06 after FT.com reported that Amazon ( AMZN ) was weighing an acquisition of the satellite communications company. Amazon ( AMZN ) is in discussions to acquire Globalstar ( GSAT ) in a transaction reportedly valued at around $9B. The move pushed the satellite company to an 18-year high, as investors priced in the possibility of a takeover premium. The deal would strengthen Amazon’s ( AMZN ) low-Earth orbit satellite ambitions, “Project Kuiper” or branded “Leo,” and help it compete with SpaceX ’s ( SPACE ) Starlink network. Amazon ( AMZN ) currently lags far behind Starlink in satellite count, making an acquisition a potential shortcut to scale. Notably, Apple ( AAPL ) holds roughly a 20% stake in Globalstar ( GSAT ), meaning any acquisition would require negotiations with the iPhone maker. The companies were still negotiating over some of the complexities of a deal following lengthy talks, the report added, citing sources familiar with the matter. Founded in 1991, the U.S.-based satellite communications company operates a network of low Earth orbit satellites to provide connectivity services worldwide. More on Globalstar, Amazon Amazon: This Is Worse Than You Think Amazon: Short-Term Pressure, Long-Term Opportunity Amazon's Bears Watch FCF Go Negative But Miss CEO's Lion's Share View Amazon to launch new small business credit cards in partnership with U.S. Bank, Mastercard UK regulator to probe Microsoft's business software ecosystem
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction The market, in the last few weeks, has determined that Microsoft ( MSFT ) is losing the AI narrative. I believe that is a misinterpretation of what is going on. The company is not losing, in fact, that the market was assuming a perfect execution of the AI monetization story at the October 2025 highs, and what we're seeing now is the repricin...
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction The market, in the last few weeks, has determined that Microsoft ( MSFT ) is losing the AI narrative. I believe that is a misinterpretation of what is going on. The company is not losing, in fact, that the market was assuming a perfect execution of the AI monetization story at the October 2025 highs, and what we're seeing now is the repricing of that story to something closer to what is actually going on, which, as I said, is quite strong but takes longer to compound through P&L than the market narrative changes. That repricing, by the way, has now gotten too far. Azure: The Supply Story Is Still Being Written The bear case on Azure is based on two data points: the growth slowed from 40% to 39% quarter over quarter, and the capex required to support it, $37.5 billion in Q2 alone , is rising 66% while revenue growth is only 17%. Both of those are true but neither of those statements tells the whole story. view.officeapps.live.com What is missing in the market is the supply side, which CFO Amy Hood pointed to during the earnings call when she said A way to think about it, because I think I get asked this question sometimes, is, you know, if I had taken the GPUs that just came online in Q1 and Q2, in terms of GPUs, and allocated them all to Azure, the KPI would have been over 40. The constraint is not demand but supply and the $625 billion RPO is proof of that. The contract duration of Azure contracts extended from two years to two and a half years in the latest quarter. What that means is the revenue from the infrastructure that they’re building out today is already sold and in Q2, they added nearly one gigawatt of total capacity. Q3 guidance of 37% to 38% constant currency growth in Azure is in line with expectations and not above and beyond expectations, which is not what the market is used to seeing from Microsoft. However, in line is not bad when you’re growing 37% off of a $32 billion Intelligent Cloud base...
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction The market, in the last few weeks, has determined that Microsoft ( MSFT ) is losing the AI narrative. I believe that is a misinterpretation of what is going on. The company is not losing, in fact, that the market was assuming a perfect execution of the AI monetization story at the October 2025 highs, and what we're seeing now is the repricin...
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction The market, in the last few weeks, has determined that Microsoft ( MSFT ) is losing the AI narrative. I believe that is a misinterpretation of what is going on. The company is not losing, in fact, that the market was assuming a perfect execution of the AI monetization story at the October 2025 highs, and what we're seeing now is the repricing of that story to something closer to what is actually going on, which, as I said, is quite strong but takes longer to compound through P&L than the market narrative changes. That repricing, by the way, has now gotten too far. Azure: The Supply Story Is Still Being Written The bear case on Azure is based on two data points: the growth slowed from 40% to 39% quarter over quarter, and the capex required to support it, $37.5 billion in Q2 alone , is rising 66% while revenue growth is only 17%. Both of those are true but neither of those statements tells the whole story. view.officeapps.live.com What is missing in the market is the supply side, which CFO Amy Hood pointed to during the earnings call when she said A way to think about it, because I think I get asked this question sometimes, is, you know, if I had taken the GPUs that just came online in Q1 and Q2, in terms of GPUs, and allocated them all to Azure, the KPI would have been over 40. The constraint is not demand but supply and the $625 billion RPO is proof of that. The contract duration of Azure contracts extended from two years to two and a half years in the latest quarter. What that means is the revenue from the infrastructure that they’re building out today is already sold and in Q2, they added nearly one gigawatt of total capacity. Q3 guidance of 37% to 38% constant currency growth in Azure is in line with expectations and not above and beyond expectations, which is not what the market is used to seeing from Microsoft. However, in line is not bad when you’re growing 37% off of a $32 billion Intelligent Cloud base...