The head of the International Energy Agency will participate in a meeting of European Union finance ministers this week as they craft possible responses to the war in the Middle East. Executive Director Fatih Birol will brief the virtual gathering on Friday, which has been convened hastily to assess the impact of the conflict on energy markets and the economy, and how to better coordinate relief m...
The head of the International Energy Agency will participate in a meeting of European Union finance ministers this week as they craft possible responses to the war in the Middle East. Executive Director Fatih Birol will brief the virtual gathering on Friday, which has been convened hastily to assess the impact of the conflict on energy markets and the economy, and how to better coordinate relief measures, a senior EU official said. The fallout from the war, amplified by the near total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, is forcing Europeans to downgrade their economic forecasts while many national governments are working on aid packages for companies and households. EU institutions want to limit the costs of such measures as the bloc’s member states have limited fiscal space. Last week, for example, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde urged governments not to go overboard on help for voters to weather the surge in energy prices. “The Governing Council highlights the urgent need to strengthen the euro area economy while maintaining sound public finances,” Lagarde said. “Any fiscal responses to the energy price shock should be temporary, targeted and tailored.” The EU is keen to foster more coordination after similar measures in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 proved not that targeted, nor temporary, the senior EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions on the matter are confidential. A more coordinated approach is also hoped for this time. Among responses so far, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ’s coalition last week approved a temporary cut to Italy’s excise taxes on fuel and is looking at further aid for families. EU Leaders Face Multi-Year Energy Squeeze After Qatar Attack Lagarde Warns Europe’s Governments to Keep Lid on Energy Aid Europe Faced With Near-Empty Gas Stores Just as War Hits Supply
On March 25, PDD officially announced the establishment of "Xinpinmu" to build a self-operated brand. Photo: VCG PDD Holdings Inc., operator of bargain platforms Pinduoduo and Temu, is launching an initiative to build a global network of self-operated brands, planning to invest 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) over the next three years. The company said Wednesday it has set up a Shanghai entity, X...
On March 25, PDD officially announced the establishment of "Xinpinmu" to build a self-operated brand. Photo: VCG PDD Holdings Inc., operator of bargain platforms Pinduoduo and Temu, is launching an initiative to build a global network of self-operated brands, planning to invest 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) over the next three years. The company said Wednesday it has set up a Shanghai entity, Xinpinmu, with an initial 15-billion-yuan cash injection. The venture will develop curated in-house brands across markets and categories, combining PDD’s domestic supply chain with Temu’s overseas reach. It also plans to offer “go-global” services to China’s industrial-belt merchants, including customized manufacturing, product standards, warehousing and logistics, intellectual-property support, legal assistance and regulatory-compliance help.
Shareholders of PBF Energy Inc (Symbol: PBF) looking to boost their income beyond the stock's 2.2% annualized dividend yield can sell the September covered call at the $60 strike and collect the premium based on the $6.20 bid, which annualizes to an additional 25.9% rate of retu
Shareholders of PBF Energy Inc (Symbol: PBF) looking to boost their income beyond the stock's 2.2% annualized dividend yield can sell the September covered call at the $60 strike and collect the premium based on the $6.20 bid, which annualizes to an additional 25.9% rate of retu
Volatility in energy commodity prices driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East is confounding firms trying to make decisions about production in coming months. “The volatility across all the commodities is just insane and makes planning very difficult,” one anonymous respondent said in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ quarterly energy survey , released Wednesday. Higher oil prices due to th...
Volatility in energy commodity prices driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East is confounding firms trying to make decisions about production in coming months. “The volatility across all the commodities is just insane and makes planning very difficult,” one anonymous respondent said in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ quarterly energy survey , released Wednesday. Higher oil prices due to the war are driving some optimism about increased production among US oil and gas companies, but uncertainty is weighing heavily on many firms. “In the quarter ahead, all pricing is uncertain until safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz can be achieved,” another respondent said. Half of the surveyed exploration and production companies don’t expect to increase the number of wells drilled this year, while 47% said they will drill slightly or significantly more wells. Energy company officials expect the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to end 2026 at $74 a barrel, according to the survey. That’s up from an estimate of $62 in December. The survey was conducted March 11–19, after the start of the Iran conflict caused oil prices to surge. WTI at around $89 a barrel Wednesday. “Volatility has increased due to geopolitical events,” said another respondent. “The second- and third-order effects of this volatility and the commodity supply and price shock have yet to be determined, but the focus on energy security over the coming years should position US producers well on the global stage.” The quarterly publication is widely read within the energy sector and features anonymous, unfiltered comments from respondents working at production and service companies. In this quarter’s survey, 135 firms responded, including 92 in exploration and production, as well as 43 oilfield services firms.
SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk ’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans. The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the informa...
SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk ’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans. The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX has discussed with potential investors the prospect of raising more than $70 billion, some of the people said. Either figure would be far above the $50 billion target Bloomberg News has previously reported, and more than double the largest ever IPO, Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. SpaceX continues to seek a market debut in June, though the timing could still shift, some of the people said. The company could file its IPO paperwork confidentially as soon as this month, Bloomberg News reported in February. Read More: SpaceX Weighs Confidential IPO Filing as Soon as March The Information earlier reported the higher fundraising target. Preparations for a confidential filing are ongoing and SpaceX could still decide to change the plan, the people said. A representative for SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than $1.75 trillion, people familiar with the matter have said. It acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI in a deal that valued the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg News has reported . S&P Weighs Rule Changes That Would Speed SpaceX S&P 500 Entry SpaceX Knocks Boeing From Dominant Role in NASA Moon Mission Musk Says Tesla, SpaceX, xAI Chip Project to Kick Off in Texas Is SpaceX Worth $1.75 Trillion? Key Questions for Musk’s Big IPO SpaceX Blockbuster IPO Lures Investors Into Murky Private Deals At a $1.75 trillion market value, SpaceX would be bigger than all but five of the companies in the S&P 500 Index — Nvidia Corp. , Apple Inc. , Alphabe...
(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks climbed higher Wednesday morning amid signs of de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East on reports of diplomatic talks between U.S. and Iran for a peace deal.
(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks climbed higher Wednesday morning amid signs of de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East on reports of diplomatic talks between U.S. and Iran for a peace deal.
(Bloomberg) -- SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans.The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified a...
(Bloomberg) -- SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans.The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX has discussed with potential investors the prospect of raisin
Barbican Hall, London John Butt’s Dunedin Consort premiered Davies’s new Passion: a startlingly sensual meditation with a sense of ritual – and an electric guitar hidden amid the baroque instrumentation Most period-instrument bands spend Lent playing as many Bach Passions as they can schedule, but here were the Dunedin Consort and conductor John Butt adding to their already impressive list of prem...
Barbican Hall, London John Butt’s Dunedin Consort premiered Davies’s new Passion: a startlingly sensual meditation with a sense of ritual – and an electric guitar hidden amid the baroque instrumentation Most period-instrument bands spend Lent playing as many Bach Passions as they can schedule, but here were the Dunedin Consort and conductor John Butt adding to their already impressive list of premieres with a brand new Passion. A co-commission with the Edinburgh international festival, where it will be heard in August, it is the fruit of the composer Tansy Davies’s long fascination with the elusive figure of Mary Magdalene. Davies’s text draws on several sources including the second- or third-century, non-canonical Gospel of Mary, and weaves in evocative poetry by Ruth Fainlight. It unfolds steadily in a 90-minute span divided into seven episodes, related by eight singers – four women, four men. Mary Magdalene herself, radiantly sung here by Anna Dennis, is a visionary, with long passages of almost mystical words, the melody leaping from note to note; the other three women sing in chords, giving voice to an Oracle. It’s more of a meditation than a Passion-setting in the traditional sense, but there’s no new-age looseness: Davies’s score is tautly written. And the story gets told, if not in quite the usual way. Jesus’s first words – addressed here by the otherwise velvet-voiced baritone Marcus Farnsworth to Tim Lilburn’s countertenor demon – are an angry “Shut up!”, and some of Fainlight’s poetry is startlingly sensual. Continue reading...
In this photo illustration a 13-year-old teenage boy looks at an iPhone screen displaying various social media apps on January 12, 2026 in Bath, England. Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.K. government is trialing a social media ban for hundreds of teens, after the country's lawmakers rejected a blanket ban on under-16s using the platforms. The U.K.'s Department for Science, Inno...
In this photo illustration a 13-year-old teenage boy looks at an iPhone screen displaying various social media apps on January 12, 2026 in Bath, England. Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.K. government is trialing a social media ban for hundreds of teens, after the country's lawmakers rejected a blanket ban on under-16s using the platforms. The U.K.'s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology said Wednesday that it will run a six-week pilot with various bans ranging from curfews to time caps on certain apps on 300 teenagers across the country. The pilot is part of its broader digital wellbeing consultation launched this year, which has already received 30,000 responses from parents and children on the effect of social media on children's wellbeing, and closes on 26 May. It includes four types of interventions, with one set of parents instructed to use parental controls to remove or disable select apps; a second group to impose a one-hour cap per day for teens on the most popular apps, including Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat; a third set will impose a curfew between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., and a final group will continue will not restrict social media access at all. This comes after U.K. lawmakers voted against a proposal to include a social media ban for under-16s in an existing piece of legislation, the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, earlier this month. watch now VIDEO 1:57 01:57 Tracking Europe's approach to social media bans for teenagers Europe Early Edition Shortly after, online safety organizations in the U.K., Ofcom and the Information Commissioner's Office, urged social media firms to ensure the protection of children online through measures, such as better use of age verification technologies and preventing strangers from contacting teens. Australia became the first country to ban social media for under-16-year-olds in December, and other countries began mulling something similar. Read more Australia banned social media for under...