Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced a limited-time offer allowing customers to transfer their Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature to a new Tesla vehicle. FSD Transfer Program Details Tesla stated on its website that the FSD transfer program is available for orders placed by Mar. 31, 2026. Customers interested in this offer must place an order for a new Tesla vehicle by the specified deadline. The trans...
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced a limited-time offer allowing customers to transfer their Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature to a new Tesla vehicle. FSD Transfer Program Details Tesla stated on its website that the FSD transfer program is available for orders placed by Mar. 31, 2026. Customers interested in this offer must place an order for a new Tesla vehicle by the specified deadline. The transfer of FSD from an existing vehicle to a new one is permitted, but only the new vehicle will have access to the feature. Eligibility Details To qualify, customers must be the legal owner and registrant of the current vehicle with FSD purchased outright. Both vehicles must be under the same Tesla Account, and all terms and conditions must be agreed upon before delivery. The program is subject to change or termination at any time and cannot be applied retroactively. Vehicles under active lease, business, commercial, or pre-owned orders are not eligible. Additionally, the transferring vehicle must not be involved in any pending cancellation or buyback requests or have outstanding liens or balances. Tesla's FSD Updates This announcement follows a series of updates regarding Tesla’s FSD transfer policies. On January 19, Tesla shared that the free FSD transfer service would conclude at the end of March. Additionally, on January 27, updated the terms for FSD transfers, specifying that customers taking delivery between Apr. 24, 2025, and Mar. 31, 2026, could be eligible for free transfers. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Key Points IEFA charges a lower expense ratio and nearly doubles the dividend yield of NZAC's. IEFA’s recent one-year return outpaced NZAC, but both saw similar five-year drawdowns. 10 stocks we like better than iShares Trust - iShares Core Msci Eafe ETF › The State Street SPDR MSCI ACWI Climate Paris Aligned ETF (NASDAQ:NZAC) and iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEMKT:IEFA) are popular options for i...
Key Points IEFA charges a lower expense ratio and nearly doubles the dividend yield of NZAC's. IEFA’s recent one-year return outpaced NZAC, but both saw similar five-year drawdowns. 10 stocks we like better than iShares Trust - iShares Core Msci Eafe ETF › The State Street SPDR MSCI ACWI Climate Paris Aligned ETF (NASDAQ:NZAC) and iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEMKT:IEFA) are popular options for investors seeking diversified international exposure, but their approaches and underlying holdings differ materially. This comparison explores whether the broad, climate-focused NZAC or the developed-market, cost-efficient IEFA makes more sense for a given portfolio. Snapshot (cost & size) Metric NZAC IEFA Issuer SPDR IShares Expense ratio 0.12% 0.07% 1-yr return (as of Feb. 7, 2026) 15.11% 28.70% Dividend yield 1.88% 3.32% Beta 1.05 0.79 AUM $182.12 million $171.77 billion Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year weekly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. IEFA looks more affordable, charging 0.07% annually versus NZAC’s 0.12%, and delivers a higher dividend yield at 3.4% compared to NZAC’s 1.9%, a notable gap for income-focused investors. Performance & risk comparison Metric NZAC IEFA Max drawdown (5 y) -28.29% -30.41% Growth of $1,000 over 5 years $1,499 $1,353 What's inside IEFA tracks developed markets outside the U.S. and Canada, offering access to 2,589 holdings, with financial services (22%), industrials (20%), and healthcare (11%) as the top sectors. Its largest positions include ASML Holding N.V. (AMS:ASML.AS), Roche Holding AG (SIX:ROG.SW), and HSBC Holdings Plc (LSE:HSBA.L). With a 13-year track record, its international focus tends to lean towards companies in Europe and Asia. NZAC targets companies that meet climate-aligned criteria, providing investors with exposure to efforts to reduce climate risks. It holds 729 stocks, with technology accounting for 32% of assets, foll...
Palantir Technologies has evolved from a shadowy defense contractor into a full-stack decision-intelligence platform. Here is how its software stack now competes, scales, and shapes the company’s valuation. The New Arms Race: Turning Raw Data into Real Decisions For years, Palantir Technologies was shorthand for secretive government analytics, a company whispered about in the same breath as intell...
Palantir Technologies has evolved from a shadowy defense contractor into a full-stack decision-intelligence platform. Here is how its software stack now competes, scales, and shapes the company’s valuation. The New Arms Race: Turning Raw Data into Real Decisions For years, Palantir Technologies was shorthand for secretive government analytics, a company whispered about in the same breath as intelligence agencies and black budgets. Today, it has become something much larger: a full-stack decision-intelligence platform used by banks, automakers, pharmaceutical giants, and sprawling industrial conglomerates that all share the same pain point — a flood of data, and almost no ability to act on it fast enough. That is the core problem Palantir Technologies is built to solve. Enterprises have cloud warehouses, lakes, and lakes-of-lakes. They have dashboards. They have machine learning projects. What they often lack is an operational layer that unifies those pieces into something business users and frontline operators can actually use to run factories, fight fraud, plan logistics, or respond to geopolitical shocks. Palantir’s product suite — led by Palantir Foundry for commercial users, Palantir Gotham for governments, and Apollo as the deployment backbone — positions the company not as yet another analytics vendor, but as a sort of operating system for data-driven decision-making. In an era where every enterprise claims to be "AI-first," Palantir Technologies is trying to own the stack that makes that claim real. Get all details on Palantir Technologies here Inside the Flagship: Palantir Technologies Palantir Technologies is not a single monolithic product, but a tightly integrated platform of three pillars: Gotham, Foundry, and Apollo, increasingly wrapped with Palantir’s AI Platform (AIP). Together, they aim to turn complex, messy, security-sensitive data into live applications, workflows, and AI copilots that sit directly in front of analysts, managers, and operators. P...
Growth is set to begin to accelerate for the pipeline company. After experiencing some headwinds related to the roll-off of favorable contracts in its LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) business in 2025 and a return to more normalized spreads, Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 0.47%) shares rose after the company returned to growth in the fourth quarter and projected growth to accelerate through 2027. ...
Growth is set to begin to accelerate for the pipeline company. After experiencing some headwinds related to the roll-off of favorable contracts in its LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) business in 2025 and a return to more normalized spreads, Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 0.47%) shares rose after the company returned to growth in the fourth quarter and projected growth to accelerate through 2027. Stronger growth ahead Despite recent headwinds, Enterprise still operates a steady business model with strong visibility. Approximately 82% of its gross operating profit in 2025 came from fee-based activities, which is back to historical levels after a few years of benefiting from high differentials. In Q4, Enterprise's total gross operating profit rose by 4% to $2.74 billion, while its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also increased by 4% to $2.71 billion. Distributable cash flow (DCF) rose by 3% to $2.22 billion, while adjusted free cash flow came in at just $1.17 billion. Expand NYSE : EPD Enterprise Products Partners Today's Change ( -0.47 %) $ -0.17 Current Price $ 34.91 Key Data Points Market Cap $76B Day's Range $ 34.66 - $ 35.28 52wk Range $ 27.77 - $ 35.55 Volume 319K Avg Vol 4.2M Gross Margin 13.52 % Dividend Yield 6.23 % The master limited partnership (MLP) currently has a forward yield of 6.4% and has been one of the most consistent high-yield dividend stocks in the sector, given its conservative and shareholder-friendly nature. Despite a lackluster 2025, Enterprise's distribution remained well covered, and its balance sheet remains in good shape. It had a 1.8x coverage ratio in Q4, based on its DCF, while it ended the year with leverage (net debt adjusted for equity credit in junior subordinated notes divided by adjusted EBITDA) of 3.3 times. It paid a $0.55 per unit quarterly distribution, which was up 2.8% year over year. It also repurchased $50 million in stock in the quarter. Looking ahead, Enterprise forecas...
Broadcom is the least-well-known trillion-dollar company. If you asked the average investor to name the top 10 largest companies by market cap or every $1 trillion company, they probably could do fairly well. However, I can nearly guarantee that the majority of investors would leave one company off the list: Broadcom (AVGO +7.26%). Broadcom isn't as well-known as some of the other household names ...
Broadcom is the least-well-known trillion-dollar company. If you asked the average investor to name the top 10 largest companies by market cap or every $1 trillion company, they probably could do fairly well. However, I can nearly guarantee that the majority of investors would leave one company off the list: Broadcom (AVGO +7.26%). Broadcom isn't as well-known as some of the other household names at this threshold, and that makes it fly a bit under the radar, even if it's worth $1.5 trillion. Over the next two years, Broadcom has a ton of growth in the pipeline that could push it from an obscure stock to one of the more well-known ones, similar to how Nvidia rose from niche knowledge to kitchen table talk. This rise in fame would also coincide with stock price appreciation, making Broadcom a fantastic option to consider buying now. Broadcom is Nvidia's only real challenger Nvidia has dominated the AI computing market and has secured a massive market share. However, its clients are constantly looking for ways to replace Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs), because they're so expensive. Broadcom is trying to steal some of that market share by partnering directly with AI hyperscalers and designing custom AI chips suited for their needs. These chips are set up to run one function, so they aren't as flexible as a GPU. However, companies can buy more ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) for their dollar than they can Nvidia GPUs, which leads to a more cost-effective solution. The chipmaker already has several large clients using its chips, most notably Google with its Tensor Processing Unit. However, there are several other AI hyperscalers that are in the process of finishing their designs and purchasing chips throughout 2026 and 2027. This will lead to impressive growth, challenging Nvidia at the top of the computing food chain. Expand NASDAQ : AVGO Broadcom Today's Change ( 7.26 %) $ 22.55 Current Price $ 333.06 Key Data Points Market Cap $1.6T Day's R...
Key Points Broadcom's custom AI chips are seeing massive orders from customers. The chipmaker's growth over the next few years is expected to be incredible. 10 stocks we like better than Broadcom › If you asked the average investor to name the top 10 largest companies by market cap or every $1 trillion company, they probably could do fairly well. However, I can nearly guarantee that the majority o...
Key Points Broadcom's custom AI chips are seeing massive orders from customers. The chipmaker's growth over the next few years is expected to be incredible. 10 stocks we like better than Broadcom › If you asked the average investor to name the top 10 largest companies by market cap or every $1 trillion company, they probably could do fairly well. However, I can nearly guarantee that the majority of investors would leave one company off the list: Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO). Broadcom isn't as well-known as some of the other household names at this threshold, and that makes it fly a bit under the radar, even if it's worth $1.5 trillion. Over the next two years, Broadcom has a ton of growth in the pipeline that could push it from an obscure stock to one of the more well-known ones, similar to how Nvidia rose from niche knowledge to kitchen table talk. This rise in fame would also coincide with stock price appreciation, making Broadcom a fantastic option to consider buying now. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » Broadcom is Nvidia's only real challenger Nvidia has dominated the AI computing market and has secured a massive market share. However, its clients are constantly looking for ways to replace Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs), because they're so expensive. Broadcom is trying to steal some of that market share by partnering directly with AI hyperscalers and designing custom AI chips suited for their needs. These chips are set up to run one function, so they aren't as flexible as a GPU. However, companies can buy more ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) for their dollar than they can Nvidia GPUs, which leads to a more cost-effective solution. The chipmaker already has several large clients using its chips, most notably Google with its Tensor Processing Unit. However, there are several other AI hyperscalers that are ...
The late German-born Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld was famously precise, exacting and known to hold a grudge, but his final wishes concerning the beneficiaries of his vast fortune could now be overturned beyond the grave in a looming court battle. Seven years after Lagerfeld’s death from cancer, an unnamed plaintiff has come forward to challenge the haute couture titan’s last will and testament. ...
The late German-born Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld was famously precise, exacting and known to hold a grudge, but his final wishes concerning the beneficiaries of his vast fortune could now be overturned beyond the grave in a looming court battle. Seven years after Lagerfeld’s death from cancer, an unnamed plaintiff has come forward to challenge the haute couture titan’s last will and testament. The estate’s executor, Christian Boisson, has contacted Lagerfeld’s surviving nieces and nephews to inform them that they could now inherit his millions if the case is successful, German media reported. Care of his beloved cat, provided for before his death, would not be affected. Lagerfeld, one of the most influential figures in global high fashion across decades, but an enigmatic figure behind dark glasses, had no spouse, children or surviving siblings when he died in 2019 aged 85. His will dated 29 April 2016 shut out his deceased siblings’ children, leaving his accumulated wealth and property, valued at about €200m, to a tight cadre of confidants. They are believed to include his assistant and bodyguard Sébastien Jondeau, teenage godson Hudson Kroenig and models Brad Kroenig and Baptiste Giabiconi. Giabiconi has described himself as “at the top” of Lagerfeld’s inheritors and said the designer once made an abortive attempt to adopt him as a son. The German magazine Bunte reported that the descendants of Lagerfeld’s late sisters, Christiane Johnson, who died in 2015, and Thea von der Schulenburg, who married into the aristocratic Schulenburg clan and died in 1997, had received letters from the executor. “The interpretation of the will is being contested,” Boisson wrote, according to Bunte. “At present, the rights of the heirs are therefore uncertain.” Lagerfeld lived in Paris and died on its outskirts but maintained what he called his primary residence in Monaco, meaning that French and Monegasque law, which generally designate the next of kin as rightful heirs, would app...
Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,141 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,323 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc's holdings in Oracle were worth $4,087,000 at the end of the most recent qu...
Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,141 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,323 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc's holdings in Oracle were worth $4,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 130.0% in the 3rd quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock. Get Oracle alerts: Sign Up Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research firms have commented on ORCL. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on Oracle in a report on Monday, December 15th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Oracle from $368.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, Dece...
Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,494 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 7,769 shares during the quarter. Taiw...
Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,494 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 7,769 shares during the quarter. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing accounts for approximately 7.0% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $27,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Get TSM alerts: Sign Up Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,046,792 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,728,478,000 after buying an additional 2,537,760 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 43.2% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,650,983 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,506,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,745 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 109.5% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,526,160 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $798,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,951 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 268.2% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,499,677 shares of the semiconduct...
Getty Images In 2025 Lyrical Global generated a 21.1% return, in line with the MSCI World Index and slightly ahead of the MSCI World Value Index. This was a satisfying result, especially considering we passed on two of the highest- returning areas of the market: mega cap tech stocks and large European banks. Fortunately, our bottom-up, fundamental stock selection made up for the absence. We matche...
Getty Images In 2025 Lyrical Global generated a 21.1% return, in line with the MSCI World Index and slightly ahead of the MSCI World Value Index. This was a satisfying result, especially considering we passed on two of the highest- returning areas of the market: mega cap tech stocks and large European banks. Fortunately, our bottom-up, fundamental stock selection made up for the absence. We matched the MSCI World Index’s return, mostly due to earnings growth in our portfolio. Our companies grew EPS 14.2%, in 2025, well ahead of the 9.6% of the MSCI World. In the U.S., it was difficult to keep pace with a market propelled by AI enthusiasm and the mega-cap tech companies. The market leadership in the U.S. was so narrow that 70% of the S&P 500 constituents underperformed. Despite this challenging environment, our U.S. investments kept pace with the index return. We were able to do this, in part, by benefitting from several AI beneficiaries. In our global fund, five AI-related stocks rose by 72% and delivered eight percentage points, representing about 36% of our total return for the year. To be clear, these stocks were selected from amid the junk, with an average forward P/E of 10.2x at purchase. And despite the swift rise this year, the four AI-related stocks we continued to hold at year-end traded at only 16.0x P/E. Outside the U.S., it was a different story, with strong returns for both the indices and our stocks. The MSCI EAFE delivered a 31.2% return, finally closing some of the valuation gap that had expanded for more than a decade between U.S. and non-U.S. stocks. Our non-U.S. stocks performed even better, returning 33.9%. Here too we faced a significant headwind from banks, which surged by 55% and accounted for 30% of total non-US stock return of the MSCI World. Even though these bank stocks are cheap, we avoid them because of their weak business structures and poor fundamentals, which has made them long-term underperformers. We continue to have high expectatio...
We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images When I first wrote about Brookfield Asset Management ( BAM ) in December last year, the stock price was around $53. In that article , I talked about BAM's growth prospects and gave it a BUY rating based on my analysis. Since that article, BAM's price has dropped almost 8%. But I'm not concerned, and neither should you be! This downward movement is caused by we...
We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images When I first wrote about Brookfield Asset Management ( BAM ) in December last year, the stock price was around $53. In that article , I talked about BAM's growth prospects and gave it a BUY rating based on my analysis. Since that article, BAM's price has dropped almost 8%. But I'm not concerned, and neither should you be! This downward movement is caused by weak market sentiment towards asset managers, and not by issues specific to BAM. In fact, the company very recently announced a 15% dividend hike, which has made it an even more attractive investment. But before I get to its valuation and dividend analysis, let's look at the Q4 and FY2025 results first. The Growth Story Right off the bat, the numbers look pretty neat. FRE (fee-related earnings) reached $867 million in Q4 (+28%), and around $3 billion for FY2025 (+22%). Not only did the FRE go up, but the margins also got better. After a 200 basis point improvement for Q4 and a 100 basis point improvement for the full year, the FRE margins now stand at 61% and 58%, respectively. DE (distributable earnings) also showed a double-digit rise. For the full year, they grew by 14%, and in Q4, 18%. The interesting part is that, not long ago, in FY2024, the yearly growth for DE was only 5%, and for FRE it was 10% over FY2023. This means that not only did BAM's business grow in size in 2025, its growth rates also accelerated, which gives me more confidence in the company's growth story. In addition to the results, BAM also announced that Connor Teskey (previously the company president) would succeed Bruce Flatt as the CEO. Brookfield Asset Management Fundraising In 2025, BAM raised about $35 billion for Q4 and $112 billion for the full year. Out of the $35 billion, $23 billion was raised for credit funds. I think it is also worth noting that out of the $23 billion that BAM raised for its credit strategies, $9 billion came from Brookfield Wealth Solutions ( BNT ). However, this isn't con...
BP will face pressure from shareholders to prove it can leave a turbulent period in the past as it prepares to reveal its full-year results this week. The company is expected to follow industry rivals by reporting weaker annual profits after global oil prices fell for a third consecutive year in 2025, in the steepest decline recorded since the Covid pandemic. City analysts forecast BP profits of a...
BP will face pressure from shareholders to prove it can leave a turbulent period in the past as it prepares to reveal its full-year results this week. The company is expected to follow industry rivals by reporting weaker annual profits after global oil prices fell for a third consecutive year in 2025, in the steepest decline recorded since the Covid pandemic. City analysts forecast BP profits of about $7.5bn (£5.5bn), down from almost $9bn in 2024, following an expected slump in fourth quarter earnings after crude prices fell below $60 a barrel for the first time in almost five years. Meg O’Neil, who will become the chief executive of BP from April, will face pressure from investors to set out a new strategic vision, while activist shareholders continue to push the oil company to prepare for a long-term decline in fossil fuel demand. This month a group of investors led by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, which includes the workplace pension scheme Nest, filed a resolution that called for the company to set out how it would control its spending on oil and gas projects in the years ahead. Dutch shareholder activists at Follow This are also calling for BP to disclose its strategy for creating shareholder value under scenarios of declining demand for fossil fuels. BP started up seven new oil and gas projects last year as the company returned its focus to fossil fuels in an effort to resuscitate itsfortunes after trying to diversify into major renewable energy investments. Five of the seven projects were delivered ahead of schedule. Analysts at Citi told clients in a recent investor note that BP’s share price has outperformed its European rivals by 4.4%, the equivalent of about $4bn of additional equity value over the last six months. They expect that rival Shell’s “material exploration success” off the coast of Brazil could add a further $15bn to $20bn to the company’s value. “We think all the ingredients are there for a substantial change in narrat...
"My view then and my view now is that [Sir Keir] needs a new chief of staff, he needs an opening up of the routes to him so that people can reach him and he can hear what people are thinking and feeling," he told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House.
"My view then and my view now is that [Sir Keir] needs a new chief of staff, he needs an opening up of the routes to him so that people can reach him and he can hear what people are thinking and feeling," he told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House.
Wall Street will look to build on a dramatic Friday turnaround that saw the Dow Jones Industrial (^DJI) close above 50,000 for the first time, while a 2% daily rally in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) indexes wiped away some of the pain felt earlier in the week. When the closing bell rang on Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq still logged its fourth straight losing week, falling nearly...
Wall Street will look to build on a dramatic Friday turnaround that saw the Dow Jones Industrial (^DJI) close above 50,000 for the first time, while a 2% daily rally in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) indexes wiped away some of the pain felt earlier in the week. When the closing bell rang on Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq still logged its fourth straight losing week, falling nearly 3%, as investor concerns over AI-related disruption across software names, specifically, predominated across most of the trading action. With a weekly loss, the S&P 500 has also dropped in three out of the last four weeks. Both the Dow and S&P 500 are up for the year; the Nasdaq this week forfeited its year-to-date gains. In the week ahead, the delayed January jobs report is set to be released on Wednesday. Economists expect 70,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were created last month while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.4%. Friday will also bring investors key inflation data, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expected to show prices rose 0.3% over last month and 2.5% over the prior year. The jobs report — delayed by five days due to the brief government shutdown that ended on Feb. 3 — comes as signs the US labor market remains on shaky ground appeared last week. ADP reported on Feb. 4 that private employers added just 22,000 jobs in January, about half of what economists expected. The BLS's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released Thursday, showed job openings in December sank to the lowest level since the throes of the pandemic in 2020, while data from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed layoff announcements in January hit the highest level for the month since 2009. "The low-hire, low-fire dynamic that has dominated the labor market for much of the past year continued to generally hold in December, with layoffs remaining low and unemployment actually declining slightly," Indeed sen...
French authorities have arrested five suspects after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for about 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday. The arrests of four men and one woman followed the discovery on Friday of the 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother, found injured in a garage in the south-eastern Drôme department, the Lyon public p...
French authorities have arrested five suspects after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for about 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday. The arrests of four men and one woman followed the discovery on Friday of the 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother, found injured in a garage in the south-eastern Drôme department, the Lyon public prosecutor’s office said. During a press conference later on Friday, the Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said the magistrate’s partner – who was not home when the pair were abducted overnight Wednesday to Thursday – had a leading position in a cryptocurrency startup. A massive police search involving 160 officers was launched after he received a message and a photo of his partner from the kidnappers demanding a ransom to be paid in cryptocurrency. The captors threatened to mutilate their victims if the transfer was not made quickly, Dran told reporters, declining to specify the amount demanded. The two women managed to free themselves and raise the alarm. They were rescued on Friday morning in Bourg-lès-Valence without any ransom being paid, according to the prosecutor. French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies. In January 2025, kidnappers seized the French crypto boss David Balland and his partner. Balland co-founded a crypto firm called Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1bn. The kidnappers cut off his finger and demanded a hefty ransom. He was freed the next day, and his partner was found tied up in the boot of a car outside Paris. In May, the father of a man who ran a Malta-based cryptocurrency company was kidnapped by four hooded men in Paris. The victim, whose finger was also severed by the kidnappers and for whom a ransom of several million euros was demanded, was released 58 hours later in a raid by the security forces.