As Democrats prepare to force a vote in the US House this week on Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, the president posted a lengthy diatribe on his social media platform in which he threatened to block a bridge connecting the US and Canada and made a bizarre false claim that increased trade between Canada and China would include a ban on Canadians playing ice hockey. Trump began his latest screed a...
As Democrats prepare to force a vote in the US House this week on Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, the president posted a lengthy diatribe on his social media platform in which he threatened to block a bridge connecting the US and Canada and made a bizarre false claim that increased trade between Canada and China would include a ban on Canadians playing ice hockey. Trump began his latest screed against the US’s second-largest trading partner by claiming that “everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades”. The president also threatened to block the scheduled opening of the $4.6bn Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan, built by a binational partnership that won approval during the Obama administration but began construction in 2018, when Trump was president. “I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” Trump wrote on Monday. Trump blamed his predecessor Barack Obama for “stupidly” approving the bridge project, but made no mention of the fact that he had endorsed it himself in 2017 in a joint statement with Canada’s then prime minister, Justin Trudeau. “In particular, we look forward to the expeditious completion of the Gordie Howe international bridge, which will serve as a vital economic link between our two countries,” Trump and Trudeau said. In 2012, Michigan’s then governor Rick Snyder accepted a Canadian government offer to fund most of the new bridge’s costs, and took the unusual step of using executive authority to bypass the legislature. Construction began in 2018 and the bridge is nearing completion. The US Homeland Security Department on 30 January published a rule declaring the bridge as an official port of entry. The Canadian embassy in Washington, the office of Michigan governor Gretchen ...
Earnings Call Insights: ON Semiconductor Corporation (ON) Q4 2025 Management View President and CEO Hassane El-Khoury reported that, "In 2025, amid a challenging demand environment, we delivered $6 billion of revenue and non-GAAP gross margin of 38.4% by staying disciplined in our execution and tightly aligning to our long-term strategy." He highlighted technology leadership advancements, portfoli...
Earnings Call Insights: ON Semiconductor Corporation (ON) Q4 2025 Management View President and CEO Hassane El-Khoury reported that, "In 2025, amid a challenging demand environment, we delivered $6 billion of revenue and non-GAAP gross margin of 38.4% by staying disciplined in our execution and tightly aligning to our long-term strategy." He highlighted technology leadership advancements, portfolio strengthening through organic investments, acquisitions, and partnerships, as well as the launch of the Treo Platform and delivery of more than $250 million in AI data center revenue. The company expanded automotive content for zonal architecture, optimized cost structure through Fab Right actions, and returned $1.4 billion of free cash flow via share repurchases. El-Khoury explained, "We doubled the number of products sampling year-over-year reinforcing Treo as a key contributor to our long-term mix shift towards high-margin product revenue and supporting our new design funnel, which is now over $1 billion." El-Khoury further announced, "We broadened our leadership in wide band gap technologies by introducing our lateral and vertical GaN or vGaN strategy with a differentiated product road map... preparing to sample more than 30 new GaN devices spanning 40 to 1,200 volts." The company revealed a new foundry partnership for lateral GaN and highlighted proprietary vGaN manufacturing in the U.S. with first revenue expected in 2027. Executive VP and CFO Thad Trent stated, "We delivered record free cash flow margin of 24% in 2025. Free cash flow increased 17% year-over-year to $1.4 billion due to tight expense control and lower CapEx as our large capacity investments are behind us." Trent described a new $6 billion share repurchase program, continued portfolio rationalization, targeted investments in differentiated products, and a reduction of fab capacity by 12% in 2025 as part of Fab Right strategy. He added, "Our Q4 gross margin includes approximately 700 basis points of un...
Earnings Call Insights: Upwork Inc. (UPWK) Q4 2025 Management View Hayden Brown, President, CEO & Director, highlighted the completion of a three-year transformation, stating, "In 2025, we completed a 3-year journey to fundamentally transform the business and position Upwork to extend our leadership in the AI era." Brown emphasized Upwork's shift to a "human plus AI solution for the market" and re...
Earnings Call Insights: Upwork Inc. (UPWK) Q4 2025 Management View Hayden Brown, President, CEO & Director, highlighted the completion of a three-year transformation, stating, "In 2025, we completed a 3-year journey to fundamentally transform the business and position Upwork to extend our leadership in the AI era." Brown emphasized Upwork's shift to a "human plus AI solution for the market" and reported "over $4 billion in GSV, $788 million in revenue and $226 million in adjusted EBITDA." She noted, "Both revenue and adjusted EBITDA were at record levels," and described strong Q4 year-over-year growth in GSV, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA margin. Brown detailed product enhancements like AI-generated work summaries, improved search and recommendation functionality, and the integration of Upwork's Uma AI agent. She stated, "GSV from AI-related work surpassed $300 million on an annualized basis in Q4, up more than 50% from the prior year." The CEO reported robust traction for Business Plus, Upwork's SMB solution, with "active Business Plus clients grew 49% sequentially, with 38% of these clients being new to Upwork." She described the Enterprise segment's progress with the Lifted platform, noting the acquisition of two companies and early client wins. Erica Gessert, Chief Financial Officer, stated, "average GSV per active client increased throughout the year, growing 7% year-over-year in Q4 to a record level of over $5,100," and "overall spend per contract increased 10% year-over-year, resulting in the highest ever average spend per contract over any 12-month period at Upwork." Gessert explained, "Marketplace GSV growth was relatively flat in the fourth quarter over last year...driven primarily by fewer low-value, high-volume contracts," but expressed confidence in "positive GSV and revenue growth in each quarter of 2026." Gessert also noted, "churn rate declined over the course of 2025 with fourth quarter churn reaching its lowest level in over 8 quarters." Outlook Ges...
The yuan surged to its strongest level since May 2023 after China was said to have asked banks to limit their holdings of US Treasuries. Any shift away from US sovereign debt reinforces a broader global trend of diversification away from the dollar. Such a move might accelerate the repatriation of capital into Chinese assets, providing a fundamental tailwind for the yuan. The onshore and offshore ...
The yuan surged to its strongest level since May 2023 after China was said to have asked banks to limit their holdings of US Treasuries. Any shift away from US sovereign debt reinforces a broader global trend of diversification away from the dollar. Such a move might accelerate the repatriation of capital into Chinese assets, providing a fundamental tailwind for the yuan. The onshore and offshore yuan both extended their advance to strongest level in more than two years on Tuesday following the report. The latest move is adding momentum for the yuan , which is already the third-best-performing currency in Asia since the end of September with a gain of around 3%. Most of the yuan’s gains are driven by dollar weakness stemming from uncertainty surrounding fiscal and trade policies from President Donald Trump’s administration. The People’s Bank of China’s higher tolerance for a stronger yuan and a surge in capital inflows have also aided the currency. The yuan received a boost on Monday after the dollar sank the most in two weeks amid a jump in the yen and commodity-linked currencies. Both the onshore and offshore yuan traded around 6.91 per dollar on Tuesday morning in Hong Kong. The moves came as people familiar with the matter said Chinese officials urged banks to limit purchases of US government bonds , and instructed those with high exposure to pare their positions. Officials didn’t give any specific target on size or timing. The directive doesn’t apply to China’s state holdings of US Treasuries. What Bloomberg’s Strategists Say... “The warning from Chinese authorities to their banks about holding Treasuries is the type of messaging which is likely to be quietly doing the rounds in Europe and Asia. That’s positive for the yuan as global investors diversify into alternate currencies.” — Mark Cranfield , Markets Live strategist. Click here for the full analysis. The report is also prompting some analysts to predict a structural change in China’s currency strategy. T...