Charlie Taylor, inspector of prisons for England and Wales, says dealers should be isolated and ‘assertively managed’ Jailed criminals who are flooding prisons with drugs should be isolated like radical extremists and “assertively managed”, the England and Wales prisons watchdog has said. Charlie Taylor, HM inspector of prisons, said major dealers were living “consequence-free” in jail when they s...
Charlie Taylor, inspector of prisons for England and Wales, says dealers should be isolated and ‘assertively managed’ Jailed criminals who are flooding prisons with drugs should be isolated like radical extremists and “assertively managed”, the England and Wales prisons watchdog has said. Charlie Taylor, HM inspector of prisons, said major dealers were living “consequence-free” in jail when they should be separated from the majority of inmates, subjected to regular searches for phones, and punished and rewarded according to their behaviour. Continue reading...
Mariam Sabbah, 10, to get specialist care in Britain instead of US, after Trump halted visitor visas for Palestinians A Palestinian child who lost her arm during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza arrived in the UK for specialist treatment on Tuesday, amid ongoing pressure on the British government to step up efforts to help evacuate critically ill and injured children from the territory. Mariam Sabbah ...
Mariam Sabbah, 10, to get specialist care in Britain instead of US, after Trump halted visitor visas for Palestinians A Palestinian child who lost her arm during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza arrived in the UK for specialist treatment on Tuesday, amid ongoing pressure on the British government to step up efforts to help evacuate critically ill and injured children from the territory. Mariam Sabbah arrived at Heathrow airport with her mother, Fatma Salman, and two brothers. They were met by a small crowd bearing gifts, balloons and bouquets. Continue reading...
With just days to go before Hungarians head to the polls, investors and strategists say there’s more room for markets to rally if polls are correct in showing that Prime Minister Viktor Orban ’s 16-year-old experiment in “illiberal democracy” is coming to an end. Citigroup Inc. has recommended buying Hungary ’s domestic bonds and shorting the euro against the forint. Strategists at Societe General...
With just days to go before Hungarians head to the polls, investors and strategists say there’s more room for markets to rally if polls are correct in showing that Prime Minister Viktor Orban ’s 16-year-old experiment in “illiberal democracy” is coming to an end. Citigroup Inc. has recommended buying Hungary ’s domestic bonds and shorting the euro against the forint. Strategists at Societe Generale SA have said the currency, which was trading well above 380 per euro before the US-Iran ceasefire plan, may strengthen beyond 370 if Peter Magyar ’s opposition Tisza party wins power as most opinion polls predict. The bet is that if Magyar forms the next government, he will reset relations with the European Union, put the $220 billion economy on track for an injection of funds frozen by the bloc and possibly even for euro adoption . While the forint has weakened since the start of war in Iran, it’s not far from the strongest level in nearly three years. Opinion polls are often wrong and investors betting on ballot results have been blindsided before. Election wagers, on top of Hungary’s high interest rates, helped the forint to gain 7% against the euro and 21% versus the dollar last year. Here’s how strategists see possible outcomes from Sunday’s vote: Opposition Victory A Tisza victory has become the market consensus expectation, said Giulia Pellegrini , lead portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors, who sees “Hungary as one of the most interesting risk/rewards and one of the few genuinely idiosyncratic opportunities in emerging markets this year.” Currency traders have piled into forint trades, lured by the chance for regime change and last year’s emerging-market rally. Central bank data, which captures some of these flows, shows foreigners’ long positions peaked just before the Iran war, in a reversal from the net shorts in past years — when the currency lagged regional peers. “A Tisza victory would remove a significant risk premium from Hungarian assets,” said Ku...
Photo: VCG Global markets swung Wednesday after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, pausing a 40-day conflict that had driven sharp moves across assets. Oil prices dropped sharply. Brent crude fell about 8% after the news, following a more than 40% surge over the past month as the conflict disrupted supply. The shift in sentiment rippled through currency markets. The U.S. Dollar Inde...
Photo: VCG Global markets swung Wednesday after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, pausing a 40-day conflict that had driven sharp moves across assets. Oil prices dropped sharply. Brent crude fell about 8% after the news, following a more than 40% surge over the past month as the conflict disrupted supply. The shift in sentiment rippled through currency markets. The U.S. Dollar Index fell. The Chinese yuan strengthened about 0.45% to around 6.83 per dollar in early trading, while the Japanese yen and South Korean won rose roughly 0.7% and 1.4%.
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: Trump threatened that a ‘A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight.’ Then Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire , including reopening the Strait of Hormuz . Markets are overjoyed so far, with a historic fall in oil prices . In other news: It looks like inflation rose last month (data due Friday). AND: More l...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: Trump threatened that a ‘A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight.’ Then Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire , including reopening the Strait of Hormuz . Markets are overjoyed so far, with a historic fall in oil prices . In other news: It looks like inflation rose last month (data due Friday). AND: More lunar tunes . A Civilization Survives These have been 24 eventful hours in the annals of war and peace. They dawned in the US with the leader of the free world threatening to commit genocide. This is what President Donald Trump said on Truth Social early Tuesday: Words fail. However, a little more than an hour before his deadline came a flurry of activity. Mediator Pakistan asked for a cessation, and then Trump called off the scheduled bombing and announced a two-week ceasefire to start once Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz. Markets responded to the hard fact that civilization would not be killed off and oil prices tumbled. Then came critical confirmation from Iran’s leadership. They really have agreed to the ceasefire. Talks under Pakistan’s aegis are slated for Friday. A little later, it filtered out that Iran still intended to charge for passage through the international waterway. Compared to what had seemed possible when the American day started, this was great news and the oil market responded accordingly: Putting the events in recent context, this was West Texas Intermediate’s biggest daily fall since the pandemic: Going further back, the market is pricing this as a truly historic development. These are the 10 biggest daily declines in the Brent crude contract since 1990. Only two selloffs, during the Covid-19 chaos in 2020 and in January 1991 when allied forces entered Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm , have been greater: It’s encouraging that the oil shock resolved most satisfactorily for the capitalist world, rather than like the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and the dis...
President Donald Trump’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran that will see Tehran temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz brought welcome relief to Asian markets on Wednesday. With Trump’s deadline approaching for the Islamic Republic to reopen the waterway or face obliteration, he announced a halt to attacks for two weeks and said he had received a “workable” 10-poi...
President Donald Trump’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran that will see Tehran temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz brought welcome relief to Asian markets on Wednesday. With Trump’s deadline approaching for the Islamic Republic to reopen the waterway or face obliteration, he announced a halt to attacks for two weeks and said he had received a “workable” 10-point proposal. Iran later said it had agreed to safe passage in the strait, through which a fifth of...
WD-40 ( WDFC ) declares $1.02/share quarterly dividend , in line with previous. Forward yield 1.92% Payable April 30; for shareholders of record April 17; ex-div April 17. The company has now announced a dividend of $1.02 for three consecutive quarters. See WDFC Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth. More on WD-40 WD-40: Squeaking By As Growth Loses Its Lubrication WD-40: Reiterate Se...
WD-40 ( WDFC ) declares $1.02/share quarterly dividend , in line with previous. Forward yield 1.92% Payable April 30; for shareholders of record April 17; ex-div April 17. The company has now announced a dividend of $1.02 for three consecutive quarters. See WDFC Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth. More on WD-40 WD-40: Squeaking By As Growth Loses Its Lubrication WD-40: Reiterate Sell On Weak Q1 Earnings WD-40 Company's Drop Doesn't Justify An Upgrade Quant snapshot: Delta Air Lines leads top-rated names as Byrna Technologies, Simulations Plus lag WD-40 shares hit 52-week low after Q1 earnings miss
Thai Liang Lim/iStock via Getty Images Perplexity’s revenues have jumped about 50% in a month, with estimated annual recurring revenue rising to more than $450 million in March, the Financial Times reported. The surge in revenue comes after the launch of a new agent tool and a shift to usage-based pricing, the report said. Before the new pricing system, Perplexity had grown its ARR to $305M from $...
Thai Liang Lim/iStock via Getty Images Perplexity’s revenues have jumped about 50% in a month, with estimated annual recurring revenue rising to more than $450 million in March, the Financial Times reported. The surge in revenue comes after the launch of a new agent tool and a shift to usage-based pricing, the report said. Before the new pricing system, Perplexity had grown its ARR to $305M from $16M over two years. A Perplexity executive told the FT that revenue retention was “strong,” without providing a figure. Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI recently got a boost as a U.S. appeals court paused a California ruling that had blocked the company's AI-powered shopping tool on Amazon ( AMZN ) . More on Perplexity, Appeals court allows Perplexity AI shopping bots to keep shopping on Amazon Utah man files class action lawsuit against Perplexity for sharing search data with Google, Meta
US stock index futures rallied after President Donald Trump ’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war triggered relief across markets. S&P 500 contracts rose 2.5% as of 3:04 a.m. in New York, while those on the Nasdaq 100 climbed 3.2%. Brent crude fell as much as 16% before trading around $94 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate dropped to around $96. Trump announced the agreement...
US stock index futures rallied after President Donald Trump ’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war triggered relief across markets. S&P 500 contracts rose 2.5% as of 3:04 a.m. in New York, while those on the Nasdaq 100 climbed 3.2%. Brent crude fell as much as 16% before trading around $94 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate dropped to around $96. Trump announced the agreement on social media hours after Pakistan, a mediator in talks, implored the US leader to back off his deadline for attacks on Iranian infrastructure. Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire, according to a White House official. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible for two weeks. Investors are trying to gauge whether this marks just a temporary halt of hostilities or a longer term truce. An easing in oil prices would help lift sentiment given concerns over the potential for higher inflation and slower growth caused by rising energy costs. “Near term, this creates the conditions for a relief rally,” said Mathieu Racheter , head of equity strategy at Julius Baer. “I expect cyclicals and stocks and sectors sensitive to rates to lead the rally overall. Also, the broader rotation story from US into non-US equities should now reassert itself again.” Read more: Why Trump’s Iran Threats Raise War Crime Concerns: Explainer The S&P 500 Index dropped more than 5% in March on the war, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index tumbled 8%. Both have rebounded somewhat from their recent lows as optimism grew for a deal to end the conflict. Markets have seesawed on daily headlines since the war began in late February, as investors reacted to attacks and threats followed by talk of negotiations. While much remains uncertain, the deal buys time for the two sides to reach an agreement to end the six-week-old war. “This may prove to be the off-ramp to the conflict that markets were looking for,” said Kerry Craig , a glob...