(RTTNews) - Verisign Inc. (VRSN) will host a conference call at 4:30 PM ET on February 5, 2026, to discuss Q4 25 earnings results. To access the live webcast, log on to https://investor.verisign.com To access the live webcast, log on to (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (646) 769-9200 (international), conference ID: Verisign. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

After Earnings, Is Microsoft Stock a Buy, a Sell, or Fairly Valued? Morningstar

When you miss 18 months of football, there is a natural eagerness to make up for lost time. Jérémy Jacquet has certainly done that. This time last year Rennes recalled him from a loan spell at Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot and now he has been signed by Liverpool for £60m. The conditions were always ripe for Jacquet to succeed at Rennes, a club known for developing talent. But even by their standards, the 2005 generation is something special. Désiré Doué, Mathys Tel, Jeanuël Belocian, Lesley Ugochukwu and, come the summer, Jacquet will have all left Rennes, but not before pushing each other to greater heights during their formative years. However, Jacquet’s growth was stunted in his teenage years, albeit not literally. The defender grew by 10cm in a year, which was not without its complication. For 18 months, Jacquet hardly played and required surgery to remove the end of a cartilage. “For Jérém, it was growth injuries, Osgood-Schlatter, things like that. You know you’re going to lose time,” recalls Laurent Viaud, his manager at under-19s level. As it transpires, those injuries gave Jacquet fresh momentum. “When he came back, he wanted to eat everything up,” says Viaud. “It was bordering on us having to slow him down because we had to manage him because otherwise, at some point, he was going to explode. The day young players come back from injury they have a desire to grow because they know what it’s like to be off the pitch, out of training. Suddenly, they forge a mentality that may be better than that of those who were permanently on the pitch.” Rennes were also relieved to see Jacquet had not lost any of his technical gifts. “Their bodies change, they may become less coordinated – that’s where you have a doubt,” says Viaud. But that was not the case for Jacquet, who was already considered a “complete” defender – bestowed with “speed, aggression, a strong heading game, and above all, technical quality”. He honed his technique while playing in midfield at a young age. ...

Imagine a future in which artificial intelligence systems purposely mislead political dissidents and other “misaligned” individuals, feed journalists distorted facts and provide bug-filled code to government contractors. The systems lie to users, not because of what they asked, but because of who they are. The promise of the internet was once its global nature, but over the past 20 years, the model of a single, shared internet has faded, as services broadcasting the same information to everyone have given way to algorithmically personalized streams. AI has the potential to intensify these dynamics, because it can adjust the answers it gives after extracting identity cues from a user’s language, IP address, queries, inputs and other available data. The technology’s ability to target content precisely will increase as AI systems become more deeply integrated into every aspect of people’s lives. There’s already evidence that politically motivated AI targeting is no longer a hypothetical problem. Last summer, at the Wicked Problems Lab at Vanderbilt University, we documented how a Chinese company named GoLaxy led AI-enabled influence operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong to generate content calibrated to the political profiles of specific audiences. For a study published by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike in November, researchers presenting themselves as users associated with groups classified as politically sensitive by the Chinese government (such as Uyghurs, Tibetans and the Falun Gong) prompted an AI model from the Chinese company DeepSeek to generate code. CrowdStrike found that the output generated for these groups contained far more errors and vulnerabilities than the content produced from identical requests from other users. In short, the quality of a model’s answers can depend on who it thinks is asking. These instances illustrate how AI could become a new sort of weapon for nation-states operating in the so-called gray zone, that area of interstate competition ...

奥比中光（688322）公告，公司于2026年2月5日收到上海证券交易所出具的《关于奥比中光（688322）科技集团股份有限公司向特定对象发行股票的交易所审核意见》，具体意见如下：“奥比中光（688322）科技集团股份有限公司向特定对象发行股票申请符合发行条件、上市条件和信息披露要求。本所将在收到你公司申请文件后提交中国证监会注册。”公司本次向特定对象发行A股股票事项尚需获得中国证券监督管理委员会作出同意注册的决定后方可实施，最终能否获得中国证监会同意注册的决定及其时间尚存在不确定性。

Shortly before the United States descended into civil war and senior administration officials made a forceful case to purchase Greenland for its natural resources, an American ship appeared in Nuuk’s harbour. Its arrival at Greenland’s largest outpost was newsworthy enough to merit a large picture in the local newspaper. The clipping, published in 1861, comes from the pages of the Atuagagdliutt, a Kalaallisut-language weekly that was the first in the world to use colour illustrations. The image of early US interest in Greenland forms part of a newly opened exhibition on 19th-century Arctic exploration at the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher rare book library. Arctic Fever, which draws together lithographs, books, maps and ephemera, offers some uncanny parallels to today’s scramble for the north, showcasing the ambition, hubris and hunger for territory and resources that still drive much interest in the region. View image in fullscreen Eskimaux Chart No 2, with “shaded parts drawn by Iligliuk at Winter Island, 1822”, from William Edward Parry’s Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage From the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1824. Photograph: Thomas Fisher rare book library “A lot of people see the news and are confused by president Donald Trump’s desires for Greenland. He’d said it in his first term. He voiced it last year,” said Isabelle Gapp, an art historian at the University of Aberdeen, and co-curator of the exhibition. “But people often don’t quite understand just how long a history the US has with Greenland.” The view held by senior officials in the current White House was also held in 1867, when secretary of state William Seward formalized a desire to acquire Greenland and Iceland, citing the two islands’ immense strategic value. Donald Trump has said he would not take Greenland by force, but the White House suggests that it remains keen to control the island. Jeff Landry, the US special envoy to Greenland, called it“one of the worl...

Midway through the 2023 NFL season, Dallas Cowboys star edge rusher Micah Parsons was frustrated. Asked about the source – a feeling of being held by opponents all the time – Parsons credited his defensive line coach Aden Durde with keeping him in check. “[Coach Durde] pulled me aside and said, ‘You gotta remember, you’re Micah fucking Parsons,” he recalled. “‘This shit is going to happen. You just gotta keep going. Fuck all the other stuff.’” Durde is hardly the first NFL defensive coach to deliver a fiery pep talk, but he is the first to deliver it with an English accent. And come Sunday, Durde will be the first coach from the UK to grace the sidelines of a Super Bowl, when his Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots. Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon both respects and gets a kick out of Durde, now in his second season as Seattle’s defensive coordinator. “His accent is pretty dope. I’m intrigued by it. I want to learn to talk like that,” said Witherspoon earlier this week. Witherspoon wasn’t comfortable attempting the accent outside the confines of the Seahawks locker room but excitedly offered a referral. Seahawks safety Coby Bryant lit up at the mere mention of Durde, who hails from north London. After nailing “we’re going to win the Super Bowl” in Durde’s accent, Bryant explained his kinship with his coordinator. “He’s the ultimate competitor,” Bryant said. “People say we’re similar. They think we’re serious and always about work. I respect how he always wants to get better.” To call Seattle’s defense better since Durde and head coach Mike Macdonald came to town two years ago is an understatement. The duo have transformed Seattle’s defense from 30th overall in 2023 to sixth this season. The juggernaut unit allowed a league-best 17.2 points per game, rightfully drawing comparisons to the punishing Legion of Boom of the mid-2010s. Macdonald calls the plays, while Durde works on implementation and individual player development. It’s a partnership that w...

Steve Bannon, a one-time adviser to Donald Trump, has long styled himself as a populist nemesis of the global elites. Yet the latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files shows that he exchanged hundreds of friendly texts with the wealthy financier, discussing politics, travel and other topics. One of the biggest surprises in the files was a bizarre video in which Epstein – who exploited and abused dozens of young girls – is interviewed by Bannon at what appears to be Epstein’s New York home. In an esoteric, meandering conversation over nearly two hours, the men discuss economics – Bannon is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker – and philosophy as well as Epstein’s time in jail. They evidently paused filming just before the halfway point and then resumed, as Epstein’s glasses and shirt suddenly changed appearance. There is an easy familiarity between the two men that allows Bannon to call Epstein a “schmuck” and “criminal” and even ask if he is “the devil” fallen from paradise. At one point, Bannon comments: “There’s something deeply fucked up with you.” The interview also becomes an exercise in intellectual peacocking as they invoke Socrates, Isaac Newton and quantum physics but pay little attention to Epstein’s crimes. Epstein reveals himself to be a living museum of racial prejudice. Filmed around 2019, the interview was reportedly intended for a sympathetic documentary designed to polish Epstein’s tarnished reputation. Bannon has previously written and directed documentaries about topics including the financial crisis and the Clinton Foundation. Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and died in his jail cell in August. Here are some of the most notable and strange moments from the interview: 94 mins, 30 secs: human intelligence and intuition Epstein has some views to share on gender and race and it goes about as well as you would expect. He reflects on the limits of science and how it cannot describe romance. “I don’t know why I’m attracted to somebody – I don’t know...

The last remaining youth centre in one of England’s most deprived coastal places has been saved from being sold after a long campaign by the charity that has for 13 years called it home. In November the Guardian revealed how the centre in Ramsgate on the Kent coast was facing being auctioned off by Kent county council, despite an independent report that estimated the centre was saving the council more than £500,000 a year in costs, including for services in mental health, youth justice and social care. Pie Factory Music, the charity that is based in the youth centre, has for many years provided a social space for eight- to 25-year-olds, but also offers services including counselling, employment advice, life-skills sessions, assistance for young refugees, and creative and music projects. After a campaign that started in September 2024, Pie Music Factory has been able to buy the freehold of Ramsgate youth centre. This was partly thanks to a grant of £535,000 from Labour’s Pride in Place strategy, which aims to put significant investment into deprived communities across the country. View image in fullscreen Zoë Carassik says youth provision should not depend on charities alone and called for strengthening statutory protections for youth services. Photograph: Polly Braden/The Guardian “Knowing our future in the building is secure fills us with hope and relief,” said Pie’s chief executive, Zoë Carassik. “We are deeply grateful to the Pride in Place programme and everyone who has helped us.” However, she said that the government’s Youth Matters national strategy, which it announced at the end of last year, needed to come with real investment and “not just words” to stop this happening elsewhere. “We should never have had to campaign to save Ramsgate youth centre – the last dedicated youth centre in the area – in the first place,” she said. “This must not happen again. “Youth provision should not depend on charities like us alone. That’s why we urge local MPs and the commu...

Alex Pretti – an ICU nurse documenting alleged cases of federal immigration agents’ overreach – was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on 24 January. Just hours later, Minnesotans gathered in their neighborhoods for vigils to mourn his death and demand an end to the federal incursion on their state. Meanwhile, the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Zoom and the New York Stock Exchange attended a glitzy screening of the new Melania documentary at the White House, where they munched on popcorn in special commemorative black-and-white boxes and took home Melania-branded cookies. That day offered a stark split-screen, with the courage of everyday people on one side, and the cowardice of elites on the other. Pretti and his fellow Minnesotans decided to risk physical abuse and even death to defend and support their neighbors. Minnesotans have modeled community and courage, and people from coast to coast have spoken up, donated and acted in solidarity. Following Pretti’s death, their determination has only grown. There is no shortage of courage in our country right now. It is just unevenly distributed. In the wake of Pretti’s death, US elites – those running major businesses, universities, law firms, media companies and other mainstream institutions, often hailing from the nation’s most exclusive academic institutions – have continued on their course of compliance and complacency. Countless leaders have responded to the authoritarian actions of Donald Trump’s second administration with silence. Numerous others have capitulated, paying exorbitant settlements and sacrificing the independence of organizations they lead at the altar of self-preservation. Many have sold out their professions’ fundamental principles such as academic freedom and free expression. Even amid the recent horrors in Minnesota, the state’s big corporations could muster only a statement of lackluster both-sidesism after Pretti’s death, “calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local and ...

I hate this time of year. From the start of last month to the end of this, I hate it. The days are wet, or at best damp, and are either cold or suddenly rather warm, cooking you in your rainwear. And, worst of all, the days are grey. So terribly, terribly grey. The clouds, the buildings, the trees, the cars, the people. The buses, being red, albeit a dirty red, try to do their bit. But inside, the condensation on the windows sweats away, grey and wet, obscuring the view of the greyness and wetness you will soon be stepping back into. It’s like we are living our lives in a black and white film, but it’s worse than that, because in black and white films there are blacks and whites as well as greys. For us, in these miserable months, it’s just greys. Even if it snows, the snow only stays white for about 15 minutes before it starts fading to grey. The odd splash of colour you occasionally see in the murk barely helps, its starkness accentuating the monochrome all around, deepening the gloom. I find the sight of something vividly red particularly unhelpful, almost morbid, summoning the quiet horror of the small figure in the bright red coat in that disquieting film Don’t Look Now. As I write, the sun has popped out. But I’m not fooled. It’s toying with me. Begone! I know you will vanish again shortly for days and weeks on end, so just get on with it. Bring back the greys – we know there’s more of them to come. It doesn’t even help that the days are getting longer. What’s the point? It just creates more time for greyness. The nights I don’t mind actually. Blackness isn’t great, but it has one thing going for it – it’s better than greyness. Black beats grey. Everything beats grey. I have just been for a blood test. At least my blood wasn’t grey. The phlebotomist told me to cheer up, that at least every day brings us closer to spring. So she says. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Adtalem Global Education ( ATGE ) is changing its name to Covista as part of a strategic transformation. The company's stock will begin trading under the ticker symbol CVSA on the New York Stock Exchange on February 24, 2026. Four years ago, the company decided to focus on healthcare. That change is now complete, and Covista operates five accredited healthcare institutions in the U.S., serving more than 97,000 students and 385,000 alumni across fields such as medicine, nursing, veterinary care, and behavioral health. The company is now looking to expand capacity to help address the shortage of healthcare workers. Source: Press Release More on Adtalem Global Education Adtalem Global Education Inc. 2026 Q2 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Adtalem Global Education Inc. (ATGE) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Adtalem Global: Solid Healthcare Education Platform, But Investigation Risk Limits Upside Adtalem raises adjusted EPS guidance to 17–20% growth while signaling continued enrollment momentum Adtalem Global Education Non-GAAP EPS of $2.43 beats by $0.24, revenue of $503.4M beats by $14.68M

格隆汇2月5日｜据市场消息，部分瑞银投资银行部门预计将获得20%的奖金池增长。

At the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian, Shaanxi province, sits an unremarkable-looking device called the TPG1000Cs. It could become Starlink’s worst nightmare. The TPG1000Cs is the world’s first compact driver for a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon, capable of delivering an extraordinary 20 gigawatts of power for up to one full minute. Advertisement Measuring just four metres long (13 feet) and weighing only five tonnes, it is compact enough to be mounted on trucks, warships, aircraft or even satellites According to estimates from some Chinese experts, a ground-based microwave weapon with an output over 1GW could severely disrupt or even damage Starlink satellites operating in low Earth orbit Advertisement Until now, similar known systems could only operate continuously for no more than three seconds and were far bulkier.

A string of private credit deals in recent weeks suggests some of the world’s most deep-pocketed investors are getting behind Europe’s defense build-up. The credit arm of Carlyle Group Inc. financed Bridgepoint Group’s acquisition of Comrod, a Norwegian maker of masts used for military communication. That followed a debt package Carlyle arranged for France’s Mecachrome , which provides components for Emmanuel Macron ’s vaunted Rafale fighter jets. The deals, including one for aerospace equipment provider Beaufort , may not even amount to $1 billion — but they hold out the promise of a vast pool of private capital for an industry that’s suffered from chronic underinvestment by hamstrung governments. “There’s a very healthy and pragmatic realization that this is something that is needed in Europe that’s been under-invested for too long,” Christian Stracke , president of Pacific Investment Management Co. said in a Credit Edge podcast . “We are actively looking at how can we get involved in this space and help the public sector crowd in private sector finances.” Defense has never figured highly for private credit funds, with ESG considerations keeping them and their end investors — including sovereign wealth funds — away from a rich source of profits . Attitudes started to change last year, just as European leaders woke up to the need to ramp up their military budgets. Any doubts would have been dispelled by US Vice President JD Vance’s combative speech at the Munich Security Conference. Over the course of 2025, European credit funds ripped up the rulebook on environmental, social and governance to pour money into the industry. More recently, the European Commission clarified the EU’s sustainable finance framework to take in defense . Now, private capital is looking for a chance to deploy cash to makers of drones, aerospace-related technology and weaponry. “Attitudes to the defense sector have clearly shifted in the past year,” said Taj Sidhu , partner and head of Europ...

In Inside the Numbers, Nubank founder and CEO David Vélez unpacks the key figures behind the digital bank’s growth. (Source: Bloomberg)

This is The Takeaway from today's Morning Brief, which you can sign up to receive in your inbox every morning along with: What we're watching What we're reading Economic data releases and earnings Jeff Bezos came, he saw, he conquered. Maybe not in the way you'd expect from a onetime financial savior of an iconic newspaper. There are now two Bezos eras at the Washington Post: The first started when he rescued it in 2013. The second began when he saw it gutted, blessing mass layoffs the company executed on Wednesday. More from Yahoo Scout What impact did Bezos's political decisions have on readership? Why did the Washington Post eliminate one-third of staff? How do Amazon's Melania documentary spending contrast with layoffs? How are billionaires reshaping traditional media platforms today? The Washington Post is eliminating one-third of its staff, including more than 300 people in the newsroom, and shuttering or decimating entire sections, including sports, local news, books, and international coverage. The company told employees the paper had failed to meet readers' needs, struggling to maintain financial health while audiences, technology, and the media environment transformed. The news business has been in deep trouble for a while. And even the New York Times (NYT), the rare legacy media boat without a giant hole in it, shows that it's a tough industry regardless. Shares of the top-dog newspaper-turned-puzzle-and-cooking-app are down more than 6% after reporting on Wednesday, as investors were apparently spooked by higher costs tied to the latest pivot to video. (I, too, am now a vertical video journalist; please find me on TikTok and Instagram.) Sign up for the Yahoo Finance Morning Brief By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Subscribe On social media and in news coverage in the aftermath, Post employees, the labor union, and alumni (myself included) strongly criticized the decision. Others have pointed to more recent moves by Bezos...

An Asian cyber-espionage group has spent the past year breaking into computer systems belonging to governments and critical infrastructure organizations in more than 37 countries, according to the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, Inc. The state-aligned attackers have infiltrated networks of 70 organizations, including five national law enforcement and border control agencies, according to a new research report from the company. They have also breached three ministries of finance, one country’s parliament and a senior elected official in another, the report states. The Santa Clara, California-based firm declined to identify the hackers’ country of origin. The spying operation was unusually vast and allowed the hackers to hoover up sensitive information in apparent coordination with geopolitical events, such as diplomatic missions, trade negotiations, political unrest and military actions, according to the report. Both the hacking campaign and Palo Alto Networks’ report on it are unusual. The hackers did digital reconnaissance on targets around the globe and, according to the report, actually broke into sensitive networks of governments on most continents. In a sign of its significance to cybersecurity professionals who see lots of serious breaches, the Palo Alto Networks researchers disclosed an unusual level of detail, naming some victims along with the technical details for digital defenders common in such reports. The findings detail how the hackers used their illicit access to spy on emails, financial dealings and communications about military and police operations. The hackers also stole information about diplomatic issues, lurking undetected in some systems for months. “They use highly-targeted and tailored fake emails and known, unpatched security flaws to gain access to these networks,” said Pete Renals, director of national security programs with Unit 42, the threat intelligence division of Palo Alto Networks. “Espionage appears to be the main motivati...

Skywalker_ll/iStock via Getty Images By Bill Pauley, CFA, CFP | Kevin Bales, CFA | Adam Schreiber, CFA, CAIA | Ty Painter For the past 15 years, investors have been rewarded for doing one thing well: owning the S&P 500. Cap-weighted, growth-heavy portfolios dominated returns and reinforced expectations that strong recent performance would persist. The risk is not what those portfolios delivered, but what investors now assume they will deliver next, and how those assumptions hold up once the objective shifts from beating a benchmark to funding retirement income. When success is defined by generating consistent, absolute returns rather than relative outperformance, the trade-offs change. Drawdowns matter more, volatility becomes asymmetric, and the order of returns can overwhelm long-term averages, particularly once withdrawals begin. 1. Trailing Returns and Forward Expectations One of the hardest habits for investors to break is assuming that recent performance will continue, even when “recent” means a decade or more. That may sound discouraging for investors in broad market passive or growth-oriented portfolios, but history has also shown a better outcome for strategies that emphasized diversification or valuation discipline, such as equal-weight, value, or defensive approaches. For these portfolios, looking back on the last 15 years has historically had little bearing on what the next 15 would bring. Even after strong periods, diversified, value-focused, or defensive quality-oriented styles did not experience the same sharp drop-off in returns that cap-weighted or growth investors often faced. One potential cause of this divergence is portfolio construction. Cap-weighted and growth portfolios systematically increased exposure to recent winners, magnifying returns during strong periods while embedding risks that only surfaced during market stress. By contrast, diversified, value-focused, or defensive quality-oriented portfolios relied less on multiple expansion and ...

Revenue of $283.4 million in Q3, ahead of outlook Diluted EPS of $0.97 in Q3 and Adjusted Diluted EPS of $1.14, versus prior year Q3 Diluted EPS of $1.22 Repurchased approximately 0.8 million shares opportunistically in Q3 Successfully closed acquisition of eye care supplier Pillar5 Pharma, Inc. in December, as expected Narrowing Outlook Range of Fiscal 2026 Revenue and Adjusted Diluted EPS TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:PBH) today reported financial results for its third quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2025. “We exceeded our third quarter revenue outlook and delivered solid profitability in the quarter, which reflected the benefits of our diverse business model and strong financial profile. We are pleased with these results, especially when navigating the challenging consumer backdrop we’ve experienced year-to-date. As expected, we continued to make progress toward improving Clear Eyes® supply, increasing sales sequentially and closing on the acquisition of Pillar5 in December. Furthermore, our superior free cash flow and low leverage allowed us to repurchase approximately 0.8 million shares in the third quarter to further enhance shareholder value,” said Ron Lombardi, Chief Executive Officer of Prestige Consumer Healthcare. Third Fiscal Quarter Ended December 31, 2025 Reported revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 of $283.4 million decreased 2.4% from $290.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 and decreased 2.2% excluding the impact of foreign currency. The revenue decline versus the prior year comparable period was primarily driven by lower Ear & Eye Care category sales as a result of limited ability to supply demand for Clear Eyes®. Reported net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2026 totaled $46.7 million and non-GAAP adjusted net income totaled $54.9 million, compared to the prior year third quarter’s net income of $61.0 million. Diluted earnings per share of $0.97 and no...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (“FirstCash” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: FCFS), the leading international operator of more than 3,300 retail pawn stores, today announced record revenue and earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025. The Company also announced that the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.42 per share, which will be paid in February 2026. Mr. Rick Wessel, chief executive officer, stated, “FirstCash generated record fourth quarter and full year revenue and earnings results. Driven by strong fourth quarter revenue growth of 20%, the Company marked its first fiscal quarter in history in which consolidated revenues exceeded $1 billion, resulting in a 26% increase in fourth quarter earnings per share. “The outstanding results were fueled by exceptional strength in all three pawn segments, as combined same-store pawn receivables in the legacy U.S. and LatAm pawn segments increased a record 18% in total, and 15% on a local currency basis. Pawn receivables for H&T, the new U.K. pawn subsidiary, increased 25% on a local currency basis compared to a year ago. “From a strategic perspective, we invested significantly during 2025 in the long-term growth of our global pawn operations with the addition of almost 350 pawn locations, the most in any year since our merger with Cash America almost ten years ago. The expansion into the U.K., through the 286-store H&T acquisition in August, was followed by a strong fourth quarter push which saw the acquisitions of 17 U.S. stores in five states in addition to 11 new store openings in Latin America. The continued growth seen in all markets is exciting and, we believe, bodes well for further revenue and earnings growth in 2026. “In addition to supporting store expansion, our strong balance sheet and cash flows further benefited our shareholders in 2025 through $71 million in cash dividends and stock repurchases totaling $1...

Q4 gold production 5% higher than Q3 at 871,000 ounces 1 , 2025 gold and copper production in line with guidance , 2025 gold and copper production in line with guidance Record quarterly cash flow with operating cash flow of $2.73 billion and free cash flow 2 of $1.62 billion—up 13% and 9%, respectively, over Q3 of $1.62 billion—up 13% and 9%, respectively, over Q3 Highest ever quarterly net earnings per share of $1.43 and adjusted net earnings per share 2 of $1.04—up 88% and 79%, respectively, on Q3 of $1.04—up 88% and 79%, respectively, on Q3 New dividend policy targets total payout of 50% of attributable free cash flow, including 40% increase in quarterly base dividend to $0.175 per share, plus performance year end top-up $0.42 per share quarterly dividend declared—a 140% increase over the third quarter Repurchased $1.50 billion of shares in 2025, representing about 3.0% of Barrick’s issued and outstanding shares, including $500 million in Q4 Doubled gold resource at Fourmile project in Nevada with further increases expected in 2026 3 2026 production guidance: 2.90–3.25 million ounces 1 of gold and 190,000–220,000 tonnes 1 of copper of gold and 190,000–220,000 tonnes of copper Following rigorous analysis, the Board has decided to move forward with preparations for an initial public offering (“IPO”) of Barrick’s North American gold assets in order to maximize shareholder value All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars TORONTO, Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE:B)(TSX:ABX) (“Barrick” or the “Company”) today reported fourth quarter operating and financial results for the period ending December 31, 2025. Barrick produced 871,000 ounces1 of gold and 62,000 tonnes1 of copper in the quarter and the Company generated $6.00 billion in revenue, as well as $2.73 billion in operating cash flow and $1.62 billion in free cash flow.2 Net earnings per share for the quarter of $1.43 and adjusted net earnings per share2 of $1.04 increased 88% and 79%, r...

Searching for dinosaur secrets in crocodile bones toggle caption Tommy Trenchard for NPR Until now, estimating how old a dinosaur was when it died has been a fairly simple process — just count up the growth rings in its fossilized bones. "We always thought that those rings were formed annually," says Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a paleobiologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In other words, much like tree rings, the idea was that roughly one ring was laid down each year. "And then you can plot that and you can work out the growth rate of the dinosaur," explains Chinsamy-Turan. "And that's what all of us were doing — me included." For example, this technique suggested that it took 20-some years for a T. rex hatchling to grow into a fully grown adult, she says. But this approach may overestimate dinosaur ages. In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, Chinsamy-Turan and her colleague, biologist Maria Eugenia Pereyra, looked at the growth rings in several young Nile crocodiles — a modern relative of dinosaurs. In some of the bones, the two researchers found more growth rings than they were expecting. Sponsor Message If the same was true in dinosaurs, some of these specimens were likely younger than scientists once thought. A modern-day animal to understand dinosaur growth An ideal way to confirm the one-ring-per-year aging approach would be to study live dinosaurs. That's an unlikely proposition, given that dinosaurs have been extinct for more than 65 million years. Instead, researchers often turn to their living relatives — like birds and crocodiles. toggle caption Tommy Trenchard for NPR Just outside of Cape Town, a flotilla of Nile crocs lurks in the pools beneath a network of pedestrian bridges at Le Bonheur Reptiles & Adventures. "They're basically the kings of the water bodies in Africa," says Alzette Mocké, who manages the facility. At last count, there were 177 of the animals at this outdoor recreation and education center. "We respec...

Embecta Corp. PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Embecta Corp. (“embecta”) (Nasdaq: EMBC) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 for each issued and outstanding share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on March 17, 2026 to stockholders of record at the close of business on February 27, 2026. About embecta embecta is a global company that is advancing its 100-year legacy in insulin delivery to become a broad-based medical supplies company, helping to improve lives through innovative solutions, partnerships, and the passion of approximately 2,000 employees around the globe. For more information, visit embecta.com or follow our social channels on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Contacts: Media Christian Glazar Sr. Director, Corporate Communications 908-821-6922 Contact Media Relations Investors Pravesh Khandelwal VP, Head of Investor Relations 551-264-6547 Contact IR

There are plenty of ways to buy the dip on Bitcoin. Bitcoin (BTC 7.68%) just fell to a 52-week low, surpassing the slump that came during the peak of the tariff-induced market sell-off in April 2025. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT 3.94%), which is the largest Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by net assets, is also just touched a 52-week low. Here's what you need to know about buying Bitcoin through an ETF versus owning it outright, and why the exchange ratio between the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF and one bitcoin is a little more complicated than it seems at first glance. Approaching cryptocurrency ownership Bitcoin has a track record of steep plunges and gains that on net have outpaced the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.51%) during the last three-, five-, and 10-year periods. Simply buying and holding Bitcoin has been the simplest way to filter out the noise and focus on the fundamentals. Bitcoin's perceived worth comes from its store of value independent of fiat currencies (decentralization), its fixed supply of 21 million coins (which prevents supply inflation and creates scarcity), its security, its transferability, and its divisibility. Before the days of crypto exchanges like Coinbase Global, the best way to own Bitcoin was through so-called cold storage, which is an offline crypto wallet (cold wallet) where the user is the only one with access to its code (key). Cold storage remains the best way to safely and securely store Bitcoin, especially for folks who aren't interested in trading or exchanging it. However, Coinbase and similar platforms are useful for easily converting and trading fiat and cryptocurrency, as well as tax accounting. Expand NASDAQ : IBIT iShares Bitcoin Trust Today's Change ( -3.94 %) $ -1.71 Current Price $ 41.59 Key Data Points Day's Range $ 40.81 - $ 42.89 52wk Range $ 40.80 - $ 71.82 Volume 357K Bitcoin ETF advantages ETFs have grown in popularity as the cryptocurrency market has matured, institutional adoption has grown, and some financial in...

An Asian cyber-espionage group has spent the past year breaking into computer systems belonging to governments and critical infrastructure organizations in more than 37 countries, according to the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, Inc . The state-aligned attackers have infiltrated networks of 70 organizations, including five national law enforcement and border control agencies, according to a new research report from the company. They have also breached three ministries of finance, one country’s parliament and a senior elected official in another, the report states. The Santa Clara, California-based firm declined to identify the hackers’ country of origin. The spying operation was unusually vast and allowed the hackers to hoover up sensitive information in apparent coordination with geopolitical events, such as diplomatic missions, trade negotiations, political unrest and military actions, according to the report. They used that access to spy on emails, financial dealings and communications about military and police operations, the report states. The hackers also stole information about diplomatic issues, lurking undetected in some systems for months. “They use highly-targeted and tailored fake emails and known, unpatched security flaws to gain access to these networks,” said Pete Renals, director of national security programs with Unit 42, the threat intelligence division of Palo Alto Networks. “Espionage appears to be the main motivation behind these attacks as the actors frequently seek access to email communications and other sensitive data.” The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it was aware of the campaign. The agency is working with its partners to stop hackers from exploiting any of the vulnerabilities identified in the report, said Nick Andersen, CISA’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity. Representatives of the FBI and CIA declined to comment. The NSA didn’t respond to a request for comment. Palo Alto Networks researc...

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Girard Sharp LLP, a national investment and securities class action firm in, announces an investigation into potential securities claims on behalf of Oracle Corporation investors who purchased senior notes or bonds issued on September 25, 2025. More About Oracle Oracle, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a leading technology company that sells database software, cloud services, and enterprise applications. The Company states, “For more than four decades, we’ve delivered innovations that have helped build entire industries.” Oracle further reports that their “mission is to help people see data in new ways, discover insights, [and] unlock endless possibilities.” Oracle’s AI Buildout and Bonds On September 10, 2025, Oracle and OpenAI signed a $300 billion contract under which Oracle will supply OpenAI with computing power over the next five years. Shortly after, on September 25, 2025, Oracle issued $18 billion in senior notes and bonds to fund its AI buildout. Seven weeks later, Oracle sought to raise an additional $38 billion through debt offerings to further support the expansion of its AI infrastructure. Girard Sharp’s investigation focuses on whether the Offering Materials may have included misrepresentations and omissions regarding its AI buildout that may have negatively impacted the value of the notes and bonds. If you are an Oracle bondholder who suffered losses, please fill out this form, email apolk@girardsharp.com, or call (866) 981-4800 for a free consultation. Why Girard Sharp? Girard Sharp represents investors, consumers, and institutions in class actions and other complex litigation nationwide. We recently obtained a $36.5 million securities settlement against Maxar Technologies, a space imagery company, after its share price collapsed following its acquisition of DigitalGlobe. Our attorneys have obtained multimillion-dollar recoveries for victims of unfair and deceptive practices in antitrust, financial f...

Advertisement Context for Meta Platforms after recent trading With no single headline event driving attention, Meta Platforms (META) is drawing interest as investors weigh its recent share price moves, current valuation signals, and the scale of its social and AI driven business. At a share price of US$668.99, Meta Platforms has given investors a 90 day share price return of 8.09%, while the 1 year total shareholder return of 4.79% decline contrasts with a very large 3 year total shareholder return of about 3.7x and a 5 year total shareholder return of about 2.5x. This hints that recent momentum has cooled compared with earlier years. If the recent swings in big tech have you reassessing your watchlist, this could be a good moment to look at as potential next ideas. Meta currently trades with an intrinsic discount flag, double-digit annual growth in both revenue and net income, and a value score of 5. Is this a fresh entry point, or is the market already pricing in future gains? Most Popular Narrative: 7.5% Undervalued Meta Platforms' most followed valuation narrative points to a fair value of $723.11 per share, compared with the recent close of $668.99, suggesting a modest valuation gap that hinges on its scale in digital advertising and AI. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) announced very strong Q3 2024 results underlined by revenue growth and a strong commitment to AI and the metaverse. Revenue for the quarter grew 19% year-over-year to $40.6 billion, led by strong ad revenue, progress in AI, and strong user engagement across Meta’s platforms. Let’s dive into Meta’s earnings performance in key areas: revenue drivers, investments in AI, and the struggling Reality Labs segment. Meta’s Ad Revenue Soars 19% in Q3, Driven by AI-Powered Targeting and Global Growth. Most of Meta’s Q3 revenue came from the ad business within the segment known as Family of Apps: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Advertising revenue increased to $39.9 billion, up 19% year over year. That was pa...

Wall Street ends sharply down as AI worries weigh Reuters

瑞银投行部分部门奖金池据悉将上调 20% 2026-02-05 18:59:25 来源： 同花顺7x24快讯 分享 文章提及标的 瑞银 -- 瑞银（UBS）投行部分部门奖金池据悉将上调20%。(新浪财经)