Precious metals remained in recovery mode on Wednesday morning, with prices rising off the back of a historic sell-off. By 3:45 a.m. ET, spot gold was edging toward a rise of 3%, settling at around $5,079.4 an ounce. New York gold futures jumped 3.3% to $5,093.80. XAU= 1Y line Gold price Gold — typically viewed as a safe haven asset — has had a stellar 12 months, gaining 66% over the course of 202...
Precious metals remained in recovery mode on Wednesday morning, with prices rising off the back of a historic sell-off. By 3:45 a.m. ET, spot gold was edging toward a rise of 3%, settling at around $5,079.4 an ounce. New York gold futures jumped 3.3% to $5,093.80. XAU= 1Y line Gold price Gold — typically viewed as a safe haven asset — has had a stellar 12 months, gaining 66% over the course of 2025 and extending those gains into early 2026. Geopolitical tensions, unpredictable trade policy and concerns over the independence of the Federal Reserve all supported prices. However, the bull run was derailed on Friday when gold prices fell almost 10%, with the downward pressure rippling through the wider precious metals markets, taking silver, palladium and platinum significantly lower. The sell-off, sparked by Kevin Warsh's nomination as the next Federal Reserve chair, continued into Monday's session, but by Tuesday, spot gold showed signs of recovery — gaining more than 6% to settle at about $4,946.81 an ounce. Read more Gold and silver rebound, pulling global mining stocks and precious metal ETFs higher Silver plunges 30% in worst day since 1980, gold tumbles as Warsh pick eases Fed independence fear Ray Dalio warns the world is ‘on the brink’ of a capital war In the wake of the volatility, however, many market watchers said they continue to see upside for gold, viewing last week's sell-off as a temporary pullback rather than an end of the bull market. In a note on Monday, AJ Bell's Investment Director Russ Mould said gold is currently in the throes of its third major bull run since 1971 — and noted that both of the previous bull markets had "witnessed several major pullbacks." The 1971 to 1980 bull market — which began with President Richard Nixon withdrawing the U.S. dollar from the Gold Standard and was followed by a rising U.S. deficit, oil shocks and surging inflation — saw gold "motored" from $35 an ounce to $835 an ounce at its 1980 peak, Mould said. During that...
Draco Malfoy, one of Harry Potter’s most recognisable villains-turned-antiheroes, has become an unlikely lunar new year icon across China, as fans embrace the character for the year of the horse. In Mandarin, Malfoy’s name is transliterated as “mǎ ěr fú”. The first character means “horse” while the final character, fú”, means “fortune” or “blessing” – a powerful symbol found across lunar new year ...
Draco Malfoy, one of Harry Potter’s most recognisable villains-turned-antiheroes, has become an unlikely lunar new year icon across China, as fans embrace the character for the year of the horse. In Mandarin, Malfoy’s name is transliterated as “mǎ ěr fú”. The first character means “horse” while the final character, fú”, means “fortune” or “blessing” – a powerful symbol found across lunar new year celebrations. Put together, Malfoy’s name can be loosely read as “horse fortune”, making him an unexpectedly auspicious figure for the year ahead. The wordplay has sparked a wave of memes, fan art, decorations and themed merchandise across Chinese social media. Images of a young Malfoy – played by the English actor Tom Felton – smiling from red lunar new year posters and riding cartoon horses have appeared on refrigerators, in office spaces as well as shopping malls alike. Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram . We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue Felton seems to have noticed the frenzy. On Tuesday, the 38-year-old actor, who recently reprised his role in the Broadway production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, reposted on his Instagram story a photo of his face beaming from a red banner in a Chinese shopping mall. “Magical awakening that attracts abundant wealth,” said the Mandarin characters on the banner. The surge of Malfoy mania comes as millions across the country prepare for the lunar new year, which begins later this month. Since the launch of Chinese versions of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series in 2000, approximately 200m copies of the books have been sold in China, according to CGTN. Last year, Warner Brothers Discovery announced that it was going to build a Harry Potter studio tour in Shanghai – the largest of its kind, followed by the franchise’s existing studio tours in London and To...
When Malaysian civil engineering contractor BBSB International listed in Hong Kong last month, its offering was oversubscribed by a factor of nearly 11,000, and its shares rose more than fivefold from their offer price of HK$0.60 on the morning of their trading debut. BBSB is one of several non-Chinese companies that have flocked to Hong Kong to list recently, and banks expect more to follow this ...
When Malaysian civil engineering contractor BBSB International listed in Hong Kong last month, its offering was oversubscribed by a factor of nearly 11,000, and its shares rose more than fivefold from their offer price of HK$0.60 on the morning of their trading debut. BBSB is one of several non-Chinese companies that have flocked to Hong Kong to list recently, and banks expect more to follow this year as the city’s initial public offering (IPO) market booms. While New York and London used to be the only options for international companies, Hong Kong had become a viable global listing venue because the market was “vibrant” and liquidity had increased significantly, said Kenneth Chow, Asia co-head of equity capital markets at Citigroup. Advertisement “That’s why we’re seeing a lot of international companies listing in Hong Kong,” he said. Already the preferred offshore listing venue for mainland companies, especially as geopolitical tensions have intensified in recent years, Hong Kong has seen a growing number of overseas companies turning to the exchange to raise funds. This diversification came after the city reclaimed its spot as the top global IPO market in 2025 and its secondary market boomed. Advertisement Five non-Chinese overseas companies listed in Hong Kong in 2025, with total fundraising of US$1.04 billion, more than triple the US$344.7 million raised from three deals in 2024, according to data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group. In November, Africa-focused hygiene-products maker Softcare listed in Hong Kong, raising a total of HK$2.4 billion (US$307 million). The offering was oversubscribed by 1,813 times. Before that, US biotech firm Cloudbreak Pharma debuted in the city in July, raising a total of HK$522 million.
TV personality Chris Hughes meets Team GB's men's bobsleigh team, led by two-time Olympian Brad Hall. Will Chris face his fears and take on the bobsleigh run in a two man sled? Follow the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics across the BBC from Friday, 6 February.
TV personality Chris Hughes meets Team GB's men's bobsleigh team, led by two-time Olympian Brad Hall. Will Chris face his fears and take on the bobsleigh run in a two man sled? Follow the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics across the BBC from Friday, 6 February.
BlackJack3D/E+ via Getty Images By Tiffany Wade & Michael Guttag AI is reshaping the opportunity set across markets, but from our perspective, the real story is not the technology itself — it’s a multi‑year transformation unfolding in distinct waves, each with its own leaders and beneficiaries. We see capital flowing through the AI ecosystem in sequence, creating cascading opportunities as adoptio...
BlackJack3D/E+ via Getty Images By Tiffany Wade & Michael Guttag AI is reshaping the opportunity set across markets, but from our perspective, the real story is not the technology itself — it’s a multi‑year transformation unfolding in distinct waves, each with its own leaders and beneficiaries. We see capital flowing through the AI ecosystem in sequence, creating cascading opportunities as adoption deepens. Active managers who anticipate these rotations — and position ahead of them — are better placed to capture value as leadership shifts along the AI value chain. Multi-year waves of AI investment We focus on the following four waves to understand where capital builds next and which companies have the structural advantages to benefit across multiple phases. Today, we sit squarely in the first wave and are transitioning into the second. Early signs of the third wave are emerging in software, while a fourth wave of economy‑wide productivity gains sits on the horizon. Understanding where we are now and what comes next can help you align portfolios to the full scope of the opportunity. Source: Columbia Threadneedle Investments. For illustrative purposes only. Wave 1: Infrastructure and physical buildout We remain early in the infrastructure phase. This foundation is the most visible and capital‑intensive stage. Hyperscalers alone are on track to invest more than $500 billion in 2026 to expand AI‑ready infrastructure. 1 This unprecedented scale reflects the intensity of model development and the physical demands required to train complex models. NVIDIA ( NVDA ) stands at the center of this wave. Its graphics processing unit leadership and the moat created by Compute Unified Device Architecture continue to shape industry roadmaps. Broadcom sits alongside it as a critical enabler of high‑speed data movement and networking. While semiconductors often receive the most attention, we see equally important bottlenecks in power and cooling. Companies such as Eaton ( ETN ) and Ve...
While there are plenty of quantum computing stocks on the market, these two stand above the pack. Should you invest in something you don't fully understand? Some people, including the legendary Warren Buffett, would argue that you shouldn't. However, I think it's possible to gain sufficient knowledge about a market segment to invest in it without fully understanding it. Quantum computing serves as...
While there are plenty of quantum computing stocks on the market, these two stand above the pack. Should you invest in something you don't fully understand? Some people, including the legendary Warren Buffett, would argue that you shouldn't. However, I think it's possible to gain sufficient knowledge about a market segment to invest in it without fully understanding it. Quantum computing serves as a great example. Even if you don't have mastery of the complex technology, you can still profit from it. Here are two top quantum computing stocks that I think are excellent picks to buy in February. Alphabet: AI juggernaut with a quantum computing lottery ticket Most investors view Google parent Alphabet (GOOG 1.19%) (GOOGL 1.16%) as an artificial intelligence (AI) stock. And rightfully so. Google Cloud is the fastest growing among the three largest cloud services providers, thanks primarily to a huge AI tailwind. Google Search uses AI in its search algorithms and has integrated generative AI extensively. Google Gemini ranks among the top large language models (LLMs). Alphabet's Waymo unit is the leader in providing AI-powered autonomous ride-hailing services. Expand NASDAQ : GOOGL Alphabet Today's Change ( -1.16 %) $ -3.98 Current Price $ 339.71 Key Data Points Market Cap $4.1T Day's Range $ 337.47 - $ 349.00 52wk Range $ 140.53 - $ 349.00 Volume 37M Avg Vol 35M Gross Margin 59.18 % Dividend Yield 0.24 % While Alphabet is an AI juggernaut, though, it also has what you might call a quantum computing lottery ticket. In 2019, Google Quantum AI's Sycamore quantum processor performed a calculation in less than three and a half minutes that the unit's team said would have taken the world's most powerful supercomputers at the time using the best-known algorithms roughly 10,000 years to handle. In 2023, Google Quantum AI built a logical qubit prototype that demonstrated the feasibility of reducing quantum errors by increasing the number of physical qubits. I view Alphabet as a f...
(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as software stocks followed their U.S. peers lower on fears over artificial intelligence effecting future business growth. Anthropic, the AI developer known for its Claude chatbot, rolled out new legal tools for its Cowork product, leading investors worldwide to cut exposure to traditional IT services. Gold prices were up nearly 3 percent at $5,080...
(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as software stocks followed their U.S. peers lower on fears over artificial intelligence effecting future business growth. Anthropic, the AI developer known for its Claude chatbot, rolled out new legal tools for its Cowork product, leading investors worldwide to cut exposure to traditional IT services. Gold prices were up nearly 3 percent at $5,080 an ounce in Asian trade and oil extended overnight gains after the U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian drone headed toward an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. China's Shanghai Composite index surged 0.85 percent to 4,102.20 as solar shares jumped following reports that teams from SpaceX and Tesla Inc. had visited domestic companies. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished marginally higher at 26,847.32 as precious metals continued to gain ground after a recent sell-off. Japanese markets fell notably, with software names leading the drop after fresh AI headlines. The Nikkei average dropped 0.78 percent to 54,293.36 while the broader Topix index settled 0.27 percent higher at 3,655.58. IT service management company TIS plunged 15.8 percent, while NS Solutions and Trend Micro both slumped by 7.4 percent. Chip-linked bellwethers like Advantest and Tokyo Electron fell over 2 percent each. Seoul stocks hit a new peak on strong buying by institutional investors. The Kospi average surged 1.57 percent to 5,371.10 after the ruling Democratic Party's floor leader vowed to swiftly push forward with capital market reform measures. Australian markets advanced as a rebound in copper and gold prices boosted mining stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.80 percent to 8,927.80 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.60 percent higher at 9,204.60. Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index ended up 0.34 percent at 13,467.29. U.S. stocks fell from near-record levels overnight amid a rotation out of technology stocks into economically sensitive shares. The tech-heavy ...