In early September, shortly after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a chummy meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China, he dispatched his national security adviser to Washington to help smooth over fraying ties. Ajit Doval came with a message for Secretary of State Marco Rubio : India wanted to put the acrimony between the two nations behind it and get back to negotiating a trade ...
In early September, shortly after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a chummy meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China, he dispatched his national security adviser to Washington to help smooth over fraying ties. Ajit Doval came with a message for Secretary of State Marco Rubio : India wanted to put the acrimony between the two nations behind it and get back to negotiating a trade deal, according to officials in New Delhi familiar with the meeting, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. Doval told Rubio that India wouldn’t be bullied by US President Donald Trump and his top aides, the people said, and would be willing to wait out his term, having faced other hostile US administrations in the past. But New Delhi wanted Trump and his aides to dial down their public criticism of India so they could get relations back on track, Doval said in the meeting. At the time, India was smarting from Trump’s insults and the 50% tariffs he’d slapped on its goods in August. The US president had called India a “dead” economy with high tariffs and that it was funding Putin’s war in Ukraine by buying Russian oil. It wasn’t long after Doval’s meeting, which was previously unreported, that the first signs of an ease in tensions emerged. On Sept. 16, Trump called Modi on his birthday and praised him for doing a “tremendous job.” By the end of the year, the two leaders had spoken four more times on the phone as they inched toward a deal to bring down the tariffs. India’s Ministry of External Affairs and Modi’s office didn’t respond to emails seeking further information. A spokesperson for the US State Department said that in keeping with standard diplomatic practice, it does not disclose the details of private discussions. On Monday, Trump announced he’d reached a trade agreement with Modi that would reduce tariffs on India’s goods to 18%, lower than most of its peers in Asia. A punitive 25% duty that the US leader had slapped on India for buy...
Key Points Toast has a sticky, high-quality recurring revenue engine with revenues now over $2 billion and its growing faster than restaurant locations. The company has crossed into sustainable profitability with room to scale. 10 stocks we like better than Toast › When you dig into fintech stocks, you often run into vague payment platforms or generic lending marketplaces. Toast (NYSE: TOST) is di...
Key Points Toast has a sticky, high-quality recurring revenue engine with revenues now over $2 billion and its growing faster than restaurant locations. The company has crossed into sustainable profitability with room to scale. 10 stocks we like better than Toast › When you dig into fintech stocks, you often run into vague payment platforms or generic lending marketplaces. Toast (NYSE: TOST) is different. It's a system many of us interact with every day without even realizing it, and it's carving out a tangible lane that I find especially compelling from an investment perspective: a deep, sticky recurring revenue engine built on the very fabric of small businesses. One of the first filters I apply in evaluating a business is its recurring revenue quality. Toast's platform, which includes pretty much everything a small business owner needs -- point-of-sale software, payments processing, payroll, analytics, and increasingly AI-enabled services -- generates Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) that grew roughly 30% year-over-year, crossing $1.9 billion in mid-2025 and extending past $2 billion by the third quarter. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Profitability is a reality That kind of growth revenue, particularly when tied to both software and payment services, is more durable than pure transaction volume models. Restaurants have historically high switching costs when integrating into a POS ecosystem. The new technology means retraining staff, disrupting operations, and risking downtime during peak hours. Toast's product set turns that cost into a retention moat. For much of its public life, Toast was a growth-at-all-costs story. But the company's most recent results show it has crossed a key threshold: profitability. Full-year 2024 marked Toast's first year of GAAP profitability, with net income of $19 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $373 million. That's not a rounding...
Earnings Call Insights: 8x8, Inc. (EGHT) Q3 2026 Management View CEO Samuel Wilson highlighted that "our strategic investments across innovation, operational efficiency and distribution are beginning to yield measurable results," emphasizing the company's return to top line growth for the third consecutive quarter and its 20th consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow. Wilson stated, "We...
Earnings Call Insights: 8x8, Inc. (EGHT) Q3 2026 Management View CEO Samuel Wilson highlighted that "our strategic investments across innovation, operational efficiency and distribution are beginning to yield measurable results," emphasizing the company's return to top line growth for the third consecutive quarter and its 20th consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow. Wilson stated, "We exceeded the high end of our guidance range for service revenue, total revenue, operating profit and cash flow." Wilson reported usage-based offerings grew nearly 60% year-over-year, now representing more than 20% of service revenue, and attributed much of this growth to CPaaS APIs. He noted, "Customer contracts for our Intelligent Customer Assistant increased 70% year-over-year. Voice AI interactions increased more than 200%." Wilson described a shift to hybrid and tokenized pricing models, stating, "The pay-as-you-go approach appeals to customers because it reduces risk as they adopt new technologies." Multiproduct strategy was emphasized, with all top 20 customers now using multiple products and most having three or more, leading to higher revenue and retention. Four strategic new products—including 8x8 Engage—grew triple digits year-over-year. Wilson confirmed the completion of Fuze customer upgrades to the 8x8 platform, noting, "While the decommissioning of the Fuze platform has created a near-term revenue headwind... the strategic benefit is clear." CFO Kevin Kraus stated, "This was our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth and an all-time record high for service revenue. We exceeded our guidance ranges for service revenue, total revenue, operating profit, earnings per share and cash flow from operations." Outlook Kraus provided fiscal Q4 2026 guidance: service revenue between $173.5 million and $178.5 million, and total revenue between $178.5 million and $183.5 million, each reflecting a $7 million increase over prior implied guidance. Gross mar...
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) fell 8.0% to $227.14 in Wednesday morning trading. While the company posted record annual revenue and a significant fourth-quarter earnings beat, a projected sequential decline in the first quarter of 2026 weighed on investor sentiment. Company Description Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) is a global semiconductor designer specializing i...
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) fell 8.0% to $227.14 in Wednesday morning trading. While the company posted record annual revenue and a significant fourth-quarter earnings beat, a projected sequential decline in the first quarter of 2026 weighed on investor sentiment. Company Description Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) is a global semiconductor designer specializing in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies. The company’s portfolio includes CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs tailored for data centers, personal computers, gaming consoles, and embedded systems. AMD is a primary competitor in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator market with its Instinct™ GPU series. Market Performance and Valuation Current Stock Price: $227.14 (as of Feb 4, 2026) Market Capitalization: Approximately $367.4 billion 52-Week Context: AMD has traded between a low of $76.48 and a high of $267.08 over the past year. The current price represents a correction from record highs reached during the late-2025 AI rally. Valuation: The stock carries a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 44.5x. This reflects a significant premium to the broader chip sector, as investors price in sustained demand for AI infrastructure. Fiscal Year 2025 and Q4 Financial Summary AMD reported record financial results for the year ended December 27, 2025: Full-Year Revenue: Record $34.6 billion, up 34% year-over-year. Q4 Revenue: Record $10.3 billion, up 34% year-over-year, beating consensus of $9.64 billion. Non-GAAP Diluted EPS: $1.53 in Q4 (vs. $1.32 estimate) and $4.17 for the full year, up 26% annually. Margins: Q4 non-GAAP gross margin reached 57%, aided by a $360 million inventory reserve release. Full-year non-GAAP gross margin was 52%. Segment Performance: Data Center revenue hit a record $16.6 billion for the year, led by Instinct GPUs and EPYC CPUs. Growth Outlook and Analyst Consensus Despite the record results, AMD’s guidance for the fi...
AI is fundamentally reinventing computing and enterprise operations, shifting value from coding to domain expertise and intent-driven problem-solving. Organizations are urged to experiment broadly with AI, focus on their most impactful work, and embed AI into core processes to remain competitive. Based on NVIDIA Corporation [NVDA] Cisco AI Summit 2026 Audio Transcript — Feb. 4 2026
AI is fundamentally reinventing computing and enterprise operations, shifting value from coding to domain expertise and intent-driven problem-solving. Organizations are urged to experiment broadly with AI, focus on their most impactful work, and embed AI into core processes to remain competitive. Based on NVIDIA Corporation [NVDA] Cisco AI Summit 2026 Audio Transcript — Feb. 4 2026
Tencent Holdings’ aggressive red-packet blitz to promote its artificial intelligence chatbot Yuanbao ran into a roadblock on Wednesday from the company’s own super app WeChat, dealing a blow to a US$144 million effort to acquire users for the emerging AI app. WeChat, known as Weixin on the mainland, announced on Wednesday that it would restrict Yuanbao links from opening directly within WeChat, ef...
Tencent Holdings’ aggressive red-packet blitz to promote its artificial intelligence chatbot Yuanbao ran into a roadblock on Wednesday from the company’s own super app WeChat, dealing a blow to a US$144 million effort to acquire users for the emerging AI app. WeChat, known as Weixin on the mainland, announced on Wednesday that it would restrict Yuanbao links from opening directly within WeChat, effective immediately, in response to “user feedback and complaints”, according to a statement. Yuanbao, which aimed to give out 1 billion yuan (US$144 million) in cash in the campaign via digital red packets, encouraged users to share the packets via WeChat to boost their rewards. Advertisement However, WeChat said in a statement that the approach “induces users to share links to WeChat groups in high frequency, disrupting the platform’s ecosystem, impacting user experience and causing harassment to the community”. Users attempting to open the links saw a message about “induced sharing” starting from Wednesday morning. Beijing resident Jiang Ruipeng said he was “a bit surprised” to find out about the dispute as “Yuanbao and WeChat both belong to Tencent”. Advertisement As an active participant in the campaign who has earned roughly 40 yuan (US$6), Jiang said the change had restricted his WeChat contacts from opening the red packets he shared, which could limit the amount he could earn. The move, coming just four days after the launch of the red-packet campaign, could hinder Tencent’s ambitions to catch up in the crowded AI market. The campaign relied heavily on WeChat, which has more than 1.4 billion monthly active users globally, to share referral links and cash out.
According to a new report AMD is shifting its Radeon focus to 8GB graphics cards, and for its RDNA 4 lineup that only means a single GPU. TL;DR: AMD is shifting its Radeon GPU focus to 8GB models like the RX 9060 XT due to rising DRAM prices that are affecting 16GB variants. Radeon GPU prices increased 5-10% in early 2026, with further hikes expected soon, affecting supply and market dynamics. Acc...
According to a new report AMD is shifting its Radeon focus to 8GB graphics cards, and for its RDNA 4 lineup that only means a single GPU. TL;DR: AMD is shifting its Radeon GPU focus to 8GB models like the RX 9060 XT due to rising DRAM prices that are affecting 16GB variants. Radeon GPU prices increased 5-10% in early 2026, with further hikes expected soon, affecting supply and market dynamics. According to new information from the China-based Board Channels forums (via Videocardz), a regular source of gaming GPU news on supply and pricing, AMD is shifting its Radeon GPU focus toward 8GB graphics cards. For the company's new RDNA 4 generation, that's a single model, the mainstream Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB. 2 VIEW GALLERY - 2 IMAGES At the time of the Radeon RX 9060 XT's launch in 2025, the focus was on the 16GB model, with the 8GB cards primarily reserved for system integrators. This is why our review coverage only includes Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB models, which consistently outperformed NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 8GB GPU, especially for 1440p gaming. Popular Popular Now: Logitech says if its new mouse doesn't 'change the way you play' you'll get a full refund This new report mirrors similar reporting on the GeForce RTX 50 Series, where unprecedented DRAM price increases are disrupting the PC gaming GPU market. Specifically, models with 16GB or more of VRAM. For AMD and China, this means a focus on the Radeon RX 9060 XT and Radeon RX 7650 GRE GPUs, both of which feature 8GB of GDDR6 memory. The good news is that AMD's partners will still be able to obtain 16GB cards, but the focus will be placed on the Radeon RX 9070 XT, with the baseline Radeon RX 9070 seeing its production "significantly reduced." In addition to the shift in focus to 8GB cards, the report notes that a 5-10% price increase for Radeon GPUs occurred in January 2026 for AMD's AIB partners purchasing GPU and memory bundles, and another price increase is coming soon. So soon that it could take effect as early ...
Traders have become been skeptical about software stocks due to fears about the potential destruction to be wrought by artificial intelligence. Bloomberg's Annabelle Droulers breaks down the situation and explains how Asian markets are responding. (Source: Bloomberg)
Traders have become been skeptical about software stocks due to fears about the potential destruction to be wrought by artificial intelligence. Bloomberg's Annabelle Droulers breaks down the situation and explains how Asian markets are responding. (Source: Bloomberg)
Alex Pretti had courage and empathy. This, not Maga’s conception of male power, is what we must teach young men The first thing that grabbed me about the Rapture’s 2011 song It Takes Time to be a Man was the warbly, analogue fuzz of its recurring guitar and piano riff. Once that drew me in, what kept me listening were the lyrics’ hard-marriage of masculinity and empathy. In the final verse , Luke ...
Alex Pretti had courage and empathy. This, not Maga’s conception of male power, is what we must teach young men The first thing that grabbed me about the Rapture’s 2011 song It Takes Time to be a Man was the warbly, analogue fuzz of its recurring guitar and piano riff. Once that drew me in, what kept me listening were the lyrics’ hard-marriage of masculinity and empathy. In the final verse , Luke Jenner tells us that: “Well there’s room in your heart now / for excellence to take a stand / And there’s tears that need shedding / it’s all part of the plan”. For the past year , rightwing voices have waged war on empathy. According to Elon Musk, empathy is “the fundamental weakness of western civilisation”. Others go further , calling it “toxic”, “suicidal” and even “sinful”. Certainly, the macho wing of the Maga right sees no place for it amid its (mis)appropriation of medieval history and imagery that is visible everywhere from the face paint and horned headdress of the “ QAnon shaman ”, convicted for his role in the US Capitol siege, to the tattooed arms and body of Donald Trump’s secretary of war, Pete Hegseth. And yet, consider the ideal of chivalry held by medieval knights: generosity and suspicion of profit, courtesy, honesty and the bind of your word, hospitality, abiding by the rules of combat and granting mercy to your adversary – whose life a knight takes only as a last resort. I say this not because I think the medieval knight should be the new standard for modern men, but to point out that Maga men would fail, miserably so, to live up to their own ideals. Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist. His memoir, Generation Desperation , is published in January 2026 Continue reading...
I booked an online appointment with a gynaecologist in Karachi during the pandemic. I had a severe urinary tract infection and needed immediate relief. Everything felt routine at first: the doctor joined the video call late, held her phone awkwardly and asked about my symptoms. I explained, she prescribed medication, and then came the expected questions: Was I married? For how long? Any children? ...
I booked an online appointment with a gynaecologist in Karachi during the pandemic. I had a severe urinary tract infection and needed immediate relief. Everything felt routine at first: the doctor joined the video call late, held her phone awkwardly and asked about my symptoms. I explained, she prescribed medication, and then came the expected questions: Was I married? For how long? Any children? When I said “no,” her tone shifted as she asked, “Bachay tou chaihiye na aap ko?” (You do want children, right?). It felt subtly menacing – the assumption was clear: not wanting kids meant something was wrong. What shocked me more was my own response. “Ji, ji, bilkul,” (Yes, yes, of course) I mumbled. Later, I was furious with myself for crumbling under pressure – for not being honest. I live in a country where a woman’s value is often measured by her ability and willingness to become a mother. People casually throw around words like baanjh (infertile) even when a woman is simply choosing to wait. And when she openly says she doesn’t want kids at all? That’s seen as selfish, even threatening. Everyone, from distant relatives to strangers, feels entitled to pry. “What are you waiting for? It’s been X months since your marriage!” they say, with no regard for privacy. Some declare that children are your only legacy or support in old age. Others recommend fertility clinics, religious clerics, hakeems (a wise man or traditional healer) – even therapists, as though choosing not to have children is a mental illness that needs to be “fixed”. Once, an older driver who used to pick me up from work asked if I had kids. When I said no, he stared at me through the rear-view mirror and began invasive questioning about my and my husband’s reproductive health. I changed the subject multiple times but to no avail. As I was getting out he was still at it: “Do remind me on WhatsApp. I’ll give you the number of a hakeem who fixed someone with the same problem.” This pro-natalist rhetoric is a ...
The UK economy would be 3.6% smaller by 2040 if net migration fell to zero, forcing the government to raise taxes to combat a much bigger budget deficit, a thinktank has predicted. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said falling birthrates in the UK and a sharp decrease in net migration last year had led it to consider what would happen if this trend continued to the en...
The UK economy would be 3.6% smaller by 2040 if net migration fell to zero, forcing the government to raise taxes to combat a much bigger budget deficit, a thinktank has predicted. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said falling birthrates in the UK and a sharp decrease in net migration last year had led it to consider what would happen if this trend continued to the end of the decade. In this scenario the UK population would stop growing at about 70 million in 2030. The latest official figures showed the UK population was 69.3 million in 2024. Dr Benjamin Caswell, a senior economist at NIESR, said: “Net zero migration leaves the economy 3.6% smaller by 2040 and this reflects slower employment growth and a smaller workforce.” The thinktank said that initially real wages and disposable income would rise as firms would be forced to use more machinery and become more productive, with GDP per capita rising by 2% by 2040. However, these gains would come at the cost of weaker growth in the economy overall as a smaller and ageing population would lead to fewer tax revenues, opening up the gap between public spending and receipts and causing the government to borrow more. “Imagine it as like freezing the population where it is, and then just having a continually ageing population,” Caswell said. “In the short to medium term, it’s not too detrimental, but over 20 years this gap [in spending and receipts] becomes continually larger and larger.” The thinktank said the government would fill this gap by borrowing, which would cause the budget deficit to increase by about 0.8% of GDP, or £37bn, by 2040. This forecast is based on the assumption that government spending and tax rates up to 2030 follow the path estimated by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the UK’s official forecaster, and then the share of government spending as a ratio of GDP remains constant thereafter. The thinktank said that certain payments, such as child benefit or jobse...