The warning shot came early. With the home fans inside the Stade de France already buzzing from a spectacular pre-match light show and a typically spine-tingling rendition of La Marseillaise, it only took Les Bleus two minutes to show Ireland what they were up against. For the Parisian crowd, it was instantly edge-of-the-seat stuff. Dynamite winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey collected the ball on the le...
The warning shot came early. With the home fans inside the Stade de France already buzzing from a spectacular pre-match light show and a typically spine-tingling rendition of La Marseillaise, it only took Les Bleus two minutes to show Ireland what they were up against. For the Parisian crowd, it was instantly edge-of-the-seat stuff. Dynamite winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey collected the ball on the left wing. He chipped the ball over Sam Prendergast's head and set off after it. It's a tried-and-tested move from the Bordeaux flyer that usually ends with him scoring a try. Only this time it didn't. With Bielle-Biarrey having sent Ireland nervously scurrying back towards their line, Charles Ollivon knocked the ball on and let the men in green off the hook. But even having survived that scare, Ireland could not stem the rising French tide. For most of the next two hours, green jerseys were mercilessly pulled all over the place as France dished out another bruising lesson on the biggest stage, 11 months on from their rampant 42-27 win in Dublin. France scored five tries to win 36-14, but it could have been even uglier for Ireland had they not summoned what head coach Andy Farrell called a "gallant" second-half display. That was barely scant consolation for Farrell. Ireland were beaten in the air, missed tackle after tackle, and were often chasing shadows on the ground against a razor-sharp team brimming with speed, invention and self-belief.
Orthosie/iStock via Getty Images Finance of America Overview Finance of America ( FOA ) is a financial services holding company that operates through a number of subsidiaries that offer home equity-based financing solutions and capital markets and portfolio management capabilities. The company is the largest U.S. originator of reverse mortgage lender & servicer in the industry and has originated $...
Orthosie/iStock via Getty Images Finance of America Overview Finance of America ( FOA ) is a financial services holding company that operates through a number of subsidiaries that offer home equity-based financing solutions and capital markets and portfolio management capabilities. The company is the largest U.S. originator of reverse mortgage lender & servicer in the industry and has originated $19.7B of these loans from 2018-2024. Reverse mortgage loans allow retirees to access the equity in their homes to fund short- or long-term retirement funding gaps. The market for reverse mortgages is immense; according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lender’s Association, there is over $14T in senior housing wealth. Since the financial crisis, interest in reverse mortgages has steadily increased and is reaching a point of increasing growth among cash-strapped retirees. Heightened inflation and mortgage rates have helped increase interest in FoA’s loans, driving strong net income growth. The company reported $14M in adjusted net income in 2024, supported by a 19% increase in funded volume. Finance of America's (FoA) Buy Thesis Inflation in the United States remains sticky. The annualized inflation rate in December 2026 was ~2.7%. Seeing this increased opportunity for reverse mortgages, FoA management has invested heavily in marketing its loan options and added a CIO and CCO to its reverse team. The company's stock remains far below its IPO price after it experienced increasing losses from its reverse mortgage operations between 2021 and 2023. FoA had to take out a working capital loan facility to fund its operations, but recently paid off more than half this amount and converted the rest to convertible stock options. Despite these efforts and expected adjusted net income of ~$52M in 2025 (FactSet analysts), the market remains underweight on FoA, with the company's FY+1 P/BV trading below comparable lending peers with worse growth prospects. As highlighted and to be supporte...
Nvidia is suffering amid the stock market’s tech selloff. Nvidia shares were down 0.7% at $170.65 in after hours trading. Amazon said in its earnings report after the market closed on Thursday that it plans capital expenditure of $200 billion in 2026, a nearly 60% increase from last year and far above Wall Street expectations.
Nvidia is suffering amid the stock market’s tech selloff. Nvidia shares were down 0.7% at $170.65 in after hours trading. Amazon said in its earnings report after the market closed on Thursday that it plans capital expenditure of $200 billion in 2026, a nearly 60% increase from last year and far above Wall Street expectations.
JPMorgan Private Bank Global Investment Strategist Madison Faller explains where she sees opportunities for active managers amid the equities selloff. "There are pressure points and we need to be aware of them as investors," Faller tells Bloomberg Television. "But at the same time, some of those challenges are also opening up a lot of opportunities." (Source: Bloomberg)
JPMorgan Private Bank Global Investment Strategist Madison Faller explains where she sees opportunities for active managers amid the equities selloff. "There are pressure points and we need to be aware of them as investors," Faller tells Bloomberg Television. "But at the same time, some of those challenges are also opening up a lot of opportunities." (Source: Bloomberg)
If anyone anywhere this week spares a thought for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, it will almost certainly be linked to the Apec leaders’ meeting set for Shenzhen in November But this is to miss the massive value and purpose of the 21-member grouping inaugurated in Canberra in 1989. To witness Apec’s unique and distinguishing value, you should have been in Guangzhou this week , where ...
If anyone anywhere this week spares a thought for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, it will almost certainly be linked to the Apec leaders’ meeting set for Shenzhen in November But this is to miss the massive value and purpose of the 21-member grouping inaugurated in Canberra in 1989. To witness Apec’s unique and distinguishing value, you should have been in Guangzhou this week , where over 1,000 have gathered without pomp or fanfare for the first senior officials’ meeting (SOM1). I was first sent by the Apec Business Advisory Council (ABAC) to find out more about the senior officials’ meeting in 2011 during a year of US chairmanship. I had expected the sort of thing that starts after coffee in the morning, gathers 50 or so people around a large rectangular table and finishes with a jovial gala dinner. Advertisement What I lumbered into at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre in Washington was a mind-boggling three-dimensional labyrinth of over 80 meetings straddling three weeks without a break for weekends. This was international cooperation on steroids, the awesome “engine room” of trade and economic cooperation spanning economies from Russia to Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru and Chile. Over three weeks, I scrambled between four and five meetings a day, ranging from health, transport, telecoms, tourism, energy and emergency preparedness to intellectual property and the automotive dialogue; from illegal logging and ocean fisheries to science and technology and regulatory reform; from services and market access to small and medium-sized enterprises and women in the economy. The Business Mobility Group was tweaking the now-treasured Apec business travel card Advertisement For the past three decades, thousands of unassuming technocrats have gathered at least three times a year at senior official meetings to oil the wheels of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. They provide living proof of the indispensable value of expert...
Climate Alarmists Are Often Wrong But Never in Doubt Authored by Gary Abernathy via The Empowerment Alliance , One of the most annoying things about climate doomsayers is the certainty with which they make their dire predictions, while simultaneously making excuses for all their past prognostications that failed to materialize . Let’s revisit a few. In the early to mid-1970s, several magazine arti...
Climate Alarmists Are Often Wrong But Never in Doubt Authored by Gary Abernathy via The Empowerment Alliance , One of the most annoying things about climate doomsayers is the certainty with which they make their dire predictions, while simultaneously making excuses for all their past prognostications that failed to materialize . Let’s revisit a few. In the early to mid-1970s, several magazine articles and a number of scientists predicted that cooling trends could usher in a new “mini-ice age” beginning within a few short years. Didn’t happen. In fact, new crystal balls went from cold to hot. A June 1989 Associated Press story quoted “a senior U.N. environmental official” who claimed that “e ntire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000. ” Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the U.N. Environment Program, insisted that “governments have a 10-year window of opportunity to solve the greenhouse effect before it goes beyond human control.” Without action “ocean levels will rise by up to three feet, enough to cover the Maldives and other flat island nations.” At last report, the Maldives continue to thrive – thanks largely to growing tourism! According to CBS News, in 2009 former Vice President Al Gore (always good for a chuckle) “told a U.N. climate conference that new data suggests the Arctic polar ice cap may disappear in the summertime as soon as five to seven years from now,” meaning 2016 at the latest. Didn’t happen. In 2000, the UK Independent ran an article quoting a scientist who suggested that within a decade, thanks to global warming, British children “won’t know what snow is.” Don’t tell that to the British youngsters and others who experienced the severe winters of 2010, 2013, 2018, etc. Enough? Let’s do a couple more. There were numerous predictions in the early 2000s that all glaciers in Glacier National Park would disappear by 2020 or, if we were lucky, by ...
Energy Insider: China’s Gold Output Rose in 2025 as Consumption Slipped 00:00 00:00 /00:00 您的浏览器不支持 audio 标签。 Listen to this article 1x China’s gold production rises as consumption falls China produced 381.3 tons of gold in 2025, a 1.1% increase from the previous year, according to data released Thursday by the China Gold Association. However, gold consumption in the country fell by 3.6% to 950.1 ...
Energy Insider: China’s Gold Output Rose in 2025 as Consumption Slipped 00:00 00:00 /00:00 您的浏览器不支持 audio 标签。 Listen to this article 1x China’s gold production rises as consumption falls China produced 381.3 tons of gold in 2025, a 1.1% increase from the previous year, according to data released Thursday by the China Gold Association. However, gold consumption in the country fell by 3.6% to 950.1 tons. Production from imported raw materials rose 8.8% to 170.7 tons. China’s new solar capacity set for first drop in seven years Register to read this article for free. Register Unlock exclusive discounts with a Caixin group subscription — ideal for teams and organizations. Subscribe to both Caixin Global and The Wall Street Journal — for the price of one. Share now and your friends will read it for free!
Portugal’s government approved a set of emergency laws to speed reconstruction after deadly flooding, clearing administrative hurdles as part of a €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) support package in one of the largest disaster-relief efforts ever mobilized by the country. The cabinet agreed to extend the calamity declaration until Feb. 15, citing damage from Storm Kristin and the continued risk of seve...
Portugal’s government approved a set of emergency laws to speed reconstruction after deadly flooding, clearing administrative hurdles as part of a €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) support package in one of the largest disaster-relief efforts ever mobilized by the country. The cabinet agreed to extend the calamity declaration until Feb. 15, citing damage from Storm Kristin and the continued risk of severe flooding as Storm Leonardo crosses the country and Storm Marta approaches the mainland. The status allows authorities to suspend normal procedures to accelerate spending and emergency response. Three localities postponed voting tied to Sunday’s presidential runoff. Several of Portugal’s main rivers have reached critical levels. The Douro, which runs through Porto in the north, burst its banks in numerous places, flooding riverside towns, while the Tejo rose to its highest level since 1997, according to civil-protection authorities. The Sado is at levels not seen since 1989. At least 11 people have died since last week, and as many as 1 million were left without power. The flooding has compounded damage from last summer’s wildfires, which stripped vegetation from large areas of central and northern Portugal, increasing runoff during heavy rains. Critics at the time accused Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s government of responding too slowly. The back-to-back disasters have intensified pressure on infrastructure and public services, underscoring the growing economic cost of extreme weather. The government is incurring the added burden with limited fiscal headroom. Portugal is forecasting a small budget surplus this year, leaving little room to absorb large emergency outlays. Montenegro has argued swift intervention is needed to prevent longer-term economic damage, even as the government seeks to preserve fiscal credibility. The legal package underpins the broader €2.5 billion relief effort, combining direct support for households, expanded credit guarantees for businesses ...
BP is looking for a partner to help ramp up production and share some costs at one of the Middle East’s oldest oil fields, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Bloomberg's Anthony Di Paola spoke to Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East and Africa. (Source: Bloomberg)
BP is looking for a partner to help ramp up production and share some costs at one of the Middle East’s oldest oil fields, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Bloomberg's Anthony Di Paola spoke to Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East and Africa. (Source: Bloomberg)
Key Points Just over a dozen public companies globally have reached the trillion-dollar market cap plateau. Walmart became the newest member of the trillion-dollar club on Feb. 3, with its size, value proposition, and embrace of technology helping to lift its tide. Two industry leaders are ideally positioned to eventually become trillion-dollar stocks -- but the economic cycle may act as a near-te...
Key Points Just over a dozen public companies globally have reached the trillion-dollar market cap plateau. Walmart became the newest member of the trillion-dollar club on Feb. 3, with its size, value proposition, and embrace of technology helping to lift its tide. Two industry leaders are ideally positioned to eventually become trillion-dollar stocks -- but the economic cycle may act as a near-term headwind. 10 stocks we like better than Walmart › For much of the last seven years, the bulls have been leading the charge on Wall Street. The benchmark S&P 500 has gained at least 16% in six of the previous seven years, with the 2022 bear market being the exception. While most time-tested businesses have benefited from this near-persistent optimism, many of Wall Street's trillion-dollar club members have enjoyed outsize returns. Just over a dozen publicly traded companies around the world have reached the trillion-dollar market cap plateau, including 12 found on U.S. exchanges. This consists of all members of the "Magnificent Seven," Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, artificial intelligence (AI) stocks Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, drug giant Eli Lilly, and the newest member, retail kingpin Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT). Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » But Walmart won't be the last public company to reach this elite status. Two other companies from the same sector (no, not technology!) have the necessary catalysts to reach a trillion-dollar valuation. However, there's a catch investors should be aware of that could stymie the ascent of both stocks. Walmart becomes Wall Street's newest trillion-dollar club member When the closing bell rang on Feb. 3, Walmart had officially crested the $1 trillion threshold. While its 55-year climb from initial public offering to trillion-d...