S4 Capital (LON:SFOR) told shareowners at its annual general meeting that trading remains pressured by macroeconomic uncertainty and client caution, while management said cost controls, working capital discipline and AI-driven offerings are supporting margin improvement and debt reduction. Founder
S4 Capital (LON:SFOR) told shareowners at its annual general meeting that trading remains pressured by macroeconomic uncertainty and client caution, while management said cost controls, working capital discipline and AI-driven offerings are supporting margin improvement and debt reduction. Founder
Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) reported another record quarter for fiscal 2026, with management pointing to AI-related network demand from cloud providers and renewed spending by service providers as major drivers of growth. On the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call, President and CEO Gary Smith said
Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) reported another record quarter for fiscal 2026, with management pointing to AI-related network demand from cloud providers and renewed spending by service providers as major drivers of growth. On the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call, President and CEO Gary Smith said
The choice between Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF (NYSEMKT:AAAU) and VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:GDX) depends on whether an investor seeks direct bullion exposure or the higher volatility of miners. These two funds offer distinct ways to play the gold market. While one tracks the metal itself, the other follows the companies digging it out of the ground. Understanding the differences in volat...
The choice between Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF (NYSEMKT:AAAU) and VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:GDX) depends on whether an investor seeks direct bullion exposure or the higher volatility of miners. These two funds offer distinct ways to play the gold market. While one tracks the metal itself, the other follows the companies digging it out of the ground. Understanding the differences in volatility, costs, and dividends is essential for any portfolio allocation in the precious metals space. Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield. Continue reading
Grafner/iStock via Getty Images Introduction The iShares MSCI Italy ETF ( EWI ), a $650 million-sized financial product, which comes across as a concentrated bet on the Italian stock market (it covers only 25 Italian stocks, and close to 80% of those are large caps), isn’t necessarily having its finest hour in 2026 (so far). On a YTD basis, when other developed markets have notched up price gains ...
Grafner/iStock via Getty Images Introduction The iShares MSCI Italy ETF ( EWI ), a $650 million-sized financial product, which comes across as a concentrated bet on the Italian stock market (it covers only 25 Italian stocks, and close to 80% of those are large caps), isn’t necessarily having its finest hour in 2026 (so far). On a YTD basis, when other developed markets have notched up price gains of ~15%, EWI has only managed roughly half of those gains; meanwhile, even global markets have outperformed our ETF in focus by 1.55x. YCharts After lagging these important pockets in the first five months of 2026, could EWI potentially change the narrative in the second half of the year, or is the status quo set to continue? An Unappealing Macro Outlook Beckons Over the last 3 calendar years, Italian real GDP growth on average, has come in at a miserly pace of less than 1% p.a., and the country is no close to reversing this trend over the next two years at the very least. OECD Meanwhile, in the intermediate term, note that Q1-26 GDP only came in at 0.8% YoY , and the latest forecasts this week imply that growth in the coming quarters will be a lot lower, as FY GDP growth forecasts are currently only budgeting for a figure of 0.5%. Investors need to recognize that the ongoing turbulence in the Middle East is likely leaving a more detrimental mark on Italy than on most other major European counterparts. For added context, this is a country where 25% of its refined petroleum supplies and 11% of natural gas supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Little wonder that the recent aggregate import figures for Italy, which came in at EUR57B (growing at a pace of 8% YoY), represented its highest point in nearly 40 months (or over 3 years). Trading Economics If the import bill stays at this elevated threshold, investors can be reasonably sure of Italy’s long-standing current account surplus (Italy has been able to maintain a current account surplus in 11 out of the last 12 years) ...
格隆汇6月4日｜Meta Platforms(META.US)涨2.5%，报638.7美元。消息面上，Meta推出面向商户的人工智能(AI)代理Meta Business Agent，协助企业在WhatsApp、Messenger及Instagram处理客户查询、预约及销售。Business Agent可按商户语气回应客户，处理常见问题、筛选潜在客户，并在需要时把较复杂查询转交真人员工。Busin...
格隆汇6月4日｜Meta Platforms(META.US)涨2.5%，报638.7美元。消息面上，Meta推出面向商户的人工智能(AI)代理Meta Business Agent，协助企业在WhatsApp、Messenger及Instagram处理客户查询、预约及销售。Business Agent可按商户语气回应客户，处理常见问题、筛选潜在客户，并在需要时把较复杂查询转交真人员工。Business Agent初期可免费使用，并计划未来数月推出付费订阅选项。此外，Meta正考虑对旗下面向普通消费者的OpenClaw智能体工具新品设置最高每月200美元的定价。Hatch功能覆盖面广泛：可按需编写定制软件、在用户日历创建日程、代为发送邮件。(格隆汇)
Newport Gold ( NWPG ) said on Thursday it is completing the cancellation of up to 24.8M common shares that will be returned to treasury, a move aimed at reducing dilution and enhancing shareholder value. Stock up +20% in early trading. The company said the share cancellation stems from a previously finalized agreement with a stockholder and is now in the final processing stage. Newport Gold said t...
Newport Gold ( NWPG ) said on Thursday it is completing the cancellation of up to 24.8M common shares that will be returned to treasury, a move aimed at reducing dilution and enhancing shareholder value. Stock up +20% in early trading. The company said the share cancellation stems from a previously finalized agreement with a stockholder and is now in the final processing stage. Newport Gold said the move would reduce the public float, improve per-share metrics, eliminate a dilution overhang, and align management more closely with shareholders. More on Newport Gold, Inc. Newport Gold finalizes merger with NFI Empire Financial information for Newport Gold, Inc.
SpaceX is set to go public in the largest IPO of all time, and it is arguably the most hyped IPO in history. In this video, I take a closer look at how other large IPOs have performed both soon after going public and over the long term. You might be surprised.
SpaceX is set to go public in the largest IPO of all time, and it is arguably the most hyped IPO in history. In this video, I take a closer look at how other large IPOs have performed both soon after going public and over the long term. You might be surprised.
Robinhood Markets Inc. is kickstarting a shift away from its longstanding prediction markets partner Kalshi Inc. , using the World Cup to road test its own infrastructure. Rothera , a US-based derivatives exchange in which Robinhood and Susquehanna International Group jointly acquired a majority stake last year, is expected to handle bets for Robinhood users on events throughout the 104-game tourn...
Robinhood Markets Inc. is kickstarting a shift away from its longstanding prediction markets partner Kalshi Inc. , using the World Cup to road test its own infrastructure. Rothera , a US-based derivatives exchange in which Robinhood and Susquehanna International Group jointly acquired a majority stake last year, is expected to handle bets for Robinhood users on events throughout the 104-game tournament, the companies said on Thursday. A selection of contracts will be routed to Rothera including individual World Cup matches, the tournament’s overall winner and the number of goals scored during a game. The move is a major test for Rothera as Robinhood seeks to diversify the pool of providers that it relies on for prediction markets, the retail broker’s fastest-growing product to date. Robinhood has handled more than 16 billion events contracts so far this year, already surpassing the 12 billion traded in 2025. The World Cup is expected to be “one of the largest traded events that has ever occurred,” JB Mackenzie , Robinhood’s vice president and general manager of futures and prediction markets, said in an interview. “The fact of the matter is whenever something becomes the world stage for a product or for a sport, people are very engaged in it.” The shift to Rothera may curtail volumes on Kalshi, hitting the largest US-regulated prediction markets platform at a key moment in the sporting calendar. Bets from Robinhood users made up nearly a quarter of Kalshi’s overall trading volume in March, according to a Bernstein analysis. A market tracking the World Cup’s eventual winner has already attracted more than $76 million in volume on Kalshi. Some World Cup bets on Robinhood will continue to be routed to Kalshi, a spokesperson for Robinhood said, such as player contracts and combinations, which bundle multiple binary contracts together. Robinhood will make decisions throughout the tournament on where to route contracts based on factors like market liquidity and resolution...
Successful jokes are thin on the ground in the musty sixth installment of the once-popular parody franchise, taking aim at everything from Scream to Sinners The Scary Movie series has always depended on timing. Not necessarily in its gagcraft, which has oscillated between occasional sharp jabs and many beyond-broad blows, but in its position on the release schedule. This was especially true of the...
Successful jokes are thin on the ground in the musty sixth installment of the once-popular parody franchise, taking aim at everything from Scream to Sinners The Scary Movie series has always depended on timing. Not necessarily in its gagcraft, which has oscillated between occasional sharp jabs and many beyond-broad blows, but in its position on the release schedule. This was especially true of the first installment, which arrived in theaters just a few months after the 2000 release of Scream 3, capitalizing on the new wave of slashers while holding a spoofy Viking funeral for that just-concluded trilogy. A quarter of a century later, horror endures and there’s no reason to think spoofs can’t endure in parallel along with it as Backrooms and Obsession have ruled the early summer box office . The sixth Scary Movie, repeating the first movie’s unnumbered title as a simultaneous nod to and act of reboot branding, is releasing too soon after those surprise smashes to incorporate them into its litany of gags (not even some last-minute ADR references, guys?). It’s stuck far further back, doing a composite of the fifth and sixth Scream movies from 2022 and 2023, respectively. On the other hand, with the recent Scream 7 largely abdicating its self-referentiality entirely, Scary Movie arrives as the last horror-comedy holding the torch for in-jokes that its self-serious cousin couldn’t bother with. Continue reading...
At the 24% federal bracket, a portfolio throwing off $40,000 in high-yield dividend income hands roughly $9,600 to the IRS every year when those shares sit in a taxable account treated as ordinary income. For investors in the gap years between retirement and RMD age 73, that drag compounds quietly until required minimum distributions force ... How to Maximize Dividend Income in Retirement Before R...
At the 24% federal bracket, a portfolio throwing off $40,000 in high-yield dividend income hands roughly $9,600 to the IRS every year when those shares sit in a taxable account treated as ordinary income. For investors in the gap years between retirement and RMD age 73, that drag compounds quietly until required minimum distributions force ... How to Maximize Dividend Income in Retirement Before RMDs Change the Math
Beijing’s strong opposition to maritime boundary talks between Manila and Tokyo reflects growing wariness over a shifting balance of power in the western Pacific. And, experts warn, these talks – part of a highly calculated geopolitical effort by US allies – could reinforce the so-called first island chain and restrict Beijing’s naval access in an area vital to any potential conflict over Taiwan: ...
Beijing’s strong opposition to maritime boundary talks between Manila and Tokyo reflects growing wariness over a shifting balance of power in the western Pacific. And, experts warn, these talks – part of a highly calculated geopolitical effort by US allies – could reinforce the so-called first island chain and restrict Beijing’s naval access in an area vital to any potential conflict over Taiwan: its clear red line. Tensions have sharpened since Japan and the Philippines announced last week that...
This memoir of a man who moved around China chasing low-paid work for 20 years is an indictment of a shocking system, read in a suitably austere way Hu Anyan’s memoir about working in the Chinese gig economy began life as a blog before being turned into a wildly successful book that has sold nearly 2m copies in China. It chronicles the daily grind that is working a series of unskilled jobs for ins...
This memoir of a man who moved around China chasing low-paid work for 20 years is an indictment of a shocking system, read in a suitably austere way Hu Anyan’s memoir about working in the Chinese gig economy began life as a blog before being turned into a wildly successful book that has sold nearly 2m copies in China. It chronicles the daily grind that is working a series of unskilled jobs for insultingly low wages and where there is no such thing as career progression. Hu is one of 300 million so-called internal migrants in China, people who move around the country chasing work. Over 20 years, he does 19 jobs in six cities, many of them in terrible conditions. He works as a security guard, hotel waiter, delivery driver, bicycle salesman, bike courier, gas station attendant and at a logistics warehouse where he is given only four days off a month. There is a reason, he notes, why so many new recruits fail to make it through the three-day trial, which, of course, is unpaid. Continue reading...
The ceasefire has held just enough to prevent a return to all-out war, but neither side is close to achieving peace The US-Iran ceasefire is entering yet another round of escalation since it came into effect on 8 April . This week, there have been further strikes on Iran by the US, and Iranian retaliation on Kuwait and Bahrain , alongside Israeli escalation in Lebanon. Earlier flare-ups over the p...
The ceasefire has held just enough to prevent a return to all-out war, but neither side is close to achieving peace The US-Iran ceasefire is entering yet another round of escalation since it came into effect on 8 April . This week, there have been further strikes on Iran by the US, and Iranian retaliation on Kuwait and Bahrain , alongside Israeli escalation in Lebanon. Earlier flare-ups over the past two months were quickly contained. Both sides have tried to keep the balance between no war and no peace. But as this ceasefire drags on it risks becoming yet another Middle East stalemate, albeit one with international economic and political consequences. Four obstacles are preventing progress. The first is trust. Iran does not believe Donald Trump can deliver a deal, much less stick to one. The fear is not only that Washington will walk away again but that the goalposts will keep moving, where first nuclear limits are imposed, followed by missiles, then regional policy and finally further political concessions dressed up as security guarantees. Sanam Vakil is the director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House Continue reading...
The star of The Fast Show and Father Brown – as well as the original Arthur Weasley – on friendly death eaters, famous Brummies and Chinese trains What were the best and worst moments shooting the Harry Potter films? bumble1 The worst part was being away from home and the long hours. The best bit was the work and talking to the other actors. I look back with great fondness on that. I remember sayi...
The star of The Fast Show and Father Brown – as well as the original Arthur Weasley – on friendly death eaters, famous Brummies and Chinese trains What were the best and worst moments shooting the Harry Potter films? bumble1 The worst part was being away from home and the long hours. The best bit was the work and talking to the other actors. I look back with great fondness on that. I remember saying to Alan Rickman that the collective noun for actors is an anecdote. Michael Gambon was the king of stories. He’d start a joke and you never knew where he was going. But he’d hone them; they were finely crafted – some of his best work was backstage. Richard Griffiths was also a great raconteur. His stories were brilliant, and completely unpublishable. Continue reading...