The UK's "soft-touch approach" to illegal migrants has come under scrutiny after the Daily Express "unmasked a begging gang boss as an axe-wielding thug", the paper reports. The Daily Express' investigation found that Iliuta Gruia – who was part of a group in Park Lane, London in 2025, where police welfare checks took place – is a Romanian criminal who has a restraining order against him for threa...
The UK's "soft-touch approach" to illegal migrants has come under scrutiny after the Daily Express "unmasked a begging gang boss as an axe-wielding thug", the paper reports. The Daily Express' investigation found that Iliuta Gruia – who was part of a group in Park Lane, London in 2025, where police welfare checks took place – is a Romanian criminal who has a restraining order against him for threatening to kill his children, the paper says.
(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day losing streak in which it had given up almost 550 points or 3 percent. The Hang Seng now sits just beneath the 17,950-point plateau and it's likely to extend its losses on Monday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid mixed cues for interest rates. The European markets were ...
(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day losing streak in which it had given up almost 550 points or 3 percent. The Hang Seng now sits just beneath the 17,950-point plateau and it's likely to extend its losses on Monday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid mixed cues for interest rates. The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and properties. For the day, the index tumbled 170.82 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 17,941.78 after trading between 17,927.16 and 18,109.89. Among the actives, Alibaba Group and Li Ning both surrendered 2.28 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 3.05 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 1.22 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.18 percent, China Mengniu Dairy perked 0.13 percent, China Resources Land rallied 0.56 percent, CITIC weakened 1.31 percent, CNOOC lost 0.47 percent, Country Garden surged 2.57 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 1.16 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.26 percent, Hang Lung Properties and CLP Holdings both skidded 1.28 percent, Henderson Land tumbled 2.05 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.51 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.46 percent, JD.com declined 1.81 percent, Lenovo shed 1.10 percent, Meituan stumbled 1.71 percent, New World Development retreated 1.90 percent, Techtronic Industries tanked 2.80 percent, Xiaomi Corporation slumped 1.48 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 4.40 percent. The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but rallied to finish mixed and flat. The Dow dropped 57.94 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 38,589.16, while the NASDAQ rose 21.32 points or 0.12 percent to close at a record 17,688.88 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.14 points or 0.04 perce...
After nearly four years, the world’s most popular boy band is back. Bloomberg's Sohee Kim explains how BTS evolved, the creative process behind their new album "Arirang," and how their upcoming global tour will be different. (Source: Bloomberg)
After nearly four years, the world’s most popular boy band is back. Bloomberg's Sohee Kim explains how BTS evolved, the creative process behind their new album "Arirang," and how their upcoming global tour will be different. (Source: Bloomberg)
Donny DBM/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from Fidelity Stock Selector Mid Cap Fund Q4 2025 Commentary For the final three months of 2025, the fund's Retail Class shares gained 3.23%, topping the 1.64% advance of the benchmark S&P MidCap 400® Index. In the fourth quarter, U.S. stocks extended the rally that began in April following the 90-day pause on most tariffs. The ...
Donny DBM/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from Fidelity Stock Selector Mid Cap Fund Q4 2025 Commentary For the final three months of 2025, the fund's Retail Class shares gained 3.23%, topping the 1.64% advance of the benchmark S&P MidCap 400® Index. In the fourth quarter, U.S. stocks extended the rally that began in April following the 90-day pause on most tariffs. The period produced modest increases across the market-capitalization spectrum amid shifting sector leadership, a prolonged lack of economic data stemming from the federal government's shutdown, and two interest-rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Within the mid-cap benchmark, the communication services (+13%) sector delivered the strongest result, mainly due to media & entertainment stocks (+17%). Health care (+6%) also fared well, partly reflecting the outperformance of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & life sciences (+14%) firms. Information technology (+5%) recorded the third-best return amid robust gains in the tech hardware & equipment (+20%) industry. At the other extreme, four sectors posted negative returns: consumer staples (-7%), consumer discretionary (-2%), utilities (-0.9%) and real estate (-0.4%). Turning to the portfolio, security selection in the technology sector notably bolstered performance versus the benchmark. Picks in industrials and real estate helped to a lesser extent. An overweight in Coherent ( COHR ) topped the list of individual relative contributors. Shares of the technology company, which manufactures precision optical components and coatings, rose about 71% the past three months. In early November, the company reported quarterly results that significantly exceeded consensus expectations, driven by a surge in AI infrastructure investment and soaring demand for the firm's products in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. To concentrate on that business, Coherent recently sold its aerospace and defense division to Advent for $400 million. We adde...
Indian insurers are turning to state government bonds for a popular derivatives trade, locking in higher yields amid record provincial debt supply. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. , Axis Max Life Insurance Ltd. and Shriram Life Insurance Co. are among major insurers that entered bond forward contracts with banks since late January. Under these agreements, lenders commit to selling securities a...
Indian insurers are turning to state government bonds for a popular derivatives trade, locking in higher yields amid record provincial debt supply. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. , Axis Max Life Insurance Ltd. and Shriram Life Insurance Co. are among major insurers that entered bond forward contracts with banks since late January. Under these agreements, lenders commit to selling securities at a fixed price on a future date. While insurers have long used such instruments, they were typically linked to federal government notes. More than a quarter of total volumes in bond forwards and their rate agreements — a similar cash-settled derivative — since February have been tied to state bonds, according to data from Clearing Corp. of India . About half of the trades in the segment are now linked to such securities, up from only sporadic activity earlier. Derivatives linked to state debt are gaining momentum as the yield gap between provincial and benchmark notes widens to a multi-year high. They are also turning to the trade as the long-tenor bonds align better with their asset-liability needs, said Sachin Bajaj , chief investment officer at Axis Max Life Insurance. Read More: Record State Borrowing Spree Pushes Indian Bond Yields Higher The growing appetite for these instruments follows the largest-ever borrowing plan of 5 trillion rupees ($53.6 billion) by states for the quarter ending March, said Ketan Parikh , head of fixed income at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. “The 15- to 20-year state bonds are trading at a 50-60 basis points spread, providing a sweet spot for insurers to lock in higher yields,” he said. The yield premium was about 45 basis points at the end of December. The pickup in state bond forwards coincides with the final quarter of India’s April-to-March financial year, when insurers typically see a jump in premium collections and deploy those inflows into long-term assets that match liabilities. State bonds become the “natural choice” at this time...
Anne Tse, Asia Pacific CEO at PepsiCo, discusses how the company is mitigating the geopolitical and cost pressures by sourcing most ingredients locally. She also says PepsiCo is deploying artificial intelligence across its operations in China and beyond to improve efficiency. She speaks with Stephen Engle at the China Development Forum in Beijing. (Source: Bloomberg)
Anne Tse, Asia Pacific CEO at PepsiCo, discusses how the company is mitigating the geopolitical and cost pressures by sourcing most ingredients locally. She also says PepsiCo is deploying artificial intelligence across its operations in China and beyond to improve efficiency. She speaks with Stephen Engle at the China Development Forum in Beijing. (Source: Bloomberg)