Italy’s government is preparing to reconfirm Claudio Descalzi as chief executive officer of Italian state-backed energy firm Eni SpA , a move that would extend the term of one of Europe’s longest-serving oil chiefs and project continuity. The reappointment of Descalzi to a rare fifth three-year term is expected by spring, the people said, asking not to be named because the final decision hasn’t be...
Italy’s government is preparing to reconfirm Claudio Descalzi as chief executive officer of Italian state-backed energy firm Eni SpA , a move that would extend the term of one of Europe’s longest-serving oil chiefs and project continuity. The reappointment of Descalzi to a rare fifth three-year term is expected by spring, the people said, asking not to be named because the final decision hasn’t been made. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also likely to extend CEO mandates at other key Italian state-backed companies, including defense contractor Leonardo SpA , postal service Poste Italiane SpA and energy company Enel SpA , the people said. Talks over the appointments are ongoing and still in progress, the people added. Descalzi, 70, heads one of the world’s most influential energy companies. Eni is often referred to as Italy’s “other foreign ministry” given its impact across global regions, including with Italy’s oil-rich neighbors in the Mediterranean. The Italian government declined to comment, while an Eni spokesman said the decision is up to its shareholders. Leonardo, whose CEO is Roberto Cingolani , Poste Italiane, led by Matteo Del Fante , and Enel, headed by Flavio Cattaneo , all declined to comment. Meloni has made stability a signature feature of her government, and leadership continuity at important state-backed firms could help to further that impression. Elections are set to take place by late 2027. Italy is the biggest shareholder of Eni, Leonardo and Enel, and owns a majority in Poste Italiane. All four companies registered stock-market gains in 2025, with defense contractor Leonardo nearly doubling. The CEO appointments are made every three years at companies in which Italy is a major shareholder. The last slate came through in 2023, months after Meloni became prime minister. While rare, a fifth mandate for Eni’s Descalzi wouldn’t be unprecedented. Giuseppe Bono served five consecutive terms as CEO of Fincantieri Spa , leading the state-controlled shi...
It’s getting too hot in China’s stock market for officials’ comfort. Authorities just tightened rules on margin financing as they seek to cool investor fervor after a $1.2 trillion rally in the past month. While the move was not a dramatic one, the intent was obvious. The CSI 300 Index erased an 1.2% advance to close 0.4% lower, while Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong also briefly wiped out gains...
It’s getting too hot in China’s stock market for officials’ comfort. Authorities just tightened rules on margin financing as they seek to cool investor fervor after a $1.2 trillion rally in the past month. While the move was not a dramatic one, the intent was obvious. The CSI 300 Index erased an 1.2% advance to close 0.4% lower, while Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong also briefly wiped out gains. “This sends a clear signal from regulators that they want a slow bull market, not an overheated one,” said Yang Guang, a fund manager at Yuanxi Private Fund Management Partnership. “If that’s not enough to slow down the rally, there will be follow-up measures.” It’s been a strong start to the year for Chinese stocks, with turnover hitting records and benchmarks surging to multi-year highs, despite the weakness in the economy and ongoing property market slump. Tech shares, which have jumped 11% in January, are seen continuing to benefit as the nation intensifies its drive to create more companies like DeepSeek, according to JPMorgan Asset Management. The challenge for policy makers will be how to encourage a bull market that endures , rather than succumbing to the booms and busts that the nation’s equities are famous for. What You Need to Know Today Outside of China, the investor mood continues to be ebullient. Global stocks headed for a record high close after US inflation data eased concerns about price pressures and investors bought into the AI-fueled rally. South Korea, a bellwether for AI stocks, rose for a ninth day. Bitcoin also benefited from the upbeat sentiment, climbing to a two-month high. Metals extended their dramatic start as investors bet on a boost from more US rate cuts and an economic revival in China. Silver broke above $90 an ounce for the first time , and spot gold hit a record. Tin also rallied to a new high along with copper. Among other moves, the Korean won dropped toward its weakest level since the global financial crisis as local investors poure...
Prague-based defense company Czechoslovak Group plans to go public in Amsterdam, in what could be the largest-ever defense initial public offering. The armored vehicle and munitions maker is planning to sell €750 million ($874 million) of new shares and a shareholder will sell an undetermined amount of existing shares in the deal. Bloomberg’s Charles Capel reports.
Prague-based defense company Czechoslovak Group plans to go public in Amsterdam, in what could be the largest-ever defense initial public offering. The armored vehicle and munitions maker is planning to sell €750 million ($874 million) of new shares and a shareholder will sell an undetermined amount of existing shares in the deal. Bloomberg’s Charles Capel reports.
The death of a friend and the attempted murder of her husband Salman Rushdie loom large in the poet’s moving memoir The night before her wedding to Salman Rushdie in 2021, the American poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths was fretting about her best friend. Kamilah Aisha Moon was due to read a poem at the ceremony, but no one had heard from her. Her phone was going straight to voicemail and st...
The death of a friend and the attempted murder of her husband Salman Rushdie loom large in the poet’s moving memoir The night before her wedding to Salman Rushdie in 2021, the American poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths was fretting about her best friend. Kamilah Aisha Moon was due to read a poem at the ceremony, but no one had heard from her. Her phone was going straight to voicemail and staff at her hotel said she hadn’t checked in. “We’ll find her. She wouldn’t miss your wedding,” Griffiths’s sister, Melissa, assured her. But the next afternoon, in the middle of her wedding reception, Griffiths learned that Moon had died alone at home in Atlanta of unknown causes. On hearing the news she collapsed, hit her head on a table and blacked out. Paramedics pried open her eyes to shine a torch on them: “A particle of light that is so distant from the world I once knew.” For Griffiths, 47, the death of her best friend and “chosen sister” was one in a series of upheavals stretching across a decade. It began with the death of her mother, who was her greatest cheerleader and fiercest critic. She had instilled in her daughter the importance of “independence above everything. I was raised not to lose myself in the stories of others, especially men.” Continue reading...
Wheatley’s engaging tale sends Sam Riley’s tough-guy reporter to the home of a reclusive oligarch who has invented a ‘Brain Collider’ On a modest budget, director Ben Wheatley gives us a retro sci-fi with much tongue-in-cheek paranoia, questioning of reality and proliferation of multiverses, and featuring comic-book dialogue that’s been re-recorded, giving the whole thing a sheen of dreamlike unre...
Wheatley’s engaging tale sends Sam Riley’s tough-guy reporter to the home of a reclusive oligarch who has invented a ‘Brain Collider’ On a modest budget, director Ben Wheatley gives us a retro sci-fi with much tongue-in-cheek paranoia, questioning of reality and proliferation of multiverses, and featuring comic-book dialogue that’s been re-recorded, giving the whole thing a sheen of dreamlike unreality. There’s also a lot of quirky lo-fi special effects work with Airfix models. Bulk is a movie indebted to a mountain of pop culture references listed in Wheatley’s own handwriting in block capitals over the closing credits. Space: 1999 is one – it is good to see it there, and see it reflected in the preceding film – and with the monochrome cinematography, Dutch angles and looming closeups there’s a bit of John Frankenheimer and a little of Chris Petit. The film is massively self-indulgent, often funny, rescued from its not infrequent longueurs by its stars, those very likable performers Alexandra Maria Lara and Sam Riley, who are a real-life married couple. Continue reading...
Sovereign investors slashed their exposure to mainland China in 2025 amid rising political sensitivities, but experts said selective opportunities and closer bilateral ties could support the outlook. The world’s second-largest economy received US$4.3 billion in investments from sovereign wealth funds, public pension funds and central banks, down 58 per cent from US$10.3 billion in 2024, according ...
Sovereign investors slashed their exposure to mainland China in 2025 amid rising political sensitivities, but experts said selective opportunities and closer bilateral ties could support the outlook. The world’s second-largest economy received US$4.3 billion in investments from sovereign wealth funds, public pension funds and central banks, down 58 per cent from US$10.3 billion in 2024, according to Global SWF, which tracks 792 such state-owned investors. “Sovereign investment activity has...
GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD, HKEX: 0800), a global leader in autonomous driving technology, today launched its Robotaxi service Mini Program, "WeRide Go", on WeChat, a super-app owned by tech giant Tencent. WeChat is one of China's most widely used digital platforms, with over a billion users. Residents and visitors in WeRide’s Robotaxi operating areas, ...
GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD, HKEX: 0800), a global leader in autonomous driving technology, today launched its Robotaxi service Mini Program, "WeRide Go", on WeChat, a super-app owned by tech giant Tencent. WeChat is one of China's most widely used digital platforms, with over a billion users. Residents and visitors in WeRide’s Robotaxi operating areas, including Guangzhou’s Huangpu district and Beijing’s Yizhuang district, can now book a Robotaxi ride
Investors are bracing for a year of heightened geopolitical risk as the White House leans into the “Donroe Doctrine,” the Trumpian revival of a 200-year-old foreign policy that aims to project American dominance in the Western Hemisphere and possibly beyond. Gaming out how President Donald Trump ’s policy shift might ripple throughout assets is no easy task: His moves have often been unpredictable...
Investors are bracing for a year of heightened geopolitical risk as the White House leans into the “Donroe Doctrine,” the Trumpian revival of a 200-year-old foreign policy that aims to project American dominance in the Western Hemisphere and possibly beyond. Gaming out how President Donald Trump ’s policy shift might ripple throughout assets is no easy task: His moves have often been unpredictable and can impact a range of markets, from energy prices to imports of chips that power the artificial intelligence industry. Trump’s administration spelled out its intention to build on President James Monroe’s doctrine in a national security strategy published last month. “It’s worth taking a step back and looking at the longer-run implications, because I do think that there’s a strategy, call it portfolio framing, for what’s going on from a geopolitical perspective,” said Sam Rines , a macro strategist at WisdomTree. Read More: How Trump Is Reviving the Monroe Doctrine: QuickTake So far, the ouster of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has proved a mere blip for the record-breaking run in US stocks, reinforcing the notion that the broader equity market seldom dwells on geopolitical risks for long. Still, there’s no shortage of cross-currents under the surface: Calls for increased military spending have sparked rallies in defense stocks, while investors are focusing on potential US moves in regions including Greenland, Iran and Cuba — and weighing how China and Russia might respond. Meanwhile, oil prices jumped on Tuesday after Trump said Iran will “pay a big price” for killing protesters, bolstering the case for those who believe 2026 will see conflicts intensify around the globe. Here’s a quick rundown of how geopolitical risk could sway markets in the months ahead. Technology The technology sector — which has the heaviest weighting in US markets — is also likely to see the biggest disruptions if China’s President Xi Jinping responds to US hegemony in the Western Hemisphere by ta...
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE Stock futures moved lower on Wednesday morning after the S&P 500 pulled back from record levels seen earlier in the week. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 101 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures were 11.75 points, or 0.2%, lower, while Nasdaq 100 futures inched 41 points, or 0.2%, lower. On Wednesday, investors can ...
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE Stock futures moved lower on Wednesday morning after the S&P 500 pulled back from record levels seen earlier in the week. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 101 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures were 11.75 points, or 0.2%, lower, while Nasdaq 100 futures inched 41 points, or 0.2%, lower. On Wednesday, investors can expect Bank of America, Wells Fargo , Citigroup to report their quarterly earnings results before market open. More inflation data is also on the docket, as December's producer price index report will be released before the opening bell. In Tuesday's regular trading session, the major averages closed lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, while the 30-stock Dow lost nearly 400 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.1%. Financials were the worst-performing group of the broad-market index. Shares of JPMorgan Chase tumbled more than 4% after fourth-quarter investment banking fees appeared to disappoint. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America fell in sympathy. Oil prices also jumped more than 2% Tuesday after President Donald Trump canceled meetings with Iranian officials and told protesters that "help is on its way." Energy stocks rallied, and the sector gained 1.5%. Trump's recent call for a one-year 10% cap on credit card interest rates has dragged down financial names, with Mastercard and Visa ending Tuesday's session in the red. Traders have been grappling with a volley of demands from the president, including Trump's declaration that he "will not permit" dividends or stock buybacks for defense companies and that the U.S. should bar large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. Trump's attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also continued on Tuesday amid growing worries over the central bank's independence as the Justice Department conducts a criminal investigation into the Fed's leader. Stock prices may be starting to reflect the potential impact of Trump...