The Federal Reserve’s asset cap on Wells Fargo came off in 2025. JPMorgan’s board waved through a $50 billion repurchase authorization. Bank of America returned $9.30 billion to shareholders in a single quarter. The post-stress-test capital return cycle is already running, and the cash is being shoveled out the door faster than most retail investors ... Banks Are Paying Again: 5 Financial Dividend...
The Federal Reserve’s asset cap on Wells Fargo came off in 2025. JPMorgan’s board waved through a $50 billion repurchase authorization. Bank of America returned $9.30 billion to shareholders in a single quarter. The post-stress-test capital return cycle is already running, and the cash is being shoveled out the door faster than most retail investors ... Banks Are Paying Again: 5 Financial Dividend Stocks After the Stress Tests
Dr. Richard Lokudu, the medical director of Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, has received barely any compensation for his work on the front line of one of Congo’s deadliest Ebola virus outbreaks. Lokudu and several of his colleagues work all day at the hospital treating an influx of patients. Notifications of suspected cases come even late at night. “I have not received my allowance [and] what...
Dr. Richard Lokudu, the medical director of Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, has received barely any compensation for his work on the front line of one of Congo’s deadliest Ebola virus outbreaks. Lokudu and several of his colleagues work all day at the hospital treating an influx of patients. Notifications of suspected cases come even late at night. “I have not received my allowance [and] what happened to others could happen to me as well,” Lokudu said. “Despite all the infection prevention...
aprott/iStock via Getty Images Employers are increasingly limiting or eliminating coverage for popular weight-loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk's ( NVO )( NONOF ) Wegovy and Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) Zepbound as the rapid growth in demand drives up healthcare costs, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. Large employers including Cigna ( CI ) and PricewaterhouseCoopers have reduced coverage for GLP-1 ...
aprott/iStock via Getty Images Employers are increasingly limiting or eliminating coverage for popular weight-loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk's ( NVO )( NONOF ) Wegovy and Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) Zepbound as the rapid growth in demand drives up healthcare costs, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. Large employers including Cigna ( CI ) and PricewaterhouseCoopers have reduced coverage for GLP-1 medications used to treat obesity, while others have introduced stricter requirements for employees seeking reimbursement. Those measures can include regular weigh-ins, nutrition coaching and tracking food intake through mobile apps. According to new data from benefits consulting firm Mercer, 11% of large employers have either dropped or plan to drop coverage for GLP-1 drugs prescribed for weight loss, while more than a quarter are tightening utilization controls. Nearly half of surveyed employers still don’t cover the medications for obesity treatment. The pullback reflects growing concern over the financial effect of the drugs. Healthcare provider HCA Healthcare ( HCA ) discontinued coverage for weight-loss use this year after GLP-1 utilization among employees surged in 2025. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts also removed obesity-treatment coverage from its standard employer plans, citing projections that spending on the medications could approach $1 billion this year. At the same time, employers face competing pressures. Surveys show many workers view GLP-1 coverage as a valuable benefit, with roughly 30% of employees saying they would consider changing jobs to gain access to the medications. Some companies continue to support broader coverage, arguing that the drugs may lower long-term healthcare costs by reducing obesity-related illnesses and hospitalizations. Research published by Aon in January found that GLP-1 users experienced slower medical-cost growth and fewer hospital stays after about 18 months of treatment. For investors, the growing pushback from emplo...
The actor on becoming famous as a child, being an old soul, and caring for her dad in his final years Born in Islington, London, in 1983, Natalie Cassidy is best known for playing Sonia Fowler in EastEnders. She joined the soap in 1993, and after leaving in 2007, she returned several times before making her final exit in April 2025. As well as theatre work, Cassidy has appeared in TV shows includi...
The actor on becoming famous as a child, being an old soul, and caring for her dad in his final years Born in Islington, London, in 1983, Natalie Cassidy is best known for playing Sonia Fowler in EastEnders. She joined the soap in 1993, and after leaving in 2007, she returned several times before making her final exit in April 2025. As well as theatre work, Cassidy has appeared in TV shows including Psychoville, Motherland and Boarders. She hosts the podcast Life With Nat and co-hosts Off the Telly. Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together is on BBC One and iPlayer now. This was taken on the freezing cold set of EastEnders when I was 13. It was Sonia’s mum’s wedding, so they’d given her a trumpet to play at the ceremony. A genius idea from the writers, as the trumpet brought light and comedy to the role. Sadly, like most soap characters, she got downtrodden over the years. Humour has a tendency to fade after a long time on Albert Square. Continue reading...
Gus Atkinson stars on day four as England bowl out New Zealand in the morning session, taking five wickets to secure a 115-run victory at Lord's and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
Gus Atkinson stars on day four as England bowl out New Zealand in the morning session, taking five wickets to secure a 115-run victory at Lord's and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
After decades of alienating working-class and rural voters from the Democratic party, it’s time the left bridges the divide It was a warm morning in rural Virginia. I was cutting into a pile of downed logs – wild cherry, oak and black locust – left behind when a piece of land was cleared for a small house. A young guy pulled up, stepped out of his truck and gave me a nod, the way people do out her...
After decades of alienating working-class and rural voters from the Democratic party, it’s time the left bridges the divide It was a warm morning in rural Virginia. I was cutting into a pile of downed logs – wild cherry, oak and black locust – left behind when a piece of land was cleared for a small house. A young guy pulled up, stepped out of his truck and gave me a nod, the way people do out here. Chainsaws in hand, we quickly figured out we both knew the owner and had her permission to take the wood – me for our home and greenhouse, him for much the same. Then we got to it – work. Continue reading...
A rebellion is rising against the dull, highly optimised lives big tech wants for us. It’s not a second too soon Has the optimisation rebellion begun? Something seemed to shift in the collective psyche recently when the world discovered the entrepreneur and podcaster Steven Bartlett’s reaction to having had “a couple of glasses of wine” on a school night. Speaking with Chris Williamson (the Love I...
A rebellion is rising against the dull, highly optimised lives big tech wants for us. It’s not a second too soon Has the optimisation rebellion begun? Something seemed to shift in the collective psyche recently when the world discovered the entrepreneur and podcaster Steven Bartlett’s reaction to having had “a couple of glasses of wine” on a school night. Speaking with Chris Williamson (the Love Island alumnus turned “wisdom” podcaster, God help us), Bartlett had explained what happened when he decided to test the effects of drinking after a year of sobriety – a sombre catalogue of catastrophes recorded by his Whoop tracker (“#ad, #sponsor”). He slept less, ate poorly, skipped the gym and – prepare yourself – “podcasted worse”. “It ruined three days of my life,” he said, seemingly in earnest. Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions explores a topical issue of personal cybersecurity Readers reply: If an alien asked you: ‘What is music?’ what would you play for them? I’ve been struggling to get my head around the idea that a passkey, which can be a PIN on your phone, or facial recognition, can be safer than using a complicated password, and two factor aut...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions explores a topical issue of personal cybersecurity Readers reply: If an alien asked you: ‘What is music?’ what would you play for them? I’ve been struggling to get my head around the idea that a passkey, which can be a PIN on your phone, or facial recognition, can be safer than using a complicated password, and two factor authentication. I get that having something unique to your device, not stored on a company’s server is unphishable, and less hackable by cybercrims, but what if your phone is nicked and someone guesses the password? And what if you lose your phone? Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions comes up with an epic extraterrestrial playlist for Earth’s first contact from beyond the stars This week’s new question: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone PIN really be safer than a password? If an alien landed and asked you: “What is this thing you call music?” what would you play for them? And why? H...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions comes up with an epic extraterrestrial playlist for Earth’s first contact from beyond the stars This week’s new question: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone PIN really be safer than a password? If an alien landed and asked you: “What is this thing you call music?” what would you play for them? And why? Heather, Kent Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com . Continue reading...
When China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Canada late last month to consolidate a new economic partnership, Prime Minister Mark Carney was in New York pitching for more than US$1 trillion in investment. “The timing was almost certainly deliberate,” said Alejandro Reyes, a professor of politics and a senior fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Ko...
When China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Canada late last month to consolidate a new economic partnership, Prime Minister Mark Carney was in New York pitching for more than US$1 trillion in investment. “The timing was almost certainly deliberate,” said Alejandro Reyes, a professor of politics and a senior fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong. “It signals to Washington that engagement with Beijing does not come at the expense of the...
A flood of new shares from companies looking to fund their artificial intelligence ambitions is raising questions on Wall Street about whether there will be enough buyers to soak them all up and what this pile of fresh equity will mean for stock prices more broadly. Initial public offerings from SpaceX , Anthropic and OpenAI in the coming months could add close to $4 trillion in market capitalizat...
A flood of new shares from companies looking to fund their artificial intelligence ambitions is raising questions on Wall Street about whether there will be enough buyers to soak them all up and what this pile of fresh equity will mean for stock prices more broadly. Initial public offerings from SpaceX , Anthropic and OpenAI in the coming months could add close to $4 trillion in market capitalization to US exchanges, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Already, the SpaceX deal has drawn more orders than shares available in the filing. Meanwhile, Alphabet Inc. is planing to raise $85 billion next quarter by selling stock, mostly into the open market, a move that could be followed by other technology giants in need of cash for AI data centers. “This is something that we haven’t seen in such a scale and in such a short time,” said Ano Kuhanathan , head of corporate research at Allianz Trade. “It’s a huge supply event.” The sellers seemingly have a lot going for them at the moment. AI investments are booming , spurring strong revenue growth. Chipmakers are soaring, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index on pace for its best year since 2003 with an 74% gain. Even old-school tech companies like Cisco Systems Inc. , Nokia Oyj and Dell Technologies Inc. have caught a bid from AI enthusiasm. Of course the timing could turn out to be less than ideal, as investors are starting to question if the rally has gone too far. The Nasdaq 100 Index sank 4.8% on Friday, its worst session in over a year. A report that Meta Platforms Inc. is considering raising tens of billions in a stock offering sent its shares down 5.5% . Still, Wall Street pros are confident the demand ultimately will be there when those new shares are available. “There is plenty of capital available to absorb not just this year’s IPOs, but also primary stock offerings by already public companies in need of cash to build out AI,” Nicholas Colas , co-founder of DataTrek Research, wrote in a note ...
Constantly being plugged into the news grind is mentally exhausting. Sometimes we just need to take a break, unwind, and do something fun. That’s why we’ve built up a collection of distracting time-wasters for when we need a break from being obsessively online. We figured you might enjoy these harmless rabbit holes, mildly addictive browser games , and internet curiosities , too, so we’ve been wri...
Constantly being plugged into the news grind is mentally exhausting. Sometimes we just need to take a break, unwind, and do something fun. That’s why we’ve built up a collection of distracting time-wasters for when we need a break from being obsessively online. We figured you might enjoy these harmless rabbit holes, mildly addictive browser games , and internet curiosities , too, so we’ve been writing about them when we find them. Can you beat our score in I’m Not a Robot or did you find a gem of an academic paper on motherhood and body horror on Horror Lex ? Tell us in the comments. The goal here isn’t to get engrossed in a game that you’ll lose hundreds of hours to, or become an expert on dialectical materialism. It’s to have a little fun on your lunch break, decompress between emails, or give you an interesting repository of art to dig through on a slow Sunday afternoon. So check back often to see the latest light-hearted (well, mostly light-hearted ) time waster we’re passing around the office. 82-0 is the best basketball game, to hell with NBA 2K Mechanical Pencil is the new cross-section book. I’m beginning to wonder, am I a robot? New Art City is a free virtual gallery filled with beautifully bizarre art. Horror Lex is a free database of academic literature for horror nerds. Spotify Wrapped? No. Welcome to Tax Wrapped. I can’t stop playing this annoyingly hard color memory game. Binary Piano is an addictive way to make algorithmic music in your browser. Relive the glory days when MTV played music videos. A Swedish hot dog with shrimp salad is the most chaotic evil sandwich ever and I will hear no arguments to the contrary.
US stock indexes ended the week lower as a steep selloff in semiconductor shares rattled markets. Iran attacked Kuwait International Airport, prompting Israel and the US to consider further strikes, which increased oil prices and inflation concerns. Stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls data fueled concerns that interest rates could remain elevated for longer. Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) dropped below the ...
US stock indexes ended the week lower as a steep selloff in semiconductor shares rattled markets. Iran attacked Kuwait International Airport, prompting Israel and the US to consider further strikes, which increased oil prices and inflation concerns. Stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls data fueled concerns that interest rates could remain elevated for longer. Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) dropped below the $60,000 threshold for the first time since September 2024. For the week, the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) and Nasdaq ( COMP:IND ) fell 2.5% and 4.5%, while Dow ( DJI ) booked a 0.2% fall. Across the Atlantic, the European equities ( STOXX ) ended the week 0.3% lower. On the data front, the Eurozone economy grew more slowly in the first quarter, while producer prices continued to rise. Meanwhile, business activity contracted in May, reflecting ongoing pressure from inflation. The UK economy showed a slight decline in business activity in May, marking the first contraction in over a year and falling short of market expectations. In the week, London’s FTSE 100 ( UKX ) and Germany ( DAX:IND ) equities fell 0.4% and 1.4% respectively, while France ( CAC:IND ) markets added 0.4%. The European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates next week after recent data showed stable growth across the major Eurozone economies. The Asia-Pacific markets China’s services sector strengthened in May, performing better than expected and improving from the previous month. In the last week, Chinese markets ( SHCOMP ) lost 1%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 ( NKY:IND ) ended the week flat despite hitting a record high last Wednesday. In Japan, manufacturing continued to grow but at a slower pace, while the services sector showed little to no growth, reaching its weakest level in over a year. On the policy front, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank should weigh the costs and benefits of raising interest rates if inflation risks begin to outweigh downside risks to economic growth. Major As...
Artificial intelligence has created some of the biggest winners in market history. Nvidia‘s (NASDAQ:NVDA) market value has surged into the trillions as companies race to build AI infrastructure, while investors have rewarded businesses tied to data centers, chips, and cloud computing. Yet the next phase of AI may not live inside servers. It may walk ... What Jensen Huang Just Said About Elon Musk ...
Artificial intelligence has created some of the biggest winners in market history. Nvidia‘s (NASDAQ:NVDA) market value has surged into the trillions as companies race to build AI infrastructure, while investors have rewarded businesses tied to data centers, chips, and cloud computing. Yet the next phase of AI may not live inside servers. It may walk ... What Jensen Huang Just Said About Elon Musk Shows Why Tesla May Be Worth More Than SpaceX
Major OPEC+ members agreed another modest symbolic increase to their oil output quotas for July, even as a blockage of exports from the Persian Gulf prevents most of them from implementing it. Seven nations led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will raise their collective target by 188,000 barrels a day next month, continuing the process — if only on paper — of restarting production halted several years ...
Major OPEC+ members agreed another modest symbolic increase to their oil output quotas for July, even as a blockage of exports from the Persian Gulf prevents most of them from implementing it. Seven nations led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will raise their collective target by 188,000 barrels a day next month, continuing the process — if only on paper — of restarting production halted several years ago, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a statement on Sunday after a video conference. With the Strait of Hormuz largely closed by the Iran war and Middle East producers forced to cut output, the OPEC+ decision remains theoretical for the time being. It could become relevant again when the waterway reopens, with buyers clamoring for barrels to replenish the world’s depleted oil inventories. “At this stage we are basically talking about hypothetical future scenarios with the bulk of the barrels stranded,” said Helima Croft, head of commodity-markets strategy at RBC Capital Markets LLC. While Russian shipments aren’t directly affected by the war, its crude production has also been challenged, falling to a 10-month low in May as Ukraine intensified strikes on its oil infrastructure. While a surge in US supply and diminished Chinese buying have prevented crude oil prices from spiraling out of control so far, fuels like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel have nevertheless surged during the conflict. That’s squeezing consumers worldwide and heightening the risk of an economic downturn. Still, markets haven’t rallied as much as feared while China dials back imports, major consumers tap emergency stockpiles and US President Donald Trump repeatedly signals an imminent peace deal. The group’s next meeting will be July 5. The video conference is one of four online meetings scheduled for Sunday. These include the first administrative gathering for core OPEC ministers since last month’s surprise exit of long-time member the United Arab Emirates. There are also tal...
Investing.com -- UBS maintained "buy" ratings on three major cloud providers as their combined revenue rose to $84.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 39% from a year earlier, marking a 15-percentage-point acceleration from the growth rate recorded in the same period last year.
Investing.com -- UBS maintained "buy" ratings on three major cloud providers as their combined revenue rose to $84.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 39% from a year earlier, marking a 15-percentage-point acceleration from the growth rate recorded in the same period last year.
real444/iStock via Getty Images Introduction When I was first introduced to the FTAI Aviation ( FTAI ) business model, I thought, what an innovative company. Building on core expertise and expanding reach by filling market gaps. Thus, the company moved from leasing aircraft and engines to maintenance, to parts refurbishment and sales when the market was starving for aircraft, and as RTX ( RTX ) ha...
real444/iStock via Getty Images Introduction When I was first introduced to the FTAI Aviation ( FTAI ) business model, I thought, what an innovative company. Building on core expertise and expanding reach by filling market gaps. Thus, the company moved from leasing aircraft and engines to maintenance, to parts refurbishment and sales when the market was starving for aircraft, and as RTX ( RTX ) had its recall dilemma. It also dawned on me when analyzing GE Vernova ( GEV ) and GE Aerospace ( GE ) that the basic turbine technology was similar, and so when FTAI launched its power business recycling older jet engines, I again thought, what an innovative company. And only yesterday, I reported on Solaris Energy Infrastructure ( SEI ), which buys and leases these more mobile small generators to data centers, and decided to update the FTAI investment case. Data Center Energy Bottleneck I have reported extensively on the AI data center build-out in the last few years. For the supply chain of semiconductors, construction companies, component makers, etc., the primary risk in my view is not a lack of funding nor a lack of return from AI (at least not in the next three years) but the risk of delaying the 100GW or 3000 data centers was a lack of energy, the inability to build power plants fast enough to meet the dramatic increase in demand. Which is why Caterpillar's ( CAT ) turbine generators, normally used in remote mining sites, have been repurposed to meet data center needs. It's why Bloom Energy's ( BE ) fuel cells found a market and why GEV has sold-out capacity for years, and all have had incredible stock price gains. If planned data centers enter into service, they will consume the US grid's buffer, which means far higher electricity prices. Thus, the turbo generators and fuel cells, while not the most cost-effective, fill a dangerous gap until nuclear and gas-fired plants, as well as renewable energy with batteries, can provide safety and reduce load prices. The altern...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Incyte Corp. ( INCY ) is close to acquiring privately held Star Therapeutics in a deal valued at up to $2 billion, the Financial Times reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter, as midsized drugmakers continue to pursue acquisitions to bolster their product pipelines. The biotechnology company is expected to pay about $1.25 billion in cash ...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Incyte Corp. ( INCY ) is close to acquiring privately held Star Therapeutics in a deal valued at up to $2 billion, the Financial Times reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter, as midsized drugmakers continue to pursue acquisitions to bolster their product pipelines. The biotechnology company is expected to pay about $1.25 billion in cash upfront, with an additional $750 million tied to future performance milestones. The transaction could be announced as soon as Monday. The acquisition would give Incyte ( INCY ) access to Star's lead experimental treatment for von Willebrand disease, the most common inherited bleeding disorder. The therapy, known as VGA039, is in late-stage clinical testing and has received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The deal could accelerate development of a potentially more convenient treatment option for patients with von Willebrand disease. Current therapies often require frequent infusions, while Star's drug is designed as a once-monthly injection that could be used to prevent bleeding episodes. The acquisition would also mark the first major deal under Incyte CEO Bill Meury, who took over last year and has emphasized acquisitions as a way to offset future revenue pressure from the expected 2028 patent expiration of the company's top-selling blood cancer drug, Jakafi. The transaction comes amid a broader wave of biotech consolidation. Nearly $211 billion in biotechnology deals have been announced globally this year, according to Dealogic, as companies compete for promising drug candidates and late-stage clinical assets. Star Therapeutics, backed by investors including Sofinnova Investments, RA Capital Management and Catalio Capital Management, had explored a potential initial public offering before moving toward a sale, the people said. Incyte's expertise in blood disorders could help position the company to commercialize VGA039 if it wins regulat...
(RTTNews) - Air Canada and Abra Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a broad, long-term strategic partnership aimed at enhancing connectivity and customer experience across the Americas and beyond. Abra Group, which includes carriers such as Avianca and GO
(RTTNews) - Air Canada and Abra Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a broad, long-term strategic partnership aimed at enhancing connectivity and customer experience across the Americas and beyond. Abra Group, which includes carriers such as Avianca and GO